Remember this number: 270.

More specifically, remember $270 an hour the next time you do the dishes, take a bath or flush the commode.

Alpena city and township residents learned this week that is the number that is going to be paid for a mediator to help the two government entities try and hammer out an agreement resolving their dispute over water and sewer rates.

Judge Michael Mack of 26th Circuit Court hopes the two sides can avoid a trial, and he ordered the sides to try and resolve their differences first with the mediator.

We fully support the attempt at mediation and hope it works. We even understand the $270 figure is probably right in line with such consulting work like this in most parts of the country. But in Northeast Michigan, that figure is more in line with oil coming out of the ground than water.

This figure doesn’t include attorney fees both sides have incurred in this dispute. City Attorney Bill Pfeifer Monday gave council a bill for his work to date on the litigation that amounted to $40,000. He said the actual costs would have been $60,000, but he only sought the lower amount.

This dispute is becoming quite costly, so we hope the two sides can quickly find a common ground for compromise. Neither city nor township residents want to see the costs for this skyrocket any further out of control.