Latrobe OKs new stormwater fee, but delays collection

Latrobe property owners will be asked to pay a new stormwater management fee, but not just yet.

City council this week voted to create a new department to take charge of state-mandated stormwater management efforts, including reducing the flow of sediments into Loyalhanna Creek.

It also established an annual supporting fee of $90 per household but agreed to delay collection of the fee. Council members say they don’t want to add to the financial burden families are feeling during the economic slowdown triggered by the coronavirus pandemic.

Mayor Rosie Wolford noted the ordinance approving the stormwater department doesn’t specify the timing of the fee collection.

“We anticipated it was going to happen this year,” city manager Michael Gray said of the stormwater fee. But, he added, “It just depends on what’s going to happen with the (virus).”

Council agreed to use software provided by Muni-Link to generate billing for the new fee, but city officials stopped short of signing a contract with the company.

Councilman Ralph Jenko said the city shouldn’t start incurring the contract costs until it’s ready to being collecting the fee.

“We’re not going to initiate this until we’re on the other side of this,” Wolford said, referring to the pandemic.

Gray noted, in any case, “it would take two to three months to get everything working on our end,” including data entry, before starting the billing process.

The renewable one-year contract with Muni-Link includes an initial $10,000 start-up fee followed by a monthly fee of $930.

Council took another step in establishing the stormwater department by naming city employee Ann Powell to manage it, for no additional compensation. Powell will simultaneously continue her existing duties as the city’s code and zoning officer, at her current rate of pay, until council finds someone else to take over those responsibilities.

Council voted to extend its emergency declaration, prompted by the coronavirus, until its next voting meeting, on May 11.

As a precaution against spread of the coronavirus, council encouraged residents to participate in its Monday meeting by phone or a web link, rather than attending in person.

The municipal building continues to be closed for regular business, which can be conducted by phoning the pertinent city department and submitting fee payments by mail. Gray said the city is working to set up a drop box where payments can be left in person.

Wolford praised city employees and council members for distributing 100 ham meals, provided through donations, to local families in time for Easter. “That was phenomenal,” she said, adding that city officials also responded to a need at Excela Health Latrobe Hospital by delivering a pallet of bottled water.