(A) Policy. The purpose of this section is to establish the process for coordination with any other public utility providers who may be requested to terminate their utility services "where the sewer or wastewater account for the property has been found to be delinquent" [11 O.S. § 22-112.5] so that the termination of service provided herein may be in effect.
(B) Definitions.
DELINQUENT. When used in conjunction with the term utility account shall mean a state where the account holder and/or property owner has failed to pay the full amount owed on any bill on a utility account, including any services fee, interest, penalties, and/or required deposits, after 30 days from the date on which the bill is stated to be due. An account is delinquent after the first delinquency, and any subsequent delinquencies are to be included within the original delinquency.
UTILITY ACCOUNTS. Shall mean accounts opened and billed by the Bethany Utility Billing Department for the purpose of collecting money owed (service charges, fees and/or late charges) to the City of Bethany for garbage and refuse service, sewer service, water service as well as any other fees which are billed by the Utility Billing Department.
FEES. In the utility account context, fees shall mean any money owed to the City of Bethany to provide utility service. It shall include, but not be limited to, the service charges for the provision of sewer service, water service and/or garbage and refuse service, as well as any applicable fees (including, but not limited to, line maintenance, ambulance service, EPA fees, waste fees, etc.) as well as any late charges that have been assessed.
(C) Termination procedures. Whenever any customer or property owner, whose water service is provided by another municipality, has failed to pay the full amount owed for fees on any monthly utility account bill for more than 30 days, the account is subject to the declaration of delinquency by the city and to termination of service as provided herein.
(1) Notice. The city reserves the right, at any time, to shut off service for non-payment of charges after giving written notice, and the city shall not be responsible for any damages resulting therefrom. See § 52.07.
(2) Notice of the proceedings provided for herein shall be provided to the account holder of records as well as the property owner (where different) by U.S. mail postmarked at least 14 days prior to the deadline to request a public hearing in front of the City Council and shall be sent to:
(a) The physical address where the service is provided,
(b) The address of the account holder as listed on the application for utility service (if different), and
(c) The mailing address listed with the Oklahoma County Assessor for the owner of the subject property (if different than the address for the account holder or the physical address).
(3) The notice provided herein may also be served on the relevant party by personal service. Finally, notice may be made for the physical address
by posting the notice on the premises (for multi-family dwellings, such notice shall be posted on the door of each affected dwelling).
(4) Administrative fee. There shall be an administrative fee of $50 to recover the city's costs (wages and expenses) in preparing and sending all notices. This fee shall be waived for any account where the Council declares that no delinquency exists and may be waived by the Council in other cases at its discretion.
(5) Termination of garbage and refuse service. The city may cease providing garbage and refuses service to any property subject to a delinquency proceeding as provided herein immediately upon providing notice (by U.S. mail or posting) to the physical address provided for herein subject to the stay procedures established in division (D) of this section.
(6) Termination of the sewer service and water service. Sewer service and water service may be terminated by the city upon the declaration of a delinquency by the City Council as provided for in division (E) of this section.
(7) Declaration of a finding of delinquency. The City Council shall be responsible for declaring a delinquency in any utility account. Upon such declaration, the city may proceed with the termination of any remaining services to the address as provided herein. The City Council shall hold a public hearing prior to making such a declaration as provided herein.
(8) Public hearing. The City Council, at any regular or special meeting, may make a finding declaring a delinquency after the opportunity for the account holder and/or property owner to appear before the Council at a public hearing. The procedures for such public hearing shall be as follows:
(a) The notice sent shall indicate that any interested party (resident at the physical address, account holder and/or property owner) shall have a right to appear before the City Council. Any interested party must notify the City Clerk or his/her designee (in person or in writing; if in writing, must be received by the city prior to the date established herein) of their request for a public hearing before the City Council at least one business day prior to the date of the Council meeting as indicated in the notice (e.g., where the Council is to meet at 7:00 p.m. on a Tuesday, the request for a hearing must be submitted prior to 5:00 p.m. on the Monday immediately prior to the Council meeting unless such Monday is a legal holiday and then notice shall be provided by 5:00 p.m. on the first available business day prior to the Council meeting). For the City Council regular meeting days and times (6:30 p.m. on first and third Tuesday of each month) see § 30.01.
(b) Council shall determine that the notice requirements have been met and shall make a record of the same.
(c) Requests for delays or waiver of payment will not be entertained; only questions of proper and correct billing will be considered. See § 50.06(B).
(d) The list of accounts for which a delinquency is to be declared shall be listed on the consent docket for the Council (by physical address). The Clerk shall notify the Council which addresses are requested to be removed from the consent docket for a public hearing. Where an interested party has timely notified the Clerk of their request for a public hearing, the physical address for the interested party shall be removed from the consent docket and shall be heard in a public hearing as provided for herein. At his/her discretion, any Council member may remove from the consent docket any physical address for which a timely notice has not been received so that a public hearing may be held. Once all physical addresses for which a public hearing is to be held have been removed (mandatory removals and discretionary removals), the Council may proceed to declare, by way of an affirmative vote on the remainder of the consent docket, that an uncontested delinquency is declared for all physical addresses which have not been removed from the consent docket.
