HomeMy WebLinkAbout1974 10-09 Late payment will cost 3m $5,000 DiSPATCH La#e p Y a menf will
cosf 3M $5,000
By Jim Broede
Staff Writer C 6 q )crt
Maplewood's City Council has refused to "for-
give" the 3M Co.for late payment of a$50,000 sew-
er bill.
Instead, the city council voted 3 to 2 to levy a
$
0 10 per centainst the of the$50,000 company lwh whichwhich
was repre-
sentsaid
four days late in July.
COUNCILMEN John Greavu and Burt Murdock
suggested that the council was taking a hard-nosed
course by applying the penalty.
They had moved unsuccessfully to bypass policy
and assess the company a nominal$1 for the late
payment of the quarterly bill.
"Let's just write them a 'spank you'note," Mur-
dock commented, "and tell them not to do it
again."
CITY MANAGER Michael Miller said the-
Greavu-Murdock proposal would be bad precedent.
"If we allow them (3M) to get off,"he warned,
"everybody else will want to get off."
Councilman Don Wiegert said: "They'll ask,
'Why do you let the biggies off?' "
HE ALSO maintained that 3M can afford the
penalty, citing annual company profits after taxes
of $224 million to $440 million over the past three
years.
"To err is human,"Wiegert added, "but to for-
give is not council policy."
His views were shared by Mayor Robert Bruton
and Councilman Norm Anderson, who is a 3M em-
ploye.