Owners won't be charged for water

City water-meter policy wasn't applied uniformly, a council committee says.
By TIM YOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
CORTLAND -- The issue of the city's providing free water temporarily to seven new houses has ended with the city footing the bill.
Councilwoman Deidre Petrosky, a council finance committee member, told fellow lawmakers Monday that the homeowners won't be charged for the water.
Petrosky said the committee determined that the policy governing when the city installs meters wasn't being applied uniformly, thus the homeowners weren't to blame.
That policy has since been changed by council.
The issue surfaced in mid-August when Petrosky learned that meters hadn't been installed in seven houses that were constructed for display during this year's Parade of Homes put on by the Home Builders/Remodelers Association of the Mahoning Valley.
The houses were built in the Walnut Run area.
Service Director Don Wittman explained at the time that there was no city procedure outlined to determine when the city should install a meter so the owners could be billed for the water.
The houses in question were then metered, and council approved legislation requiring the city to install a meter within 30 days of the city making the water tap-in at the curb.
Not equal
Monday, Petrosky said the committee determined that the owners can't be charged because Wittman didn't apply the old metering policy equally.
She pointed out that though the Parade of Homes weren't required to be metered, Wittman saw to it that three separate homes along Deer Creek Drive built about the same time as the seven were metered.
Wittman has said the Parade of Homes contractors exploited a "loophole" in the city's metering policy, but Petrosky asserted there was no exploitation by the HBA.
Wittman did not attend Monday's meeting, Mayor Curt Moll said, because of a medical problem.
Meanwhile, Jerry Carleton, a longtime HBA board member, has said the group won't again conduct a Parade of Homes in Cortland because of the negative press the HBA had received.
He asserted the houses showcased brought $3 million of new construction into the city.
yovich@vindy.com