A number of Blytheville residents expressed concern over their water bills during Thursday's Airport and Utilities Committee meeting, and City Councilman R.L. Jones has once again tied himself to the issue concerning the billing process at Blytheville Water Works.
Jones brought up a handful of residents Thursday who had complaints about their water bills being too high. The majority of the complaints regarded at least a $20 increase from the July billing cycle to the August billing cycle. Water Works General Manager Gary Phillips said he wasn't aware of any existing problems that might cause the spike and would have to look at each individual account to determine exactly why the bills had increased.
Phillips encouraged anyone with billing questions to call the water office, and said if a discrepancy is discovered, the department will adjust the bill. Phillips also asked that people be patient, especially if meters have to be re-read in order to correct any bills.
"We get a lot of calls and we only have two guys going out, but we will get to you. I promise," Phillips said.
This is not the first time Jones has been connected with water bills residents claim are "too high." In February of 2012, it was brought to light that during his previous term on the City Council, Jones would frequently reduce or erase the water bills of his constituents. This time, however, Jones' involvement went beyond resident's bills and into the treatment of customer by those at Water Works. Jones claimed he had received complaints, saying his phone was "ringing off the hook" with people claiming employees had treated them rudely. Jones even accused Phillips of using foul language around a particular customer, to which Phillips retorted the action was "categorically unlike me," adding he had never used foul language around any customers.
Jones was not able to corroborate any of his claims during the meeting.
In other news, Phillips asked the committee for clarification on the department's "temporary service" policy. The policy, which was in place when Phillips took the job, gives landlords 10 days of water-only billing, allowing property owners to come in and clean up before a new tenant moves in. Phillips said with no set guidelines, people are asking for multiple 10-day periods, which he isn't sure how to handle. The committee told Phillips to work with Blytheville Mayor James Sanders to come up with policy and guidelines and then bring it back to them for final approval.
Phillips also brought up the issue of the lapsed maintenance contract for the office water tank. The largest of all the tanks at 1.5-million gallons the contract was allowed to lapse in late 2007 or early 2008 and has not been kept up since. Recently, Phillips received estimates from two companies that quoted at least $250,000 in work that needed to be done to the tower, one of which would require full payment and he other offered a finance option. But according to Phillips, the current contractor -- Utility Service -- is willing to just add the tower in with no upfront expense.
"They have, what I think is the best deal, they're willing to just roll this tower into our current contract and all we have to do is pay our monthly payments," said Phillips.
During Thursday's meeting, the committee was also given a draft for a water conservation ordinance, which the Health Department is asking all city municipal water companies to put into place. Eastern Arkansas uses 9 billion gallons of water each day, 90 percent of which is agricultural. In efforts to cut back on these numbers, Phillips drafted an ordinance based on conservation ordinances already being used in Fayetteville, Fort Smith and Little Rock. The committee moved to send a copy of the draft to City Attorney Mike Bearden to make any necessary changes. The ordinance will then be sent before City Council for final approval.
Waste Water asked the committee to approve the purchase of a new truck to be used at the water treatment facilities. Kenneth Ellis said the maintenance costs on the two trucks Waste Water is currently using is becoming very costly. The committee voted to send the request before the Finance Committee, but also urged Ellis to see if he could find a way to better afford the upkeep for the trucks he currently has.
"We want to be fair about this so I think we should send it before Finance, but I don't know that they'll approve it right now," Committee Chairman Kevin Snow said. "But this way we've got things rolling and maybe we can add it in for next year."
Ellis also reported that the work on the auxiliary power station is nearing completion. The new system will prevent breaks in service during power outages.
cpinkard@blythevillecourier.com