The Knox Board of Works heard about a leak that recently occurred that resulted in a Star Court Resident receiving a bill that was remarkably higher than average.
Utility Clerk Cheryl Runkle informed members that the resident noticed there was an issue when she received her bill and it noted that she had 30,000 gallons of consumption which was about 26,000 more than she’s typically billed for.
She immediately called to report the issue once she was aware of it. However, Water Department crews were delayed because they were responding to an emergency water main break. She called back to report that there was water coming out of her pit.
When crews arrived, they discovered the issue was at the meter.
Runkle explained, “She would have had no way of knowing that was leaking there because it was underground, it was no leak that was in her house. She didn’t know about it until it came out.”
Though she responded as quickly as she could, the delay caused the resident to potentially face even more of a charge because of the excess water that continued to leak.
She noted, “By the time they got that and they got it fixed, which she called the 7th and they got it fixed the next day and it had already gone through another 67,000 gallons of water.
Since the resident responded to the issue in a timely manner and there was no fault on her end, she was requesting an adjustment.
Runkle shared, “She is requesting that we adjust those two months to her average bill. Her average bill is 4,000 gallons.”
Mayor Dennis Estok noted that there is an ordinance in place that allows the Board to make decisions like this when these types of incidents occur. The board members cast a unanimous vote to allow the adjustment to be made.
