(A) Customer Accepts Service. The rates, rules and regulations contained in this Chapter shall constitute and be considered a part of the contract with every person, company or corporation who is supplied with water and sewer services from the waterworks and sewerage system and every person, company or corporation, hereinafter called a “customer” who accepts and uses City water and sewer services shall be held to have consented to be bound thereby.
(B) Not Liable for Interrupted Service. The Department shall endeavor at all times to provide a regular and uninterrupted supply of service, however, in case the supply of service shall be interrupted or irregular or defective or fail from causes beyond its control or through ordinary negligence of employees, servants or agents, the Departments shall not be liable therefor.
(C) Using Services Without Paying. Any person using utility services from
the City without paying therefor, or who shall be found tampering or breaking the seal of any meter or appurtenances, or bypassing any meter, shall be assessed a fee of Fifty Dollars ($50.00).
(D) Destroying Property. Any person found guilty of defacing, tampering, injuring or destroying, or in any manner, limiting the use or availability of any meter or any property of the waterworks system and sewerage system, or erecting signs on the property of the Department without permission shall, upon conviction of such act, be fined as provided in Chapter 1, Article I of this Code.
(E) Service Obtained By Fraud. All contracts for water and sewer services must be made in the name of the head of the household, firm or corporation using the established spelling of that person's or firm's name. Attempts to obtain service by the use of other names, different spellings or by substituting other persons or firms shall be considered a subterfuge and service shall be denied. If service has been discontinued because of nonpayment of bills, or any unpaid obligation and service has again been obtained through subterfuge, misrepresentation or fraud, that service shall be promptly disconnected and the whole or such part of the advanced payment as may be necessary to satisfy the unpaid obligation shall be retained by the City and credited to the appropriate account.
(F) Failure to Receive Bill. Failure to receive a bill shall not excuse a customer from his obligation to pay within the time specified. Should the Department be unable to bill a customer for services used during any month, the following billing shall include the charges for services used during the unbilled month.
(G) Request to Discontinue Service. Services shall have been deemed to have been supplied to any property connected to the Water and Sewer Systems during a month unless the customer notifies the City Hall, in writing, ten (10) days prior to the time such termination of such service is desired. In the event that the customer requests that service be disconnected, the service shall not be thereafter reconnected until such time as the customer has paid to the City a turn-on fee in the amount of Thirty-Five Dollars ($35.00) per service to the property. During such time as service to the property has been voluntarily terminated by the customer, the facility charge fees set forth in Section 38-4-14 shall also cease to accrue for those whole months where service has been voluntarily disconnected. Full facility charge fees shall be due for properties receiving service for any partial portion of a month. In the event that a customer requests that service be voluntarily turned off due to a leak which is being repaired by the customer, and provided that the leak is repaired within two (2) weeks of notification to the City, no turn-on fee shall be due and owing from the customer upon request to resume service. (Ord. No. 1485; 04-27-09)
(H) Water and/or sewer bills issued on a monthly basis from the City, and are due to be paid on receipt. Water and/or sewer bills not being paid in full by the fifteenth (15th) of the month following the month in which the bills are issued shall be deemed delinquent, and shall result in a penalty to be imposed on the delinquent balance in the amount of ten percent (10%) of the outstanding balance. (Ord. No. 1844; 04-25-16)
(I) The water supply of the premises against which the water service charges remain unpaid may be shut off by the City and such service discontinued conditioned on the following terms and conditions:
(1) Hearing Afforded User.
Any user who has failed to pay in full the bill for water and/or sewer service by or before the fifteenth (15th) of the month following the date the bill issued is declared to be delinquent. Ten (10) days after the date of delinquency of the water and/or sewer bill, if the delinquent user fails to pay all amounts owed the City for water service, the City Clerk, or his/her designee, shall cause a water shut off notice to be served upon the address of the delinquent user, which shall notify the delinquent user that water service shall be terminated three (3) days after the delivery of the water shut off notice, unless full payment for all amounts owed for water service is paid to the City, or unless the delinquent user exercises his right to a hearing by demanding a hearing as provided herein within three (3) days of the date of service as noted on the water shut off notice. An additional Thirty-Five Dollar ($35.00) administrative fee shall be added to the delinquent amount due to cover the cost to the City of drafting, recording in City records, and serving the water shut off notice upon the delinquent user, and the water shut off notice shall notify the delinquent user of the Thirty-Five Dollar ($35.00) administrative fee. If the delinquent user fails to demand a hearing in the manner provided herein within three (3) days of the date of service as noted on the water shut off notice, then the delinquent user shall be deemed to have waived his right to the hearing provided in this Section. If the delinquent user waives his right to the hearing provided in this Section, then water service shall be shut off and terminated.
(2) Request for Hearing; Hearing.
(a) If a user chooses to dispute amount stated on the water bill, the user must make a written request for a hearing thereon within three (3) days of the date of service of the water shut off notice. This request for a hearing must be received by the City at the address stated on the water bill for the mailing of payment, either hand delivered or by U.S. mail. The user may make a partial payment on the bill and request a hearing on the disputed portion of the bill. Acceptance of partial payment by the City does not waive any authority of the City to pursue disconnection pending the results of a properly requested hearing.
(b) Upon receipt of the written request for a hearing, the City Clerk shall immediately forward said request to the Utility Chairman, or his/her designee, who shall establish a date and time for the hearing. The user shall be notified in writing of the date, time and place of the hearing.
