Chamois aldermen at their meeting last Wednesday approved the first amendment for professional engineering services for C.M. Archer Group awarding an additional $60,449 to the engineering firm for added expenses and increased costs for the water project.

“It (the water project) hasn’t been updated since 2014 and we’re drilling a second well and we only had one well in the original project,” Mayor Elise Brochu said. 

The additional compensation includes pre-design, planning and finance ($10,045), design phase ($24,358), construction engineering ($14,950), and construction inspection ($11,096).

“We have to (approve the increase),” Alderman Matt Shockley said.

“If we ain’t got water, we ain’t got a town,” Alderman Jim Wright agreed.

In other business, the board hired new City Clerk Meghan Birmingham, who will work up to 20 hours a week at a rate of $12 per hour. The board agreed to reevaluate her salary in 60 to 90 days.

Aldermen also approved a $500 bonus for Utilities Supervisor Danny Kirsch for filling in as the city clerk for the last several months. 

While Kirsch was filling in as City Clerk, he found several errors on several different water bills. One account that has been discussed by the aldermen had a balance of $5,000.

Brochu explained that a digit was missed when the meter was read, and when it was entered into the computer, the digit was placed at the end instead of the beginning, which pushed the total usage to 130,000 gallons.

“There will still be a significant outstanding bill but I didn’t want to go in and change it until we could talk about it,” said Brochu. “I don’t want any questions whether it was above board or anything.”

“Anytime there is a mistake, it has got to be corrected,” Wright said.

Everyone agreed and the mistake will be corrected.

Bills for five customers saw the meter put in with the wrong multiplier.

“We were only charging people for one gallon of water instead of 100 gallons of water,” Brochu explained. “We fixed these but I don’t know how long this has been going on.”

She added that the affected customers have been contacted and the situation explained that their water bills will be higher from now on.

In other business, the City of Chamois owes four months’ worth of trash bills to Republic Services, according to the waste company’s records. The months not paid are listed as February ($2,239.44), September ($2,313.40), October ($2,313.40), and November ($2,313.40). Brochu agrees that the city needs to make payments for September, October, and November but would like to investigate why February’s bill had not been paid.

Alderman authorized Brochu to pay Republic Services once she double-checks the February invoice.

* Aldermen agreed to renew insurance with the Missouri Public Entity Risk Management Fund (MOPERM). The new premium is up slightly from last year’s, with last year’s premium cost just under $10,000. The new premium is $10,107 and the city will drop the insurance for a city marshal until they hire one.

* Election filings for aldermen are open through Dec. 28. Aldermen Marty Gerloff and Jim Wright’s one-year terms are the seats up for reelection.

* The city of Chamois will run a Christmas ad again this year in the Unterrified Democrat for $67.50.

* Marvin Lieneke created a sign for the city of Chamois with historical photos and dates. Wright offered to purchase the sign for $35, pay Lieneke personally, and have the sign displayed at City Hall.

* Aldermen approved outstanding bills for $9,015.88.

* The city did not have financial information available.

* The next regular meeting is scheduled for Jan. 19 at 7 p.m.