Century Town Council Talks Sewage

June 17, 2008

The Century Town Council once again talked sewage for a great deal of their Monday night meeting. And Leola Robinson was there to talk back.

When Robinson placed a mobile home on property she owns in the 7500 block of Williams Street, she did not connect the trailer to the town’s sewer system. The town billed her each month for the minimum sewage usage charge, and that bill reach about $3,000 by the time the issue came before the town council about a month ago. The town discovered that due to time limitations, they could only bill her for $624 in service and reduced the bill.

But Robinson once again defiantly told the council that she is not going to pay up.

“I will not pay a penny for something they did not make available to me,” Robinson told the council Monday night. “They did not make it available to me.”

“As long as the sewer is not available to me, I won’t pay a penny,” she reiterated.

Council President Ann Brooks read two town ordinances at the council’s June 2 meeting that indicated that every property owner in the town must connect any structure to the town’s sewer service within three months. If not, the ordinances say the town can charge the property owner a minimum monthly fee and enter the person’s property to connect the service. The ordinances also prohibit septic tanks in the town unless approved by the health department and the council.

“That was not true,” Robinson said of the media’s reporting on the ordinances. “I have not violated no ordinances.”

“They have not made it available to the black people on the west side,” Robinson said of sewer taps. She said taps were installed when the sewer system was installed for people on Highway 29, but not on West Highway 4. “We are people just like they are,” she said.

“I’m not going to argue if it is accessible or not,” Century Mayor Freddie McCall said. He said the town was in the process of installing a tap near Robinson’s mobile home. He said that Bellsouth was to have located telephone lines by midnight Monday so that the town could being installing a line on Tuesday.

In other sewer related business, the town council voted to raise the sewer reconnect fee from $30 to $250 at Monday night’s meeting.

McCall said it takes several men with a backhoe most of the day to dig six to eight feet down to install a shutoff valve on customer sewer lines that are to be disconnected. He asked that the reconnect fee be raised to compensate the town for that considerable expense.

“It’s something to deter it from happening,” McCall said of past due sewer bills. “We have people that pay the $30 every month.”

He said a letter was going to all sewer customers with seriously delinquent bills asking for payment.

The first paragraph, he said “is begging the people to come in an talk with me”. The second paragraph outlines the town’s legal right to collect the bills, and the third paragraph once again says “please come in and let’s get this worked out”.

When council member Gary Riley asked if the town’s citizens would be informed of the increased fee, McCall said that they would be informed through NorthEscambia.com and The Tri-City Ledger.

The council also discussed water service on Backwoods Road again. The area is served by an inadequate two inch line that runs under the middle of the road. The town has attempted, and the county has attempted, to obtain right of way easements for the county road that is inside the town limits. That has yet to happen, so they may be forced to run the new water lines down the middle of Backwoods Road. That, the mayor says, will lead to future problems if the lines must be dug up for repairs.

Council member Sharon Scott said that many of the property owners that live out of town will be home for the Fourth of July holiday, and she volunteered to help contact them.

The mayor will also investigate hiring a title company to track down property owners.

In other business Monday night:

  • McCall reported that Helicopter Technologies is “paid up” to date.
  • The council amended the budget to reflect a half million dollar grant for sewage lift station generators.
  • McCall announced a special called meeting at noon Wednesday with the town attorney.
  • The mayor announced that flag poles had been installed at the town’s Wall of Honor. The wall will be dedicated at 10:00 a.m. on July 4.

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Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News