The Town of Culver is taking steps to make the process for shutting off resident’s water utility access more formal.
During this week’s Culver Town Council meeting, a policy was presented that outlined the process for cutting utility service to a home or residence. The policy shows the flow from the time a bill is sent out to the time a payment is missed before payment options are presented, or the water supply is simply cut-off.
Town Manager Jonathan Leist says there’s another method in the instance someone stops into the Town Hall to ask questions
“They’ll work with the person, document what date they’re going to make a payment, what the payment amount is going to be and if they’re not going to follow through on that, the date their water will get turned off,” says Leist.
The Town is already following the method, but no formal policy has been adopted to specify this is indeed the case.
Culver Town Attorney Jim Clevenger suggested putting the policy into ordinance form. This better allows the town to defend shutting off access to water utilities in the instance of an unpaid bill.
Town Council President Ginny Bess Munroe says amending the ordinance would also hold up in court.
“It should probably be part of the legal verbiage in our ordinance. Right?” says Munroe. “Otherwise, you could say: that’s just some policy the Clerk made up, it’s not an ordinance.”
Town officials say that by putting the policy language into ordinance form, it allows residents to know they’re being treated fairly.
The Culver Town Council will consider the policy as an amendment to their existing ordinance at the next Town Council meeting.
