Desloge, Park Hills request dismissal of suit

City officials say they are working to resolve disputes related to water system
By CHRIS CLINE
Daily Journal Staff Writer
Friday, January 9, 2009 9:45 AM CST
DESLOGE — The City is apparently dropping its water usage surcharge lawsuit against Park Hills. The lawsuit pertained to a $5 surcharge that was assessed to Desloge water customers from the latter part of 1994 to 1998 and from 1998 to 2000 when Desloge residents where charged double while commercial businesses were charged triple amounts.

A notice of the recent action was published in the latest edition of the Desloge Sun, the city’s newsletter. It said a hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. Jan. 29 in Division No. 3 of the Farmington courthouse on the dismissal. Associate Circuit Judge Raymond Weber will preside over the hearing.

Desloge city officials have been tight-lipped about the dismissal other than an e-mailed statement by Greg Camp, Desloge’s city administrator. 

The statement said, “the City of Desloge and the City of Park Hills are jointly requesting a dismissal of the class action lawsuit to recover alleged overcharges within Desloge for drinking water during the years 1994 to 2000. As stated in the published Notice, the dismissal of the lawsuit should not affect the rights of any customers to bring a separate lawsuit to recover alleged overcharges for water. This request for dismissal is part of a larger process to resolve the disputes between the cities which is still ongoing. We are not at liberty to discuss that process at this time. The City of Desloge assures you that we will discuss the larger process at the time we are permitted to do so.”

 
Reader Comments Reader Comments (7)
The comments below are from readers and do not represent the views of the Daily Journal
Kelly Nall posted on Friday, January 16th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
bkfstman - The vote was 15 years ago and alot has changed over that time. I don't see a thing wrong with another try at it, if it works great, if not then let it be. But so far everyone is correct in saying that it would attract more business and help out in long range future plans.
bkfstman posted on Thursday, January 15th, 2009 at 10:30 pm
PoliSci & mbser - Perhaps you are new to the area or have a short memory, but consolidation was already put to a vote and the issue was decided - time to take your own advice, put the past behind you and get over it.
mbser posted on Thursday, January 15th, 2009 at 10:00 am
PoliSci - Once again you have pondered the facts and surmised correctly. The 3 cities need to enter the 21 century, put away childishness and meld into one. This area could do so much better as a team rather than competitors. They just don't compete to well.
PoliSci posted on Monday, January 12th, 2009 at 4:56 pm
They need to consolidate and get it over with honestly. With Leadington, Park Hills, and Desloge all one entity their revenue numbers would reflect better to larger businesses, thus attracting them. Some companies/franchises will not even look at putting in a business, eventhough in the Mineral Area they could make money due to the many small towns, because of Park Hills/Desloge's populations and overall revenue. The problem with this area is we have average to small towns smattered about so overall revenue generation looks more limited than it truly is.
tiredofthebull posted on Monday, January 12th, 2009 at 12:08 am
Very well put MBSER. There is too much at stake for the future of this county for Park Hills, Desloge and Leadington battling over water lines and city limit signs. It's great to see them putting this behind them.

I hope they can focus on working together to attract new long term businesses to the central part of the county in the next several years.

It would be neat to see the chamber of commerce office for Park Hills/Leadington join up with Desloge to work for the central St. Francoic county residents instead of every little town for itself.

By working together as a community, we might be able to attract higher quality commercial interest in our area. It would be wonderful to see more business in town that people can make a good living at without having to commute.
Palerider posted on Friday, January 9th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Now that its settled...when will my water rates go back down????
mbser posted on Friday, January 9th, 2009 at 10:42 am
It's about time everyone buries the hatchet and gets along. Both cities have a lot to offer each other and maybe now with a little foresight they can help each other attract more business.
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