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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1152 Ord (Chapter 28 regarding Water Utility)ORDINANCE NO. 1152 AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 28 OF THE CITY CODE OF THE CITY OF STILLWATER REGARDING WATER UTILITY The City Council of the City of Stillwater does ordain: SECTION 1 AMENDMENT. Chapter 28, Section 28-1 of the City Code, formerly known as the Water Department, now to be known as the Water Utility, is hereby amended as follows: Chapter 28 - WATER UTILITY Sec. 28-1. - Repealed Sec. 28-2. - Water system; rules and regulations. Subd. 1. General water regulations. The city may discontinue service to any water consumer without notice for necessary repairs or upon notice for nonpayment of charges or for violation of water department rules and regulations. Subd. 2. Supply from one service. No more than one house or building shall be supplied from one service connection unless approved by Public Works Director or designee. Whenever two or more parties are supplied from one pipe connecting with a service main, each building or part of a building separately supplied shall have a separate stop box and a separate meter. Subd. 3. Turning on water; tapping mains. No person except a city employee shall turn on any water supply at the stop box or tap any distributing main or pipe of the water supply system. Subd. 4. Repair of leaks. The consumer or owner shall be responsible for maintaining the service pipe from the water main into the building served. If the consumer fails to repair any leak in a service pipe within 24 hours after notice by the city, the city may turn the water off. When the waste of water is great or damage is likely to result from the leak, the city shall turn the water off immediately upon the giving of notice if repair is not commenced immediately. Subd. 5. Use of fire hydrants. No person other than an authorized city employee or fire department employee shall operate a fire hydrant or interfere in any way with the city water system without first obtaining permission from the city. Subd. 6. Private water supply. No water pipe of the city water supply system shall be connected with any pump, well or tank that is connected with any other source of water supply. When any such connection is found, the city shall notify the owner to sever the connection, and, if this is not done immediately, the city shall turn off the water supply. Before any new connection to the city system is permitted, city employees shall ascertain that no cross connection will exist when the new connection is made. Subd. 7. Hours. Whenever the city council determines that a shortage of water supply threatens the city, it may, by resolution, limit the times and hours during which city water may be used for sprinkling, irrigation, car washing, air conditioning or other specified uses. After publication of the resolution, no person shall use or permit water to be used in violation of the resolution, and any customer who does so shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. If the emergency requires immediate compliance with terms of the resolution, the city council may provide for the delivery of a copy of the resolution to the premises of each customer and any customer who has received such notice and thereafter uses or permits water to be used in violation of the resolution shall be subject to the above charge. Continued violation shall be cause for discontinuance of water service. Subd. 8. Meters required. Except for extinguishing of fires, no person other than an authorized city employee shall use the water from the city water supply or permit water to be drawn therefrom unless the water passes through a meter supplied or approved by the city. No person not authorized by the city shall connect, disconnect, take apart or in any manner change or interfere with any such meter or its use. Subd. 9. Maintenance. The city shall maintain and repair at its expense any through one -inch sized meter that has become unserviceable through ordinary wear and tear and shall replace it if necessary. Where repair or replacement is made necessary by act or neglect of the owner or occupant of the premises it serves, any expense caused thereby shall be a charge against and collected from the water consumer, and water service may be discontinued until the cause is corrected and the amount charged is paid. Subd. 10. Complaints; meter testing. When a consumer complains that the bill for any past service period is excessive, the city shall have the meter reread on request. If the test shows an error exceeding five percent of the water consumed, the excess charges shall be refunded, an accurate meter shall be installed and the bill shall be adjusted accordingly. The adjustment shall not extend back more than one service period from the date of the written request. Subd. 11. Meters property of city. Through one -inch water meters shall be the property of the city and may be removed or replaced as to size and type when deemed necessary. Subd. 12. Meter reading and inspection. Authorized meter readers shall have free access at reasonable hours of the day to all parts of every building and premises connected with the water supply system in order to read meters and make inspections. Subd. 13. Plumbing regulations; service fees. Every service pipe shall be laid with sufficient bend to allow not less than one foot of extra length as to prevent rupture by settlement. The service pipe shall be placed not less than seven feet below the surface and be so arranged as to prevent rupture by freezing. A shutoff valve of the size and strength required shall be placed close to the inside wall of the building and be well 2 protected from freezing. Copper tubing shall be used for all services of two inches or less. Joints on copper tubing shall be as few as possible and not more than one joint shall be used for a service up to 40 feet in length. Each joint shall be left uncovered until inspected by the city. Every service over two inches shall be cast iron. Connections with the mains for domestic supply shall be at least three -fourths of an inch per residential unit or the equivalent. Subd. 14. Water meter setting. Every water meter shall be installed according to regulations set by the city. Subd. 15. Fees. The permit fee for connection to the city water system must be paid for each connection in the amount established by the city council, following a recommendation by the Utilities Commission, by resolution. In addition, before any permit is issued, the