[Adopted by the Board of Selectmen 1-6-2014 (Ch. 304, Art. VII, of the 1995 Code)]
A.
All manufactured housing parks, which exist at the time of the adoption
of this article or are subsequently constructed, and which obtain
water service from the Town, will do so through a master meter. The
master meter and meter assembly shall be owned and maintained by the
Town of Salem. The master meter shall be located in a meter pit designed
to permit access for maintenance and to maintain a proper operating
environment for the meter and meter reading equipment. Bills for water
usage measured by the master meter shall be prepared on a billing
cycle commensurate with other commercial properties in the Town of
Salem and sent to the manufactured housing park owners or their agents.
B.
For new manufactured housing parks, or for new master meter pits
at existing manufactured housing parks, the design and final construction
of the master meter pit must be approved by the Utilities Manager,
Public Works Department.[1]
C.
The manufactured housing park owner is responsible for maintaining
the master meter pit in a manner that allows the Town access for maintenance
and provides for the proper operation of the master meter and meter
reading equipment.
A.
In accordance with RSA 205-A:6, II, manufactured housing park owners
may shift responsibility for payment of water and sewer service to
their tenants. The manufactured housing park owner is responsible
for the cost associated with this shift, including the cost of furnishing
and installing a water meter for each manufactured home.
B.
Each new or replaced manufactured home's water meter must be located within the home's living space or in an approved meter pit (see Subsection C). Each manufactured home shall have a separate shutoff at a location accessible to Water Division personnel.[1]
(1)
Existing manufactured homes installed prior to January 13, 2014,
shall be allowed to have the water meter installed under the manufactured
home in the waterline, provided that the meter is installed in an
accessible location to Water Division personnel and is installed horizontally.
(2)
The manufactured home owner shall provide and maintain a ball valve
on both sides of the meter with an in-line backflow preventer. The
manufactured home owner shall be responsible for providing and maintaining
adequate heat tape, heating cable and insulation of the waterline.
Meters shall be protected by a Styrofoam insulating jacket or equivalent
which can be purchased from the Town of Salem, New Hampshire.
(3)
The Town of Salem, New Hampshire, its personnel, subcontractors or
agents shall not be responsible for damage to siding, skirting, heat
tape, etc., while servicing meters and Town equipment.
C.
The construction of the meter pit must meet the Salem Public Works
Department, Water Division's Water Distribution System Material and
Construction Specifications (see Section W-5, Meter Vaults and Pits).
All water meters and meter reading equipment at each manufactured
home must meet the current specifications of the Salem Public Works
Department, Water Division.[2]
D.
Each meter location shall be, and shall remain, easily accessible
for the installation and future maintenance of the meter and meter
assembly. Each location shall be approved by the Utilities Manager,
Public Works Department.[3]
E.
The meter conversion must be completed 90 days after notice or by
the January 1, 2015, deadline. Once the conversion is complete for
all homes in the manufactured housing park, the Town of Salem will
directly bill the tenants for their water usage and for the associated
sewer usage, in accordance with the same procedures used for billing
other residential customers in Salem.
F.
The water usage shown on the water bill prepared for the manufactured
housing park owner's master meter will be reduced by an amount equal
to the sum of the water usage of all tenants. The bills will clearly
show the master meter readings and the total tenant water usage for
the billing period. For billing purposes, the net usage at the master
meter will not be less than zero. The readings for the master meter
and for the tenant meters will be made on the same day.
G.
For parks which already have master meters and tenant meters at the
time of the adoption of this article, the billing procedures described
in the foregoing subsection shall begin as of the date of adoption
of this article.
H.
In the event of nonpayment of any water service account owed to the
Town by a tenant of the park, the Town reserves the right to enter
the park and, following existing laws, ordinances, regulations, and/or
the procedures which the Town has established for the collection of
water accounts owed to it by other users of the Town's water system,
may take appropriate steps to collect such account, including but
not limited to shutting off water service to the individual tenant.
I.
The Town will also enter the park, including the lots of individual
manufactured housing park tenants, at all reasonable and/or necessary
times for the purpose of reading, repairing, and disconnecting the
water meters within the park.
A.
The manufactured housing park owner owns and is responsible for maintaining
water distribution mains, service connections, and appurtenances located
on his property. Such maintenance shall include but is not necessarily
limited to detecting and correcting leakage and protecting against
backflow, cross-connections, and any other sanitary hazards that may
affect the public water system or affect water consumed by tenants
of the park.
B.
If water quality at the master meter meets required state and federal
drinking water quality standards but the quality of water as measured
at any tap within the park falls below required state or federal standards,
the manufactured housing park owner shall be responsible for restoring
the water quality to such standards, at the manufactured housing park
owner's expense.
C.
The manufactured housing park owner will provide the Town with copies
of all existing and future records and/or plans regarding the location
and specifications of the component parts of the water system located
within the park, including but not limited to plans regarding the
location of all individual shutoffs and meters.
