Moran water will cost more

MORAN — Moran councilmen Monday night increased water rates by $6 a month for an average residential customer, based on consumption of 4,000 gallons.
The effective date for the increase probably will be Aug. 1, but councilmen deferred being specific. They want to know how recent repairs to water distribution lines will affect loss that has created ongoing shrinkage of the water profit margin. They also want to see how much Westar will propose to increase wholesale electric rates.
If water loss were to subside substantially, the water rate increase might be reconsidered. What the council may have to do to meet be higher charges expected from Westar also may enter the equation.
Councilman Jim Mueller noted water revenue decreased markedly in 2014. City Clerk Lori Evans pointed out revenue was “down” $5,000 to date this year.
Water loss, which has precipitated the decline in revenue compared to cost, is baffling, said Councilman Jerry Wallis. “We don’t know where it’s going.”
Repairs made to the system may help, but with them completed only recently there isn’t enough of a sample size to give expectation of a financial upswing.
The rate increase was pegged at $2 more for meter charges and $1 more per 1,000 gallons of consumption. That more than should meet margin loss, and came after Mayor Phillip Merkel suggested an increase sufficient not only to deal with need but also rebuild reserves.
Electric rates are much on councilmen’s minds because reserves built through sales join ad valorem taxes in providing the lion’s share of revenue for the city general and other funds. Electric reserve transfers for general city operations amount to about $50,000 a year.

A RESIDENT who lives in the southwest part of town sought remedy for noise that often disturbs her and others’ peace.
A neighbor who works on a race car frequently tests his success by revving its motor, she said.
The resident, who asked not to be publicly identified, said a workman was on her roof making repairs and she could not carry on a conversation with him because the race car’s engine “was being revved over and over again.”
“It’s not right to have to tolerate that,” she said. “It’s just deafening.”
Mayor Merkel instructed a letter be sent asking the mechanic claimed to be offending to take his neighbor’s peace and quiet into consideration. If that doesn’t help, Merkel said, the city may intervene further.

CHIEF OF POLICE Shane Smith said chickens may not be noisy, save an occasional rooster, but that he had had complaints about residents who keep flocks. His approach has been to give a warning on first complaint, and if a second were made, to eliminate the problem, under public nuisance statutes.
About 10 Moran families raise chickens, and the latest complaint came against a person who had had poultry on his property for about two years.
Chickens and ducks are among animals permitted in Moran, but a long list, including pigs, aren’t. In a bit of levity Smith mentioned that crocodiles and elephants also were excluded.
He said dead trees occasionally become a hazard and residents have 60 days to remove a solemn reminder of foliage past. Dead tress were mentioned as a heads up for councilmen, if orders to cut were ignored and a resident might pursue redress through the council.
Finally, Smith announced Moran would join other cities in the area Saturday in a drug take-back program. People with drugs no longer used and those with expired dates may bring them to City Hall for safe disposal.