Coal Grove changes water policy

Published 10:05 am Friday, June 4, 2010

COAL GROVE — The Village of Coal Grove has made some changes to its water policy, though few residents should be affected.

The village council Tuesday night approved an ordinance that streamlined several previous ordinances relating to the water policy and adjusted the village’s fee schedule. The new policy will not affect water rates.

“It repeals five different ordinances or resolutions that all dealt with water policy,” village councilman Nick Miller said. “It was not an easy document to follow and it was hard to understand. We just felt like putting all of the resolutions and ordinances into one document made it easier to understand.”

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Miller said the biggest change is that customers will now pay a fee to have their water turned back on in the event service is turned off due to lack of payment.

“The bulk of the residents in the village should see no changes in anything at all,” Miller said. “The only new thing is the reestablishment of the service restoration fee.”

Currently, the village does not charge a fee for service restoration. Miller said there are some village residents who continually do not pay their bills.

Village employees then have had to go to the residences and turn off the water only to return to the home later to turn it back on when the customers paid the bill.

“With some people it was a monthly ritual and there was no fee,” Miller said. “Because of the manpower that we tied up we decided that we would establish a fee.”

The $25 fee, along with the other changes, will go into effect July 1.

“It’s not a large fee but it’s something to keep it from happening as much,” he said.

The new ordinance also raises the village’s meter installation fee from $50 to $75 and the security deposit from $50 to $100.

Other changes were also made to the policy concerning landlord responsibility and the creation of an appeals process.