7/16/1991 - Laserfiche WebLink

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J U L 16 BOOK 83 PAGE the life of the facility is virtually permanent; as well as the fact that the problem is state-wide and should be solved in Tallahassee. Mr. Bond reverted to his original intent of clarification and referred to the meeting of March 12 at which, in his recollection, the Board stated it is not mandatory; nobody is being forced to hook up. Commissioner Scurlock corrected him and said he should read the entire statement which reads that there is no requirement to hook up unless there is a contractual agreement. Mr. Bond felt they do have a mandate and the tenants are stuck to pay it because, according to Section 723, a government -mandated capital improvement is passed on to the individual home owner. That is why he is before the Board, to get an opinion from the County Commission on the letter of February 22 from Harry Asher requiring the park owner to connect to the system. Mr. Bond said the park owner was using that letter as the basis for passing the charges on to the tenants. Director Pinto explained that the letter is pursuant to the requirement of the contract; the water and sewer is now available; therefore, you will have to connect. The owner has agreed, they have paid all the impact fees, their engineering is under way, and they are going to connect to the system. Mr. Pinto advised individual metering is more desirable to prevent paying for someone else's water and to be able to control water that is unaccounted for because of line loss. Mr. Pinto felt individual meters would protect tenants. Chairman Bird agreed but was concerned about how the tenants are ever going to get reimbursed from the park owner. Mr. Bond related a meeting with representatives of the park owner when they absolutely refused to budge and based their whole argument on the February 22 letter. Mr. Bond felt the letter gives them a mandate to pass the charge on to the tenants. Discussion ensued regarding individual meters versus master meters and the pros and cons of each. It was suggested that the County read the individual meters but send only one bill to the park owner, and Attorney Vitunac advised that the Utility Services Director has the power to do that under our local ordinance. The ordinance says the best policy is for each customer to have his own meter and pay his own bill but in certain circumstances, if the director of the utilities finds it is in the public interest, he can send the master meter bill and let the park owner worry about collection.