Cloverdale reconsiders utility bill responsibility changes

CLOVERDALE -- The Cloverdale Town Council was introduced to Ordinance 2016-18, which concerns placing utility bills in the landlord or property owner’s name. The measure had been discussed and unanimously voted against during the regular October meeting after a long and heated discussion by the council and audience members.

The public was not allowed to comment.

“And with this one we’re not going to have any comments from the floor,” President Coweta Patton said. “This is going to be talked over among us here in the board and with Cheryl and Wayne, and at the next meeting if you want to comment on it, you can comment on it at the time that we will be voting on it.

“But we just wanted you to be able to hear this for yourself and not have people over-talking or anything. We didn’t get a chance to explain our side of it the last time, and I’d like to have that this time to do that.” President Patton continued on to say that the utility bills in Cloverdale are high because parts of the town’s sewer system were improperly installed and the council at that time did not seek a grant to install it. She also said that it’s important to “find out what the rest of the world is doing and how things is working out there to make our town better.”

“It’s not just things that we come up with,” President Patton said. “Like my late husband, most of you know him, he always said or has said a lot of times, it’s not the person who thinks they know everything that has the answers to everything but the person who knows how to find the answers. And (Clerk-Treasurer) Cheryl and (Town Manager) Wayne are very good at doing this.”

She also said that it hurts everyone when utility users run out on their bills, that it would be helpful to landlords to know when a tenant is delinquent on their utility bill and that small claims court cases sometimes cost more than the bill was worth.

“Well, it just boils down to where we need to help one another,” President Patton finished.

The ordinance says that both the tenant and the property owner will be notified at the first delinquent bill; the property owner will be required to put the utilities in their name and tenants must create a payment arrangement plan before utilities can be reconnected (the $75 reconnection fee will be waived); and on the final bill, the $200 utility deposit will first be applied to the final water balance and then the remainder to the final sewer and storm water balance.

“I was really listening to the audience last time,” Clerk-Treasurer Galloway said, “and I feel like this is a good compromise. It helps everybody; I think it helps the landlords and the people that are selling on contract and it helps the town.”

The council also passed Resolution 2016-16, which authorized the write-off of $91,910.35 in outstanding utility balances dating from 2009 to 2016 in a 4-1 vote, with Gary Bennington opposing. The motion was made by Larry Fidler and seconded by Vice President Don Sublett.

“I thought this was brought up at the last meeting,” Bennington said, “and there was a motion to write off $20,000 and the motion died. Now we’re bringing up the same thing again with more write-offs.”

President Patton responded, “It’s something that we have to do. We was going to do it in proportion, but everybody was -- you was complaining about it and different ones and we decided we might as well just get it all off at one time, get it settled and done. And the State Board of Accounts says we have to do this. This is not something we can argue about.”

Clerk-Treasurer Galloway confirmed that there would be no old write-offs after the passage of the resolution.

“I will be totally responsible for everything,” Clerk-Treasurer Galloway said. “But let’s just get the books cleaned off once and for all, and then if I have a write-off then you guys can put me under the iron.”

In other developments:

-- Ordinance 2016-16: The council was introduced to Ordinance 2016-16, which concerns the amendment of Ordinance 2016-9 to increase credit card fees in the payment of utility bills and other fees. The changes would include charging $3 for bills in the amount of $0 to $100; $4 for bills $100 to $150 and $5 for bills $150 to $200.

After a lengthy discussion the council got ahead of itself and voted to amend the ordinance in a 4-1 vote with Bennington opposing, but Attorney Allan Yackey said it was legally meaningless as this was a mere introduction. The council is set to take official vote on Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. in the Cloverdale Town Hall.

Bennington suggested the town simply not take “high-priced” credit cards, but Deputy Clerk Trina Baker said that the town only accepts Visa or Mastercard and removing that payment method would be a serious inconvenience.

-- Ordinance 2016-19: The council was introduced to Ordinance 2016-19, which concerns the amendment of Ordinance 2014-17 to clarify the original intent of backflow preventers and sewer inspections.

“There’s a lot of gray areas in the 2014-17, especially paragraph 7,” Town Manager Wayne Galloway said. “So between myself and Mr. Yackey, we’ve been working that out. So we added paragraph 8, sections A through E, and (sections) nine and 10.”

-- Resolution 2016-15: The council passed Resolution 2016-15, which authorized the transfer of $11,400.80 from the wastewater operation fund to the wastewater depreciation fund in a 4-1 vote with Bennington opposing.

The motion was made by Larry Fidler and seconded by Vice President Sublett. The transfer was made to assist in the purchase of a new E. coli UV treatment system, which is currently estimated to cost around $200,000. The transferred funds were made from treating contaminated pond water for POET.

The next Cloverdale Town Council meeting is set for Tuesday, Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. at the Cloverdale Town Hall.