MARTINS FERRY – City Council members Wednesday unanimously approved an ordinance levying a fee for unmetered water loss from leaks in the service line on a resident’s private property that is not corrected by the resident within a reasonable amount of time.

According to the ordinance, if the water user or property owner does not correct a leak in the service line between the curb stop and the meter “within a reasonable time of notice properly served,” they will be charged based on the estimated volume of water loss.

If an accurate estimate of water loss cannot be made, the charge will be equal to $1,000 per inch of line diameter per day. If the city administration deems it necessary, water service may be discontinued for the water user/property owner.

The ordinance specifies that labor and materials for repairs will be billed at the “actual cost” to the water user/property owner if the city has to take action to repair the leak. If this bill is not paid, the city may levy the amount due as a lien against the property.

Council President Kristine Davis said if a waterline break occurs on a resident’s property, they should report it to the water department. If the city confirms the waterline break discovered by the resident or discovers the waterline break before the resident, the city will inform the resident and give them a “reasonable amount of time” to fix the break.

“If the resident does not fix the line within the reasonable amount of time, then the city is going to enact a charge against them,” Davis said. “This ordinance is being enacted because we recently had a waterline break on private property that had been running for some time and cost us a lot of water. The water was also unmetered, which means nobody was paying for it.”

Davis also addressed the “large waterline break” on Cemetery Road that occurred Wednesday morning. She said Mayor John Davies and Safety/Service Director Andy Sutak were absent during the meeting because they were at the site of the waterline break.

Davis said Wednesday morning’s break resulted in water being shut off “throughout the city” and the water plant being shut down. She said Davies and Sutak called her before the meeting to let her know the waterline repair had been completed and that the water plant should be running again “within the next couple of hours.”

Once the water is back on in the city, Davis said a 48-hour boil order will be initiated. She said the city website would be the “best place” to check for updates regarding the status of water use in the city.

The issue of waterline breaks in the city was addressed again during the public comment portion of the meeting. Resident Richard Hord said Wednesday’s waterline break was the third the city had in “a week and a half” and complimented water plant workers who were “very cordial and very professional” when he called them.

Davis said such breaks are occurring “throughout the valley.” She noted that a majority of the recent waterline breaks in the city resulted from “aging infrastructure and freezing/thaw temperatures.”

“We’re seeing these breaks throughout the valley, but a waterline break that runs for a long period of time is not good,” Davis added. “It costs the city water, which affects the supply in the tanks. Over time, it’s not a good thing for any of us since the water is metered and costs the city money.”

Davis said she also “hoped” that council members who intend to seek reelection turned in their petitions for candidacy to the Belmont County Board of Elections by the deadline of 4 p.m. Wednesday.

Later in the meeting, Councilman Ben Neiman announced that he had a “change of heart” and decided to seek reelection after he had announced during the Jan. 16 meeting that he would not run again due to health reasons.

“I had a lot of people approach me after I announced I was not running after the last meeting,” Neiman said. “I had a change of heart, so I’m going to run again and see what happens.”

Councilman Spencer Echemann thanked council members for unanimously voting to change the council meeting time from 6 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. through the end of May to accommodate the classes he was taking during the regular council time.

“I tried every possible way, every possible alternative to get that class switched over and tried to see if I could take it in the summertime at a different time,” Echemann noted. “There was just no way for me to do those, so I really want to thank each and every council member for accommodating me.”