[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of the City of Springfield
as Title 11, Ch. 11.04, of the 1986 Code. Amendments noted where applicable.]
The officers of the Water Department, under the direction of
the Board of Water Commissioners, shall consist of the Chief Water
Engineer and a Water Registrar, who shall be appointed by the Board
of Water Commissioners in accordance with General Laws Chapter 31.
The members of the Board of Water Commissioners shall serve
without compensation.
Whenever any bill that has been committed to the City Collector as provided in this chapter or Chapter 300, Sewers, is abated or changed, a memorandum of such abatement or change shall be sent to him and to the City Auditor by the Water Registrar, as a temporary voucher for the amount of the same; and at the close of each fiscal year, a certificate for the total amount as shown in detail on the books of the Department, of such abatements or changes made during the year on the monthly lists committed, shall be signed by the Chairman of the Board of Water Commissioners, or in his absence, by some other member thereof, and shall be sent to the Collector and become his permanent voucher for the amounts therein stated.
The Board of Water Commissioners shall not themselves, or by
any officer or person connected with or in the employ of their department,
collect any bill or money due the City on account of such department.
A.
The Board of Water Commissioners may prescribe rules and regulations
not conflicting with any ordinance of the City, for the introduction
and use of City water and payment therefor and for the inspection,
material, construction, alteration or use of all water pipes and of
water fixtures of every kind through which water supplied by the City
is used by any person, printed copies of which rules and regulations
shall be furnished to all persons taking water of the City.
B.
Any person violating any of such rules and regulations shall be subject
to a fine not exceeding $20.
C.
Such Board may prohibit the use of water by any person neglecting
or refusing to comply with such rules and regulations.
The Board of Water Commissioners shall levy special assessments
to meet the whole or part of the cost incurred in laying pipes in
public and private ways for the conveyance or distribution of water
to the public.
A.
Owner to
pay proportionate share. An owner of land which receives benefit from
the laying of water pipes in public and private ways upon which his
land abuts or which by more remote means receives benefit through
the supply of water to his land or buildings shall pay a proportionate
part of the cost not already assessed of extending such water supply
to his land.
B.
Costs included in assessments. The amount to be charged by the Board of Water Commissioners against each parcel receiving the benefits outlined in Subsection A shall include the cost of the pipes and other material and of the labor in laying them and other expenses incidental thereto and shall be ascertained and certified by the Board of Water Commissioners.
C.
Determination
of individual assessment. The assessments to be levied by the Board
of Water Commissioners under this section shall be made upon the several
parcels of land receiving benefit from the laying of such pipes by
a fixed uniform rate based upon the estimated average cost of all
the water pipes therein and the laying thereof, according to the frontage
of such land on any way in which a water pipe is laid, or according
to the area of such land within a fixed depth from such a way, or
according to valuation for purposes of taxation in the last annual
assessment, or according to two or all of such measures.
D.
Time for
payment. The Board of Water Commissioners shall, if the order for
assessment is upon land not built upon, extend the time of payment
of the assessment and interest thereon at the rate of 4% until it
is built upon or for a fixed time; and the assessment and interest
shall be collected by said Board within three months after said land
is built upon or at the expiration of such fixed period.
All City water used by private contractors under City contracts
shall be charged for and collected at the regular schedule of rates
for the same, and payment therefor by such contractors shall be provided
for in the specifications of each such contract.
Except as provided in § 405-7, no charge shall be collected for water furnished the City and used for municipal purposes, but the Board of Water Commissioners may in its annual report, and on the books of the department, credit annually the Water Department with the value of the water furnished the City for municipal purposes, to be estimated as follows:
A.
For fire protection: $25 for each and every fire hydrant.
B.
For street watering: an average of $0.015 for each and every linear
foot of surface watered during the season.
C.
For flushing sewers and drains: $10 for each and every flush gate
or other fixture used for such purpose.
D.
For public drinking fountains for persons: $20 for each and every
such fountain.
E.
For all other uses of City water for municipal purposes: the regular
rates for private takers.
