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4rr.; <br />Elk Rive <br />Municipal Utilities <br />13069 Orono Parkway • P.O. Box 430 <br />Elk River, MN 55330-0430 <br />June 3, 2008 <br />To: Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission <br />Jerry Takle <br />John Dietz <br />Jerry Gumphrey <br />From: Bryan Adams <br />Subject: Water Shut -Off Policy (A Can of Worms and a Bag of Snakes) <br />Phone! 763.441.2020 <br />Fax: 763.441.8099 <br />The mortgage crisis and the number of foreclosed and vacant homes continue to be very <br />troublesome. The issue your staff wrestles with is, should we or should we not be turning the <br />water off at the curb stop if we know the house is vacant or if we are asked by the mortgage <br />holder to turn off the water. When the electric is disconnected, the water pipes will freeze in the <br />winter and water damage will occur. <br />The prds and cons of turning off the water at the curb stop is as follows: <br />Prds <br />Cons <br />1) Provides good customer service by offering this service. <br />2) Possibly provides a revenue source by charging for this service. Ability to collect <br />fee may be difficult. <br />3) Prevents further water damage to house. <br />4) Minimizes water loss and lost water revenue from broken and running water lines in <br />the home or business. <br />1) It often takes 3 to 4 hours to find the curb stop. It would be difficult to set a <br />reasonable fee to cover all conditions—collecting fee from out-of-state owners will be <br />difficult. <br />2) Many curb stops are damaged (20%-30%) where they are not operable and water <br />cannot be shut off. <br />3) If we agree to turn off the water at the curb stop but cannot do it due to a damaged <br />curb stop, we have assumed some liability for damages if we do not notify the owner <br />of our inability to shut off the water. (We currently have this issue going on with one <br />customer.) <br />