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Trustees press staff on water‑service disruptions; staff outlines Water Smart sign‑up and limits
Summary
Trustees raised constituent complaints about multi‑day water outages and asked the village to improve resident notifications. Staff said freezing of service lines, not deliberate shutoffs, likely caused extended outages and described Water Smart (Neptune) alerts that notify residents who sign up, while noting limits for those who have moved or not registered.
Trustees pressed village staff to improve notifications to residents affected by water service disruptions after a constituent reported being without water for several days following a water main incident.
Trustee Bancollet described a resident with four small children who reportedly went "four days without water" and asked the village to consider different communication methods for extended outages. Township/village staff explained that in many cases during extreme cold interior service lines (or service lines on slab foundations) can freeze, producing outages that are not the result of a system‑wide shutoff. Staff said they do shut water for repairs when necessary and leave door notices; they also knock on doors during daytime repair operations.
Staff described a newer system, Water Smart (Neptune 365/Water Smart), that can detect unusual water use and send notifications to residents who have provided contact information and signed up for the service. Staff said the system allowed targeted notifications during a prior main repair but noted practical limits: it requires residents to register with current contact details and may generate false alerts for people who have moved out of the village but remain in the system.
Trustees asked for follow‑up work to explore additional notification methods and to incorporate a quarterly year‑to‑date comparison in future treasurer reports. Staff agreed to continue the conversation and to look at options for targeted messaging for multi‑day outages.
