HomeMy WebLinkAbout20071119 - VIII-C-4VIII-C-4
MEMO
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council members
FROM: Charlene A. Stark, Finance Director
RE: Citizen's request to waive penalty for late fee on utility bill.
DATE: November 14, 2007
BACKGROUND:
Cyndi Cadwell has placed before council a letter asking for waiver of penalty on her
water bill. As you are aware the City in the past has denied these requests, but Finance
and the Utility committee of the council met last month to begin writing an amendment to
the city ordinance 51.03 L2. The city ordinance currently directs staff to add a 10%
penalty to all delinquent water bills and directs staff of the procedures to be followed.
The amendment will allow staff to waive penalties on an account as a good customer
service. Char Stark, the City Finance Director has been in contact with legal to draft the
amendment. The plan is to allow for the waiver of penalty on a one time basis, but in
order to invoke the one time wavier the account needs to be set up on the Automatic
Clearing House (ACH) plan the city has in place. This allows the city to deduct the
amount due from either a checking or a savings account, much like direct deposit works
for an employee's payroll but in reverse. This way the citizen has the choice to accept the
one time waiver of penalty and then be set up on ACH as a way for the city to be insured
the problem of not receiving the bill via the U.S. mail becomes less problematic for both
the city and the customer.
Recommended City Council Action
Approve the waiver of penalty but request the citizen to set up the ACH provision on her
water utility account.
-- -- --- ~ ", ^~n .n , i ~ ri-flat r~~
CYNDI CAD~VELL
310 CRESTVIEW DRIVE
HASTINGS, MN 55033
Charlene Stark
City of Hastings
101 East 4th Skreet
Hastings,l\~ 55033
November 14, 2007
Charlene:
I am writing to have the 10% fee waived on my water bill that never arrived.
Last month I received a late notice from the city stating that my water bill
leas overdue_ The 10% fee amounted to almost $40 is what I was told when.
I :phoned the city. I was amazed at the amount I was being charged for
doing nothing more than failing to receive a piece of zna.il_ I was told that i.t
is not the city's fault if someone does not receive their mail. Evidently, it is
the person's fault who did not receive the mail. I think this is a very
arrogant position from an institution whose sole purpose for existence is to
sen%e its citizenry.
If I would have gatten rz~y bill, it would have been paid and sent in to the
city just has it has been for the 19 years I have lived here. I feel I am a good
citi~e». and have an excellent credit history_
There are many reasons someone might not receive a piece of .tnail_ Evert
my credit card coz~apany (~:t~ho X fully admit anal recognize is solely i.n.
business to take advantage of me) will give me a Mulligan in a rare instance
when..[ }lave not gotten timely tt~ail.
This whole ordeal has made me feel very taken advantage of by the city in
which I live.
S inccrely,
Cy-ndi Cadwell