06-24-19 Utilities - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK owner's name. So, we have changed that. That is going before the Board of Public Works on Tuesday morning. We hope to have those in place by July 1St. I think that answers the question brought forth by Mr. Murray Miller. By July 1St, we will have a new process in place. That will require the owner and tenant to make sure they get the information transferred to the tenant's name. To be clear,a lot of times people see their bill as their water bill.As you all know,there is a number of different things on there.There is trash, sewer, sewer and water insurance,and all these different parts to the bill and they all have different requirements. The water portion of the bill, we will not be able to place a lien on. We will have to try and recover any unpaid bills, if somebody leaves, from the tenant. Any other portions can still be recovered from the owner. We can still file liens on those components. He went on, In the case that the owner would like to pay the bill, they'll come in and we will put the bill in the tenant's name and they will start being billed for all of those services. Again, that is as of July 1St. The only case where we can't do that is the case where we've got something like a master meter where there is one (1)meter for, say, a large apartment complex. We would have no way of aggregating those services,so,that will have to remain in the owner's name. But,if they've got a separate meter and it's a landlord-tenant relationship, then they can have the tenant responsible for paying the bill and our rules and regulations will allow for that to happen. In addition, it will allow for us to follow up and try to recover costs from the tenant on the water side and on any other charges on that bill, we will still go through the process we do today if we get to that point. I'm happy to answer any questions but I have the Director and Assistant Director of Utilities here who are also happy to answer any questions. We are doing our best to try and put this together pretty quickly, using the existing Naviline Billing Software we have in place. As we move forward with our new billing system, which will be rolled out the spring of next year, it would become a little easier to do some of these things. In the meantime, we have a process in place that will be going to the Board of Public Works on Tuesday morning. Committee Chair Teshka opened the floor to questions from Committee and Council Members. Committeemember Dr. Oliver Davis asked,People's ability to get water is not based on their credit score, is that correct? Mr. Horvath replied, A deposit may be needed, dependent on credit worthiness. Committeemember Dr. Davis interjected, What would that deposit look like? Can you describe what happens when someone has bad or challenging credit? Kim Thompson, Assistant Utilities Director with offices located at 830 North Michigan Street, replied, Credit worthiness is based mostly on utility payment history. That is how we look at credit worthiness. If the person applying for service fails, they would have a two (2) month water and sewer deposit, the estimated cost of two (2)months of service. Committeemember Dr. Davis followed up, At that particular site? Ms. Thompson replied, It would be based on the meter size,yes, at that particular site. Yes, that is correct. EXCELLENCE ACCOUNTABILITY INNOVATION I INCLUSION EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 227 W.Jefferson Bvld South Bend,Indiana 46601 p 574.235.9221 f 574.235.9173 TTD 574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov 2