By TESA CULLI

tesa.culli@register-news.com

BELLE RIVE — Accusations of unfair water rates, not providing water to all residents of the county and subsidizing of water systems between municipalities were flung among village and city mayors and the public during an informal gathering hosted by Belle Rive on Tuesday night, with Rend Lake Conservancy District board member Jere Shaw saying he personally would take water contract issues to a court.

“I’m not telling you to go to court, but if you people want to challenge Rend Lake Conservancy District, and I’m speaking for myself not as a member of the board, I’d think the contract Rend Lake Conservancy District signed [with Mt. Vernon] was illegal and against the public interest,” Shaw said. “I can’t tell you to sue the conservancy district, but I can tell you that’s what I’d do if I were in your shoes.”

The gathering of mayors and Mt. Vernon City Manager Ron Neibert was called by Belle Rive Mayor Donnie Wilkey to address comments from villages within the county who are “not happy with getting water from Mt. Vernon.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m tickled to death to be able to get water,” Wilkey said. “But I’m not happy with the price we get from Mt. Vernon. The price has always been more or less dictated to us. ... and I believe all the little towns can agree with that. We’re here to see what we can get done about it.”

Under a contract which was extended for another 25 years in 2006 between the conservancy district and the city of Mt. Vernon that was signed in 1966, Mt. Vernon has exclusive rights to sell water to Waltonville, Woodlawn, Bluford, Belle Rive, Opdyke and Dix-Kell water district. The city also sells water to Northeast Water Company.

At this time, municipal customers of Mt. Vernon are charged at a rate 40 cents per 1,000 gallons more than the price it buys from RLCD.

George Gifford, former Waltonville mayor and the one who Wilkey jokingly credited with “starting this water mess” continued to criticize Mt. Vernon for everything from its water rates to claiming that “Mt. Vernon runs everything,” further stating that “we’re paying to support Mt. Vernon’s water department and 40 years is long enough.”

Shaw was questioned by Belle Rive board member Delmar Shorb about the district paying for a water line to serve and sell water to Marion.

“Why can Marion get water and we can’t?” Shorb asked. “We have to go to Mt. Vernon.”

Shaw answered that the Marion water line was “something the Franklin County representatives really wanted.”

“Franklin County and Williamson County are tied together, politically,” Shaw said. “There’s a subtle understanding that what they want is what they get.”

Shaw said he voted in favor of the Marion water line but now says it was a mistake because, “I was new on the board.”

“Franklin County was pushing for it and Marion was pushing for it,” Shaw said. “I thought it potentially can make money for the district.”

Shaw also agreed with Gifford that he had heard nothing but positive comments about trying to change the contract and allow Waltonville and other villages to purchase water directly from RLCD.

“I bet I’ve had at least 30 people, residents of Mt. Vernon, all tell me to keep fighting,” Shaw claimed.

Neibert was given his turn to speak to Gifford and said he can’t change what happened 40 years ago, but is willing to listen to ideas from the mayors that wouldn’t affect the rates of city customers.

“I can’t change the contract without negatively affecting people I represent,” Neibert said. “It would mean losing $216,000. We run a very tight water department. If we lose a large amount from the water contract, the rates will go up for all our customers, there’s no other option. Jere, I wonder if the people you’re talking to knew the whole picture and that their rates would go up again, they wouldn’t be as supportive.

“I can’t agree to anything that would be detrimental to the residents of Mt. Vernon,” Neibert continued. “But if we can find a win-win situation, we can work it out.”

Neibert said the city has already presented an option to Waltonville as part of contract negotiations of the water contract between the two municipalities that would entail the city passing on “dollar-for-dollar” rate increases to municipalities when RLCD increases rates to the city instead of the past practice of passing on percentage rate increases.

“Rather than a flat percent increase, we would pass on a flat dollar increase,” Neibert said. “There would be no continual spread in the percent markup.”

Gary Tinsley, water superintendent for Woodlawn, said the biggest thing over the years with water rates has been the percentage markup.

“When the percent increase comes in like it did in 2003, the actual increase ended up being 35.2 percent to us,” Tinsley said. “We were fortunate at that time that we gave our customers a 12 percent increase and we absorbed the rest. This last time, we couldn’t absorb it.”

County Board member Jim Laird, a Waltonville resident who once served on the RLCD Board, said the villages were wasting their time.

“You’re wasting time with Mt. Vernon,” Laird claimed. “Without legal action, you won’t get anything done. You need to hire an attorney and take the matter to the justice system to get anything done or nothing will change.”

Neibert told Laird he was “making assumptions you know nothing about.” Neibert said that although Laird was present at one meeting and Neibert said he wouldn’t consider a proposal that would make the city lose $111,000 in water rates from municipalities, he and the city would consider other proposals.

Gifford said the village of Waltonville shouldn’t have to subsidize the city’s water system, and Neibert said that was what the city did for Waltonville for years prior to this year.

“You want us to take a $111,000 hit and the residents have to pick up the tab so the other communities can pay less than they pay now,” Neibert said. “How do I tell them that when the customers in Waltonville already pay less for water than they do? The city of Mt. Vernon, over the last five years, has spent $1 million in general corporate money in the water fund and hadn’t been charging the costs of maintaining and providing water to all customers. That’s residential, commercial, retail and the municipalities. Everyone has been talking about subsidizing water and the Mt. Vernon general corporate fund has been subsidizing for all its customers until now.”

County Board Chairman Ted Buck said the fault in the water issues aren’t with Mt. Vernon.

“The fault, in my estimation, is not the City of Mt. Vernon, it’s Rend Lake Conservancy District,” Buck said. “We’ve got people on the board, but they get out-voted. ... This issue has to be solved in the court, it’s just that simple.”

The mayors agreed to take the information back to their boards this month, and meet again in two months to further negotiate the water issues. However, Neibert made a request of the mayors that was criticized by Shaw.

“I ask that if you have a issue with the city, part of a negotiation, have the courtesy to call the city, don’t just flap a letter in the newspaper and direct it to the city,” Neibert said. “Let’s work out things together, and not in a public relations frenzy. We need to work together, not politicize a contractual issue. There’s no need to bash each other in the paper.”

Shaw said he believes to achieve transparency, all the negotiations should be done in the newspaper and further claimed he doesn’t believe Neibert and the mayors would have been willing to discuss the water issues without the media present at the meeting, which Neibert disagreed with.

“The city and I have been willing to negotiate all along,” Neibert said. “We’ve been negotiating with Waltonville and anyone else. We’re willing to discuss things.”