The City Council is considering hiring a company to help plan for the future of Kewanee’s water infrastructure — and how much to charge users for water.
The council watched an interactive web session with a representative of Waterworth, a company that helps more than 370 communities nationwide plan for the future of the water systems.
Their service includes determining which water system components should be replaced. That list can be “continuously updated,” a Waterworth spokesman told the council.
Waterworth would then suggest how to increase water rates to cover the cost of the improvements.
The company could also help the city apply for state or federal grants to cover the cost of improvements.
The fee would be $10,000 a year for three years. The council could decide to council the service after a year if it wished.
Council members said they liked the idea, but no action was taken to approve the service.
Also Monday, the council approved three recommendations that arose from last week’s Planning Commission meeting.
They approved a special use permit allowing Michael and Kathy Bausman a variance allowing them to add a foot to the height of their six-foot privacy fence; a variance allowing James Steinke to hold boxing matches at his Chrome Gypsy facility in the former Franklin School; and a variance allowing Brian Rowlison to exceed the six-foot height limit for a garage at 911 Simpson Ave.
Also approved was the appointment of Gayle Gerard to the Commission on Human Relations.
