TOLEDO, Ohio — On Wednesday night, all nine municipalities under the Toledo Regional Water Commission were officially signed on board. The entire process has been in the works for many years, but is almost in its final stages.
"There were times where people doubted whether anyone would sign on to this plan, much less all nine of them," Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz said.
Kapszukiewicz acknowledged that for many local suburbs, the road to get here involved letting go of past issues.
"And for much of the last 60 years, there has been a spirit of at times distrust, and at times dislike," Mayor Kapszukiewicz said.
Over the past few weeks, suburbs like Maumee, Perrysburg and Sylvania voted in favor of the joining onto the 40-year uniform contract for water supply. Sylvania Mayor Craig Stough said a big reason Sylvania signed on was guaranteed safety and solid pricing.
"We did get to a fair price as well as safety. And, the pricing for all of us will be appropriate and confirmable by terms of the contract," Mayor Stough said.
Leading up to this point, many communities toured the Collins Park Water Treatment Plant alongside leaders from Toledo in order to see the improvements made since the water crisis five years ago.
"Once they saw the improvements we had made, they would understand that Toledo very much cares about providing safe clean drinking water," said Toledo City Councilman Nick Komives said.
Moving forward, customers under each municipality will pay a fixed fee per month. Now that all nine communities have officially signed on, rates can be determined, which will happen over the next few months.
Representatives from all the contracted participating communities will be represented at meetings and will be in charge of determining the wholesale rate customers will pay. Many leaders of local suburbs like Sylvania and Maumee said the opportunity to fairly work out a price for their residents is a big reason they decided to join onto this agreement.
The first meeting for that is next Thursday. Minimum water charges will end on December 31, 2019. So starting next year, customers will pay a fixed fee per month.
Toledo specifically will have a few additional problems to tackle — like dealing with those on financial assistance programs.
If you have specific questions about those financial issues, you have the chance to ask them at public meetings being held this month.
The list of meeting/locations are as follows:
- Council District 1: Wednesday, Oct. 23 at the University of Toledo’s Scott Park Campus Auditorium
- Council District 2: Wednesday, Oct. 30 at Heatherdowns Library
- Council District 3: Tuesday, Oct. 22 at Birmingham Library
- Council District 4: Thursday, Oct. 24 at Main Library
- Council District 5: Monday, Oct. 28 at West Toledo Library
- Council District 6: Monday, Oct. 21 at Point Place Library
Voluntary monthly billing will begin in November and December for customers who received their final quarterly statement in October and November.
Regular monthly billing and due dates, along with new water rates will start on January 1, 2020.