another visit to pay a sewer bill for a basically empty home ($30/month)and another chance to see public service. after paying a bill, an older lady asked if the window clerk knew about energy credits. answer "I don't know anything about that". wouldn't you assume the answer might have gone on with "but i'll see if....or "why don't you try the mayor's office". . .or "a rep from Senator Cherry is downstairs. he might help". i should have suggested something to the woman myself but that's hindsight. i did go to the rep and describe what i had seen and heard and he did have some possibilities. i recounted this tale at the city counsel meeting the same day, Feb 1, 2010. what a lost PR opportunity. figures.
WOULDN'T ONE OF YOUR FIRST PLACES TO ASK FOR HELP MAYBE BE AT YOUR CITY HALL? NO HELP AT BURTON.
here's my experience from 2008 Burton City Hall -- 4-16-08 -- which i did present at a city council meeting
The saga begins with an overdue sewer bill for my deceased dad’s house, received 4-15-08. Post marked April 10 to a --- Rd address, forwarded to the correct address April 13. If the overdue bill of $53.79 was not paid by May 15, a lien would be placed on the residence. No bill came to the --- Rd address and none to my address. (In January I had mail forwarded to me through the post office and on January 19 had written a letter to Burton requesting an address change for --- Rd mail to go to me.) I called that day and right away was not impressed with the phone menu once I got to press for sewer department. 1 for billing 2 for service. Since I didn’t hear #1 I waited assuming it would be repeated. No, just “good-by” so I had to dial in again and start over. Indeed the bill was 59.17 since a 10% overdue charge was also due, and it was suggested that probably the mail was at fault.
I stopped by the post office on April 16 to ascertain that the mail was being forwarded since I knew Burton would be blaming the mail. There I talked to the desk person and another who took a note. No supervisor was working that day. Note that the lien threat letter had been sent to the --- Rd address and correctly forwarded by the post office. The city had not used the January 19 information, although the clerk at the bill paying area checked her computer and said the computer listed the forwarding address.
At the office, I visited the Assessor’s Office to verify 2 things, 1 being the correct address.
On to the receptionist who I asked about mail and who received it first and asked if information was shared among offices. Her answer was that it probably went to the
payment area.
At the payment center, I asked about the missing bill and if the billing address was correct. A computer check supposedly verified that but the overdue had NOT been sent to the correct address. I asked if the house were torn down, would I still have to pay sewer and was told no as long as I showed demolition documentation. “All bills are the responsibility of the estate” whether or not a bill was received. I asked about where to find the ordinances or policies that specified a lien on property for a dead man for a bill due in February. I was told the clerk’s department was the place to be. The bill was paid at 9:54am to cashier 004.
At the clerk’s, I went through the above and asked about the phone set up. They were not sure who set up the user unfriendly system and suggested I visit the mayor’s office. They did try to find the ordinance and came up with what appeared to be correct and made a copy. Very nicely done, very politely done. I was asked if I talked to a supervisor in the sewer/bill area which I had not so that became another stop later.
In the mayor’s office when asked if I could be helped, I stated I had a question – the phone – and a problem – the overdue/lien letter. The person there, female, perhaps the one who goes with the executive assistant card I picked up from the front left counter, was far from friendly or helpful. The phone was not her problem -- probably the sewer department knew -- and my concerns about the sewer department, the overdue/you’re going to have a lien on your property question was answered with a tirade I could scarcely keep up with, but I tried to write it down as fast as it was said. I got half or less but these are direct quotations:
“I don’t know about anything. I’m not in that department. I was not trained in that department”
. . . . I wish this outburst had been recorded. It was explained to me that we, whoever we is, gave leeway once to late bills since times are bad but not again. And as I left, she held her hands up like a balance and said that of all the people coming in to complain that they never got a bill, about half were telling the truth; half were not. Time for my exit.
Back at the bill paying area, I asked for a supervisor from a different clerk. Down to the left I spoke with someone who was busy working and really didn’t want to be bothered. She asked if the billing address was correct. I said the clerk had checked it and I guess it was. She couldn’t look since she had no computer there. About mail not getting to me: She often gets the wrong mail at her address and. . . . . I guess that meant too bad if it was delivered incorrectly. I asked her about the regulations for liens and was sent back to the clerk’s office. (“They have it over there”.) Back there, where there was another search and after one employee made a trip down to find out the ordnance #, I got a copy of ordinance 54. The phone issue? She didn’t know who set up phones. I could try the receptionist. Each of the 3 people there could not hold eye contact nor had any facial animation. Perhaps that is a supposed to be a positive interaction tactic.
Back to the receptionist and she said the IT person sets up the phones and she gave me a name.
Back to Clerk where the correct ordinance was found.
In summary:
1. City hall personnel should be helpful.
2. The phone message needs fixing.
3. The first overdue notice on any bill should be POLITE.
4. Perhaps if a surveillance system isn’t present, get one to see and
hear what’s going on.
5. Someone needs to do employee/client civility training in the bill
paying area and the mayor’s office.
6. If I still lived in Burton, I would be ashamed of the behavior of people in several of these offices.
7. I did not believe the penalty fee would be waived when I started
this circus, but the phone issue I thought needed to be addressed.
I now know what PR the city hall promotes.
8. The city is a business and one of its primary mandates should be to
serve “customers” politely.
9. The clerk’s department did express regrets for the death of the owner,
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