By Dave Fidlin
Business owners within Whitewater will again have to pay a fee to cover administrative costs associated with upholding the state’s weights and measures laws.
City Manager Cameron Clapper and City Attorney Wallace McDonnell discussed the existing policy with the council at their meeting May 20. Into the foreseeable past, the city had an ordinance on its books stating the city will cover the administrative costs on behalf of the business owners.
But the current sitting council has maintained a different perspective, and several elected officials said the city should not use taxpayer dollars to subsidize a fee that is traditionally passed on to business owners in most municipalities.
Weights and measures laws are designed to put equity into a variety of items used for measurement when purchases are made. Produce scales and gas pumps are among the items inspected frequently to ensure they are in proper working order.
In other recent business, the Whitewater Common Council:
• Voted in favor of an agreement with utility We Energies for electrical extensions within Starin Park. The agreement provides an enhanced level of service to workers of the city’s annual Fourth of July festival, but the enhancements also are designed to have long-term benefits.
According to city officials, the electrical upgrades, being made possible through an easement agreement with We Energies, will also be used at standing shelters within Starin Park;
• Awarded a $20,494 contract to Visu-Sewer for slip-lining services within the city’s wastewater utility. Tim Reel, director of the wastewater plant, said the contract will go toward rehabilitating a mainline sewer along Whiton and Summit streets.
The sewer line has been prone to basement back-ups, Reel said. He attributed it to a general deterioration in the sewer line’s quality.
