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Water and sewer bill increases and a new addition to the downtown veterans memorial sparked conversations during the Oct. 6 Board of Aldermen meeting.

Water fund

Before the board gave preliminary approval to the next annual water fund, which includes a 5 percent increase to customers’ monthly water and sewer bills, resident Mary Barber had a question: Why are our bills going up?

According to city staff, the increase is needed to offset increasing costs associated with day-to-day water and sewer services and preventative maintenance.

Those rising costs include higher electricity costs, wastewater treatment plant disinfection regulations and addressing taste and odor issues.

Preventative maintenance includes water tower improvements.

If the city doesn’t spend money on preventative maintenance, it could find itself in a similar situation as the one it’s now facing with the Woodland Avenue sewer project.

“We have to spend $1.2 million now to fix it because we ignored it for so long,” Vernon said following the meeting.

The rates are proposed to increase to $46.22 a month for water and sewer combined per 5,000 gallons of residential usage.

Board members approved both the rate increase and the $2.1 million water fund budget on first reading. If the board approves both proposals on second reading during its Tuesday, Oct. 20, meeting, they will be officially approved.

Veterans memorial

Board members weren’t in agreement on a proposal to add another feature to the existing veterans memorial in downtown Smithville.

Former mayor Chuck Hitchborn would like to work with the city to get a decommissioned military howitzer and place it at the veterans memorial at Main and Bridge streets. A howitzer is a short cannon, a cross between a mortar and a gun.

The new addition would be 10 feet long and 6 feet wide.

Hitchborn has volunteered to take care of most costs and details of the project.

Board member Carol Shaffer expressed concerns about the memorial addition. She thought the area seemed too small for the new feature and worried the howitzer could take away from the existing memorial.

“To me, just to stick something like that out there just makes no sense,” she said.

Alderman Bob Foreman, who heard Hitchborn speak about the new feature during a past Park Board meeting, said that regardless of whether someone wants a gun at the memorial, he was confident it would like nice in the space.

The proposal to work with Hitchborn to bring the howitzer to the site passed with a 3-2 vote. Aldermen Foremen, Jake Hild and Adam Naber voted in favor of the proposal. Aldermen Shaffer and Mark Krokstrom voted against the proposal. Alderman Brian Fullmer was not in attendance.

Smithville Editor Nancy Hull Rigdon can be reached at 532-4444 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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