GARDEN GROVE : Water Bill Battle Is Going to Court

Eugene Gervais has been skirmishing with City Hall since returning home from a six-week trip in November, when he found out that the city had turned off his water because he failed to pay his bill.

And after losing one fight, he now is turning to small claims court.

Gervais’ water bill became due and delinquent while he was traveling, he said. Upon his return, Gervais, 62, paid the bill of $24.39 plus a $10 late fee and persuaded a water department employee to turn his water back on the night he returned.

But city officials sent him a bill for $50 because the employee was called in on overtime to restore service. There would have been no fee if the water was turned on during regular working hours, officials said.

Gervais said he reluctantly paid the $50 fee on Jan. 4 after officials threatened to again turn off his water. But he vowed to fight to get his money back “because this wasn’t fair.”

He went to the City Council two weeks ago and was referred to staff members who turned him down, he said. He has also written to the mayor.

Now he’s taking his fight to small claims court, he said. “It’s not the $50, it’s the principle of the thing,” he said Monday while seeking a court date.

Gervais claimed the notices fail to warn customers that water will be turned off six weeks after bills are due.

He also said that his gardener told the city employee that he was away on vacation--not avoiding paying his bill--when his water was turned off.

Assistant City Manager Mike Fenderson said Monday that it was Gervais’ responsibility to pay the bill and that he could have been mailed it in advance.

He said the city mailed the water bill to Gervais on Sept. 11, sent out a reminder on Oct. 14, and put a warning on his door on Nov. 3. On Nov. 5, an employee turned off his water.

The bill was mailed by the city the day before Gervais, a retired aerospace worker, left on his trip, and he didn’t receive it. He returned on Nov. 6, but the water was shut off the previous day. He would have been home earlier and avoided the controversy if he had not been slowed by storms while driving in Colorado and South Dakota, he said. Fenderson said that because a city employee was paid overtime while turning on Gervais’ water, “there’s no reason why the taxpayers should have to pay for this.”

A notation on the back of the bill advises customers they can avoid delinquency if they pay by a certain time.