The Town Council determines that the following hardship plan for utility payments be implemented as follows:
(A) The current policy administered by the town for disconnection of those who are delinquent or fail to pay their utility bills shall be administered by the town.
(B) If a family who is in a distressed financial condition whose water/sewer bill reaches $300 and the family determines that their particular financial condition is a legitimate hardship case shall make an appointment with the Town Council to discuss their particular situation.
(1) At the meeting, the Town Council and/or the Public Works Director and/or Building Manager will be authorized to counsel the family or suggest counseling for the family to address their current financial condition.
(2) The Public Works Director and/or Building Manager shall make an assessment of the current delinquent amount owed by the hardship family including all late charges, connection fees and the like.
(3) At the request of the Town Council, the service will be reconnected or continued if the Council believes the action is appropriate under the specific circumstances presented by the requesting family.
(4) Each case presented to the Town Council will be considered on an individual basis without regard to race, color, creed, national origin and/or sex.
(C) (1) The delinquent bill of the requesting family will be cleared on all charges assessed such as late fees and other delinquent fees and only a bill for the usage and customary charges assessed by the town will be issued.
(2) The remaining balance will be scheduled for payment on a regular basis in an amount which constitutes 10% of the outstanding balance and shall continue in like payments until the balance is paid in full. The amount shall not include any penalties or interest to the requesting family.
(D) (1) If at any time after the Public Works Director and/or Building Manager has established the payment schedule for the requesting family and the requesting family fails to maintain and pay their current usage bill and/or scheduled payments, a ten-day disconnect notice will be issued by the Public Works Director and/or Building Manager.
(2) Upon receipt of the ten-day disconnect notice, the requesting family must pay the entire balance owed or the utility services will be disconnected and no reconnection will take place by the requesting family until the utility debt is cleared in full.
(E) The requesting family may appeal any decision to the collective body of the Town Council and the Town Council may take any action they deem necessary and prudent in the particular case presented to them.
(F) The Town Council shall administer the policy set forth above on a case by case basis and shall attempt to ease the financial burden on families of the town whose economic condition has deteriorated due to some unforeseen event (such as, loss of employment, extended disability, death of a spouse or other similar reason) and implement a policy that is beneficial for the town, as well as to the requesting family.
(`93 Code, § 9-100) (Ord. 93-554, passed 2-22-93; Am. Ord. 2010-018, passed 9-9-10)