Title
Vote on a request to approve an amendment to the Chatham County Water System Operating Policies to provide the County Manager certain authorities during declared states of emergency
Abstract
Action Requested: Vote on a request to approve an amendment to the Chatham County Water System Operating Policies.
Introduction & Background: During the current COVID-19 event, a state of emergency was declared state-wide. Subsequent to the emergency declaration, the Governor issued an order to publicly managed utility systems, which instructed public water utilities to ensure all residential customers have access to potable water services irrespective of the customer's account status. Public water utilities were to suspend the disconnection of water services and allow the reinstatement of previously disconnected water services without requiring utility accounts to be paid in full, and further included the waiving of any reconnection charges and late fees until such time the state of emergency is rescinded.
Many municipal water utilities across the state enacted these measures in advance of the Governor's orders to do so. Some jurisdictions effectuated these measures pursuant to policies that had been previously adopted. In consultation with the UNC School of Government, other jurisdictions took these actions in the absence of supporting policy. The School of Government's guidance allowed for such action in the absence of authorizing local policy owing to the nature of the emergency and in recognition of the critical needs that would be provided for by such timely action. While the School of Government's guidance recognized the severity of need for taking measures outside of existing policy, the School's guidance further instructed these jurisdictions to amend existing policy to specifically account for the actions taken. In so doing, future events requiring timely measures such as these to be put into place could be conducted without local policy conflic...
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