Clark-Edgar Water District postpones vote on Trustee pay increases again…

OLIVER, IL. (ECWd) –

During last night’s Clark-Edgar Rural Water District Board of Trustees meeting, the agenda item for increasing pay of elected trustees was tabled at least for one more meeting for the stated reason of obtaining another legal opinion on several questions; 1) if an elected trustee could be compensated, and, 2) how much can they be compensated and why.

I provided public comment again, rehashing what I have said for the past couple of years, including:

• Dillon’s Rule applies to this water district and they only have the powers given to them by the legislature, and no other powers
• the Public Water District Act only permits “appointed trustees” to be compensated (Section 4)
• the allowable compensation is basically capped at $1000/yr for a water district, and $2000/yr for a combination water and sewer district (Section 4)
• the only paragraph discussing elected trustees never mentions compensation (Section 4.2)
• since they are a water district and not a combination water and sewer district, the collection of tap-on fees, connection fees, ready-to-serve fees, etc., were never given to them by the legislature and they are prohibited from collecting such fees
• the same applies to filing liens on the titles of real estate for unpaid water bills. The legislature never granted a water district that power

Rob talked about similar items, and the board decided to seek another legal opinion on their compensation.

In another item, the board discussed obtaining a low interest loan in order to connect potential customers who have not yet been connected. If memory serves me correctly, there are at least 450 households who have paid their deposit, some more than 30 years ago, who have still never been connected or provided with water.

CERWD Compensation and Connection Fees

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