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1978-053AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS, AMENDING SECTION 25-4 "SERVICE DEPOSITS" AND SECTION 25-6 "BILL- ING AND COLLECTION FOR SERVICES" OF CHAPTER 25 "UTILITIES"; PRO- VIDING A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE AND DECLARING AN EFFECTIVE DATE THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS, HEREBY ORDAINS SECTION I (1) That Chapter 25 "Utlllt~es", Article I, Section 25-4 ~s hereby amended to read as follows- "Section 25-4 Service Deposits (a) No servloe deposlt wlll be requlred if the customer requesting water and/or electric service can pro- v~de or meet one of the following conditions (1) A record of prompt payment for the past twelve months w~th the C~ty of Denton Ut~llty System or another electric utility system (2) A co-s~gner who has a good credlt ratlng wlth the C~ty of Denton Utility System or another electric utility system and w~ll guarantee pay- ment of the utility statement (b) If one of the condltlons in (a) cannot be met, then the customer requestlng water and/or electrlc service w~ll be required to deposit an amount equal to 1/6 of of the last 12 months b~ll~ng at the location where service ~s requested If no previous history is avail- able for the looatlon, a representative s~m~lar type fac~llty will be used to establlsh the amount of the deposits In the case of commercial or ~ndustr~al ser- vice, · f the credit of a customer for servlce has not been established satisfactorily to the utillty, the applicant may be required to make a deposit or, ~n the case of new corporate account, a personal guarantee may be accepted ~n l~eu of a deposit Deposits w~lt be refunded after a prompt payment record has been established over the past 12 months Interest on deposits shall be pa~d at an annual rate at least equal to slx percent (6%) If refund of deposit ~s made w~th~n thirty (30) days of receipt of deposit, no ~nterest wlll be paid If the deposit is retained more than thirty (30) days, payment of ~n- terest shall be retroactive to the date of deposit The deposlt shall cease to draw interest on the date ~t ~s returned or credited to the customer's account Payment of the ~nterest to the customer shall be annually, or at the t~me the deposit ~s returned or credited to the customer's account (c) After making application for service, the customer service department may have to pursue a credit re- ference check The customer will be g~ven service promptly after application, but ~f the credlt check proves negative, the customer wall be required to produce a co-signer or place of deposit. Failure to do so will result in the discontinuance of ser- vzce with no less than two days of notlflcatlon to the prospective customer by the customer service department (d) A connection fee of $10 00 will be charged to new customers requesting water and/or electric service and a transfer fee of $10 00 will be charged exist- lng customers for transferring from one locatzon to another (e) If water and/or electric utility service ~s discon- nected for non-payment, then the customer wzll be required to pay a $20 00 reconnect fee and ma~ntazn a deposit sum equal to 1/6 of the last 12 months bllllng at the location where service is requested" (2) That Chapter 25 "Utilities", Article I, Section 25-6 ~s hereby amended to read as follows. (a) Payment of Statements The due date for the pay- ment of the utility statement will be no less than fzfteen (15) days from the date of the utzl~ty statement Payment must be received ~n the City of Denton's Cashier Off~ce by close of business on the due date regardless of the postmarked date in order to avoid assessment of a penalty Payments placed in the ~all and showing a postmark on due date will not be considered as being received on the due date (b) Discontinuance of Service for Non-Payment of State- ment Each customer of the City's utility system w~ll be rated "A" or "B" at the t~me their current utlllty statement is prepared A customer with no outstanding past due balance w~ll be rated "A", and a customer with an outstanding past due balance will be rated "B" (1) A customer with an "A" rating will not be dis- connected if his account ~s not paid in full by the due date (2) A customer with a "B" rating may be discon- nected ~f his account is not paid ~n full by the due date (c) Notlce of Termination for Customers with a "B" Rating A customer with a "B" ratzng will be notzfled on hzs current utlllty statement that hzs service w~ll be disconnected the day after the present due date if payment for the past and present statements ~s not received by the due date The not~ce w~ll ~nform the customer that he/she should contact the customer service department of the City of Denton wlthln the fifteen (15) day period and prior to disconnection of utlllty service to present any evidence or argu- ment concerning the statement or amount of utility service provided by the City If full payment has not been made approximately five (5) days prior to the due date the customer will again be notzfzed by mall of possible termination and his alternatives (d) Alternatives to Termination of Utility Service A customer with a "B" ratlng may avoid termlnatzon of utility service by doing one of the following- -2- (1) Payang the total amount due (2) Arranging wlth the Customer Servace Depart- ment for a deferred payment agreement that would requare payment of at least fafty (50%) percent of the outstanding ball and payment of the remaan~ng amount an not more than sax (6) equal monthly payments (3) If the customer as unable to meet these con- dataons or af he/she has defaulted on a de- ferred agreement, he/she wall be referred to a "Utalaty Account Revaew Committee" for fur- ther actaon Thas Commattee wall be composed of the C~ty Manager, City Attorney, Fanance Darector and Utalaty Darector or thear desag- nated representatave af they are unable to attend a meetang The Utalaty Account Revaew Commlttee ~s authorazed to develop a deferred payment agreement beyond the sax (6) month period but could not extend beyond twelve (12) months. Nelther the Customer Servace Depart- ment nor the Ut~laty Account Review Commattee wall have the authoraty to waave all or any por- taon of the utalaty statement owang to the Caty except when an error in balllng has occurred Any account that as dellnquent wall be referred to the Caty Attorney for collectaon, and appro- praate reports regarding the account's credat ratang wall be processed (e) Certaln Adjustments Prohabated No adjustment wall be made an any monthly ball because of any water or electrac leak or loss No allowance shall be made on utalaty balls by reason of use of less servace than the quantity set as the basas for the manamum charge (f) Separate Meters Requlred Each customer maantaanlng a separate resadence, eather house or apartment shall have a separate water meter and electrac meter and a separate servace connectaon to the caty sewer lanes, provaded, however, that multaple dwellangs contaanang less than fave (5) unats may be served by one water and one electrac meter and one sewer servace connectaon and wall be balled under the resadentaal multaple block rate Multiple dwellings contalnang fave (5) or more un~ts whach do not have separate meterang and servace facalataes shall be classafled as commercaal bualdangs for utalaty purposes and shall be balled under the applacable commercaal rates (g) Notace on Movang Requared Any customer or prospec- tave customer of the Caty of Denton Utllaty System movang anto or out of a bulldang where electrac, water or sewer servace as or wall be provided shall gave a mlnamum of twenty-four (24) hours notace to the Cus- tomer Servace Department prior to the proposed date of connectaon or dasconnectlon of saad ut~lltaes. (3) That Chapter 25 "Utalataes", Artacle II, Section 25-21 (5) hereby amended to read as follows -3- "Sectaon 25-21(5) Payment Ballang for servace hereunder wall be at the net monthly rate, payment of whach as due on or before the due date shown on the statement A penalty for non-payment of the ball wall be assessed and charged Balls whach are not paid by the close of busaness of the due date will be considered overdue The penalty shall be the net monthly rate multlplaed by fave (5%) percent, and the statement sent to the utalaty user wall show an amount due on or before the due date, and wall show an amount which includes the penalty that wall be due after the due date Sections 25-4 and 25-6 of thas Chapter wall apply to servace users hav- ing overdue balls (4) That Chapter 25 "Utalataes", Article IV, Sectaon 25-60(a) (3) is hereby amended as follows: "Section 25-60(a) (3) Payment Billang for service hereunder will be at the net monthly rate, payment of whach as due on or before the due date shown on the statement A penalty for non-payment of the ball wall be assessed and charged Bills whach are not paad by the close of busaness on the due date wall be considered overdue The penalty shall be the net monthly rate multaplaed by five (5%) percent, and the statement sent to the utllaty user wall show an amount due on or before the due date, and will show an amount which includes the penalty that will be due after the due date Sectaons 25-4 and 25-6 of this Chapter wall apply to servace users hav- ing overdue b~lls SECTION II That af any sectaon, subsection, paragraph, sentence, clause, phrase or word an this ordanance, or application thereof to any per- son or caroumstances Ks held anvalld by any court of competent ]uras- dactlon, such holdang shall not affect the valadlty of the remalnang portions of th~s ordinance, and the Caty Council of the City of Denton, Texas, hereby declares it would have enacted such remaanang portaons despate any such ~nvaladaty SECTION III That th~s ordinance shall become effectave fourteen (14) days after the passage hereof except for the provaslons dealing wath notafacataon of termanataon of service (Artacle I, Section 25-6(b) and (c), and penalties (Article II, Section 25-21(5) and Article IV, Sectaon 25-60(a) (3) The notlflcatlon of termination of servace and penalty provisions will become effective with the customer utllaty statements sent by the Caty of Denton on or after December 1, 1978 --4-- 1978 JOE~a/~TCHELL, MAYOR CI~f OF DENTON, TEXAS ATTEST APPROVED AS TO LEGAL FORM o CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS -5-