Apparently the US Postal Service’s new automated sorting system isn’t working so well…at least from the perspective of Crothersville Clerk-Treasurer Terry Richey.
“We placed the October water utility bills in the mail on Sept. 30 as well always do at the end of the month,” the clerk-treasurer announced at last week’s town council meeting. “Half of them got delivered. The other half was delayed about a week in Indianapolis.”
Richey said that water utility bills for Crothersville customers are deposited with the Crothersville Post Office but are sent to Indianapolis where electronic machinery sorts the monthly bills into a carrier route walk sequence that makes it easier for local carriers to deliver.
If the sorting works as quickly as USPS managers say that it should.
Richey said the town hall was flooded with phone calls last week, primarily from utility customers on fixed incomes, who were concerned about paying their bills promptly.
“The delay was not the fault of the town nor was it the fault of the local post office,” Richey said. “Apparently this is just the kind of delivery we all will have to face. But we are working on ways to make our monthly bill delivery more timely.”
Richey said she is working with Keystone Consulting, the software provider for the town’s utility billing, to see if there is a way to hasten sorting on a local level.
She said the town hall would be closed on Tuesday, Nov. 10, for software training.
In other town matters, the council set trick-or-treat night for Saturday, Oct. 31 from 6-8 p.m. Residents welcoming youthful trick-or-treaters should turn or their porch lights, officials said.
The council agreed to contract with the Jackson County clerk’s office to provide election administration services for the Nov. 3 municipal election. The county will provide the election ballots, voting machines and administer the election results for a fee of $2,500.
The council approved changing their regular meeting in November so it would not conflict with the election. The town council will meet on Monday, Nov. 2, beginning at 5:30 p.m.
