“There has got to be something that we can do,” Councilman Chris Colomer said.
Colomer was speaking during the “council comments” section at the end of Monday’s City Council meeting, and the issue he was speaking about was water bills.
Every other month, Kewanee residents receive a bill for water and sewer service and trash pickup.
Usually.
But over the past several months, something has gone wrong. People aren’t getting their water bills in the mail on time.
The bills arrive just a day or two before payment is due. In some cases, they don’t arrive until after the due date — meaning that the resident is charged a late fee, even though they didn’t get the bill before the deadline.
In some cases, the city has shut off water service for residents who hadn’t paid because the bill didn’t arrive on time.
“I’ve received a lot of complaints,” Colomer said.
So has the office staff at City Hall, where people have come to complain about the billing problems.
“There’s a lot to unpack here,” City Clerk Kasey Mitchell said before explaining what has gone wrong with the water billing process.
All the bills are mailed out at the same time each month, Mitchell said. (The date of the most recent mailing of the bills is posted on the city’s website, cityofkewanee.com)
In the past, bills have arrived in residents’ mailboxes in plenty of time for them to get their check in the mail.
But the Postal Service sectional center in Peoria has eliminated its third shift, Mitchell said. That means Kewanee’s water bills might go to other centers, even the ones in Chicago and Springfield.
Another issue, Mitchell said, is that the postal service doesn’t like the postcard-sized bills the city sends. The cards tend to get jammed up in the sorting machines, so postal workers sometimes set them aside to run them through at the end of the day.
Mitchell said 38% of the people whose water was shut off for nonpayment actually pay their bills on time. They’ll be reconnected without having to pay the usual fee, she said.
Meanwhile, Kewanee water customers have several ways to deal with the billing problem.
Residents can call or visit the city clerk’s office in City Hall to find out the amount of their current bill and when it’s due.
Or they can sign up for email alerts telling them how much they owe and when payment is due. To sign up for email, click here.
Residents can also elect to have water bill payments automatically deducted from their bank account. Details on that process are available at City Hall and online.
