Council directs staff to draft water-leak bill policy after resident reports of large irrigation bills

Councilors directed staff to prepare a formal policy for handling customer appeals and adjustments arising from water leaks and large irrigation use after members raised a recent case in which a resident incurred a large bill when an irrigation line ran continuously for 11 days. Mayor John Eric Hoover urged creation of a standard policy and more proactive metering alerts so the city can notify customers sooner. “If there's any way we can set some kind of threshold that they're throws an alert and say, hey. It's been 24 hours and this customer's water has been running nonstop for 24 hours. Reach out to them,” the mayor said. Council members asked staff to compare regional municipal policies—examples mentioned included county-level practices that remove sewer charges above defined thresholds—and to quantify the city's true per-thousand-gallon cost so any adjustment formula can be cost-based and consistent. Staff noted an existing ad-hoc practice to move customers to a lower billing tier or remove sewer charges where appropriate, and staff said they were preparing a written pool-fill and leak-adjustment policy. The city will report back with a draft policy, recommended notification frequency from meters, and options such as requiring proof of repair for adjustments or setting limits on one-time adjustments.