Second vote settles Westminster utility charges

Westminster Councilman Yousef Mefleh says he changed his vote and that last night created the margin in favor of getting rid of a $7 dollar utility meter fee.  A second 4-3 vote this time, besides doing away with the controversial fee, also raises water charges for customers outside the city limits. Earlier in the meeting Attorney Rick McDuff, representing the Journal, put the mayor and council on notice that his client was ready to proceed with a legal action targeting the meter fee.  Also during public comment the council heard from an unhappy outside water customer.  Frankie Pearson called the fee “a terrible wrong” and said, “You will need to give us our money back.”  However, according to Kevin Bronson, city administrator, there is to be a tradeoff because eliminating the meter fee and raising outside water rates will amount to a swap leaving the increase to a customer at $1.35 a month.  Mayor Brian Ramey called attention to the fact that 78% of the city’s water lines are beyond the city limits, and the rural nature of that makes the outside lines expensive and time-consuming to maintain.  To address complaints that the meter charge, in place since 2015, is improper and has over-charged customers, Bronson last night proposed that the city direct its outside auditor to examine the collected revenues and how they’ve been spent.