$5K in Wastewater Billed to Property Owners Who Missed Hearing
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
WINONA LAKE – The owners of the property at 77 Kings Highway will have to pay a wastewater bill of almost $5,500 after failing to appear at the Winona Lake Town Council meeting Tuesday night for an appeal hearing they requested. Town Coordinator Craig Allebach said, “The real short version is that the property, originally, about a year or so ago, was under different ownership and they requested disconnect. We went down there and looked at that and denied that request.” In March or April, the property then changed hands to Steve and Waneta Chupp, Millersburg, who requested the hearing. “We had been in conversation and correspondence with the new owners about paying the bill as well as the bill was in arrears,” Allebach said. “And they never contacted us.” At one point, Allebach said they went to the property and told the owners that to stop the wastewater fees they would have to do a disconnect but that was their issue. “We went to (Clerk-Treasurer) Kent Adams’ office, several of us, one morning. Even offered to have us help them locate the disconnect, which we typically don’t do, but they didn’t know where it was. So we went down there, located the disconnect. And they were of the understanding that it was to be disconnected in order to stop the charges. We assumed that it was disconnected at that point because of the work they went through to have it disconnected and everything,” Allebach said. Charges kept mounting over the last seven months. Town office staff kept corresponding with the Chupps about their billing be in arrears. Then a couple of months ago, the Chupps went to the town hall to request waiving those charges. Allebach said they were denied and only the town council could waive those charges. If they wanted to stop the charges from accumulating, the owners were reminded it needed to be disconnected. Discussion continued for a couple more months before occupancy of the building began again. A month ago, the Chupps requested an appeal before the town council, and they were told the hearing would be at 6 p.m. Dec. 15. On Monday, Allebach said he emailed the owner to remind them of Tuesday’s appeal hearing. “So currently, the charges are a little shy of $5,000 because basically it has accumulated $400-plus a month over the last seven months,” Allebach said. Adams later clarified that the amount in arrears was $5,493.60. Councilman Terry Howie said the previous owners had also requested a waiver that the prior council denied. Allebach said when new ownership took over in March, the “consumption of water was 56,000” gallons a month. Then it went down to 13,000; 12,000; 14,000 and then a few thousand gallons a month. “So it’s had usage, which has been dropped into the sewers,” Howie said. Councilman Peter Christos said the fact that the owners weren’t at the meeting didn’t help their cause much. Also, “What kind of precedence are we setting in place if we can just reverse sewage charges?” he asked. “I think you’d have a line of people lined up to come in here,” Howie answered. Bruce Shaffner, councilman, said, “I think my feeling on it is we gave them the opportunity when they requested it in the beginning to have a disconnect. We even met them down there to find it. And they’re the ones who chose not to do anything about it. I personally believe we gave them the opportunity and they did nothing about it so I believe they owe the town of Winona Lake.” Howie agreed, saying the town went above and beyond what they needed to do. After \ further discussion, the council approved 4-0 to deny the Chupps’ appeal. If the owners continue not to comply, the council was asked where it would end up. “There will be a lien placed on their property because they haven’t paid their (bill). That’s the mechanism in place by state statute,” Allebach said. “Ultimately, a lien is placed on the property like it would be for anybody else.” Town attorney Jim Walmer said if the bill isn’t paid, the property will go to tax sale. Once the property is sold, those monies are then deducted from the cost of the sale, Allebach said.
