This five (5) member advisory board is appointed by the City Council and meets on the third Thursday of each month at 3:30 pm.
The Water and Sewer Board was established by ordinance in April, 1985, with the adoption of Chapter 2.24 of the Municipal Code, which outlines its powers and duties as follows:
A. Annually recommend minimum water rates to the city council, with the recommendation being returned to the board by the council within thirty days with reasons why the board should reconsider its recommendations, if the recommendations are not acceptable to council. Minimum water rates need not be uniform for all classes of users; the minimum rates must be sufficient to include all expenditures for the following:
1. All operation and maintenance of the water system;
2. All debt service requirements;
3. Additions to the reserve account in sufficient amounts to offset depreciation to the water system. Such reserves shall be based on accepted principles of accounting for a water system;
B. To act as an appeals board to hear and decide request for relief from or variance from (for reason of unnecessary hardship) the application of water rates or policies established by ordinance or resolution of the city council as applied to an individual customer;
C. Negotiate for the purchase of water rights as needed;
D. Set standards for waterline construction, including but not limited to sizes of water mains;
E. Set prices to be charged to a customer for items such as water meters;
F. Acquire, develop and protect the water supplies decreed, adjudicated, or contracted for the city;
G. Make recommendations to the city manager for expenditures under each current annual budget, and it also shall submit long range plans, and recommend such plans to the city council; such long range plans shall include not only the ensuing six years of proposed capital budget of the water department for the city, but also longer periods;
H. Publish an annual written report of the water department, giving a detailed accounting of all revenues and expenditures;
I. Be responsible for taking the steps necessary to insure that adequate fire flows are available throughout the city, present and future;
J. Maintain system maps for the entire water system for the purpose of inventory and construction locations;
K. Perform such other duties as the city council may request.
