Yesterday, Facebook wanted me to identify a hobby. I wrote AGITATING PUBLIC OFFICIALS. Facebook responded THAT HOBBY IS NOT CURRENTLY AVAILABLE.

My current effort to be delivered tomorrow to the BGJWSC:

Monica Smith outline for 6/17/21 comments:

Evaluation of BGJWSC application for service (one page is good)

Title should be “Application for Residential Water/Sewer Service”
(there should probably be another form for terminating service)
Prior/current service is not relevant to application and can be left off.

All of the print is too small.

Because service is to the property, the owner should be the principle applicant and should include Lot/parcel# to be served, as found in the GIS.
The applicant’s date of birth is irrelevant, as is a driver’s license, to the use of water/sewer.

The request for a Social Security # is also irrelevant and illegal, besides.

The significance of a phone # is questionable. I have never been called by BGJWSC in 28 years. Besides, people change their phone #s all the time. Communications should be sent to the billing address, which should be the same as the owner address in GIS.

Having a Co-applicant is relevant only IF owner has formally assigned agency to a tenant and understands that the owner is ultimately liable for all charges and that the failure to pay will result in a lien being placed on the property.

Keep in mind that only property owners can effectively be held responsible for services delivered to their property. After all, ownership is a bundle of obligations.

Since driver’s License and Social Security #s are also irrelevant for co-applicant, those boxes can be left off. Ditto for “landlord” boxes.

What should be identify on the form is the amount of deposit required to initiate service to a property. Since the service is to a property, the request for a personal picture ID is irrelevant and inappropriate.

Remember, it is in the public interest for individuals in the community to have clean drinking water and for waste to be properly disposed of. So, we want to make every effort not to terminate service. Holding owners responsible should help. Also, unusually high water bills might motivate necessary plumbing repairs and improvements.
Finally, if residences are providing short-term lodging, they will be more readily identified and recorded in the GIS.