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Resident says city sent shutoff notice without prior outreach; council asks staff to investigate
Summary
At the Mapleton City Council public forum, long-time resident Jim Jurgens said he received a delinquency/shutoff notice four days before a planned water shutoff despite a long history of on-time payments; council members asked staff to investigate and consider automated reminders before shutoff notices.
Jim Jurgens, a Mapleton resident of 23 years, told the council he received a delinquency notice four days before the city scheduled to shut off his water and said he had received no prior outreach despite being enrolled in automatic payments. “I got this in the mail 4 days before the city was gonna shut off my water,” Jurgens said, calling the notice “heartless” and urging staff to do better at notifying long-time residents.
Councilor Jones and other council members said another resident reported the same experience and asked staff to determine whether the city’s billing system had a glitch in October or November. Jones said the repeated complaint “makes me wonder” whether the problem was a system anomaly and suggested staff could add an earlier, friendly heads‑up message if a payment fails.
Council discussion focused on improving customer contact before issuing a shutoff notice. One council member suggested an automated two‑week reminder followed by a four‑day shutoff warning so residents would receive at least one nonpunitive notification before enforcement. Staff did not present a formal motion; council members asked staff to investigate the incidents and report back with options for extra notification steps.
The public forum item concluded with the council thanking Jurgens for raising the issue and asking staff to follow up; no formal policy change was adopted at the meeting.
