(A) Meter reading, billing, paying, and delinquency. All municipal utilities shall be billed monthly and a utilities bill shall be mailed to each consumer each month. All utility charges shall be delinquent if they are unpaid at the close of business on the due date specified on the utility bill provided that if the due date specified shall fall on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the time shall be extended to the close of business on the next succeeding day on which business is normally transacted. A penalty shall be added to, and become part of, all delinquent utility bills. If service is suspended due to delinquency, it shall not be restored at that location until a connection charge has been paid for each utility reconnected in addition to amounts owed for services and penalties.
(B) Application, connection and sale of service. Application for municipal utility services shall be made upon forms supplied by the city, and strictly in accordance therewith. No connection shall be made until consent has been received from the city to make the same. All municipal utilities shall be sold and delivered to consumers under the then applicable rate applied to the amount of the utilities taken as metered or ascertained in connection with the rates.
(C) Discontinuance of service. All municipal utilities may be shut off or discontinued whenever it is found that:
(1) The owner or occupant of the premises served, or any person working on any connection with the municipal utility systems, has violated any requirement of the city code relative thereto, or any connection therewith;
(2) It is the policy of the city to discontinue utility service to customers by reason of nonpayment of bills only after notice and a meaningful opportunity to be heard on disputed bills.
(a) That all bills are due and payable on or before the date set forth on the bill; and
(b) That if any bill is not paid by or before that date, a second bill will be mailed containing a cutoff notice that if the bill is not paid within ten days of the mailing of the second bill, service may be discontinued for nonpayment; and
(c) That any customer disputing the correctness of his bill shall have a right to a hearing at which time he may be represented in person and by counsel or any other person of his choosing and may present orally or in writing his complaint and contentions to the city official in charge of utility billing. This official shall be authorized to order that the customer's service not be discontinued and shall have the authority to make a final determination of the customer's complaint.
(d) Requests for delays or waiver of payment will not be entertained; only questions of proper and correct billing will be considered. In the absence of payment of the bill rendered or resort to the hearing procedure provided herein, service will be discontinued at the time specified, but in no event until the charges have been due and unpaid for at least 30 days.
(e) When it becomes necessary for the city to discontinue utility service to a customer for nonpayment of bills, service will be reinstated only after all bills for service then due have been paid, along with a turn-on charge in the sum of $20.
(3) There is fraud or misrepresentation by the owner or occupant in connection with any application for service or delivery or charges therefor.
(D) Ownership of municipal utilities. Ownership of all municipal utilities, plants, lines, mains, extensions and appurtenances thereto shall be and remain in the city and no person shall own any part or portion thereof; provided, however, that private facilities and appurtenances constructed on private property are not intended to be included in municipal ownership.
(E) Right of entry. By applying for, or receiving, a municipal utility service, a customer irrevocably consents and agrees that any city employee acting within the course and scope of his or her employment may enter into and upon the private property of the customer, including dwellings and other buildings, at all reasonable times under the circumstances, in or upon which private property a municipal utility, or connection therewith, is installed, for the purpose of inspecting, repairing, reading meters, connecting or disconnecting the municipal utility service.
(F) Meter test. Whenever a consumer shall request the city to test any utility meter in use by him, such a request shall be accompanied by a cash deposit for each meter to be tested. If any such meter is found to be inaccurate, the same shall be replaced with an accurate meter and the deposit thereon refunded. If the meter shall be found to be accurate in its recordings or calculations, it shall be reinstalled and the deposit shall be retained by the city to defray the cost of the test.
(G) Unlawful acts.
(1) It is unlawful for any person to willfully or carelessly break, injure, mar, deface, disturb or in any way interfere with any buildings, attachments, machinery, apparatus, equipment, fixture or appurtenance of any municipal utility or municipal utility system, or commit any act tending to obstruct or impair the use of any municipal utility.
(2) It is unlawful for any person to make any connection with, opening into, use or alter in any way any municipal utility system without first having applied for and received written permission to do so from the city.
(3) It is unlawful for any person to turn on or connect a utility when the same has been turned off or disconnected by the city for non-payment of a bill, or for any other reason, without first having obtained a permit to do so from the city.
(4) It is unlawful for any person to “jumper” or by any means or device fully or partially circumvent a municipal utility meter, or to knowingly use or consume unmetered utilities or use the services of any utility system, the use of which the proper billing authorities have no knowledge.
(H) Municipal utility services and charges a lien.
(1) Payment for all municipal utility (as that term is defined in § 50.01) service and charges shall be the primary responsibility of the owner of the premises served and shall be billed to him or her, unless otherwise contracted for and authorized in writing by the owner and the tenant, as agent for the owner, and consented to by the city. The city may collect the same in a civil action or, in the alternative and at the option of the city, as otherwise provided in this division (H)(1).
(2) Each such account is hereby made a lien upon the premises served. All the accounts which are more than thirty days past due may, when authorized by resolution of the Commission, be certified by the City Administrator, to the County Auditor, and the City Administrator in so certifying shall specify the amount thereof, the description of the premises served, and the name of the owner thereof. The amount so certified shall be extended by the Auditor on the tax rolls against the premises in the same manner as other taxes, and collected by the County Treasurer, and paid to the city along with other taxes.
(I) Property owner’s responsibility. It is the responsibility of the property owner to connect, reconnect, maintain and repair all lines and facilities between the point of service and the main, whether the same be sewerage service or water service.
(1988 Code, § 3.04) (Ord. 89, passed 9-24-2003; Ord. 10, passed 2-1-2017) Penalty, see § 10.99