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Niles mayor: Latest recovery plan may end fiscal emergency
By Jordan Cohen
NILES
The city, in state-declared fiscal emergency since October 2014, plans to petition for release from the designation and state control in December pending approval of the city’s latest recovery plan – its eighth in nearly four years.
“[Our plan] has the blessing of the state auditors,” Mayor Steven Mientkiewicz told council Wednesday as he introduced the plan’s provisions. “If everything goes well, we’ll request release from fiscal emergency,” he said.
The state fiscal commission overseeing city finances since fiscal emergency was declared must approve the plan. The commission is expected to have its next meeting in late October.
The mayor said one major plan provision is hiring a capital asset management company to evaluate all citywide assets. The Vindicator reported last month on a state audit finding the city failed to maintain either manual or computerized listing of every city asset, meaning it could neither account for nor manage its inventory.
The latest plan calls for the allocation of $61,533 to cover the cost of the asset evaluation, an amount that was a pleasant surprise for the mayor.
“I was worried that it could have cost us $100,000 or more,” Mientkiewicz said.
Other plan elements include adjusting “water rates to generate an additional $700,000 annually,” an analysis for mapping citywide waterlines, replacement of three water pumps and implementation of a policy covering utility shutoffs.
The latter was not well-received by at least one council member.
“There are grandparents raising [grand]children because the parents are drug addicts, and you want to shut them off,” said Councilwoman Linda Marchese, D-3rd.
“I’m not being hard-hearted,” responded Anthony Flarey, service director who argued the city, particularly its billing, must be run like a business “because it is a business.”
He said residents who have gone two months without paying up could expect to receive a shut-off notice. Flarey said many of the delinquencies can be compared to “paying only the interest on a credit-card bill.”
Law Director Terry Swauger said the city must have a consistent policy on delinquencies and shutoffs in place, which it currently lacks.
“Exceptions are few and far between,” Swauger said.
At the mayor’s request, council moved the plan through the first of three readings. The second reading is scheduled for council’s Oct. 3 meeting and the final reading Oct. 17. The city will then submit the plan to the fiscal commission.