Buckeye Water District Service Committee

Tuesday - February 9: The BWD Service Committee held a meeting at the district's office on Clark Avenue Tuesday afternoon. Present at the meetings was Service Committee Chairman Cal Carney, Committee Members Tim O'Hara & Dave Lloyd and BWD Fiscal Administrator Sara Crouch. The meeting was held to hear appeals from two district customers that received bills for large amounts of water due to water line breaks.

The first customer was Frank Walker of New Castle, PA. Mr. Walker has an empty rental house located on Cannons Mill Road. Sometime in the last month a back flow prevention assembly broke apart in the basement. It is undetermined how long the water ran but Mr. Walker was billed for 202,000 gallons of water. Mr. Walker advised the Committee that heat in the house is set at 59 degrees. When discovered there was serious water damage and eight to 10" of water on the basement floor. If there had not been a floor drain the water would probably have been much deeper. The Committee reached a potential settlement that will have to be approved by the full Board of Trustees at their next regular meeting.

The second appeal was from Christopher McHenry, owner of Destination Cycles in Glenmore. Some time between the close of business on a Saturday and the next Monday morning a breaker tripped that shut off the heat to the building. Over the weekend there was a restroom water line that froze and broke resulting in a continuous flow of water in the building. Mr. McHenry advised the Committee that his business is barely surviving in this economy and he simply could not afford to pay the bill all at one time that accumulated with the break.

Speaking for the Committee, Mr. Carney offered his sympathy but stated BWD has their own debt and like any other utility company can not afford to give their product away. Once reported response to have the water shut off was well within reasonable time. Mr. McHenry will be responsible for the full amount but was offered a payment plan to get it paid off.

There will be a Personnel Committee Meeting held at the Water Treatment Plant tomorrow. The meeting will be held in Executive Session with no action expected to be taken. The next regular meeting of the BWD Board of Trustees is scheduled for Thursday, February 18 at 9 A.M. at Wellsville Village Hall.

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