Staff report by Supervisor Derek Olson: this is a single-family home possibly vacant
as back as 2023. February 24 2026 we took a meter reading and it was extremely
high. The next day our field staff went out and shut the water off to the property at the
curb. While there, they noticed frost on the inside of the windows. I believe the water
was requested to be left on but when Joe Tronson got there he could hear the water
running at the curb stop, going through the service into the home. It was vacant at that
time and shouldn’t have been heard. He made the decision to shut the water off until
repairs were made. They have a formula they identify the properties as the readings
come in and try to get to them the next day. March 2 we created the bill. They are on
automatic payments, the balance was 6758.71 and it was automatically drawn from
their account March 27th. On the 19th we received a call from the owner and asking for
forgiveness for a pipe that broke, sounds like by the boiler. We can’t forgive water
charges. They requested to have the meter removed. We did that March 23rd. We sent
you a picture of the frozen meter, so that charge was added to their account. March 25
the owner talked to Public Works and they issued a credit because they had a
certified signed letter saying all the water didn’t go down the drain, so they did give a
$3,713.14 credit. We created the last bill since the meter was taken out. That was an
additional $847. Due to the payment and credit that left a balance of a $2,646 credit.
Moermond: walk me through the logic here on the credit as it shows on the bill? When
I was looking at the sanitary sewer charges I read them to be 673, plus the base
charge.
Olson: that is the final bill after taking the meter out. The high bill was before this,
dated March 2, 2026. That’s where the high charge usage occurred. 3,682 is the sewer
charge. Public Works gave a credit for both bills, the March bill and the next one.
Moermond: where did the water go?
Olson: we’re assuming someone came and pumped the water out. Unless it has a dirt
floor and it absorbed in. That was the explanation from Phi Pham in Public Works. I
can forward you his email about that reduction.
Moermond: did he remove all but 6 gallons?
Olson: yes, because they weren’t using water. Their logic was an ordinary bill, they
weren’t using hardly anything at all. I don’t know how he got to that number. They just
sent that email saying please issue the credit. We don’t usually investigate them, they
are in a spreadsheet and we just apply. I don’t know how he came up with that amount.
Moermond: no usage takes us back to 2023.
Olson: yes, we went back to April 2023.
Moermond: even a couple of bills in 2017 and 2018 that are $0. You own one property,
and this is the house next door?
Thaw: yes, we bought it in 2017 or 2018 and lived there a few years, and then moved
next door because the neighbors sold. They’re basically side by side. It is vacant and
we check it time to time but no one lives there. We didn’t shut off any facilities. We
didn’t know about the plumbing failure, I thought it was in decent condition and had
been doing it for many years.
Moermond: you didn’t winterize the house.
Thaw: we always keep it at 57 degrees in the winter. Then in the spring we go and
check. Sometimes we run the sprinkler system, we didn’t last year.
