ASHLAND - Water customers of the Ashland Area Municipal Authority who have been chronic delinquents are finding their service being terminated.
Borough Manager Thomas Joyce said the shutoffs have shown results in getting people to come in to pay their bills.
"We had shut-off 23 residences, and I believe 13 of them are still off," Joyce said. "We've had quite a number of people who have paid a lot of money and made agreements to pay. The (payment) agreements go into effect in May, so if the people live up to their agreements, it will be fine. If they don't, they were told they would be shut off immediately without notice."
The water authority owns the water system and hires the borough to operate the system through a management agreement.
As for those customers who still have no water service, Joyce said the borough will make sure the service to those properties is still off.
"We're double-checking to make sure that they accidentally didn't get turned back on," Joyce said. "We take a meter reading and then go back a week later and then check the meter for usage."
Joyce said there are about 15 homes that are vacant that have large delinquencies and he is working with borough solicitor James Diehl in filing liens against the properties. Joyce also said that there were three cases where property owners were delinquent in their payments and the tenants came forward to pay.
"I explained to them that they can pay the bill and they can deduct it from the rent," Joyce said. "The owner cannot throw them out for that reason."
In his report, solicitor S. John Price spoke about the situation with the Chapter 7 bankruptcy of Saint Catherine Medical Center Fountain Springs, which owes the water authority. He explained about the original filing of Chapter 11 for reorganizing, but then filed for Chapter 7, which involves liquidation of assets.
In his monthly report, plant operator William Miller said the reservoir in Butler Township is below overflow due to the lack of rain.
"The reservoir is minus one foot, which equates to 95 percent capacity," Miller said. "We're a little bit below on the rainfall this year in the whole area. We could use some rain."
Miller said he is waiting for parts to put the water filtration plant back to automatic mode.
"We're currently running the plant manually due to the problem with the PLC and the hardware," Miller said. The programmable logic controller is a digital computer used for automation. "The PLC is a computer part of the control panel that tells relays to open and shut at this times. Our problem is the PLC is telling some of the relays to open and shut and it's not working."
"We're expecting to have it fixed this week," Miller said. "The PLC is working, so the problem is with the hardware, which is good since the cost will be in the hundreds (of dollars) instead of thousands."
Joyce reported that due to the problem at the treatment plant, the hydrant flushing has been postponed until the repairs are made. Customers will be informed in advance of flushing.