Check snafu stalls city’s payments

Payment is on its way.

Seriously.

After a two-month wait, the city of Quincy, Wash., now has the checks it needs to pay its bills.

In a twist on the old “check’s in the mail” stall, Quincy Clerk Sue Miller last week sent letters to some of its creditors promising payment once it received its own checks.

“We have been trying to get checks printed out for over two (2) months and the company has assured us that we will have our shipment on Monday, July 11, 2005. Once the checks arrive we will get your payment in the mail to you,” Miller pledged.

Quincy Mayor Dick Zimbelman said Monday that the freshly printed checks had indeed arrived, and payments were sent out to about 50 different creditors.

“I have never heard of it,” said Michelle Harvey with the Association of Washington Cities, when asked if other municipalities have run out of checks. “It is just sort of a reminder of what type of world a small city works in. It’s such a different environment from a Spokane or a Liberty Lake.”

Quincy employees have been paid with other checks or direct deposit all along, said Zimbelman, who good-humoredly answered questions Monday about the city’s temporarily empty checkbook.

“The money was here,” he said, explaining it all had to do with problems at the printer. “We have plenty of money.”

First the logo wasn’t printed properly. Then the press broke down.

“They kept saying, in five days we’ll have them. In seven days we’ll have them…” Zimbelman said.

As they say, the checks are in the mail.