Member News and Notes…Summer/Fall 2024
Happy Labor Day weekend…hopefully we ease into some cooler, fall-like weather soon!
I wanted to start off by saying thank you to our members who attended the last board meeting; although the tone of the meeting was tense, the discussion was productive. Over the past few weeks, myself and other board members have met with the MS Rural Water Association, our engineers, and others, to put together a plan to address many of your concerns. I know we will never move fast enough for everyone, but we – as a board of community members (just like you) – are doing our best to work for the community and make decisions that will help everyone. Sometimes decisions take a little time.
The biggest takeaway from our last board meeting, and the greatest concern we heard, was the current rate structure. Based on our meetings with the folks mentioned above, the advice we received was to reduce the overall monthly water rates and our board approved the following rate changes (effective with the August billings, which will be mailed this weekend):
- the base rate for the first 2,000 gallons each billing cycle will be $25, and
- the excess rate for consumption over 2,000 gallons each billing cycle will be $8.00 per 1,000 gallons.
* Our current rates are $22.50 (base) and $13.50 (excess). This change will financially allow us to meet our current monthly operating obligations.
Also, our contractors are still working to install and put into service new meters for every member. If you do not have a new meter, please contact our office! There were a lot of problems with the meter installation process that we (the board) were not made aware of until recently, and I want everyone to know that we are holding the contractor accountable to make it right until we have full confidence the meters are reading correctly. Once the meters are all functioning, and we have good information re: water usage, the MS Rural Water Association will do another rate study to assess our financial position and help us determine what rates we should have to sustain our Association into the future.
Effective September 1, we will have a new water operator – Water Solutions, LLC. They are a local company, and we are confident they can help us continue to improve the water quality and help us operate an efficient community water system. There will be a change to our emergency contacts because of this, and we will be communicating this information to you very soon. Please go to our website at www.Thomasville.myruralwater.com and sign up for alerts to stay up to date on everything happening in the Association.
Finally, my term will end in October of this year and I will not be continuing on this board. We will announce the date for our annual meeting soon and new directors and officers will be voted upon at that time. Our next board meeting will be on September 9th and we will announce the location once we have confirmed where it can be held. Please prayerfully consider becoming involved on the board.
Thank you for your continued patience and support as we are working hard to provide clean water within the constraints we have as a small water system.
Sincerely,
Chris Lowry, on behalf of
The Board of Directors
of the Thomasville Water Association
