John Coffelt, Editor

The Board of Mayor and Alderman approved a first reading of an ordinance amending the water department policy regarding cut-offs.

The policy increases the time to 45 days. The current setup is 10 days after the 15-day late notice is sent out (or 25 days).

At the Water and Sewer Commission meeting on Thursday, March 9 Mayor Marilyn Howard told that board that the thinking behind the ordinance is to create a uniform policy.

“We need to give these employees consistency so that they can do something,” she said.

Howard confirmed with the water department that contact would be made with the customer prior to the cut-off.

“We’ve added 20 days…we’ve given more of an opportunity for someone to call if they see a red flag. I know people in the water department pay some of these bills out of pocket,” she said.

Chairman of Water and Sewer Michael Anderson called for a common sense approach to the cut-offs.

“Some of these guys (that were recently scheduled for cut-off) are on automatic payment and something for what every reason happened,” he said.  

During the BOMA meeting the question arose concerning policy for industries delinquent on their water bill.

“What about if there is a big manufacturing company that is over 45 days, how do we handle that?” Howard asked at the BOMA meeting, omitting the name of the manufacturer in question.  

“We made a phone call,” Water and Sewer Director Philip Miller said.

Recently a hiccup with the automatic payment system caused two industries bills to appear that they were not paid. The conversation indicated that one of the manufacturing plants have had other payment issues.      

John has been with the Manchester Times since May 2011. John has won Tennessee Press Association awards for Best News Photo and placed in numerous other categories. John is a 1994 graduate of Tullahoma High School, a graduate of Motlow State Community College and earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Middle Tennessee State University. He lives in Tullahoma, enjoys painting, dancing and exploring the outdoors.