(A) Billing, payment and delinquency. Water, sanitary sewer and storm water municipal utilities shall be billed bi-monthly and a utilities statement or statements shall be mailed to each consumer. All utilities charges shall be delinquent if they are unpaid within 30 days after the date of the bill. Payments received by mail postmarked on or before the thirtieth day shall be deemed paid within the period. A penalty as set by ordinance of the Council 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 turn on charge has been paid for each utility turn on in addition to amounts owed for service and penalties. In addition to a turn on charge for a shut-off occurring during regular working hours, an additional amount shall be charged for a shut-off occurring after hours and on weekends. No shut offs will be made during the months of November through March. Delinquent bills will be carried forward and if not paid by March, may cause the utility to be shut off.
(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 such utilities taken as metered or ascertained in connection with such rates.
(C) Discontinuance of service. All municipal utilities may be shut off or discontinued upon a finding by the City Council 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 relating to the municipal utility systems;
(2) There is fraud or misrepresentation by the owner or occupant in connection with any application for service or delivery or charges therefor;
(3) If a property becomes uninhabitable, the city shall discontinue utility services until the property becomes inhabitable. The city will continue billing the parcel for sewer and water availability charges as long as the principal structure remains on the property, and will bill storm water and light utility fees regardless of the condition of the principal structure.
(D) Disconnection for late payment.
(1) 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 10 days of the mailing of the second bill, service will be discontinued for nonpayment; and
(c) That any customer disputing the correctness of his bill shall have a right to a hearing before the City Council 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.
(2) 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.
(3) 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 an amount set by City Council.
(E) Ownership of municipal utilities. The city shall be the sole owner of all municipal utilities, plants, lines, mains, extensions and appurtenances thereto. A private property owner shall be responsible for water and sewer lines from the main to the structure. Private facilities and appurtenances constructed on private property are not included in municipal ownership.
(F) 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.
(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 a permit 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 on real property.
(1) Payment for all municipal utility (as that term is defined in City Code, § 50.01) service and charges shall be the primary responsibility of the fee owner of the premises served, including each unit belonging to a common interest community, and shall be billed to the fee owner unless otherwise contracted for and authorized in writing by the fee owner and any other person (such as tenant, contract purchaser, manager and the like), as agent for the fee owner, and consented to by the City of Jordan, Minnesota. The fee owner of a rental building or property containing 3 or more units may purchase and install, at owner’s expense, individual water meters and radio reading devices for each unit and provide bills to each individual unit. The City of Jordan will read one master meter in the building or property and will send one bill to the fee owner for the entire building or property. The City of Jordan will not bill individual tenants. If the utility service and charges are for a single-metered multi-unit rental residential building, the owner of said 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 section.
(2) All utility accounts not paid within 30 days of being billed shall be subject to a late fee established by the City Council. If the bill remains unpaid 45 days after being billed, the Council may, by resolution, authorize such delinquent utility accounts be certified to the County Auditor and become a lien on the premises served. The certification shall specify the delinquent amount, the description of the premises served, and the name of the owner of the premises. The amount so certified shall be a tax lien against such premises in the same manner as other taxes, and collected by the County Treasurer, and paid to the city along with other taxes.
(3) All partial payments of utility bills shall be credited to late charges first, then to the most current portions of the bill, in the following manner: first to sales tax, then to sewer and lastly water and finally to the most delinquent portions of the bill in the same manner as described above.
(I) Municipal utility service outside the city. Premises located outside the city shall not be connected to or served by any municipal utility. Persons needing municipal utility service whose property is located outside the corporate limits must initiate and complete annexation proceedings prior to being provided with the service or services.
(Prior Code, § 3.04) (Am. Ord. 22, Second Series, passed 8-2-1999; Am. Ord. 81, Second Series, passed 9- -2004; Am. Ord. 2010-07, passed 10-18-2010) Penalty, see § 50.99