following conditions must be satisfied: (1) No permit may be issued to connect with any water system of the city directly or indirectly from any lot or tract of land unless the Public Works Director or designee has certified: (a) That the lot or tract of land has been assessed for the cost of construction of the water main, trunk or water tower with which the connection is made; or (b) If no assessment has been levied, that a sum equal to the portion of cost of constructing the sanitary sewer main or trunk which would be assessable against the lot or tract has been paid to the city. Subd. 16. Immediate connection required. Any building within the city which has available to it city water services must be connected to the city water system if and when they connect to the city sewer system, or upon a sale or transfer of title to the property. Any new building built within the city which is on property that has city water service available must have its plumbing facilities connected to the water system upon construction. Subd. 17. Water Fund. There shall be kept and maintained a separate fund, to be designated as the water fund, into which fund shall be placed all water service charges when collected and all monies received from the charges of water services. The fund shall be used first to pay the normal, reasonable and current costs of administering, operating and maintaining the water system and facilities. Net revenues from time to time received in excess of costs may be pledged by resolution of the city council, or may be used though not so pledged for the payment of all or part of the principal and interest on obligations issued to pay the cost of reconstructing, repairing, enlarging or improving the water system. Sec. 28-3. - Protection of waterworks. Subd. 1. Placement of noxious substances in system. It shall be unlawful for any person to put any noxious substance in the waterworks system. Subd. 2. Breaking, injuring or defacing parts of system. It shall be unlawful for any person to willfully or careless break, injure or deface any part of the waterworks. 3 Subd. 3. Opening hydrants. It shall be unlawful for any person other than the city employee, or chief of the fire department and subordinates while in the performance of their duties to open any of the public hydrants of the system of waterworks, or to take any water from hydrants for any purpose. Subd. 4. Tapping; making connections. It shall be unlawful for any person other than city employees to tap or make any connection with any pipe or street main or other appurtenances belonging to the system of waterworks. Subd. 5. Use of water for purposes not designated in licenses. It shall be unlawful for any person, having a license to use water from the system of waterworks, to use, waste or suffer to be used by others, the water therefrom for any purpose other than that designated in the licenses. Subd. 6. Right of entry by city. The city employees shall be authorized to enter into and have full access to any premises, at all reasonable hours and when necessary to ascertain the elevation or condition of any hydrant tap or pipe, or other fixture or appurtenances connected with the waterworks system. It shall be unlawful for any person to prevent or prohibit or obstruct the city employees, in the legitimate discharge of their duties. Subd. 7. Use of hydrants by fire department. The fire department of the city shall at all times have the liberty without charge to use water from the fire hydrants of the system of waterworks for the purpose of washing, cleansing or testing fire equipment. Subd. 8. Enforcement of section; reporting of violations. It shall be the duty of the police officers of the city to enforce the provisions of this section. SECTION 2 SUMMARY PUBLICATION. Pursuant to Minnesota Statutes Section 412.191, in the case of a lengthy ordinance, a summary may be published. While a copy of the entire ordinance is available without cost at the office of the City Clerk, the following summary is approved by the City Council and shall be published in lieu of publishing the entire ordinance: The Ordinance amendment transitions the day to day operations of the water utility to the city employees. SECTION 3 EFFECTIVE DATE. This Ordinance shall be effective January 1, 2021. Adopted by the Stillwater City Council this 29th day of September, 2020. Beth Wolf, City Clerk CITY OF S WATER Ted Kozlowski, Mayor 4 AFFIDAVIT OF PUBLICATION STATE OF MINNESOTA ) ss COUNTY OF WASHINGTON Diane Erickson being duly sworn on an oath, states or affirms that he/she is the Publisher's Designated Agent of the newspaper(s) known as: Stillwater Gazette with the known office of issue being located in the county of: WASHINGTON with additional circulation in the counties of: WASHINGTON and has full knowledge of the facts stated below: (A) The newspaper has complied with all of the requirements constituting qualifica- tion as a qualified newspaper as provided by Minn. Stat. §331A.02. (B) This Public Notice was printed and pub- lished in said newspaper(s) once each week, for 1 successive week(s); the first insertion being on 10/02/2020 and the last insertion being on 10/02/2020. MORTGAGE FORECLOSURE NOTICES Pursuant to Minnesota Stat. §580.033 relating to the publication of mortgage foreclosure notices: The newspaper complies with the conditions described in §580.033, subd. 1, clause (1) or (2). If the newspaper's known office of issue is located in a county adjoining the county where the mortgaged premises or some part of the mortgaged premises described in the notice are located, a substantial portion of the newspaper's circulation is in the latter county. By: Designated Agent Subscribed and sworn to or affirmed before me on 10/02/2020 by Diane Erickson. Notary Public '""`;',.: DARLENE MARIE MACPHERSON = Notary Public Minnesota '' 1 Commission ats January 31, 2024 Rate Information: (1) Lowest classified rate paid by commercial users for comparable space: $40.00 per column inch CITY OF STILLWATER ORDINANCE NO. 1152 AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 28 OF THE CITY CODE OF THE CITY OF STILLWATER REGARDING WATER UTILITY The City Council of the City of Stillwater does ordain: The Ordinance amendment transitions the day to day operations of the water utility to the city employees. Approved this 29th day of September, 2020. Do not hesitate to contact the City Clerk's Office (651) 430-8802 if you have any questions or need further information. Signed: Beth Wolf City Clerk Published in the Stillwater Gazette October 2, 2020 1081383 Ad ID 1081383