Town Talk Church Point
Town Talk Church Point
Mayor Spanky explains the new design and more secure water bill
Chris and Mayor Spanky are here to discuss the changes to your water billing system. They unveil a new, more secure and efficient way to receive your water bills, using sturdier card stock and designs that keep your personal information under wraps. No more guessing games or lost-in-mail moments; we're bringing you peace of mind with a billing system that's gearing up for the future.
As Mayor Spanky steps into the spotlight, we get a crash course on why water rates are on the move, with a nod to our previous deep-dive episode, "Diving Deep into Water Cost." Strap in as we navigate the state-mandated changes stirred by crises in cities like Flint and Jackson, ensuring you're in the know about the bigger picture. Our chat is a blend of practical tips and essential background that'll clear up the haze around your water costs, keeping you informed and ready to tackle the year ahead with confidence.
So we have something new to share with you today, and it has to do with water bills. It is Chris and Mayor Spanky and I want to just explain a little bit about the new water bill and what you're going to be getting in the mail. Explain more of Mayor.
Speaker 2:Well, what this is. This is the actual bill that you receive. This is nothing to do with water consumption. This is a totally different one. What normally would happen is there would be a card in your mail. What was happening was the little cards and stuff would get caught up and maybe not go through distribution.
Speaker 2:Well, and we're getting a lot of people saying that they weren't getting their bill or maybe a little portion of a bill, like just like a half a card and stuff like that. But what I want to make sure is explain to you what we're doing, because I don't want you to see this and it's different and maybe think that is junk mail or like sweepstakes or you know those things you get, because it does look a little weird. It's. I mean, on the card itself it says town of church, point, but it comes from, like Fayetteville, arkansas.
Speaker 2:Okay, you know well what you do is you just pull off the perforated edge and open it up and you will see your water bill and what it does too is it kind of hides it from people to see? Like you know, other people can see how much it is. So it's a little different, but I think it's going to work real well. It's a thicker card stock. It's going to go to the machines, I think, a little easier and we're taking that human element out of it. When we finish it in a month, we submit a button, it goes to them. They send it out that day.
Speaker 1:Done.
Speaker 2:Done because we used to have to tear the bills to send them out and when you're doing 1800 of them by hand. That's a time. Consumption Takes a while, you know, and most people are used to getting that bill on this date and not deviating from it. We're trying to improve the water department. We're trying to improve the way we do business, the way we do things, to get it more to 2024. You know.
Speaker 1:I think that's a good thing. I never thought about the security aspect of it. So when you open it, tear off the preparator top, it's going to look very similar to what you had inside yes, but it's a little bit thicker because you're going to have to open it up. But the security part of it name, your information, your, your account number all that's not visible to anybody anymore.
Speaker 2:Exactly. Another thing too is we added a number of days on the billing cycle to where, when people see like maybe it's 35 days, well then you'll know next month it's going to be 25 days. You know, like that, that overages, because I mean due to weather weekends, it's not that we're going to check the meter exactly same day every month. I think it will help people to understand that. You know, if your water bill was is normally 80 bucks, okay, well, the next month it's 100, but you see 38 days, well then you know next month it's going to be significantly lower. Yeah, so we're trying every day to get a little better, get as much information as fast to you, as best as we can.
Speaker 1:And one thing I want to mention too. You know, obviously, water was a subject that everyone was talking about, and I also want to remind people that if you didn't get a chance to listen to our previous podcast, which we released at the beginning of December, you can go back, you can listen to it. If you don't subscribe to the podcast, you can simply go to our website, you can go to churchpointorg and there's a player there where you can play every episode, and the water episode is called diving deep into water cost.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's a deep dive into why they make us go up on water rates. It's not just us saying we need more money, it's the state saying do the Flint, michigan and Jackson Mississippi, we're changing the rules and you're gonna have to do what we tell you to do. Not always fun, but you have to listen to your boss.
Speaker 1:That's it right. You have to do what they tell you to do. That's right. But you know, merit, thank you so much for that, and I know it's something that you wanted to mention on a podcast, and I believe it's going to be very simple, for everyone should be very simple.
Speaker 2:It's just going to look a little bit different and a little bit safer, and the biggest- part is it's not going to look exactly the same as it was, and what I'm trying to make sure is that people see it and think it's junk mail and just throw it, because anytime you change something, somebody you know maybe won't agree or understand what we're doing. That's why we're here trying to explain it to you in deep detail, to where you know exactly what's coming in after the first of February.
Speaker 1:Yep, okay, so this is going to begin February 1st? Yes, so when you get your February bill, that's when you start seeing it.
Speaker 2:This is gonna be a whole, that's and it should be all on the same day. The only way it wouldn't is heavy, heavy weather or something like that. That would distract us. But okay, all right, we're just trying to get a little better every day.
Speaker 1:There we go, and I think you're doing a great job at that, mayor. So thank you so much for coming in and spending some time on another Town Talk podcast. Thank you so much.