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Resident tells council her neighbor received erroneous sewer disconnection notice; asks village to review practice
Summary
A resident, Amanda Kerland, reported that a neighbor received a sewer-disconnection notice in error and urged the village to review whether excavation and disconnection notices are appropriate enforcement steps for billing errors.
Amanda Kerland, who identified herself in the meeting as a resident of 150 Valencia Circle in Orange Wood, told the council on April 9 that a neighbor received a sewer-disconnection notice despite owing a modest quarterly bill.
Kerland said the bill in question was $145.88 and that the disconnection notice dated Feb. 18 appeared to be a mistake. "To threaten to disconnect someone's sewer is pretty awful," she told council. Kerland suggested alternatives to disconnection in billing disputes, such as collections, small-claims actions, or liens, and said she did not think physical disconnection was an appropriate remedy for a billing error. The resident said the utility company later canceled the notice but that excavation and markings suggested property work had been scheduled.
Council thanked Kerland and asked staff to follow up; a council member asked whether she had signed in and advised her to speak with staff. No policy change or formal direction requiring staff to revise utility-disconnection procedures was recorded in the public transcript; the council asked staff to speak with the resident after the meeting.
Kerland's comments were made during the audience-comment portion of the agenda and were not followed by formal council action in the meeting record.