(e) The Council shall hold a public hearing on any addresses removed from the consent docket prior to declaring that a delinquency exists at the subject physical address. The Council may vote, address by address, to declare a delinquency exists, to declare that no delinquency exists, to table the hearing, and/or vote on a declaration of a delinquency to a future meeting (no subsequent notice is required to be sent if the date and time of the future meeting is stated in the motion), or to remand the account to staff for further consideration.
(f) The public hearing on any address subject to termination of utility services shall consist of a call to the interested party to be heard first, followed by a call to anyone from the public who wishes to be heard (note: notices to the hearing are not sent to adjacent property owners and sufficient notice is given in the posting of the subject properties physical addresses on the Council's agenda). The Council may hear from any interested party or any member of the public about the termination of service. This shall include hearing from the interested party or a member of the public on the issues of whether there is a cause why the services should not be terminated, whether there is a dispute (and what evidence exists of the dispute) as to the amount claimed to be owed, or any other topics relevant to the issue at hand.
(g) The Council shall open and close the public hearing on majority vote members present. Once the hearing is closed, the Council may take such action, by motion to majority vote, as is provided for herein.
(h) If a delinquency is declared by the Council, any utility services provided to the physical address which have not already been terminated shall be terminated as provided herein. See § 52.07.
(D) Stay of termination procedures. Any customer or user who wishes to stay termination proceedings (see division (C) of this section) prior to termination of service may do so as provided herein. A customer or user may stay termination proceedings by making arrangements prior to the termination date, which is agreeable to the city to satisfy the full delinquency, provided, however, that a customer or user who makes such arrangements and who after that fails to fulfill those arrangements may be deemed to have defaulted on the agreement and the stay of termination proceedings may be lifted by the city and the termination proceedings reinstated where they left off. Additionally, a customer wishing to stay termination proceedings to challenge the finding of delinquency by the City Council may do so by depositing with the city an amount equal to the amount declared to be delinquent by the city and shall further be responsible for depositing money equal to fees billed for service which has not yet been terminated, such deposits being due within 30 days of billing. Failure to deposit money equal to the amount for ongoing monthly utility service during the pendency of a stay shall constitute grounds for the lifting of the stay by the city. A satisfactory deposit shall stay proceedings for up to six months or longer if deemed appropriate by a court of competent jurisdiction. During the stay period, the customer or user may arrange to reschedule the hearing described herein. A customer or user may also use this 60 day stay period to seek further relief by whatever legal means available provided; however, the customer or user must first consent to the validity of the delinquency through the hearing procedure described herein. In the event the challenge to the amount claimed to be delinquent is successful, and it is determined a lesser amount is owed, the customer or user shall be entitled to a refund of the amount deposited with the city in excess of the amount owed.
(E) Order of priority for payments made. Where a utility account is in arrears, subject to termination proceedings, or has been terminated and subsequent payments are received (not payments made as a stay deposit under division (D) of this section) in an amount less than the total due (current month plus any amount in arrears), the money shall be credited to the account in the following priority:
(1) Any current (no past-due) balance shall be satisfied first with priority going to garbage and refuse charges, then to fees, and finally to sewer service charges.
(2) Once all current balances are satisfied, payments shall begin to satisfy past due balances in the following priority: late charges, then back due garbage and refuse charges, then fees, then sewer service charges, and finally all costs actually incurred by the City of Bethany associated with the termination and sewer service.
(3) Where partial payment is made but not agreement staying termination proceedings has been entered into with the City Clerk (or his/her designee), the termination proceedings will continue unless and until the amount owed is either satisfied through payment or a stay is issued.
(F) Termination of process for sewer service. For sewer service in which water service is provided by another municipality, once the City Council has declared a delinquency, the City Clerk shall, within a reasonable time period following the Council meeting where the delinquency was declared, certify the finding of a delinquency for each address. Under 11 O.S. § 22-112.5, the following process is established to terminate sewer service at a physical address where a delinquency has been declared. This section shall only apply to those accounts where the delinquency exists for amounts billed and due on or after the effective date of this chapter. Where the Council declares a delinquency, the following process shall govern the termination of sewer service:
(1) The City of Bethany shall notify any public water provider (e.g., Oklahoma City) of the declaration of the delinquency and shall request the termination of water service to the subject physical address as provided herein.
(2) The City of Bethany shall request the termination of water service and propose a date on which water service is proposed to be terminated, such date must be at least 30 days after the date the request is sent to the public water service provider. A copy of this request along with a notice from the City of Bethany of the date water service is proposed to be terminated shall be sent to the account holder and to the property owner and shall also include a notice that sewer service will be discontinued on or after the date on which service is proposed to be terminated.
(3) The public entity providing water service may terminate water service at the subject property on the proposed date termination or within 30 days thereafter.
(4) Should the sewer or wastewater delinquency be resolved during the pendency of the termination of water service or sometime after that, the City of Bethany shall provide the public water service provider with notice of the resolution of delinquency no later than the first business day following resolution. Should the sewer or wastewater delinquency be resolved during the pendency of the termination of water service or sometime after that, the City of Bethany shall provide the account holder and the property owner notice of the delinquency upon request.
(5) The City of Bethany may effect the termination of sewer service any time after the date water service is terminated as long as notice was given at least 30 days prior to the date on which water service was actually terminated.
(6) Service shall be reinstated only after all bills for service then due have been paid, along with a turn-on charge in an amount as set by the City Council. See § 50.06(C).
(Ord. 2049, passed 8-15-23)