North Richmond News has the info regarding Richmond’s Department of Public Utilities upcoming community meetings. These meetings will discuss efforts to establish a Stormwater Utility Program to prevent neighborhood flooding in the future. More info via the city’s press release.

The meeting for our area will be held Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2007, from 7:00 until 9:00 p.m. at Mary Munford Elementary School Auditorium, 211 Westmoreland Street.

“There is a tremendous need to create a dedicated funding source to address the flooding and drainage issues that are prevalent throughout our community,” said the Mayor. “This revised proposal for a stormwater utility provides a reasonable solution to help prevent those issues in the future.”

The reductions in the water and wastewater rates will virtually offset the cost of the stormwater utility fee for one- and two-person households with an average monthly utility usage, while the rate reductions will help to minimize the cost of the stormwater utility program for larger households.

“We need to bring about equity among the customers of our public utilities so that individuals are only paying their fair share of the expenses, not subsidizing the cost for non-residential customers,” said the Mayor.

DPU Director Chris Beschler will lead the meetings, which will be held in each part of the City and are open to all citizens. Below is the date for the North Richmond meeting, and five other meetings scheduled around town