(A) Established premises. All established premises using water from the Village of Diamond water supply must be equipped with an adequate gallon water meter which must be purchased from the Village of Diamond and installed by the village contracted plumber; provided that the water service may be supplied by the village at a flat rate of charge until the water meter shall be installed and ready for service.
(B) New premises. All new constructed premises will have an adequate gallon water meter which must be purchased from the Village of Diamond and installed by the homeowner’s contracted plumber. The meter will be inspected and passed by the Village Inspector before any water can be turned on to this premise.
(C) Meter location. The meter shall be installed at a location within the premise which will provide easy access for reading the meter, and the location shall not be within 5 feet of any hot water heater. There shall also be installed a separate meter for each individual unit (residential, commercial, office, or industrial) contained in multiple-unit buildings.
(D) Unpaid water bills. Upon the installation of the water meter, the water will remain “off” until all debts and money concerns or arrangements for payments to the village are made by the owner of the property.
(E) Meter repairs; normal use. Upon proper installation of the adequate gallon water meter, it will become the property of the village. If the meter fails to operate properly under normal use, the village will repair or replace the meter.
(F) Meter repair; malicious damage. The owners of property upon which meters are installed will be held responsible for any willful or malicious damage to the meters, and the property owners will also be held responsible for any damage sustained by freezing or caused by hot water backing through same and must bear all costs of repairing the meters when the same become damaged through any cause herein designated.
(G) Reading meters. The village will read meters each month on a designated day so that water bills may be sent out on or before the first day of each month. Meter readings will be in 1,000-gallon increments, thus dropping the numbers in black and the dial reading (or hundreds, tens, and units readings). These numbers of gallons will be included in the following month’s water bill.
(H) Access to water meters. The person and/or property owner receiving water service shall provide the village, or its designated contractor, reasonable access to the meter for inspection, reading, testing, service, or replacement, upon request. It shall be the responsibility of the person and/or property owner receiving water service to provide the necessary time to the village, or its designated contractor, during normal business hours (Monday through Friday between 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., or any other time period agreed to by the property owner and the village or its designated contractor, excluding legal holidays) to access the water meter for such inspection, reading, testing, service, or replacement. In the event access to the water meter is denied either by verbal or written notification, or by no response to a written notice, the village shall cause disconnection of water service until such access has been provided. In addition, if water service is disconnected, all required fees and penalties set forth in this chapter, the reconnection fee of $50 and a water meter installation fee of $250, when applicable, shall be paid in full prior to reconnection of the water service.
(1) Written notice to disconnect water service and shall contain the following:
(a) Name, address, and account number of the person and/or property owner receiving water service.
(b) The date of the notice and the date of the disconnection.
(c) A statement of the prior attempts by the village to obtain access to the water meter for inspection, reading, testing, service, or replacement.
(2) No such written notice of disconnection shall be given until three prior written attempts over a three week period have been sent to the person and/or property owner receiving water service to obtain access to the water meter for inspection, reading, testing, service, or replacement.
(Ord. 1996-2, passed - - ; Am. Ord. 2022-04, passed 3-22-2022)