The Bicknell water department employees are being pressured to check every water/sewer bill payment to see if the bill is in arrears and to schedule it for shut off even if the outstanding amount is less than $10.00 regardless of whether or not they have paid a large amount on their outstanding balances. This is not the girls who work behind the counter, the rule comes down from above; you know people with no names such as "them" or "they" but I suspect it comes from the department head backed by Mayor Flickinger who I don’t really understand since his own family, when he was growing up, suffered from low income and struggled daily. I personally know of one lunch that the Mayor and his siblings only had instant pudding to eat; can a person's memory be so short?

I’m not sure why they need every dollar right now even at the detriment of the poor and elderly Bicknell residents.

I wrote a story earlier that the water filter is in bad shape but the council chose not to repair it, I see no water line repairs taking place and as far as I know there are no pumps that need or are being replaced so outside of payroll and electricity where is the money going. We all understand that water is free being supplied by nature; I know chemicals; but how much are chemicals and why that expense is going up enough to force people to decide between water and food or water and medicine is unclear. We did just absorb the nearly doubling of our water rates thanks to Councilman Frank Gugliotta. What happened? Wasn’t the rate increase high enough? Maybe Frank should re-evaluate his report and double the rate again, I know the rest of the city council will blindly follow just as they do at every other meeting on every other subject that is mostly you wash my back and I'll wash yours. Personally I suspect that the rule comes from the fact that the council and mayor just went through an election with no challenges for their seat so now they feel indestructible because they can't be touched for another four years, one month and so many days.

If the water department and mayor can or even can’t show why they suddenly need to assault the poor and elderly to maintain the Bicknell water system then maybe it would be a good idea to let the water department set up a fund for people to donate and use the money to pay the small arrears instead of shutting off their water placing an unnecessary burden on Bicknell residents and their families.

As soon as a fund is set up I’ll donate a $100.00 bill to start it.

John R. Stanczak