The Mount Vernon City Council has given notice to Utility Service Company that they would like to terminate the current contract in February 2023.
City administrator Chris Nosbisch said that the language in the contract is extremely vague and, for the $20,000 the city is annually paying, he doesn’t feel it is worth the city to invest that money with a subcontractor instead of working on details themselves.
The contract has been in place since 2013.
The one portion of costs that this helps to cover is any painting or repainting of the water tower, which has an estimated cost of $600,000 to $630,000.
Council member Scott Rose said his concern was canceling this contract for a basic service.
Nosbisch said that much of the inspection work and maintenance concerns of the water tower are currently completed by Alex Volkov, water and wastewater superintendent.
“Alex is very diligent in the things that happen at the water tower, and he is sometimes the one contacting them about the needed annual inspections,” Nosbisch said.
Council member Craig Engel wondered, with a company on retainer, if that put the city on the top of the queue or bottom of the queue for services in case of emergency.
Nosbisch said when it comes to items like emergencies, all this contract does is try to locate a subcontractor, which the city or V and K Engineering could easily do, and the city would only be charged for the work needed.
The tower would need to be repainted sometime in the next eight years, and Nosbisch feels that the city could invest the $20,000 into an account generating savings instead of paying a company.
If the council wants to renegotiate a contract with Utility Service Company, Nosbisch said that severing the current contract is also a way to get them to revisit that contract’s terms.