(A) Connection mandated where water service available. In all instances where municipal water system is accessible, landowners are required at this expense to install a suitable service connection to the municipal water main in accordance with all applicable code provisions. All connections shall be made by a licensed plumber. All properties located within the city, which by reason of the use thereof require water, except as hereinafter provided, shall be forthwith connected to the municipal water system, and such connections shall conform with all applicable code regulations and be made under the direct supervision and responsibility of a master plumber.
(B) (1) Service charges for non-connected property(s). If a period of one year elapses following the availability of municipal water and sewer as, but not limited to, in the case of recently annexed lands and the necessary indicated connections are not made, there shall, nevertheless, be billings rendered for the ongoing minimum periodic charges collected in the same manner as in the case of duly connected and serviced properties. If the non-connected status exists for a period longer than one year from and after the availability of such service(s), the minimum charge for the first six months after the aforestated one year grace period, shall be 150% of said minimum charges and for the next succeeding six month period thereafter the minimum charge shall be at 200% of the minimum and at said rate thereafter until connection and metering have occurred subject to adjustment as the City Council may determine by resolution duly enacted. Affected property owners shall be billed and the service charges collectible in the same manner as with ordinary routine services billings and with all the attending collection procedures thereunto appertaining.
(2) Implied temporary access easement to enable municipal installation of connections. In exchange for the consideration which the availability of municipal water and/or sewer to all residents in the city, all resident property owners are deemed to have given and granted to the city an implied temporary access easement to enable the city to itself make connections. Accordingly, in cases where a period of one year has elapsed from and after the availability of municipal water and sewer is presented as in the case of recently annexed lands, and the property owner fails to make the necessary connections, the city may enter, over in and upon an implied temporary access easement on the property to be connected, this by the most direct route for purposes of making the connections to available public sewer and water and any excavations entailed therewith shall be carefully refilled, compacted and surface restored, said temporary implied easement to thereupon terminate.
(3) Municipal connections basis for special assessment. Upon completion of a connection by the city under division (B)(1), the property owner shall be billed for the total costs entailed therewith and unless paid within 30 days of such billing shall be certified to the County Auditor in the manner of special assessments payable with real property taxes billed to such property the next succeeding property tax billing year.
(C) Recently annexed properties. Properties recently annexed to the city which by virtue of their use require water, shall have a period of 365 days from and after the effective date of annexation in which to make connections to the municipal water system at their expense.
(D) Exceptions. Where extraordinary circumstances exist which the City Council shall, based upon written fact findings, determine to be "non-accessible," shall be excepted from the mandatory water system hookup regulations. City Council may, based upon written fact findings, determine that there exists other cogent reasons for non-connections which as the need for water for a commercial purpose where chemically treated water is not satisfactory.
(E) Connections made by the city - special assessment. In instances where 365 days have elapsed since the availability of municipal water but the connection mandated by these regulations have not been made and there has been no exception determined to be warranted as hereinbefore provided, the city upon first securing necessary easement from any such property owner using water service located within the corporate limits of the city shall cause such connection to be made and the costs thereof together with the hookup fee, certified to the County Auditor as a special assessment upon each such property so improved, to be collected with the real property taxes payable on such property(ies) over a period of not to exceed ten years, in ten equal annual installments together with interest at the legal rate accruing from the date the installation was complete.
(F) Special assessment deferment policy. In instances where, under the general policy of the city, a property owner would be eligible for assessment deferment, the installation and connection shall be made in accordance with the provisions of the next proceeding subdivision of these regulations and the total assessment certified to the County Auditor but payment thereof deferred in accordance with such policy except that interest shall be payable at the legal rate during the deferment period of referral.
(G) Hookup fees. Consistent with ongoing city policy and separate and distinct from the cost of the construction and installation of connections to the municipal water system is the obligation to pay a hookup fee. The amount thereof, subject to amendment, chargeable to any location in the city payable as the given connection is completed or as may otherwise be directed by the City Council. The hookup fee may not be deferred.
(H) Sealing of private wells mandated. All instances where water was obtained from a private well prior to the availability of water from the municipal water system, upon connection thereto as hereinbefore mandated the theretofore utilized, at the expense of the property owner shall be sealed in the manner prescribed by the State Health Department and consistent with all other regulations there unto you and to you appertaining.
(I) Violations. The violation of any provision hereof and of this subchapter, is a misdemeanor and upon conviction punishable in accordance with the laws of the state appertaining. Violations may, in the discretion of the city, be charged as petty misdemeanors in which case, upon conviction, are punishable in accordance with the laws of the state.
(Ord. 343, passed 6-23-97; Am. Ord. 365, passed 10-25-99; Am. Ord. 402, passed 1-12-04; Am. Ord. 411, passed 6-28-04)