New Service Application & Agreement

The Applicant shall pay the City of Floresville for service hereunder as determined by the City of Floresville’s terms and conditions set forth therein, a copy of which has been provided as an information packet, for which Applicant acknowledges receipt hereof by execution of this agreement. A copy of this agreement shall be executed before service may be provided to the Applicant.

The City Council shall have the authority to discontinue service and for any Applicant not complying with any policy or not paying any utility fees or charges as required by the City of Floresville’s published rates, fees, and conditions of service.  At any time service is discontinued, terminated or suspended, the City of Floresville shall not re-establish service unless it has a current, signed copy of this agreement.

All water shall be metered by meters to be furnished and installed by employees of the City of Floresville. The meter and/or wastewater connection is for the sole use of the customer and is to provide service to only one (1) dwelling or one (1) business. Extension of pipe(s) to transfer utility service from one property to another, to share, resell, or sub meter water to any other persons, dwellings, businesses, or property, etc., is prohibited.

The City of Floresville shall have the right to locate a water service meter and the pipe necessary to connect the meter on the applicant’s property at a point to be chosen by the City of Floresville, and shall have access to its property and equipment located upon applicant’s premises at all reasonable and necessary times for any purpose connected with or in the furtherance of its business operations, and upon discontinuance of service the City of Floresville shall have the right to remove any of its equipment from the applicant’s property.  The applicant shall install, at their own expense, any necessary service lines from the City of Floresville’s facilities and equipment to the point of use, including any customer service isolation valves, backflow prevention devices, clean-outs, and other equipment as may be specified by the City of Floresville. The City of Floresville shall also have access to the applicant’s property for the purpose of inspecting for possible cross-connections, potential contamination hazards, illegal lead materials, and any other violations or possible violations of state and federal statutes and regulations relating to the federal Safe Drinking Water Act or Chapter 341 of the Texas Health & Safety Code or and the City of Floresville’s service policies.

The City of Floresville is responsible for protecting the drinking water supply from contamination or pollution which could result from improper practices. This service agreement serves as notice to each applicant of the restrictions which are in place to provide this protection. The City of Floresville shall enforce these restrictions to ensure the public health and welfare. The following undesirable practices are prohibited by state regulations:

a. No direct connection between the public drinking water supply and a potential source of contamination is permitted. Potential sources of contamination shall be isolated from the public water system by an airgap or an appropriate backflow prevention assembly in accordance with state regulations.

b. No cross-connection between the public drinking water supply and a private water system is permitted. These potential threats to the public drinking water supply shall be eliminated at the service connection by the proper installation of an airgap or a reduced pressure-zone backflow prevention assembly and a service agreement must exist for annual inspection and testing by a certified backflow prevention device tester.

c. No connection which allows condensing, cooling, or industrial process water to be returned to the public drinking water supply is permitted.

d. No pipe or pipe fitting which contains more than 0.25% lead may be used for the installation or repair of plumbing on or after July 1, 1988, at any connection which provides water for human consumption.

e. No solder or flux which contains more than 0.2 % lead may be used for the installation or repair plumbing on or after July 1, 1988, at any connection which provides water for human consumption.

The City of Floresville shall maintain a copy of this agreement as long as the applicant and/or premises is connected to the public water system. The applicant shall allow their property to be inspected for possible cross-connections, potential contamination hazards, and illegal lead materials. These inspections shall be conducted by the City of Floresville or its designated agent prior to initiating service and periodically thereafter. The inspections shall be conducted during the City of Floresville’s normal business hours.

The City of Floresville shall notify the applicant in writing of any cross-connections or other undesirable practices which have been identified during the initial or subsequent inspection. The applicant shall immediately correct any undesirable practice on their premises. The applicant shall, at their expense, properly install, test, and maintain any backflow prevention device required by the City of Floresville. Copies of all testing and maintenance records shall be provided to the City of Floresville as required. Failure to comply with the terms of this service agreement shall cause the City of Floresville to either terminate service or properly install, test, and maintain an appropriate backflow prevention device at the service connection. Any expenses associated with the enforcement of this agreement shall be billed to the applicant.

