Council hears public comment on vacant culinary water connections; adopts administrative fee schedule

Castle Dale City Council held a public hearing on a proposed ordinance to formalize the process for making culinary water connections inactive and adopted a fee schedule for vacant connections, including an increase in the administrative billing charge.

City staff explained the ordinance would add an application and documentation process for residents who request their culinary water connections be made inactive while a property is vacant. The procedure would require the city to record meter readings, the name or initials of the city employee who turned off the connection and the date; residents seeking reactivation must appear in person or send a designated representative so city staff can confirm no unauthorized water use occurred before restoration. Councilmembers said the ordinance aims to reduce instances where residents allegedly reactivate water without notifying the city.

During the public hearing staff noted that the proposed minimum inactive period would be four months and that the monthly administrative fee would increase from $3 to $6 per billing cycle; the four-month minimum was explained as a labor-efficiency threshold so short-term absences would not create excessive administrative work. Councilmember Bradley Giles said the ordinance provides necessary documentation: the application, meter readings and site verification at reactivation.

Residents asked whether the change would be retroactive, whether service-district charges apply, and how the city would handle people who returned earlier than the minimum period. Staff replied that violation of the ordinance could result in back-charging the full ordinary rate for the vacant period and that fines would be assessed and required to be paid before service restoration; the council discussed making fines case-by-case up to $100.

After closing the public hearing, the council voted to adopt a proposed fee schedule for vacant culinary connections. The adopted schedule sets the inactive-connection charge at $3 per month or $6 per billing cycle with an administrative fee; the council recorded that violations of the vacant-connection ordinance will result in back charges to the ordinary (active) rate for the period the connection was inactive and could include a fine of up to $100 assessed on a case-by-case basis.

Councilmembers agreed to place the full ordinance on the next meeting agenda for formal adoption of codified text; the fee schedule itself was adopted at this meeting.