Confused about ‘past due’ statement on your utility bill? City explains June bills were mailed too soon

QUINCY — Residents who received their June utility bill last week stating their account was past due and their service would be terminated within 10 days can now relax.

Jeff Conte, director of public works, explained what happened during Monday’s City Council meeting.

June utility bills for the city’s first billing district — north of Jefferson, west of 18th Street — were issued before the due date for May’s bill, which was June 20. City officials blamed the problem on the recent cyber attack on the city’s computer network.

“I didn’t realize this would happen. I do apologize for that,” Conte said. “We’ve received a lot of calls. As long as they paid their bill, our normal policy is that no one would be shut off. We did not apply any late fees or any penalties to those accounts.

“Going forward, this shouldn’t happen again. We were just trying to get caught up because our billing is way off schedule. We’re trying to get back to our normal billing. I apologize for those people who did receive it, but there were no penalties and nobody was cut off.”

Quincy Mayor Mike Troup later announced the city now can accept credit card payments starting Tuesday. Customers have been forced to pay their utility bills with cash or check since the cyber attack in early May.

Customers with questions regarding their utility bill should contact the Department of Utilities at (217) 228-4580 during normal business hours.

Monday’s meeting started with a review of a resolution recommending the city enter into a contract with Klingner and Associates for construction inspection and engineering services for $499,483. Aldermen voted 6-5 against the resolution at its June 13 meeting. However, a mistake in counting the votes by City Clerk Laura Oakman led the council to believe the resolution had passed.

Eric Entrup, R-1, read a prepared statement asking for the minutes from the June 13 meeting to be recorded but to add a statement from Oakman admitting her error.

Corporation counsel Bruce Alford then explained an alderman could make a motion to bring the resolution back before the council, or a motion could be made to vote on a matter that had previously been decided.

“In this case, there were not eight votes for or against that motion,” Alford said, explaining city code says eight votes are necessary when voting on expenditures.

Ben Uzelac, D-7, asked Alford if the city had sought outside legal counsel in the issue. Alford said he had.

“Based on all the legal advice we’ve seen so far, there’s nothing fishy,” Uzelac said.

Greg Fletcher, R-1, then made a motion, unanimously approved by aldermen, to table the resolution for two weeks “so we can study what’s really going on with this resolution, spend a little bit more time with Conte about how it’s going to work, what it’s going to do, what it’s not going to do and how it’s going to play out.”

Troup said after Monday’s meeting the mistake was discovered shortly after last week’s meeting.

“Laura actually stayed and listened to the tape to verify things,” he said. “Then we called the other outside counsel Tuesday to figure out what’s the right thing.”

In other action, aldermen approved:

• A fireworks display at the Quincy Country Club, 2410 State, at approximately 9:30 p.m. July 3. 
• A raffle by the Machinists Retiree Club and to have the bond requirement waived from July 1 to August 27.
• The Freedom Fest 2022 to be held July 3-4 in Clat Adams Park.
• The purchase lodging from TownePlace Suites in Lombard for $12,000 for Officer Brandon Keller and Officer Samuel Nielsen to attend the Suburban Law Enforcement Academy. 
• An ordinance amending the 2022-23 fiscal year budget to appropriate $506,000 for non-departmental disbursements.
• An ordinance granting a special use permit for a planned development at 1301 College to renovate a single-family residence into a two-family residence (duplex).