In the event the total water supply is insufficient to meet all of the applicants, or in the event there is a shortage of water, the City of Floresville may initiate the Emergency Rationing Program as specified in the City of Floresville’s tariff. By execution of this agreement, the applicant hereby shall comply with the terms of said program.

By execution hereof, the applicant shall hold the City of Floresville harmless from any and all claims for damages caused by service interruptions due to waterline breaks by utility or like contractors, tampering by other applicants/users of the City of Floresville, normal failures of the system, or other events beyond the City of Floresville’s control.

The applicant shall grant to the City of Floresville permanent recorded easement(s) dedicated to the City of Floresville for the purpose of providing reasonable rights of access and use to allow the City of Floresville to construct, maintain, replace, upgrade, parallel, inspect, test and operate any facilities necessary to serve that applicant as well as the City of Floresville’s purposes in providing system wide service for existing or future customers.

By execution hereof, the Applicant agrees that non-compliance with the terms of this agreement by said applicant shall constitute denial or discontinuance of service until such time as the violation is corrected to the satisfaction of the City of Floresville.

Any misrepresentation of the facts by the applicant on any of this agreement shall result in discontinuance of service pursuant to the terms and conditions of the City of Floresville.

Utility Billing Procedures

Bills are sent out by the 28^th of each month, payment is due by the 10^th or in the case of weekends, the following Monday or next regular working day.

All three services including water, sewer and refuse will be billed together under a customer account and be paid in a timely manner as established by these regulations to be current.  As per Ordinance requirements, all three services will be BILLED if a livable house exists and in the case of a vacant lot, only water will be billed with NO EXCEPTIONS being made as long as the water service is being provided.

Receipt of Payments/Late Payment Charge

Payments made after 5:00 p.m. on the 10^th of each month will be subject to a 20% late payment charge and will be applied automatically to the total amount due.  Payments must be received at City Hall prior to or on the day of the 10^th.  Any payments received in the night drop box after 5:00 p.m. on the due date will be considered late with no exceptions.  In the case of mail in, bills that are sent thru US Mail and do not reach our office prior to the due date will incur the normal late fees.

Failure to Receive Notice

Failure to receive notice of amount due does not excuse payment by the due date.  Should a customer fail to receive their bill, it is the customer’s responsibility to contact City Hall for the current amount due.  Failure to do so will subject payment to 20% penalty charge on account.

Partial Payment

Partial payments will only be accepted on current bills during the month prior to disconnect which is subject to the late penalty charge.  Payments will not be accepted on delinquent bills.  If an extension was taken on an account, full payment must be made.  Failure to do so will automatically have account disconnected and an added $25.00 service charge as penalty.

Termination Notices/Disconnections

Termination notices are sent out by the 11^th of each month or next regular working day providing the customer sufficient notice of disconnect on the determined final date which will be the 20^th of each month or in the case of weekends, the following Monday or next regular working day.

Disconnections for the month will be made on the 21^st or day after of each month or next regular working day in the case of weekends.  Any late payments received in the night drop box after 5:00 p.m. on the 20^th will incur the $25.00 Service Fee in addition to customary late fees.

*****Termination of service will not be issued on Fridays, or before the Holidays.  Disconnections will be conducted the following working day*****

Stop Service

It is the customer’s responsibility to contact our office and request a final reading/disconnection when services are no longer needed.  If the customer fails to do so any and all charges will be the responsibility of the account holder.

Payment Extensions

Payment extensions for current bills due will be granted for the 10^th of the following month at which time customer agrees to pay entire balance due on account, both current and delinquent.  No further extensions will be granted after the services have been disconnected until full payment has been collected.  Failure to pay by the 10^th will result in disconnection of services and a $25.00 service charge will be automatically collected at the time of payment.  A twenty ($20.00) fee will be collected at the time of extension.  All extensions must be obtained by account holder or spouse in person at City Hall.

********NO EXCEPTIONS********

Connect Fees/Service Charge

Connect fees of $75.00 must be paid at the time services are requested.  This is a onetime fee that is due when account is established and must be paid prior to service being connected.

Beginning New Service

At the time service is requested the following information must be provided/completed:

• Completed City of Floresville Utility Account Application
• Valid picture ID
• If the Home Owner is requesting service a certified Deed to the property will need to be provided.
• If a Renter is requesting service, a written rental agreement between renter and homeowner will need to be provided. This should list the occupants name and address of home, also please have the homeowners name and contact phone number listed on this agreement.
• Any prior unpaid balances must be paid in full before service is provided.

