By Terry Witt -Spotlight Senior Reporter
Bronson Town Council members Monday gave final approval to a 23 percent increase in water rates over the next two years and a 4 percent rate hike for sewer.
The council spread the water rate increases out to reduce the impact on consumers. The first year rate hike is for 11.5 percent. The second year is also 11.5 percent.
A study by a rate consultant found that the town’s water and sewer revenues were too low to pay operating costs and repay debt.
New Town Manager
Susan Beaudet, the Bronson Town Council’s choice for town manager, accepted the city’s job offer Tuesday and will start work on Feb. 1.
Beaudet has been offered a $70,000 annual salary to operate the city and serve as its chief administrator.
Her job duties will include supervising the small city staff and performing the duties that once were handled by the clerk.
She will be expected to work with council members on an individual basis, keeping them advised of the town’s activities without passing information between them to make decisions in violation of the state’s Sunshine Law.
Unlike the town clerks that preceded her, Beaudet will actually have the authority to supervise the other town employees. The clerks had limited supervisory authority.
Sewer Problem Solved
Bronson insurance agency owner Cameron Asbell appeared before the council to ask the town to repair the sewer lines connected to his insurance office on Hathaway Ave.
The council voted to reimburse him for a $275 plumber diagnostic bill and repair the sewer line problem. Asbell’s plumber, Qualified Plumbing, found that the grant-funded sewer line was improperly installed.
Asbell said the plumber ran a camera through the line and found two places where the pipe sagged in a soft sandy area and formed “bellies” that collected water and blocked the flow of sewage.
The contractor apparently didn’t compact the sand below the pipe causing it to sag in two locations which resulted in bellies forming.
Asbell said he never wanted the sewer line but it was forced on him by the town. He said his old septic tank was working perfectly when the contractor showed up one day in his office to tell him they planned to extend a sewer line to his business and it wasn’t optional.
“If it was my plumber (that caused the problem), I would be footing the bill all the way, but it ain’t my plumber, ain’t my sewer system and it ain’t something I wanted,” Asbell said.
Mayor Beatrice Roberts apologized for the problem that apparently dates back several months.
“I really apologize. I know back in October, you sent each of us an email saying you had a problem. I thought the problem was taken care of until last week when I got the letter,” Roberts said.
Public Works Director Curtis Stacy wrote an email to council members on Dec. 17 saying the town was receiving complaints from customers concerning sewer line backups, including Asbell and Libby Barr.
Technicians Needed
Each customer has had at least two backups since being connected to the central sewer system, Stacy said. “These lines are part of the original sewer installation. These customers have been told by plumbers that the problem is the way the service was done.”
Stacy said it was vital for the town to bring in qualified sewer and water technicians to examine what is happening in the town’s water and sewer departments.
Stacy said he is learning as much as he can from books “but experience and on the job training is needed.”
“I’m learning the job but things are happening that I know very little about and which make the job more difficult and stressful. I will keep everyone informed of what I find out,” he said.
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Town of Bronson Regular Meeting December 21, 2020; Posted December 24, 2020
