The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Council to look into underpaid water bills
Councilors split on whether to charge a Geer Lane resident for a past homeowner’s illegal actions.
ONEIDA, N.Y. » An Oneida resident is being billed more than $1,300 for water and sewer for over the last six years due to the previous owner’s tampering.
Ward 5 Councilor Jim Chamberlain said a house on Geer Lane was undergoing work by its new owner after sewer damage in December when they discovered a fork in the water line before the meter.
“That’s theft of services, but they didn’t know,” Chamberlain said. “The house was built around 1957. The original builder, the homeowner and the heirs are all deceased and this gentleman bought the house six to seven years ago.”
While the main has been fixed, the Oneida City Water Board recommended to bill the resident the estimated under-billed water and sewage.
Council members voted on the issue, minus Cham- berlain who recused himself. “Chamberlain has been involved with this on a personal basis and he’s volunteered to step out,” Mayor Leo Matzke said.
Ward 6 Councilor Tom Simchik raised a few concerns during discussions before the vote and asked just what the city knew at the time.
“The question has been raised that they’re low consumption. Didwenot onour end do enough homework as to why they were using so little water?” Simchik asked. “And as soon as it was discovered, it was fixed. And now we’re going to back bill them for unused water?”
According to the minutes of the Water Board meeting on Feb. 13, the Oneida City Water Department has checked the property multiple times for low consumption and went to the house twice with the current owner who said the occu- pants didn’t use much water
Water Superintendent Art Smolinski believes the owner was unaware of the existence of the tap and said that normal procedure of arrest and restitution shouldn’t be used. He instead recommended to bill the owner for the amount during the years he owned the building.
Matzke suggested to table the resolution, but councilors were confident in going forward.
The resolutionwas passed 3 to 1. Ward 1 Councilor Al Cohen, Ward 2 Councilor Michael Bowe and Ward 3 Councilor James Coulthart voted in favor and Simchik was opposed.
“I argued the fact that he didn’t know. And that the consumption was low, considerably low,” Chamberlain said.
When asked how he felt about the ruling, Chamberlain said the decision was recommended by the water board and voted on 3 to 1 and had no other comment.
The resolution also carried with it the recommendation to review four other homes in the area, all built by the same person to insure all plumbing is going through the meter.
Quick Hits
• For the time being until a new city engineer is hired, Mayor Leo Matzke has signed a professional services agreement with GHD Consulting Services Inc. to provide engineering assistance to the city of Oneida on an as needed basis. Matzke said that the decision made sense, since GHD was already involved in many of the city’s current projects.
• Oneida City officials met in executive session involving an issue with missed payments. Ward 5 Councilor Jim Chamberlain said “Community Devolpment has a Revolving Loan program and there’s an issue with payment. And we’ve authorized City Attorney Nadine Bell to go after the money owed. The payment is for a business loan in Oneida.”