One of the items of unfinished business before the Mansfield City Council during their regularly scheduled meeting on February 20, was new building permit fees.
The proposed fees discussed by the council during a recent study session included the following increases:
- Residential $150 (old fee $100)
- Commercial $.25 x sq. ft. (old fee $.04 x sq. ft.)
- HVAC/R contractor $125 (old fee $75)
- Plumbing contractor $125 (old fee $100)
- Gas contractor $75 (old fee $25)
- Electrical contractor $125 (old fee $75)
The new building permit fees were approved unanimously by the council.
The next item of business, employee boot replacement. This includes the public works department and police department. “This is a fringe benefit that will be added to our personnel policy manual,” stated Mayor Buddy Black. The fringe benefit addition states that “city employees required to wear boots shall be allowed, at the city’s expense, to purchase one pair of boots per 12 month period. The maximum amount the city will pay is $100 with replacement being issued at the end of a 12 month period from each purchase date. Any amount exceeding $100 will be at the employee’s expense.” The motion passed unanimously by the council.
In items of new business, the council voted to add an expiration date on city issued checks. Any city issued checks will be void after 90 days. Next, the discussion of increasing the fuel surcharge on water bills. Currently the city charges $2, and according to Mayor Black there hasn’t been an increase in “forever.” The proposed new fee is $4. “Mansfield does not charge for trash pickup, and all the other towns around do…We have to recoup some of our losses in sanitation.” The motion to increase the fuel surcharge passed unanimously. Also discussed, the increased dumping fee at the public works department for roll-off containers. The council voted to increase the fee from $10 to $15 per load.
Next, the council discussed the price increase for the City of Hartford’s waste water fees. “We were supposed to, according to the contract, look at it one year after the agreement. That has never been done, so we’re doing it now,” stated Black. Currently, both the City of Hartford and the City of Midland pay Mansfield $1.19 per thousand gallons of waste. The proposed new cost is $1.40 per thousand gallons. The council will have to revisit the City of Midland’s agreement at next month’s meeting. Black added that in a new contract, it will be noted that the costs will be looked at two years later, and every year after that. The motion to increase Hartford’s waste fee from $1.19 to $1.40 per thousand gallons passed unanimously.
One final item of new business, the city was offered eight acres of land near the City Lake property at $65,000. The council, however, declined to take any action on that offer.
