The City of New Bloomfield will no longer require a utility security deposit from new customers. Furthermore, all current customers will receive their existing deposits back.
The New Bloomfield Board of Alderman passed an ordinance at its meeting Thursday, amending the utility billing procedures. New Bloomfield residents establishing utility service will no longer have to put down a utility security deposit. All current utility security deposits will be refunded to customers. The refund will be distributed as a credit on current customers' accounts next billing cycle.
City Clerk and Municipal Court Clerk Terra Guittar said the utility deposit fund "gets a lot of activity" because of the large rental market in New Bloomfield.
"People come in, they put their deposit down and then three months later, they move out," Guittar said. "The reason why it isn't a big issue for us to have a deposit is because the landlord and whomever owns the property are ultimately responsible for whatever bills are left with the property. So we always get paid no matter what."
She added that the city has not experienced significant problems with residents not paying their utilities.
Closing the fund and refunding current customers' deposits is part of a city effort to "streamline" accounting practices, Guittar told the Fulton Sun. She said the city is working on closing several of its checking accounts and combining them into one operating fund account.
In the past, Guittar said, when the city had to save for a project - like replacing the city's police car, making water tower repairs, etc. - the city would open a separate account for each project. Guittar said New Bloomfield had several savings accounts setup and decided to streamline its financial processes.
Now, Guittar said, the city is working to get all of its savings in one account where it can separate projects by funds within the account rather than having multiple accounts.
In other news, the New Bloomfield Police Department hired a new reserve officer, Miguel Rivero. Rivero is currently an investigator with the Attorney General's Office in Jefferson City. He has prior experience working in Boone County law enforcement and he lives in the Moberly area.
Hiring Rivero gives the Police Department a total of four officers - two paid and two reserve officers. The department is slotted for six total officers, Police Chief Chris Hammann said.
"It's important to have guys who are working different hours," Hammann said.
Since reserve officers work on a volunteer and part-time basis, they all have other jobs and commitments. Having more reserve officers makes scheduling easier and allows the city to have officers on patrol more frequently, he said.
New Bloomfield's police department has hired four reserve officers in the past year. One of the department's new hires had to resign recently because he is going back to school.
Hammann said the police department is hoping to hire two additional reserve officers. Anyone interested in taking on the role can pick up an application from New Bloomfield City Hall, located at 501 Glenwood Drive in New Bloomfield.
The New Bloomfield Police Department also reported to the board of alderman last week that it participated in the St. Patrick's Day DWI Enforcement campaign March 13-17. The department reported to the board that no DWI arrests were made during that time.