His booming voice could wake you from a dead sleep, cause dogs to hide under the couch and make you want to take back things you never stole. His whereabouts is easy to identify since you can hear him from a distance. Who are we talking about? Jim McClarren, City of Alliance, water billing man.

Jim has worked several tours of duty for the City of Alliance in the water billing department. He has a total of eleven years with water billing and four years with the court system with Judge Lavery. Jim has also been a City Councilman, serving two years on Council representing the Second Ward and four additional years as Council-at-Large. He also sat on the Civil Service Commission for two years. Jim has lived in Alliance most of his life, attended Alliance schools, and served with the U. S. Army in Germany.

The water billing department has a total of 9,894 water customers. That includes residential, commercial and industrial. There is no such thing as an average water bill since everyone in town uses a different amount of water. Those bills are sent out once a month and are due around the 20^th of each month. And every month about 10% of those 9,894 customers get a water shut-off notice because they are delinquent on their bill. The shut-off notices generally are enough to get the majority of that 10% to pay their bills or make arrangements to do so. The man with the loud voice will be glad to work out an arrangement if you contact him prior to the water being shut-off. Of course, that also depends on your past history with the water billing department and whether or not you have followed through on previous "arrangements."

There are a total of eight employees in the water billing department who take care of reading the meters, putting out the bills, and taking payments. Every year the department takes in approximately $7,000,000 from water and sewer bills and tap fees for new service. The money that comes in to the department is earmarked for specific activities. Some of it has to go for debt reduction for the bonds that were issued to pay for the new water treatment plant. Some goes into capital improvement projects for new water and sewer lines. Some goes for salaries.

In the last few years income in the water billing department has been fairly stable, despite the loss of a few large customers such as American Steel. The increases in other, smaller businesses have made up for some of the losses in revenue. Construction seems to be everywhere in the city and all those folks need water and sewer.

This year a new rate study will be done and recommendations made on whether or not to raise rates or keep them the same. The study will be done by an independent group and reported to the Safety Service Director and others. Ultimately, it is the Safety Service Director, John Blaser, who makes the final decision on water rates. He, of course, considers input from the Water and Sewer Advisory Board and City Council.

If you have questions on your water bill or the water billing department you can call them at 330-823-3126. If you get a big, booming voice that makes you jump out of your shoes, you know you've reached Jim McClarren.