A. Rules: The following rules and regulations are hereby established for the management, control and protection of the water and sewer works. All premises within the town of Valier will connect to the town water system. These rules shall be considered a part of the contract with every person who takes water supplied by the town from the town waterworks, and every person taking water shall be considered as having expressed consent to be bound thereby:
Rule 1. Applications for use of water or sewer must be made at the town clerk's office on printed forms furnished for the purpose. The application must be made by the owner/developer or agent of the property to be benefited, designating the lot, block, street and number where water is desired, and shall state fully all the purposes for which the water may be required and shall sign a contract therefor; said contract, when executed, shall be filed in the office of the town clerk before a permit is issued authorizing connections to be made. No taps will be made to the mains by the public works department until the applicant, for whom such connection is to be made, has signed the contract mentioned herein, and a plumber permit has been issued authorizing the said plumber to lay such pipes and connections as will conform to the application.
Rule 2. It is understood and agreed that upon making connections with the waterworks, the town shall own and control all corporation cocks, connections, curb stops and stop boxes, and the same shall be and remain the absolute property of the town.
Rule 3. When additional fixtures within or outside a dwelling unit or commercial unit are added and not reported, the same shall be charged at double the rate for such time said fixtures are in use, in addition to a twenty dollar ($20.00) penalty for such violation.
Rule 4. Should it be desired to discontinue the use of water from any or all fixtures, written notice thereof shall be filed at the office of the town clerk and all arrearages paid and rates shall be charged until such notice is given. The water will then be turned off and on again with a charge of twenty dollars ($20.00) for each turn off and an additional charge of twenty dollars ($20.00) for turn on. Basic rates for water and sewer service will still be due monthly.
Rule 5. Water and sewer bills must be paid monthly on the first day of each and every month at the town clerk's office; if not paid on or before the tenth of the month, the bill becomes delinquent, and if not paid by the twentieth of the month, a late fee of five dollars ($5.00) shall be applied to the balance outstanding.
When a water and sewer account has a current and a thirty (30) day balance outstanding, the town will issue a water shutoff notice (yellow door tag) allowing three (3) business days to clear up any and all balances due or the public works department will be directed to turn off the water service. To reactivate the water service, all balances due will have to be paid in full. Once the water service is turned off for nonpayment, a twenty dollar ($20.00) fee will be assessed to turn the water service back on. This fee is required to be paid before the service is again turned on.
If the occupant of the premises turns on the water service or causes the water service to be turned on after it has been shut off at the curb stop, it will be turned off at the main and a charge of forty dollars ($40.00) will be assessed for the expense of turning it off and on.
For any request to turn off or on a water service after normal working hours of seven thirty o'clock (7:30) A.M. to four thirty o'clock (4:30) P.M. on Monday through Friday, the turn on or off fee will be seventy five dollars ($75.00).
Rule 6. No consumer shall be permitted to conduct water pipes to lots or buildings through adjoining lots.
Rule 7. Two (2) or more premises cannot be supplied from one and the same connection.
Rule 8. Consumers will be required to use, in making connections with the town water lines, PVC plastic or copper service lines of the best quality; provided, however, that the town reserves the right, when the streets are to be improved by macadamizing or paving, to require that all iron service pipes be removed and replaced with copper or PVC plastic of the best quality.
Rule 9. The town shall not be responsible for pipes and fixtures. All owners, at their own expense, must keep service pipes from town mains, and all their apparatus, in good working order and properly protected from frost and other dangers. No claim shall be made against the town on account of the breaking of any service pipe or apparatus, or for accidental failure in supply of water. No reduction for the regular rates will be made for any time that service pipes or fixtures may be frozen.
Rule 10.
A. Application: All persons desiring to make connection with the public water system shall make application to the town for a water connection permit and must pay a fee as per the fee schedule set by the town council.
B. Approved Water Meters:
1. The town will require the owners of property serviced by town water lines to permit the installation of water meters on private property, as required for appropriate meter use.
2. All owners of property requesting water services from the town will be required to install a town approved water meter as hereinafter provided.
3. Only town approved radio-read meters may be used for the metering of water consumption for town water billing purposes. The fee for obtaining a water meter will be set by resolution by the town council. By utilizing radio-read meters, the town will be able to read meters from the street.
C. Responsibility For Repair Or Replacement: A water meter may not be installed for use or connection to the town water system until approved by the town. After an approved installation of a water meter, the town is responsible for its repair or replacement, except when the repair or replacement is required because of damage to or loss of the meter due to a negligent or intentional act by the customer, in which case the customer is responsible for the repair or replacement. When a customer is liable for the repair or replacement, the actual cost may be added to the water bill for the property served by the water meter.
D. Meter Installation Requirements: Water meters may only be installed by persons authorized by law to do so, and pursuant to applicable approval from the town. Water meters must be installed in accordance with requirements of this rule, and will be inspected by the town for compliance therewith. A water meter bypass will not be allowed. Water meters will only be installed at the location approved by the town. The town may place the meter in an outside meter box where necessary and bill the property owner the charges for constructing the meter pit.
