Council OKs water and sewer billing change

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

Van Wert water and sewer customers will notice a change in billing, most likely by the end of 2022.

During Monday night’s meeting, Van Wert City Council heard the third and final reading of an ordinance setting new water and sewer rates without increasing the cost. The change will coincide with new water meters being installed by the city. The installation process is scheduled to begin October 1 and should be complete by the holidays.

“We’re just adjusting from how we previously billed by quarter, we have to bill monthly now,” Safety-Service Director Jay Fleming said. “We’ve also added a tier to the wastewater side to be more competitive for economic development (over 200,000 gallons per day). We have no one that’s a large user like that now but we’ve been told that our rate is too high when you use a lot of water, so we need to be competitive.”

The change involving large scale use was added after a 30-minute executive session by council members, the administration and Van Wert Area Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Stacy Adam.

During his report, Fleming informed council members that traffic pattern changes are coming to the intersection of Washington and Main beginning Monday, August 29.

“The Van Wert County Foundation’s project is moving toward the outside work – curb work and storm sewer work and what’s going to happen that Monday is Washington St. is going to get rerouted to two lanes,” Fleming explained. “The turn lane is going to go away and we’re going to slide traffic from the east side to that turn lane and delineate it with barrels or cones and signs, all the appropriate things so there won’t be any more turn lanes from Washington onto Main as they do this exterior work.”

The project is expected to last until sometime in December. There was also discussion of no longer allowing semi-trucks to turn right from Washington onto Main and possibly rerouting inbound truck traffic to Lincoln Highway and U.S. 224, but no final decision was made.

Council members agreed to schedule three committee meetings directly before the regular September 12 meeting. Judiciary and Annexation Committee Chairman Andrew Davis requested a 5:50 p.m. meeting to discuss downtown speakers, and Streets and Alleys Chairwoman Julie Moore asked for a 6:05 p.m. meeting to discuss accidents at the intersection of Town Center Blvd. And Christopher Crossing. The Health, Service and Safety Committee Committee Chairman Bill Marshall requested a 6:15 p.m. meeting that night to discuss a possible 24-48 hour pause on high grass citations after a heavy rain.

All of those committee meetings and the regular 6:30 p.m. meeting will be held in Council Chambers on the second floor of the Municipal Building, 515 East Main St.