5.4. ERMUSR 01-09-2007 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Elk River Municipal Utilities 13069 Orono Parkway phone: 763.441.2020 Elk River,MN 55330 Fax:763.441.8099 January 2, 2007 To: Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission Jerry Takle John Dietz Jim Tralle From: Bryan Adams Subject: Customer Water Valve Replacement At the December 2006 Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission meeting, Dave Berg, Water Superintendent brought up the issue of utility staff replacing or repairing main shut-off valves in customer homes. On occasion, water customers call the utilities for assistance if the main water shut-off valve in their home develops a leak. This often happens after hours or on weekends when it is difficult or very expensive to find a plumber to replace this valve. The utility staff responses to this type of call to locate and turn-off the curb stop so the faulty water valve can be replaced. Instead of waiting for a plumber to show up, it is quicker for us to replace the valve while we are there. It is also very good public relations. Unfortunately, we are taking on some liability if the valve we installed is defective or if our workmanship is flawed. The customer only pays us or reimburses us for the valve; we have not been billing labor. We have the following 3 options: 1) Keep our current practice of replacing these valves when asked(6 to 12 times a year.) Customer reimburses us the valve. We assume the liability for any resulting property damage. 2) Keep our current practice of replacing these valves but charge for labor and materials. We assume the liability for any resulting property damage. 3) We revert back to our previous policy of no work on customer owned water service lines. Staff is suggesting we are getting to big and the potential liability is too large to continue replacing customer valves. We should revert back to our previous policy of no work on customer owned service lines.