E. Access: Employees of the water department have free access at proper hours of the day to all parts of buildings in which water is delivered from the town mains for the purpose of inspecting the condition of the pipes, meters and fixtures, and for the purposes of repairing or replacing meters.
F. Defective Meter: Any defective meter may be removed at the discretion of the department of public works. Should a meter fail to register accurately, the consumer shall be charged at the average daily consumption as shown by the meter during the last twelve (12) months that the same was in good order. In the event a consumer notifies the water department that a meter is not registering accurately, the department of public works may arrange for the testing of the meter at the town's expense. Should test results show that the meter was in proper working order, the customer will be responsible for the test costs. Tests conducted by the town, or its contractors, to determine the accuracy of the meter shall be conclusive in determining whether the meter is properly working.
G. Meter Readings: Only authorized representatives of the town's water department will read meters. If a meter is unable to be read, then there will be an estimated amount billed, based on the average monthly consumption as shown by the meter during the prior twelve (12) months. Any adjustment to the water bill must be made only after an actual meter reading by approved town meter readers.
Rule 11. During all alarms of fire, the use of hose, yard fountains, hydraulic motors, elevators and all outlets where a constant flow of water is maintained is positively forbidden. This rule will be strictly enforced.
Rule 12. If the meter is placed on a pipe connected to a boiler or other hot water apparatus, a check valve must be placed between such meter and said boiler or other hot water apparatus to protect the meter from any back pressure of steam or hot water.
Rule 13. When the water has been turned off for violation of the rules and regulations in this chapter, the public works department will withhold it until all bills and penalties have been paid at the town clerk's office, including the further sum of twenty dollars ($20.00) for turning the water on.
Rule 14. The town shall not be held responsible for accidents resulting from insecure boilers or other hot water apparatus, or from variation in water pressure, or the ram of the water from the mains, or collapse from any cause whatsoever.
Rule 15. The town reserves the right at any time, without prior notice, to shut the water off its main for the purpose of making repairs or extensions or any other purpose, and no claim shall be made against the town by reason of the breakage of any service pipe or service cock, or from any other damage that may result from shutting off water for repairing, laying or relaying mains, hydrants or other connections.
Rule 16. Contractors, builders or others desiring water for building purposes must make application to the town clerk, who will issue a permit therefor. The amount paid shall be based on the amount used.
Rule 17. The charges for the use of water furnished by the town water system shall be as determined by the town council. The town council will establish and change the water rates and charges to a system based on amount of water used as recorded in meter readings by resolution after notice and hearing.
Rule 18. The utility billing for all rental units is the sole responsibility of the property owner. Utility bills will be only sent to the property owner. All water used shall be chargeable against the property on which it is used and against the owner of said property, and the charges made therefor under the provisions of this chapter shall become a lien against said property and the same may be collected as a special tax against the same; if for any cause any sums owing for use of water shall become delinquent, the supply shall be immediately cut off and in no event shall it be turned on again until all such delinquencies shall have been paid in full. No change of ownership or occupancy shall affect the application of this section.
Rule 19. No person other than an authorized employee of the public works department shall make any tap or connection with any main or distributing pipe of the waterworks system.
Rule 20. The public works department shall be permitted, with authorization by the town council, to enter the premises or buildings of consumers to examine the water pipes and fixtures, and the manner in which the water is used; and in case of fraudulent representation on the part of the consumer, or wilful or unreasonable waste of water, such consumer shall forfeit any payment made, and the public works department may cause the water to be turned off and assess the damages, if any, to the premises.
Rule 21. It shall be the duty of the police to give vigilant aid to the public works department in the enforcement of its rules and regulations, and to this end they shall report all violations thereof that come to their knowledge to the public works department and/or town office.
Rule 22. The town reserves the right in the case of shortage of water, or for any other cause, to make any order forbidding or suspending the use of water for irrigation or sprinkling and the town council may, in its discretion, at any time make such order by giving notice through the town's official newspaper, and any person violating such order shall be subject to a charge of twenty five dollars ($25.00) for the first violation, fifty dollars ($50.00) for the second violation and one hundred dollars ($100.00) for the third violation and any subsequent violation, which shall be a charge against the person supplied, and the water shall be cut off. In no case shall the water be turned on until such charge has been paid in full and a reconnection fee paid as established herein.
B. Scope Of Authority: For each and every violation of the rules and regulations established by this chapter, when the offense is one that relates to plumbing, nonpayment of water rents, leakage or other illegal use of water, the public works department will stop the supply of water to the offender, who shall forfeit all payments that have been made for the same.
C. Availability Of Rules: A copy of these rules may be furnished to all owners and consumers of water, and the same shall be considered a part of the contract made between the town and every such owner and consumer. (Ord. 181, 8-11-2016, eff. 9-10-2016; amd. Ord. 189, 1-10-2022)