6.4. ERMUSR 10-15-2003 - Laserfiche WebLink

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J Elk River Municipal Utilities 322 King Avenue phone: 763.441.2020 Elk River,MN 55330 Fax:763.441.8099 October 7, 2003 To: Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission John Dietz Jerry Takle James Tralle From: Bryan C. Adams Subject: Customer Owned Water Service Lines At the June 2001, Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission meeting, we discussed the ownership of water services. Attached is my memo dated June 7, 2001, for your review. We would like to again, propose an insurance program to cover the costs of customer owned service lines. We are experiencing many calls (I to 2 per month), where a customer owned valve before the meter but inside the house fails and starts to leak. The customer calls us for repairs. If we tell the customer the leak is his responsibility and to call a plumber, we still must go to the residence, locate and turn off the water at the curb stop, then return again after the plumber has made his repairs and turn the water on at the curb stop. The customer is angry because we didn't make the repairs, and he was required to expend money for a plumber. We still have to go to this residence twice, many times after hours at overtime pay. Often times your staff, in an effort to be accommodating to the customer, repairs the leaking valve, thus saving a trip to this customers residence. It takes about 15 minutes to replace the valve and the customer replaces our valve we use from stock. The customer is happy and we save time. Unfortunately, we are not following our own policies and we are taking on some liability. We have the following three options to resolve this issue. 1.) Stop making the repairs and follow our own policies. 2.) Change the policy to allow us to help the customer in these instances. 3.) Offer an insurance policy to help these customers pay for the unexpected water service repairs. We would take on the responsibility of service leak repairs up to the meter. Additional cost is in the $1/month/meter. We ask for your comments on this issue. In regard to a broken service line, which could cost $2,000-$3,000 to repair, we now have available an assessment tool where the cost of repairs are assessed on taxes over a period of years for the customers who do not have the cash to make the necessary repairs. We front the money and are paid back overtime.