In a split-vote, the Alexander City Council tabled the decision to require city employees to pay for their electric and natural gas usage as part of the lease agreement for the city's cottages. In another decision, the council unanimously agreed to keep the city's property tax rate at 1.5 mills.
At the August council meeting Mayor Crystal Herrmann proposed the change to the lease agreement. The issue was tabled so city staff could develop a list of the utility bills of both electric and gas for each cottage. A similar proposal is being made for a lease agreement with the Alexander American Legion Post 28.
In the latter half of 2022, some Alexander employees were being allowed to occupy the cottages located in the southeast corner of the former Alexander Human Development Center along Highway 111. The cottages were used by Pathfinders, Inc. as housing for their clients. Earlier this year a lease agreement was developed.
Since Alexander doesn't have any employees who live in the city, part of the attraction was to allow them to live there rent "free" ($1 per year) with utilities included in exchange for guarding the property and being on-call if needed in an emergency.
Vandalism of some of the buildings began when the Pathfinder's lease expired and they moved out in August, 2022. There has been a decline in vandalism since the program began.
At the beginning it was a combination of police and street department employees occupying the cottages. It's now been reported the cottages are occupied by all police officers.
Herrmann proposed passing along the cost of electricity and gas to the occupants as a way to discourage misuse of the utilities. Each cottage has an electric and gas meter. There is a single water meter for the entire complex.
Some council members reminded everyone that was one of the perks in exchange for guarding the property and being on-call. Others see it as a way of encouraging self-control.
A breakdown of the electric and gas usage was provided at the September 18 council meeting. Council Member Joy Gray made the motion to table the issue until the October meeting to allow for time to study the report. The vote was six to two in favor of tabling a decision on the proposed change in the lease agreement. Voting "Yes" were Joe Pollard, Joy Gray, Tony Staton, Mitchell W. Smith, Harold Timmerman, and Juanita Wilson. Voting "No" were Gina R. Thomas-LittleJohn and Angela Griffin.
On the utility charts for electric and gas the cottages are listed "A" through "E." The electric bills cover the moths of January through August. The gas bills cover January through July.
The chart below represents the low, high and average monthly costs of both electric and gas for each cottage. The information provided at the September council meeting does not indicate when each cottage was occupied and when they were being repaired. Although, Cottages "A" and "B" do show zero consumption of gas during the months of March through July. Cottage-E shows zero gas used in June. The cottages needed to be repaired before they could be occupied.
Cottage-A
Cottage-B
Cottage-C
Cottage-D
Cottage-E
Alexander American Legion Post 28
As the story goes, when legion members went inside Building-A in December, 2022 to begin the move they realized it was too divided up into offices to be of any use. Discussing the problem with then Mayor Paul Mitchell they decided to switch to the larger building across from Alexander Community Center #2. They've been there since January, 2023.
Before moving into the current building Post 28 was allowed to use, free of charge, what is now known as Alexander Community Center #1 (formerly known as Alexander Town Hall) at 15412 Main Street in the Pulaski County portion of Alexander. They shared the building with a church group that uses it to hold services.
The post was founded in 2018. The goal has always been to grow the membership and someday have their own building. But, that takes a lot of fund raising.
Mayor Crystal Herrmann wants Post 28 to also pay for the electric and gas usage, same as those renting the cottages. According to the utility report the electric bill for that building in January, 2023 was $56.46. That was also the low for the year so far. The monthly cost steadily increases until it reaches the current high in August of $247.09. The monthly average for those eight months is $139.20.
The gas, however, is the reverse. The bill for January starts 2023 off with a high for the first seven months of $2,002.71. It then drops in February to $217.30. After some more ups and downs it drops to a low of $10.16 for both June and July. The average for the seven months is $460.84.
Since the September 18 regular council meeting, a workshop meeting has been scheduled to discuss this proposal. The workshop will be for discussion purposes only. No votes will be taken. The workshop is scheduled for Wednesday, October 11, 5:30 PM in the courtroom at the Alexander Municipal Complex (City Hall). The public is invited to attend.
Millage rate unchanged
In other news:
Pafford is under contract to provide Emergency Medical Services to all of Saline County in both municipal and rural areas. Until now, many of the ambulances were being dispatched from Saline Memorial Hospital in Benton.
Next Regular Meeting
The average on utilities is not going to work as a budgeting tool. The lower bills are when the cottage is empty. Once all of them are full it will exceed that.
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