CLAYPOOL – Town Council voted Monday to refund a water bill three times larger than Phend and Brown says it should have been. Doug Brown, co-owner of the Milford highway contractor, asked Claypool council to refund about $2,146 he said they overcharged for water use during construction of the Ind. 15 overpass outside of town last year. The bill was for more than 800,000 gallons of water, but Brown said between his company and the landscaping contractor, they used only 279,500. He presented council with records to back up the water use claim, noting that amount of water is equal to about 30 semi truck tankers full. The amount they were charged for would have been equal to 146 tankers, noted council member Don Miller, who abstained from the vote and largely from discussion as a Phend and Brown employee. Council President Niki Miller said the town charged the higher figure based on water usage written on business cards handed in to the office, since there was no meter on the hydrant used. Brown said the lower figure was given to the town that way, but no one at the meeting could say where the higher figure came from. “I can’t provide it to you. Herein lies the problem,” Niki Miller said. Since the town could not provide records for the higher gallonage, she and council member Tom Burnworth voted to refund the amount Phend and Brown overpaid. Also during the meeting, council set a budget workshop for July 16 at 7 p.m. in the clerk-treasurer’s office. Clerk-Treasurer Connie Morgan gave them a timeline that includes a Sept. 13 deadline for first notice to taxpayers of the 2014 budget, an Oct. 22 deadline for a public hearing, and adoption of the budget by Nov. 1.
