DeKalb Utility District board members have offered a rebuttal to comments made during a recent meeting of the Smithville Mayor and City Council.In a contract proposal presented to the city last fall, DUD offered to share in the cost of a study to determine exactly how much it costs the city to produce water.At the Feb. 4 meeting of the council, some members expressed dissapointment over information that DUD officials do not approve of the firm (Warren & Associates) that the city hired to perform the study, and that DUD will not share the cost of the study if the firm is retained.City Attorney Vester Parsley, Jr. was mailed a letter signed by DUD Manager Jon Foutch and Board Chairman Roger Turney last week, contending that he (Parsley) and Secretary-Treasurer Hunter Hendrixson have not given “full and accurate information” to the aldermen concerning DUD’s unwillingness to split the cost of a water study with the city.In the letter from DUD, officials state that a standard contract was sent by DUD to the City of Smithville on Aug. 28 to initiate negotiations on a new water purchase contract.According to the letter, it was clearly stated that the city and DUD were to “agree” on a firm to complete a study to determine the cost of water from the city’s treatment facility, and that the entity chosen for the job “shall be unbiased as reasonably possible.”DUD officials also claim in the letter that the firm the city has hired to find the cost of water is not “unbiased” nor an “independent entity,” because “David Pine and Jerry Warren of Warren & Associates are expected to be called as expert witnesses in the Utility Management Review Board proceeding (on April 4 in Smithville) and will be presenting evidence against the DUD on behalf of the City of Smithville.”While DUD has recommended another firm to perform the study, city officials said Warren and Associates was already well into the project, which will cost $7,500, by the time they received DUD’s objections.Parsley sent a letter to Foutch on Feb. 6 voicing the city fathers’ unhappiness with the DUD’s choice.The letter read:“The City of Smithville was very disappointed in your response to the City hiring Warren & Associates to conduct the cost study for the City of Smithville.“Your previous letters had not set out any particular firms or conditions for hiring someone to do the cost study.“The City was under the impression that we were going to share equally the expense of the cost study.“Hunter (Hendrixson) had previously attempted to contact the Jackson Thornton firm that you mentioned in your letter. However, they did not return his call until after Warren & Associates had been retained.“The City feels that DUD has at least a moral obligation to pay one-half of the $7,500 cost for Warren & Associates to perform the cost study. However, since Warren & Associates has already started the work the City will fulfill its obligation to pay them as contracted.”The DUD's reply to Parsley last week, signed by Turney and Foutch, read:“On behalf of the DeKalb Utility District, I wish to respond to your letter of Feb. 6, 2013.