Calendar:
Thursday, July 15
6:00 pm - District 3 Town Hall Meeting, Cook's Memorial Presbyterian Church, 3413 Mount Holly Huntersville Road
Monday, July 19
12:00 pm- Agenda Briefing, Room 280
1:30 pm - Transportation Committee Meeting, Rooms 270/271. AGENDA: Transportation Planning and Growth Projections; North Corridor Grade Study
5:00 pm - Council Manager Dinner Briefing, Room CH-14
6:00 pm - Zoning Meeting, Meeting Chamber
Wednesday, July 21
7:00 pm - MUMPO Meeting, Room 267
Thursday, July 22
5:00 pm - Community Safety Committee Meeting, Room 280. AGENDA: Commercial Towing Ordinance
Friday, July 23
7:45 am - Planning Liaison Committee Meeting, 8th Floor
Agenda Items:
Agenda Item #3: Zoning Petition #2003-097
Staff Resource: Debra Campbell, 704-336-2671
You may have received communication from the Coventry Woods neighborhood requesting a new hearing on the zoning petition on Independence at Amity Place. Attached is the staff response that states that a new hearing is not required. Also attached is the zoning ordinance section on "withdrawal and amendment of petitions," and the Planning Zoning Committee recommendation.
South Corridor Light Rail
Staff Resource: Vi Lyles, 704-336-3123
Council member Mumford asked staff to outline the alternatives if funding of the South Corridor project was delayed until spring. Attached is a reply from Ron Tober that outlines the key milestones as well as contingency planning for any delay in funding.
Increased Water Bills
Staff Resource: Doug Bean, 704-391-5070
Last Thursday WSOC-TV aired a story titled "What's Up With The Water Bills," which stated that it "isn't all that uncommon" for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities to make errors that result in monthly bills that are too high or too low for customers.
In a system with more than 210,000 active water accounts, high or low bills do occasionally occur in the billing process for a variety of reasons that are not always related to errors. Those reasons may include:
- Private water leaks
- The impact of estimated billing due to covered meters; or
- Meter mis-reads (human error).
The City fields many types of customer billing inquiries every day. Sometimes they are simple questions; other times they relate to specific charges and require research. In high bill cases caused by factors listed above, appropriate adjustments can be made to either give credit or the City may collect on a balance owed if the customer's bill has been too low with options for payment arrangements.
From what we know, WSOC's story was based on three water bill cases representing several different circumstances over a wide period of time. We can confirm:
- One case was indeed due to a meter reading error and a fair adjustment was made eleven months ago.
- A second case involved a customer who had experienced a leak in his private plumbing, fixed the leak and received a high water bill. After showing that he had repaired the leak, the customer subsequently received a standard leak repair adjustment on that bill in November 2003.
- A third case involved a high bill last June from a customer who had actually used the water, but whose meter had been estimated too low for several months because the meter had been covered and obscured from view. That customer received an adjustment from $807 to $276 due to the unusual length of time of his estimated bill.
Since the WSOC story ran last week, we understand several Council members have received some additional customer calls about high bills, and we have gotten some through our customer service line as well. Some of these new high bill calls are likely due to seasonal increases in irrigation, or the initial impact of the rate increase that took effect July 1; we investigate and address each case, as requested.
While ongoing improvements in business processes and installation of the automated meter reading system will reduce the need for adjustments, there will always be individual circumstances where adjustments may be warranted.
CMPD Assists in Identification of York County Chop Shop
Staff Resource: Brenda Jones, 704-336-2292
Last week, a large vehicle chop shop was raided in York County, South Carolina. The information leading to this raid was developed by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police (CMPD) Auto Theft Detectives and North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) Inspectors. CMPD and DMV were conducting a joint investigation on another issue when they developed information on the York County chop shop operation. The CMPD Aviation Unit assisted in taking some pre-raid photographs of the property once the location was identified.
CMPD auto theft detectives joined a number of other law enforcement agencies in the raid of the property which was owned by a Charlotte family who have a salvage and tow truck business in Charlotte. An inventory of the over 150 vehicles found on the property is in process. So far, 26 of the recovered vehicles have been identified as having come from Charlotte.
This investigation is another excellent example of the partnerships that CMPD has built with other law enforcement agencies and highlights some fine work on the part of the Auto Theft Unit.
