BTC may amend water ordinance after resident brings huge bill scenario to BTC’s attention

By John Estridge

Brookville resident Justin Moore attended the July 14 Brookville Town Council meeting because he has a water problem.

Moore said he purchased a house near the river off Market Street and has been trying to fix it up. It is an historical home, which needed many upgrades. He came home several weeks ago on a Friday and found Brookville Water Department employees on the street outside his house. They told him he had a leak. Moore said he didn’t see evidence of the leak, but he called Burkharts and had the leak fixed. He paid them.

Then, he got his water bill. Usually, his household does not use the minimum amount of water allowed on the bill, and his bills usually run between $47 and $49 per month. His bill for that month was $751.91, and it claimed he had used 309,000 gallons.

Moore asked for relief from his bill.

At that meeting, BTC President Mike Biltz said the soil in that area is sandy, and the water from the leak could have just gone down into the soil and never made it to the surface.

Some town council members were for forgiving Moore the bill on a one-time basis, especially because he had the leak fixed as soon as it was brought to his attention. Other council members said it was not fair to do that because it had not been done in the past; thus, it would be unfair to the residents who have paid the full amount. That brought the argument the current council should not do things just because that was the way councils did things in the past.

That situation was also the topic of discussion at the Tuesday, July 28, meeting. In the two weeks between meetings, Brookville Clerk/Treasurer Gina Gillman reached out to other town and city clerks in the state to find out how they handled similar situations.

According to Gillman, she received 13 responses to her question, and of those 13 responses, there were a variety of answers including: a sewer adjustment, which Brookville currently does, two allow residents to file an appeal to council, and others make adjustments to coincide with ordinances those towns and cities have passed.

Gillman said Moore had paid his regular amount for that month, and he is waiting to see what decision council makes in the matter. She said the town is not charging him any late fees because she is also waiting on a decision by council members.

Town council member Curtis Ward said he favored the last scenario which would mean council will pass an amendment to its water ordinance allowing an adjustment in certain situations. He also said the sandy soil in that area could have easily kept the evidence of a leak from being shown. Ward had a similar situation in the winter when a water line in his garage burst, and he did not know about it for a couple of days.

According to Ward, if a homeowner shows a bill to the clerk’s office where the leak was fixed as soon as possible after the leak was discovered, he was good with forgiving the bill.

Gillman said one of the ordinances specified the forgiveness of a bill if the leak was something unseen as opposed to a running toilet.

Council member Eric Johnson said forgiving Moore’s bill could become a slippery slope for the town.

However, Ward and others said the proper ordinance would limit when the adjustments can be made.

Gillman had sample ordinances from other towns and cities and said she would forward those to town attorney Tammy Davis and council members. A committee of two council members was appointed by Biltz to give a recommendation to the full council.