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Town Forgives Sewer Bill For Woman That Vowed Not To Pay

She took on the town, and she won. The Century Town Council has voted to forgive a $629 sewage bill that a woman that said she would go to jail or hell before she paid up.

The council had tabled action at their last meeting on whether or not to force Leola Robinson to pay up at the request of Ann Brooks, council president, while Brooks discussed the issue with the town’s attorney.

“I learned something very interesting,” Brooks said at the council’s meeting Monday night. She said that she discovered that the town had actually denied attempts by Robinson and tenant Selma Scott to hook into the Century sewer system.

“I’ve seen many things that led me to know that she didn’t have access,” Brooks said.

The piece of property in question, located at 370 West Highway 4, is within in the town of Century. But it is partial in the Century water franchise area and partially in the Central Water Works franchise area. Handwritten notes by Town Clerk Dorothy Sims dated June 21, 1999, state that she “issued a land use approval…explained…that mobile home had to be connected to town’s water or they would not get sewer service.”

On September 14, 1999, a county official contacted Sims to question why the sewage connection could not be made.

“I informed him that we had a hold on this, and she couldn’t connect to the Town’s sewer. I asked him to tell the lady she couldn’t connect to the Town’s sewer because she connected to Central Water Works,” Sim’s notes from September 14, 1999, read (pictured left, click to enlarge). The notes indicate that Leola Robinson, Marilyn Robinson and Selma Scott asked for a letter from the town stating why sewage service could not be installed, also on September 14, 1999. “I informed them that it is due to the fact they connected to Central Water Works water after they were given the land use permit.”

Robinson’s daughter Marilyn Robinson took the issue to the Escambia County Commission on September 16, 1999. She told commissioners that Scott would be required to purchase 500 feet of sewer line to connect to the Century sewer system and about 100 feet of pipe to connect to Century’s water. Marilyn Robinson asked the commission for permission to use a septic tank “since she had been denied sewer service based upon the absence of a cooperative agreement between the Town of Century and Central Water Works.”

Then District 5 Commissioner Wilson Robertson made a motion that county staff meet with the Town of Century and Central Water Works in attempt to resolve the issue, and if no solution could be reached, allow Scott to install the septic tank. Records indicate that the county health department did approve the septic tank installation on the property inside the Town of Century, and the county performed a final inspection on the septic tank on October 14, 1999.

“I attempted to access the minutes from the Town Council meeting that I was told this matter was discussed, the agenda was in the minutes book, but the minutes were not,” a statement Brooks prepared and read Monday night said. “I asked for the tape of the minutes, but it along with many others was destroyed. The best source of information that I could find to support the Town’s position at that time regarding the issue was Dorothy’s notes.”

“It is my opinion that she was wrongly denied sewer access, and I will support a motion to forgive the $629 bill for minimum sewer sewer fees that we have billed Mrs. Robinson for Ms. Scott, her tenant, for failure to hook up to our sewer system.”

The council voted 5-0 to forgive the bill.

When Robinson placed a mobile home on property she owns, 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 in May.

Town ordinances indicate 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. At that May meeting, Mayor Freddie McCall said the most the town could collect from Robinson by law would be charges from the past four years….$624. The bill is now $629 with the addition of a late charge.

At the council’s November 3 meeting, Robinson said she would go to “jail or go to hell before I pay that bill”, and that the county had given her permission for the septic tank to be installed.

Pictured top Leola Robinson listens to the Century Town Council discuss her sewer bill. Pictured above: A portion of Town Clerk Dorothy Sim’s notes from 1999 (the yellow highlight was added by council President Ann Brooks). NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.