The City of Salem electric rate was raised 13.8%.
Previously, there have two separate rate increases discussed by the Utilities Committee and by the board. West Ward Alderman Kevin James offered clarity on the board’s decision to raise electric rates.
“We originally had a 4.4% increase that was presented initially by the utility committee that was only for the February event,” said James. That February event due to cold weather was roughly $1.3 million additionally billed to the city by the energy provider.
“There was also an additional need,” said James. “Due to year-on-year changes in supply, and that ultimately comes up to a 13.8% increase with the two things together.”
Added mayor Kim Steelman: “And I think it’s important to reiterate that this is because of our supplier increasing the cost; this has nothing to do with the city’s operation increasing our budget at all, it’s solely to pay our bill to our supplier.
“The February event alone is costing us $27,000 a month for the next 60 months. That’s not counting our bill every other month. It’s an unfortunate event. It’s not something that’s exclusive to our community, it’s happening in communities all across the state and all across the country.”
East Ward Alderman Shawn Bolerjack, chairman of the utility committee, said, “We’re thankful for the governor’s loan program that he provided for municipal utility owned companies, or else we may be looking at higher rates than we are now. With this loan program, it is 60 months at that balance ($27,000) with zero percent interest.”
Bolerjack noted that the utility committee has been discussing this increase for the past few meetings.
“It’s not an easy decision, but it’s something that we have to make to meet our budget and also pay our supplier,” he said.
The energy supplier is charging the city more per kilowatt than previously, and the city is now formally making the decision to have that change reflective on the bills of account holders.
Bolerjack then asked that the city include a letter of explanation in the upcoming bill that will come out in October for service in parts of August and September.
Committee Appointments
“I’m excited, we’re filling, if I counted correctly, 28 seats,” said mayor Kim Steelman at the regular Board of Aldermen meeting Sept. 14. The Board of Aldermen unanimously approved the mayor’s 28 appointments.
One of Steelman’s first orders of business after she was appointed last month was to promote a form on Facebook for people to express interest in serving on board’s and committees, which she addressed at the Sept. 14 meeting.
“We’ve had a great response to that,” she said. “It just reiterated what I already knew—there’s a lot of really passionate community members here who want to be involved and want to have seat at the table and I want to help provide that for people,” she said.
“I’ll be working with existing boards and committees to try to fill any vacancies,” she said. “I’m really excited to get these boards and committees filled up with community members. That’s what they’re there for—for the community to make decisions together.
For most of the boards and committees, there aren’t city ordinances that have residency requirements. However, Steelman said that according to state statute that’s not possible, which according to her is unfortunate because according to her there is large amount of interest of citizens in the county to be involved.
“So, I am exploring some other options on maybe creating some kind of joint city and county committees, and also to plug people into existing boards and committees,” said Steelman. “There are a lot of things that already out there, so maybe we can find good fits for people,” she said.
Also at the meeting, Steelman announced that going forward there will be verbal reports from city officials at every meeting. Steelman stated that she will be giving a mayors report each meeting, there will be an aldermen report, an economic development report, a public works; the city administrator will provide the monthly financial reports and there will be monthly reports from Archer-Elgin—the engineering firm that is contracted with the City of Salem on a number of important big-ticket projects.
“Most of these reports we’re already receiving every meeting in our packets, but unfortunately that information doesn’t always get relayed to the community,” said Steelman. “Most people are not going to sit down and read through our entire board packet. It’s just not realistic. The unfortunate part of that is that there is a lot of good work being done that doesn’t always get communicated,” she said.
“Sometimes—especially working in government—there’s red tape and processes are not as straightforward as we would like them to be. So, sometimes there’s a lot of work being done behind the scenes and it’s just not visible yet,” she said. “I think we need to do a better job as a city to report on all the work that’s being done. I’m excited about that going forward.”
Steelman stated that the verbal reports will make meetings a bit longer, but she believes that will be the best way for the community to remain informed of what the city is doing. “I think it’s for the good of everyone,” she said.
Steelman also stated that she will be in the office two days a week. You can contact mayor Steelman at mayor@salemmo.com. Steelman said that she would love to listen to citizen ideas.
“I do ask though, that if you’re wanting to meet with me for a complaint or something that you do work through the proper chain of command first,” Steelman clarified.
During her report, Steelman stated that she met with Salem Area Chamber of Commerce Director Tabatha Utley on the afternoon of Sept. 14.
“She shared some exciting things with me—they had the most successful rodeo that they’ve ever had,” said Steelman. “And we just talked about different ways that we can work even better together. She was adamant to tell me that the city is one of the biggest reasons that they’re able to do what they do because of our partnership. So, that meant a lot to hear.
I look forward to meeting with more organizations in the future and I encourage any leaders in the community to please reach out to me to see how we can work together.
The board unanimously voted to pass a resolution authorizing the mayor to execute an agreement between the City of Salem and the Meramec Regional Planning Commission regarding the disbursement of American Rescue Plan Act funds.
The board unanimously voted to pass a resolution to authorize the mayor to execute an employment agreement between the City of Salem and City Administrator Ray Walden. See related story in this edition and thesalemnewsonline.com/
The Board of Aldermen also voted to approve the city-wide fall clean-up dates for Oct. 11-14.
The board rescheduled the second regular Board of Aldermen meeting for September to Sept. 30.
