Gilford condo owners got 'estimated' sewer bill for 2 years

GILFORD – After fielding a number of questionable sewer meter readings including one from the Gilford Meadows Condominium Association, Public Works Director Sheldon Morgan told selectmen Wednesday night that there have been some problems with estimated bills.

Morgan said he recently became aware that some of the batteries in the radio-read touch meters, like the one in Gilford Meadows, had died and the department has issued sewer bills based on estimates.

"We're just finding out that over the course of time when an error developed we were just plugging in a number," Morgan told selectmen.

On Wednesday, selectmen were approached by the representatives of the Gilford Meadows Condominium Association with a bill for the third quarter of 2012 that was nearly three times the average usage the association had seen over the past four years.

Association Treasurer Ray Boelig told selectmen the association was objecting to being given an "estimated reading" without being told it was an "estimated reading." He also said the association was never officially notified about being on the agenda and the only reason members knew was because Association President Mark Corry, who was also at Wednesday's meeting, received the agenda as part of the town's E-mail blast.

Boelig said it appears the town has been estimating the association's readings for two years, calling the lapse of two years "unreasonable."

He said the association is on a very tight budget and it was "staggering" to get a bill that was three times the average quarterly reading.

Selectman Kevin Hayes reviewed the last four years of billing and did some quick mathematics. He noted that the annual total for the association for the two years prior to the meter failing was 1.4 million gallons, which would mean the latest bill received by the association was that "possibly (the town) caught up."

Hayes also said the agreed with Boelig that two years of estimated readings was unacceptable, as did Selectman John O'Brien, however he assured Boelig and Corry the estimated readings would be dealt with internally.

When Boelig continued to object, Hayes told him he "was preaching to the choir" and made a motion to table the association's abatement request until Morgan could complete his investigation and get back to him.

When contacted yesterday, Morgan said there were some "internal issues" that led to some estimated reading but they have been corrected.

"In this case, the department was remiss in not addressing a problem that has since been fixed," he said. He said the problems represented a very small portion of the number of sewer users in Gilford.

Morgan said over time there have been three types of sewer meters in Gilford: the old type where the numbers had to be manually logged from each meter, the radio-read type that a meter reader has to touch his or her reader to the meter to get a reading, and the newest remote meter reader where entire neighborhoods can be read by a reader in a truck using a digital signal from the meter.

He said nearly all of the old manual read meters are gone, replaced by touch readers and, over the past few years, the department has been gradually switching to the newest remote readers.

"About one-third to one-half have been converted," he said yesterday.

"We learn from our mistakes," said Morgan, "And we are doing due diligence to make sure this problem never rears it's ugly head again."

Morgan said he would be filing a written report to selectmen and will address the issue at the next selectman's meeting on October 24.