(c) At the time and place of said hearing, the hearing officers shall give the delinquent user an opportunity to be heard and to present any and all relevant evidence including testimony on said user’s behalf. Evidence shall be limited to that relevant to the giving of proper notice and the correctness or incorrectness of the bill being challenged. As an administrative proceeding, the hearing shall not be subject to the strict rules of evidence followed in the circuit courts. The records of payment for said water service by the user, as provided and given to the hearing officers by the offices of the City Treasurer, City Clerk and City Collector shall be prima facie evidence that said bill is due and delinquent. A record of the hearing shall be kept.
(3) Notice of Findings of Hearing Officers. If the hearing officers, within five (5) business days after such hearing, determine that the user is, in fact, delinquent in payment of said bill for water services and that the water service of said user should be discontinued, shut off and terminated, then the officers shall state the basis or reasons for such termination in a written order of termination, and shall serve a copy of such order upon the user within five (5) days after said hearing. The order shall also state the date when the water service shall be shut off and terminated, said date to be no later than ten (10) days after the hearing date.
(4) Payment of Bill for Water Service; Reinstatement of Service. At any time before or after the hearing is held; at any time before or after notice of termination is served on the user; and at any time after termination, the delinquent user shall have the right to have said water service reinstated upon payment in full of the delinquent bill, including the water shut off notice administrative fee, plus the Thirty-Five Dollar ($35.00) water connection fee, plus penalties, interest, and any necessary costs assessed for the conduct of the hearing and for labor and materials necessarily required to terminate and reinstate the water service of the user.
(5) Hearing Officers. The hearing officers shall be the Utility Chairman and the members of the Utility Committee. Provided, however, that the Utility Chairman may conduct the hearing and issue a finding and order without the presence of all members of the Utility Committee.
(6) Proper Notice. Any notices required to be given under this Section shall be proper if addressed to the user at the address stated on the application for service or water billing account, postage prepaid and deposited in the U.S. Mail or hand delivered to the address stated on said application or water billing account, or if hand delivered and fastened to a door of the residence. The City Clerk shall certify to the Hearing Officers the proper mailing or delivery of the required notice and such certification shall be prima facie evidence of the serving of such notice as of the date of deposit in the U.S. Mail.
(Ord. No. 1586A; 06-27-11; Ord. No. 2187; 11-14-22)
(J) Lien/Foreclosure. In the event the charges for water or sewer service are not paid within thirty (30) days after rendition of the bill for service, such charges including all penalties, shall be deemed and are hereby declared to be delinquent, and thereafter such delinquencies may constitute liens upon the real estate for which service is supplied, provided that the City Clerk first notifies the property owner or owners of record, as appears on the records of the County Recorder of Deeds or as appears on the records of the County Collector as those who paid property taxes for the most recent year, in writing, of the delinquency and grants the property owner an additional ten (10) days from the date of written notification to pay the bill in full including the appropriate penalty as provided for herein. If the delinquent bill is not paid within the time provided in the written notice of the City Clerk, then the City Clerk is authorized and directed to file a notice of such lien in the office of the Recorder of Deeds of Macoupin or Madison County, Illinois, which said notice of such lien shall consist of a sworn statement setting out the name(s) of the owner(s) of the real estate, a description of the real estate upon or for which service was supplied, the amounts of moneys due, and the date or dates when such amount or amounts became delinquent, and the filing of such statement in the aforesaid office shall be deemed notice for the payment of such charges for such service. In all cases where a lien has been recorded, a recording and legal fee of One Hundred Fifty Dollars ($150.00) shall be charged in addition to the delinquent water supply and/or sewer system service charge. The failure of the City Billing Clerk to record such notice of any such lien shall not affect the right of the City to foreclose the lien for unpaid water supply and/or sewer service charges or the right to pursue any other legal remedy. If the charges for service are not paid within one hundred eighty (180) days after rendition of the bill, the lien hereinabove provided for may be foreclosed by appropriate legal action in the Circuit Court of Macoupin or Madison County, as determined by the location of the subject property. Notwithstanding anything provided in this Section, the remedy of enforcement of the lien for the unpaid portion of water bills and delinquency charges shall not be exclusive of any other legal remedy to collect the amount due and unpaid for water consumed or furnished to the person liable therefor. (Ord. No. 1586A; 06-27-11)
(K) Penalty. Any person, firm, or entity violating the terms and conditions of this Section shall be subject to a fine not to exceed Seven Hundred Fifty Dollars ($750.00) with each and every day that the violation is allowed to exist. Each day that a violation exists constitutes a distinct and separate offense under the terms of this Section. In addition the corporate authority may take whatever action it deems appropriate to enforce the terms of this Section, including an action for injunction. All attorney’s fees and costs incurred by the City in enforcing the terms of this Section shall be paid by the violator. (Ord. No. 1586A; 06-27-11)
(L) Insufficient Funds. A Twenty-Five Dollar ($25.00) fee shall be charged for any check returned to the City due to insufficient funds. Offender will be notified by first class mail and given twenty-four (24) hours to reimburse the City in the amount of the insufficient check and fee. If the Offender does not reimburse the City within the given time, water service shall be terminated at the residence of the offender until City is reimbursed for full amount of insufficient check and fees. All such payments shall be accepted only if made by cash, money order or cashier’s check. (Ord. No. 1586A; 06-27-11)