By Brenda WinterThe Hills City Council approved a 15-day reduction in the delinquency allowance for late payment of water bills beginning in 2004. The new ordinance requires residents to pay their water bills between the first and 15th of each month. Households failing to pay by the first day of the following month will have water service terminated.Under the current ordinance, water service is not terminated until a bill is 45 days past due, which reportedly complicates bookkeeping for City Hall staff.Council finalizes depot building saleThe Hills City Council accepted a bid for $8,000 from Eugene Immediato for the former depot building. The Council agreed to accept $2,000 less than the original bid of $10,000 after Immediato explained the easement arrangement he made with Kelly DeMuth, owner of Kelly’s Roadhouse Bar, which is located next to the property Immediato bid on.Explaining his reduced bid Immediato said, "The property is not the same with an easement as without. It’s not the same property that I bid on. I felt the easiest way to handle this would be to reduce my bid." He said he and DeMuth agreed on "about 15 feet" of property to be a part of the easement.Immediato initially offered $7,000 ($3,000 less than his original bid). Council members believed that was too large a reduction. Keith Elbers said, "That’s about a third of the price." Councilman Linus Svoboda noted, "You gained about five feet on the other side and you weren’t charged for that."Councilman Arlen Leenderts proposed the compromise of a $2,000 price reduction.Immediato said he appreciated the Council’s involvement in the issue. "Iunderstand it’s not really the Council’s concern to deal with the easement.""It’s between me and Kelly, but we need to come up with some numbers," he said. Immediato plans to turn the old depot building into an eating establishment.
