Michael Bobbitt: Notes From the Peanut Gallery – City Council Water Bill Special Meeting


Regarding the February 20th, 2012 City Council meeting.

Henderson City Council held a Special Called Meeting to correct an ordinance and policy governing certain water fees. I attended this meeting specifically to observe the city’s council in action. I live in the county so I have don’t have a dog in this fight.

 After some formalities and setting of ground rules for public comments the Mayor opened the floor to those who registered to speak. We heard from eleven speakers. Many of the speakers vehemently objected to paying a fine for missing the due date of their water bill by a single day having been long term customer of city water. One speaker even asked the council, “are you going to address this issue or just hear public comments.” I think Ms. Elisa Yount’s presentation summarized what the other speakers were saying; that the city’s administration is blaming the customer for a flawed policy approved by the city council.

Before the meeting started, I overheard one man explaining that the city threatened to cut off water to his business because he refused to pay a $400 re-connect fee after twenty years of continuous service without a missed payment. I also overheard a story about a dentist’s servicing a patient when the water was cutoff without warning. Both the non-public complaints and the public complaints carried the same tone, anger at a flawed policy and an inerrant unsympathetic administration of that flawed policy. I digress.

After the last speaker the Mayor closed the public comment agenda item and moved to new business agenda. The Mayor turned first to the City Manager. Mr. Griffin started his remarks saying that after conversations with customers and council his administration has worked up some amendments. He immediately delved into the nuances and details of the amendments his administration had worked up. He should have stood up turned to the audience of 70 citizens an offered apology for crafting such a flawed policy and his staffs unsympathetic administration of that flawed policy.

Following Mr. Griffin the Mayor called on each Councilperson individually for their comments. This is a very structured formal process unlike the almost raucous County Commissioners process. Unlike the County Commissioners all Councilpersons spoke either directly or indirectly to the concerns expressed about this flawed policy. I heard six of the Councilperson express their apology for the impact to the citizens of this flawed policy.

In the end the Council voted to amend the flawed policy by correcting the most egregious flaws.

(1) Reduced the deposit to $75 for new a customer and a customer with a second late payment.

(2) No fee for disconnecting for not payment and keeping re-connect fee after disconnecting.

(3) Added a ten business day grace period for late payments before disconnecting.

(4) Agreed to refund fees paid by customer’s who missed were late only once.

As this year’s election draws near, voters should use this flawed policy as an indicator of their elected representatives awareness of ordinances and policies they approve. Also, I hope the County Commissioners take note of the City’s fiasco before they approve their as yet undrafted water ordinance for county wide water. I did speak with one commissioner after this meeting. That commissioner had taken note of the city’s fiasco.