The Cleveland Town Council met on Thursday afternoon at the fire and rescue building. There, the council members spoke with each other and members of the community on a few key issues that have come up lately.
The council members discussed the need to move the burn pile to the outer areas of town due to the smoke from the pile affecting people of the community in a negative way. It was even suggested by a citizen of Cleveland that a fence could possibly be erected around the burn pile. The council members agreed that this could be useful so that people weren’t using it for other reasons. However, it was also stated that if the burn pile is closed off completely people will start burning things wherever they see fit. The motion was approved to move forward on the project.
Also discussed at the council meeting was the need for more dumpsters around the town. The idea was brought up that the price of water could be raised up by $3 in order to accommodate the cost of more dumpsters. One citizen stated that $3 per family per bill is going to be a significant amount of money and wondered aloud at the cost. Every time a dumpster is emptied, it costs the town $125. One hundred and ninety four water bills go out in Cleveland, if those are raised by $3, it will be an extra $6,984 that comes into the town per year.
The dumpsters were primarily used in the spring in previous years but there has been a need to have them around more often. They would begin to be available year round and will be charged per emptying, not on a monthly basis. It was made known at the meeting that the extra money coming in by raising the bill will go toward other things that the community needs as well.
This meeting was not the deciding factor on raising the bill. This meeting simply helped the council members make a decision to move forward and there will be a subsequent meeting held in June that will allow the community members to come and let their opinions and concerns be known. It was suggested by a citizen that perhaps when the things started to mellow out more the bill could be brought back down again.