CHAMOIS — At their meeting on Friday, Dec. 20, Chamois aldermen agreed to have Republic Services work up a new five-year contract for trash collection. The city’s cost for each residential trash pick-up will go up from $14.65 to $18 per month, and Republic Services will be able to increase the rates by up to 6% a year for the next five years. Aldermen will set the rates residents will pay at a later meeting.

“It’s a bad time since our rates have already gone up,” said City Treasurer Theresa Walter. “There are no other options, and this one sucks, but we don’t have anyone else that will come here.”

“There is no competition, so they can do whatever they want,” Alderman Shawn Mitchem agreed.

Alderman Cheyanna Wolfe wanted to table the issue for a month as she had spoken with another trash company that hasn’t gotten back to her with pricing. However, with the current contract only valid until March 1, aldermen did not feel like they could put off the vote.

“We won’t get the contract back until the middle of January, and if we need to negotiate it, we won’t have any time to change anything before the trash service ends on the last day of February,” Walter explained.

Mayor Marie Slusser contacted other trash service companies that pick up trash on rural routes as well as area towns, and she believes she has exhausted all options.

Walters agreed, noting that Republic Services indicated they have serviced the city of Chamois for the last 15 years.

“We have never been able to find anyone else,” Walter said, adding she was concerned that unless the city agreed to the 6% cap on cost increases, Republic Services could raise the rates from 9% to 10% per year.

Republic Services will have a contract ready for aldermen to review at the January meeting. The board can set the rates for city residents at the February meeting, with the new rates to go into effect on March 1.

In other business, aldermen approved removing the 20% contingency on the State Revolving Fund (SRF) loan, which would leave the city with an adequate amount of bonding capacity to secure a loan for Well Project #2. That would leave the city with $247,000 in bonds for the construction loan. 

Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Drinking Water Chief Jeremy Rackers suggested the city go this route since most of the engineering expenses for the project have already been completed. Rackers was concerned that if construction expenses were higher than initially planned, the city would not be able to get enough money to cover the loan.

“We all know the price of everything keeps going up, so we need every bit of money we can get to finish this project,” said Slusser. “I’m glad we can fix the well; $221,000 for repairs to Well #2 looks a lot better than the million that we just spent on Well #1.”

Chamois is still waiting for DNR approval of permits to start repairs. Slusser is hoping the repairs can be completed this year.

• Aldermen tabled any decision on drinking and wastewater training for City Utilities worker Jake Shockley until they can discuss options with him. City Clerk Meghan Birmingham has been researching options for drinking and wastewater training and all in-person classes are quite a distance from Chamois. According to Birmingham, there is an in-person drinking water class in Poplar Bluff in February and another in St. Joseph that starts in March. The closest wastewater training class is in Macon in April. There are other options for virtual courses.

Walter told the board the drinking water classes would cost the city roughly $3,700. She estimated that the wastewater class would cost less since Macon was several hundred miles closer.

Slusser planned to ask Shockley if he was interested in doing the virtual classes. “People who take the virtual classes don’t always pass the test, but he also has a family, and he may not want to travel,” she added.

Walter said the city would save money if Shockley took the classes online, but it would still be expensive.

Aldermen will revisit the topic in January.

• Aldermen approved the new quote from Missouri Public Entity Risk Management Fund (MOPERM) for city insurance. The premium went down from last year’s total of $13,110 to $12,804.

Walter attributed the reduction to the decrease in the number of city full-time employees and the removal of the dump truck from the policy.

The premium was due by Jan. 1.

• Aldermen approved a change in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to Dec. 31, 2026. Walter had noted that after the last meeting, the aldermen had approved the ARPA money to be spent until Dec. 31, 2025, and since the city is allowed to spend the money until the following December, she wanted to make sure there is ample time to use the funds.

• The board approved placing a Christmas ad in the Unterrified Democrat for $78. Birmingham planned to update the ad from last year to reflect the current board members and city employees. Birmingham noted that the city puts the ad in the paper every year.

• Aldermen approved a six-month payment plan for resident Bill Maxey, who will owe the city $224.62 per month plus his current bill. Maxey owes a total of $1,347.72, with a large portion of the money building up from late fees since he is paid after the city’s due date of the sixth of the month.

Walter asked aldermen review the current water ordinance and see if some changes could be made. She noted the city waived a late fee for anyone previously on a payment plan who made the payment within the month. “Now, the late fee is 5% of the total,” Walter explained. “We have several payment plans where the residents are unable to pay by the sixth of the month, so every month, they are getting a late fee. Their bill is going down some, but they are not going to be paid off by the end of their contract.”

“The whole point of the payment plan was to help people not fall behind, and if the late fees are keeping them behind, we have to do something about that,” said Wolfe.

Aldermen decided to honor the payment plan as stated for this month and look at making changes to the ordinance in January.

• Alderman Lacey Garrett and Alderman Shawn Mitchem’s seats are up for reelection in the April election.

• Slusser thanked Mitchem for cleaning out the creek; he said he was not done and would continue to work on clearing out brush. Mitchem also noted that the landowner on the other side of the creek will be clearing and cleaning up his portion as well.

• Slusser noted that she is looking at several new ordinances in the new year, including those to help with vicious dogs. She wants to align the city’s ordinances with Missouri statutes so Chamois could enforce them more easily.

• Aldermen approved $23,781.01 in outstanding bills.

• Chamois had the following ending balances in their accounts: cemetery fund ($10,401.27), general fund ($36,667.05), water fund ($239,203.98), sewer fund ($113,640.14), city Community Block Development Grant (CBDG) in and out ($10), city park ($10,478.37), American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) ($69,713.68), sewer repair, ($6,951.13), sewer bond reserve ($26,817.47), city cemetery ($20,811.52), meter deposits ($13,797.24), street ($18,138.18), online bill pay ($2,460.66), city police ($561.50), city cemetery ($20, 736.50), and water repair ($25,101.95).

• The city holds five certificates of deposit totaling $12,238.88.

• Chamois had a water loss of 3% for November. The city pumped 744,100 gallons and sold 726,500 gallons. The city has 240 water connections and 219 active accounts.

• The next regular meeting is scheduled for Friday, Jan. 17, at 6:30 p.m.