Reconnect Fees

Accounts that have been disconnected due to being in delinquent status have to pay an automatic $25.00 fee to have the meter reconnected in addition to regular service charges already owed and must be paid prior to reconnect such of services.

Transfer Fees

A $35.00 transfer fee will be paid when a customer account is moved to a different address or location and CANNOT be applied on the next regular bill.  Transfer fee is due at the time of request for transfer.  Accounts can be left open without the regular connect fee after transfer for a period of no longer than (7) working days from the date of request in the cases of moving out or for cleaning purposes.  No customer can have two open accounts without the proper connect fee and charge for a period after that time.

Returned Check

A $35.00 fee will be charged automatically to all returned checks and must be paid prior to reconnect of service and along with the total amount due at the time.  All checks will be run through the financial institution only once.  Also, any customer with a total of three returned checks at any time during the course of their customer account with the City will be required to pay in cash or money order for the future services and no further checks will be accepted.  In addition, checks will not be accepted for returned checks, only cash or money order.

Weekend or After Hour Services

Weekend services will not be provided in any case unless for emergency, safety or leak situations under normal operating procedures.  Service connects or delinquent reconnects will not in any case be provided to any customer account as a normal operating policy.  All employees are prohibited to perform any such services regardless of situations that may arise or the person requesting such services.

Trip Charge

If a customer requests that the City make a trip to perform a service for the Customer, including, but not limited to such services as re-reads, meter calibration test, water leaks (not on city side), valve disconnection for repairs or other services, or other similar types of services, the City will charge the Customer a $10.00 trip fee.  Upon investigation of service call, should the city determine that such service irregularity was not at the fault of the customer, any and all trip charges will be waived.

Authority to Reconnect or Connect Services

It is the policy of the City of Floresville to disallow any request or orders made by the Mayor or City Council Members, City Officials or Supervisor or Regular employees not in accordance with the normal established rules in the operation, billing or collection of utilities.

All matters relating to the utility systems under this method of operation in the billing, collections and the provision of service must be properly authorized by the issuance of a work order from the Utility Department office and collection of full payment has been secured in order that adequate control be maintained in this public service.

Tampering with Meter

Services that are disconnected because of non-payment will be secured with a locking device and any tampering with locks or meter will result in a $50.00 or more tampering fee.

It shall be unlawful for any person to tamper with, injure, or deface any hydrants, stop cocks, standpipes, or other city water system fixtures, or use or take from the city water system any water except in accordance with the rules and regulations governing such system, or use or injure any water type or any other property whatsoever belonging to the city water system, except as permitted by the regulations of the City Council.  Any person violating this section shall be subject to a fee as set by the City Council from time to time.

• Should it be necessary for the City of Floresville to remove water meter at any time due to tampering, additional charges to include labor hours and/or in meter replacement will be charged to customer. These fees must be paid in full before service is restored.

Penalty

Any person, either by himself or agent, and any firm, corporation, or other entity who violates any of the provisions of this chapter shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction of any such violations shall be fined in any sum not to exceed $500.00 and each day during which such violation continues shall constitute a separate and distinct offense.

General Immunity

According to Texas Tort Claims Act (TTCA) #101.0215, the City is granted general immunity from claims arising from governmental functions as defined by TTCA #101.0215 which includes waterworks.  From time to time the City experiences temporary water losses due to line breaks, line replacement or other conditions beyond the control of the City.  The City is not responsible for any damages that result from these conditions.

Emergency Phone Numbers

Emergency phone numbers for Weekends, Holidays and after 5:00 p.m.  Call (830) 391-3342 for all on call emergencies.

I, ACKNOWLEDGE THAT I HAVE READ AND UNDERSTAND THE POLICIES AND PROCEDURES FOR THE CITY OF FLORESVILLE. I FURTHER UNDERSTAND TO ABIDE BY THESE PROCEDURES AND AM RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY BILLS, FEES OR OBLIGATIONS THAT ARE UNDER POLICY FOR MY ACCOUNT.