All rights, powers, and franchises granted by and required under the provisions of an Act authorizing the borough of Winsted to construct a water division, approved June 23, 1860, and Acts amendatory thereof and in force on the date this Charter takes effect are hereby vested in said Town of Winchester, and the Water and Sewer Commission of said Town shall have all the rights, powers, and duties that were vested in, and imposed upon, the Water Commissioners by the original provisions of the borough of Winsted; and all the provisions of said Act and subsequent Acts and Amendments pertaining to the Winsted Water Division in force on the date this Charter takes effect and not inconsistent herewith, are continued in force and made a part hereof.
The Winsted Water Division shall be under the care and management of the Water and Sewer Commission, who shall have exclusive control and direction of said Water Division and of the laying, repairing, cleaning, and general care of the pipes, aqueducts, reservoirs, dams, hydrants, water tanks, and fountains, and all things connected therewith, and the establishing of the water rents, or scales of prices or terms upon which water shall be furnished, and the changing and revising thereof, and the regulation of the time of payment, which prices or rents, when so established, shall not be reduced below a fair and reasonable compensation for the use of said water, and said Water and Sewer Commission may require additional rents for use of water whenever extra quantities shall be used exceeding the quantity estimated for the same class of buildings, establishments, or trades in the scale of prices by it adopted. Said Water and Sewer Commission shall keep a register of all persons who use the water, and of the prices by them payable therefor, which shall at all reasonable times, be open for inspection by the inhabitants of said Town, and shall make out, or cause to be made out, all bills for water rents, and hand them over to the Tax Collector for the purpose of collection. Said Commission shall have the power to make such rules and regulations, and may amend and alter the same, concerning the use and taking of water, and the repairs of replacing the service pipe leading from the water main to the sidewalk. The present by-laws, ordinances, rules and regulations of the Winsted Water Division and the scale of prices for the use of water shall remain in full force and effect until amended or changed by said Commission.
All income arising from the operation of said Water Division, less the salary of the Superintendent of the Water Division, and less the expense of operation, administration, maintenance, altering, and enlarging said Water Division, shall be applied to the payments of the principal and interest on any bonds or notes which may have been issued for the purpose of enlarging, improving, or extending such system, and the Water and Sewer Commission may at the close of each fiscal year, transfer any surplus monies from the operation of said Water Division system, over and above the amount of any outstanding liabilities, to the extent deemed advisable by them, to a reserve fund for the enlargement, improvement, or expansion, or extension of said system. Said accounts will be maintained separately from those of the Water Pollution Control Authority.
The Water and Sewer Commission may authorize the enlargement, improvement or extension of said water division system and make an appropriation therefor, and the Town of Winchester is authorized to issue bonds or notes for such purpose which are secured as to both principal and interest by a pledge of revenues to be derived from water rentals or charges and also by the full faith and credit of the Town. Said Water and Sewer Commission shall determine the aggregate principal amount of such notes or bonds to be issued and the form of such bonds or notes, their date, the dates of principal and interest payments, the manner of issuing such bonds or notes and by whom such bonds or notes shall be signed or countersigned, and all particulars thereof. Such bonds or notes shall be sold under the direction of the Water and Sewer Commission at public or private sale, and such Water and Sewer Commission shall determine the rate or rates of interest for such issues of notes or bonds. Said Water and Sewer Commission shall provide for a sinking fund from the previous net revenues of said system for the payment of any or all parts of such bonds or notes or interest thereon.
If any person shall maliciously or willfully divert or corrupt any water collected or conducted in or to any reservoir, cistern, hydrant, conductor, engine, pipe, or any portion of said Water Division, or destroy or injure any work, machinery, materials, or property erected, constructed, used or designed to be used in connection with said Water Division for the purpose of procuring or keeping a supply of water, he shall forfeit and pay to said Town of Winchester treble damages in any proper action brought by said Town; and such person may also be prosecuted criminally for such offense before any Court having jurisdiction.
Any claim of said Town for use of water shall be and remain a lien, until paid, on the house, tenement, or land within or in connection with which said water was used by the owner or occupant thereof, and all such liens shall take precedence and priority over all other liens and encumbrances on the property wherein the same is imposed except tax liens and liens of said Town prior in date, and any such lien may be foreclosed in the same manner as if it were a mortgage on said property in favor of said Town to secure the amount of such lien, provided no such lien shall continue to exist longer than one (1) year after the water rent shall become due and payable unless within that period, a certificate signed by the Chairman for the Water and Sewer Commission or Tax Collector for Water Rents describing the property upon which the lien exists, and the amount claimed by said Town as a lien thereon, shall be lodged with the Town Clerk for a record, and all such liens shall bear interest from the expiration of one year after the date when the claim secured thereby shall become due at the rate of interest, as may from time to time be set by the Water and Sewer Commission, until fully paid, and whatever costs thereon, one of the officers aforesaid shall sign a certificate stating that said claim has been paid and lodge such certificate with the Town Clerk for record. Any claim for sale of water may be collected in a civil action for goods sold and delivered.