(A) Billing, payment and delinquency. All municipal utilities shall be billed monthly and a utilities statement or statements shall be mailed to each consumer. All utilities charges are due on the fifteenth day of each month and delinquent at noon on the sixteenth day; provided, however, that if the fifteenth day falls on a Saturday, Sunday or holiday, the charge shall be delinquent at noon of the next business day. Payments received by mail postmarked on or before the fifteenth day shall be deemed paid within that period. A penalty thereof 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 reconnection charge has been paid for each utility reconnected in addition to amounts owed for service and penalties. In the event that delinquent charges are specially assessed under division (H) below, an additional sum computed on the delinquent amount of charges and penalties shall be added to, and become part of, the amount so assessed to cover administrative costs of making the assessment.
(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. The city's form for application for utility service and all bills shall contain, in addition to the title, address, room number, and telephone number of the official in charge of billing, clearly visible and easily readable provisions to the effect:
(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 will be discontinued for nonpayment; and
(c) That any customer disputing the correctness of his or her 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 or her choosing and may present orally or in writing his or her 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, and trimming trees or brush under or adjacent to utility lines or appurtenances. It is unlawful for any customer to hinder or prevent a city employee from making the entry.
(F) Meter test. The city may, at any time, test utility meters (and remote registers) for accuracy. Whenever a consumer shall request the city to test any utility meter in use by him or her, 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. A meter found to be within the standard of accuracy of 98% shall be considered accurate.
(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. This prohibition shall include, but not be limited to, any attachment of roof water conductors, basketball hoops or any other item or thing to any utility pole or appurtenance.
(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 fee owner of the premises served and shall be billed to the owner unless otherwise contracted for and authorized in writing by the fee owner and any other person (such as a tenant, contract purchaser, manager and the like), as agent for the fee owner, and consented to by the city. If the utility service and charges are for a single metered multi-unit rental residential building, the owner of the building shall be the customer of record and this responsibility shall not be waived by contract or otherwise. 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 45 days delinquent may, when authorized by resolution of the Council, be certified by the City Clerk, to the County Auditor, and the City Clerk 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.
(2003 Code, § 3.05) (Ord. 56, passed 1-24-1995) Penalty, see § 10.99