ROBERTSDALE, Ala. — The Robertsdale City Council approved a “Round Up” program for electric utilities at its meeting Monday night. All members of the council were present.

“This is part of a software upgrade,” explained the city’s Chief Financial Officer, Ann Simpson.

The program, which allows customers to round up their monthly bill to the nearest whole dollar, will enable a third-party charity to give vouchers to people who are customers of Robertsdale’s power company. The nonprofit organization will be responsible for making sure the person or family is eligible for assistance, and will issue a voucher to the city’s utility billing department.

The new software is already in place, but has to be activated, Simpson said. City electric customers are seeing one part of the upgrade, a bar code on the return portion of their bill, which allows city employees to simply scan the bill and check to make sure the full amount has been paid. According to Simpson, the program is based on one that EMC is using now.

The way the “Round Up” system works is if a customer has a bill for $84.38, the bill will be rounded up to $85. The money raised by the program will be placed in a separate account.

“We just have to switch it on,” said Simpson. She said that customers who choose not to participate will have a form to fill out and send back to the Utility Department.

“It should cost people about $6 a year,” Simpson estimated, adding that the money raised would stay in Robertsdale.

The agency, which will be selected later, will present a voucher to the city and unless the charity pays the difference, they are only able to give out what is raised the month before.

“We will ask the nonprofit to periodically produce spreadsheets showing where the money is going,” said Mayor Charles Murphy.

“This (using a nonprofit to distribute the funds) is a great idea,” said council member Paul Hollingsworth.

While offering customers a way to give to the needy, Simpson also asked the council to approve an increase in electrical service deposits. Residential deposits will go from $200 to $350, commercial deposits will go from $250 to $300 and commercial with “demand” and industrial deposits will go from $400 to $1,000.

Simpson pointed out that the city’s last audit pointed to the large number of uncollected utility bills as a cause for concern.

“This showed up on the audit reports,” said Simpson. “The bills have been pursued with a third party collector.” Simpson stressed that the increased deposits would be for new accounts only.

“I think this is a great idea,” said council member Sue Cooper, who asked Simpson if the increased deposits were enough. When Simpson indicated that she was not sure, Cooper said “We can revisit that in a year.”

The council voted unanimously to approve the change.

The council also approved:

— The use of two of the city’s days at the Baldwin County Coliseum for Robertsdale High’s graduation.

— The reappointment of Sylvia Mattingly, Tex Kline and Brian Pierce to the Industrial Development Board

— The transfer of an “off premises” liquor licensee at 21485 Highway 59 to CEFCO, a partnership from Deweese Enterprises.

An application from “Papa’s Place” to have a liquor license at the location of the former Aunt Sarah’s Bakery was tabled. Council members were concerned that the location may be too close to a church.

The Council also voted to give the local “Honor Flight” organization $1,000 to help defray the costs of “Honor Flights” to veterans. The program enables veterans of World War II to view the new monument in their honor in Washington, D.C.

The council also voted to join the Baldwin Energy Alliance. According to Jenny White of the South Alabama Regional Planning Commission, the commission is hoping to obtain grant money to improve service. Only one grant covering 11 states is to be issued.

The Council also heard an extensive presentation by Brian Wozniak and Careton Knotts of Honeywell. The company wants to install a combination of broadband and Wi-Fi services and “smart” meters for utilities throughout the city, and possibly the county. Wozniak indicated that money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (also known as the “Stimulus Bill”) was coming available to provide those services. The council took no action at the meeting.