CHAFFEE TO LOOK TO PROTECTION COSTS SHOULD COLLECTIONS BE LOST

CHAFFEE -- Chaffee city officials will look into how much it will cost the city to protect itself if any money winds up missing under the city's bill collection plan with Union Electric Co.

Mayor Ron Moyers said at the Chaffee City Council meeting Monday night that the city would take the action. The action, he said, would be taken to protect the city and the city employees collecting the money.

The city will begin collecting bills for Union Electric on a trial basis after the utility company closes its Chaffee office June 28. Union Electric is closing the office because it is establishing a centralized call-service center for Southeast Missouri in Cape Girardeau.

City officials have said the bills would be collected by City Collector Theresa Fuller and Assistant City Collector Lisa Newsome. Union Electric will pay $100 a month for the service, they said, and any money for bonding of the employees would come out of that amount.

The job would include taking the money to a night deposit box.

Councilwoman Irmgard Chronister of Ward 2 said Monday that Union Electric doesn't care if the employees are bonded or not.

"The problem is, really, what if something happens. The city is responsible. Union Electric doesn't give a damn," Chronister said.

The councilwoman has expressed concern in the past over the possibility of the employees being robbed on the way to the night deposit box.

Other city officials have also expressed uneasiness over a lack of bonding.

"I think we're in a very tenacious position," City Attorney David Summers told the council.

Ward 1 Councilman Jerry Wolsey responded in agreement. "I think we are, and it's getting worse as we go on here," he said.

Moyers said a letter from the insurance company that carries the employees' bonding, Rice Insurance, said that the current bonding would cover any duties as long as they are authorized by city statute. Moyers said Summers said the bonding would not cover the collection arrangement.

Also Monday, the council turned away a request for a fireworks license in the 300 block of West Parker.

The fireworks would have been sold from the rear of a building housing a bait shop, which is already operating under a special use permit. The area is zoned residential.

Summers said the special use permit doesn't allow for any other commercial operation at the location.

Council members did approve fireworks licenses for Boy Scout Troop 52 and the Lions Club.

In separate matters:

Moyers encouraged council members to be on hand this morning when representatives of the state Department of Natural Resources come to Chaffee. The representatives will be in town in reference to a problem at the city's waste-water treatment plant and the bonding that is needed to correct the problem, he said.

The plant's effluent is out of compliance with state standards because its suspended solids are too high due to excessive algae growth. City representatives decided last June to deepen the plant's final cell to reduce the solids.

Council members granted an extension on the road work being performed in the Chaffee Industrial Park. Moyers said the work is lagging because of the wet conditions from spring.

All that remains, he said, is ditch and shoulder work.

Chaffee Police Chief Ivan McLain said Police Officer Jack Hargraves has resigned to be employed as the meat department manager at Chaffee IGA. Hargraves, whose last day was Sunday, had worked with the department for more than 4 years, he said.