PAXTON The Paxton City Council will purchase a remote water meter-reading system. The council voted 7-0 to authorize city attorney Bob Martensen and water department head Mark LeClair to prepare documents for a contract and the financing of the system for the May meeting.

The city will spend between $210,000 and 220,000 on the system and finance it with a five-year note with a local bank. Residents will pay off the note with an increased debt service charge on water bills of $1.71 per month or $20.52 annually. When the note is paid off, LeClair said, the charge will go away.

LeClair, city secretary Chris Thompson and two aldermen went to Chebanse to observe its meter system and were impressed with how smoothly it ran. All the meters in town could be read in an hour. LeClair hopes all Paxton's meters under the new system can be read in a day.

Also the council agreed to purchase a Chevy Tahoe from Miles Chevrolet of Decatur for $31,000, equipped for canine police officer Chad Johnson and the police dog. A $20,000 grant from the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority will cover most of the cost and most of the remainder will be paid for out of the vehicle replacement fund Police Chief Bob Bane has been saving up.

Alderman and finance committee chair Bill Wylie announced that the city will be reimbursed $29,000 from state and federal emergency management funds to cover snow removal costs during the February blizzard.