PELL CITY — The City Council could vote Monday night to hire a company to take over and run the city’s Water Department at a cost of more than a half million dollars a year.

“We are not talking about selling our water system,” Councilman Donnie Todd said. “We’re talking about someone working for us. We will have complete control of our water system.”

Mayor Bill Hereford said city officials talked to four companies about managing the city’s Water Department and received three proposals.

“We looked pretty hard at all three companies,” Hereford said. “We looked harder at ClearWater Solutions.”

The council is expected to hire ClearWater Solutions of Opelika at its Monday meeting, which starts at 6 p.m.

Councilman Greg Gossett said there was no public discussion on the matter, with the exception of the limited discussion at Thursday’s work session.

No details of what the company was responsible for or how much it would cost the city was disclosed at the work session.

Gossett said Friday the city will pay the company about $53,000 a month to take over the operation of the Water Department.

Hereford said the council is holding a public hearing to hear from residents about the possible management of the city’s water system by a private company. The public hearing is slated prior to Monday night’s council meeting and will start at 5 p.m.

“How much public discussion can you have 1 hour before you’re going to vote on it,” Gossett said. “I think you need several town meetings to discuss this thoroughly. It’s the taxpayers who are paying this bill, not us.”

Hereford said the public is invited and encouraged to attend the public hearing, and residents will have the opportunity to voice any concerns about having a private company operate a city department.

The mayor and some council members said the company could save the city as much as $200,000 a year.

At Thursday’s work session, Gossett said he had a problem with a private company using public facilities and equipment.

“That bothers me,” he said.

Gossett also questions how the city could save $200,000, when it will have to pay the company more than $600,000 a year to manage the Water Department.

Gossett said the company will get paid $53,000 a month whether the company does anything or not.

“There’s no incentive for them to do anything special to make the Water Department better,” he said.

However, it appeared at Thursday’s work session that most council members were in favor of a private company taking over the troubled Water Department.

“I think they can increase our revenues,” Councilwoman Dot Wood said. “We have problems, but I believe good management will solve it.”

Councilman Donnie Guinn agreed.

“If we aren’t getting it done with what we have then it’s time to look elsewhere,” Guinn said.

Todd said the 14 employees currently working for the city’s Water Department would not have a job with the city but could end up working for ClearWater Solutions.

The mayor would not receive any more pay for managing the Water Department, as well, Todd said.

“The employees are aware of what’s going on,” he said.

Todd said Friday the company is charging $53,000 to run the Water Department, but it currently costs the city more than $60,000 in operating expenses each month.

“We can’t get it right,” Todd said. “This has to be a stand-alone revenue for the city. We have to quit supplementing the utility fund from the general fund.”

Hereford said he checked with entities that ClearWater Solutions has worked for, and in all three cases the company received great reviews.

“The Alabama Department of Corrections is very happy with ClearWater,” Hereford said.

He said the company appeared to work well with employees who were already in place.

“We want to come in and work with you,” said Rick Ailiff, president of ClearWater Solutions.

Todd said water rates will not increase with ClearWater Solutions taking over the operation of the Water Department.