11/1/2009 6:00:00 AM
Water flows for customers - until Tuesday
City turns on spigot after getting $3,000 check from Cerbat Water Company
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KINGMAN - Customers of the Cerbat Water Company have water once again, at least through Tuesday morning.
The city of Kingman has agreed to supply the ailing water company's customers with approximately one million gallons of water at a cost of $3,000. A company official delivered a certified check for the amount to City Manager Jack Kramer late Thursday afternoon, and the water was flowing again by 5:30 p.m.
The company is still scrambling to fix a broken engine on its single well, which serves about 250 customers in the Cerbat Ranches, Fountain Hills and Desert Fountain Estates subdivisions to the city's north. The engine broke down late Tuesday evening, and by Wednesday morning homes in the company's service area had begun noticeably losing water pressure.
Kramer said the decision to grant Cerbat the emergency water came after Steven Olea of the Arizona Corporation Commission wrote a letter to Mayor John Salem requesting that the city do so in order to "greatly alleviate the emergency situation for Cerbat's customers."
The letter acknowledged that, by providing the water, the city would be in breach of a water service agreement it signed with Cerbat in April, since Cerbat still owes the city more than $6,700 in unpaid water bills for three prior emergencies plus nearly $19,000 in deposit fees to restore service for the past delinquencies.
Even so, Olea stressed that any help the city could provide would be greatly appreciated, and that if its investigators discovered Cerbat had been remiss in its duties, the commission would take enforcement measures to ensure it complies with ACC requirements - including paying its bills.
"After the corporation commission asked us to help, we called (Cerbat) and said 'Here's what we can do for now,'" Kramer said. The company obliged, paying the city $7,000 less than it had requested the day before as a "good faith gesture."
ACC spokeswoman Rebecca Wilder said the commission is continuing to investigate how the Cerbat situation could have occurred. Typically utility companies like Cerbat are required to have an emergency operations plan in place to address any sudden loss of water source or component failures.
According to the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, Cerbat did file an emergency plan in 1995. According to the plan, in the event the primary well goes offline, it can be subsidized by an "emergency well" or via a "future mutual aid agreement" with the Lake Juniper Water Company. However, a search of the ACC's list of regulated utility companies failed to turn up any company by that name.
The plan also states that, in the event of component or structural failure, pumps and motors can be replaced "within 24 hours if needed." But even 240 hours may not be enough time to get the well back up and running, according to Cerbat customer Leslie Desantis.
Desantis said she called the company Friday afternoon to ask whether or not it would be able to fix its well engine by the Tuesday morning deadline. The response, she said, was not encouraging.
"They said, 'Well, if you've read the article in the newspaper, it said that it could be down by up to two weeks, and we anticipate that it will not be repaired by Tuesday morning,'" Desantis said. "If that's the case, they anticipate attempting to renegotiate the contract with the city of Kingman."
Wilder said that, for now, the commission is working on the assumption that Cerbat will fix the well by Tuesday. If that doesn't happen, however, she said the ACC could file an order to show cause, which would force the company to get its act together or face the threat of dissolution.
"It allows the commission to require certain things of a company," Wilder said. "It's a way for us to put into place elements that could improve service to the customers. If we get to Tuesday and the customers have no water, that could be a scenario where the commission would make that filing."
The Miner attempted to contact Cerbat's president Marc Neal for comment on this story, but was informed he would be out of the office until Tuesday afternoon.
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Posted: Monday, November 02, 2009
Article comment by:
No name provided
No one said we shouldn't have to pay for our water or not pay our water bill. We are saying exactly the opposite!!! We are paying our bills as the customer. Cerbat Water isn't paying theirs and the water in the paying customers' homes is being shut off as a result. THAT is what we are complaining about-that we have paid for something that is not being given to us.
Posted: Monday, November 02, 2009
Article comment by:
No name provided
i cant quite put my finger on it, but somehow this reminds me of the 2000 Neal case. Anyone remember details
Posted: Monday, November 02, 2009
Article comment by:
No name provided
Come on be fair, someone said that the company did not have a computer, how can they defend themselves in this debate?
Posted: Monday, November 02, 2009
Article comment by:
jahv84
I live in Kingman and I have to pay my bill or they shut the water off! In fact, I got no mercy recently when they ran out here and shut mine off. So stop complaining and JUST PAY YOUR BILLS!
Posted: Monday, November 02, 2009
Article comment by:
A family name
I knew Grace Neal persoanly and she was a kind and generous person. How far should this family name thing go? Just becasue Gracey was a gooid person doesnt autmatically make the rest of them ligitimate.
Posted: Monday, November 02, 2009
Article comment by:
No name provided
WOW...I suppose these news stories would be surprising to some BUT for the people of Valle Vista, who are against the biodiesel plant, this is what they have been saying all along! How can we trust these people when they can't even run their own water companies! BOS and P&Z Commission...OPEN YOUR EYES!Rescind your votes for these land zone changes for the public that put you where you are!!!!!
Posted: Monday, November 02, 2009
Article comment by:
really?!?!?!?
@ Water Hauler: Thank you for your kind words.
@ those who condemn: I feel sorry for you. I am sorry that your view of the world is so jaded that choosing not to live in a city makes you a snob, or not worth it, or deserving of being screwed over. For those of us who weren't born and raised in Kingman, who don't know who the heck the Neals are or what they have, we trusted a water company, the ONLY water company, to provide a public service that we all pay for! Just because we don't live in the city, doesn't mean we don't pay taxes, or that we don't deserve to be treated right. Not one single person is asking for any kind of special treatment. I don't even recall anyone complaining that the city should bail Cerbat out or give them the water. Everyone here has been upset and expressing an opinion about Cerbat water company, their wrongdoings, and that they should be held accountable for their actions, no matter what their last name is!
I am quite sure those who are judging would sing a different tune if their water suddenly stopped, but their bills were expected to be paid.
Posted: Monday, November 02, 2009
Article comment by:
No name provided
The funny thing is this was what the people for valle vista were trying to bring up at the P&Z meeting that got Hamlyn to censure them. The bad water companies that is. The dots have been connected but is it too late.
Posted: Monday, November 02, 2009
Article comment by:
Bart
The next time I hear someone say that the private sector always operates better than than the government, maybe I will point out this story to them.
Posted: Monday, November 02, 2009
Article comment by:
high and dry
I bought a house in Fountain hill and was told my water company was Cerbat. We paid our bill on time and pay our taxes(quite alot).Just because we live 2 feet outside the city limits and had a water company that we trusted to suppy water,why are we being punished? I do not waste water and pay my bill on time. We have NO WAY haul in water and then what do we do with it? No pumps etc. Those people who live out and haul water signed up for it when they moved there. WE DID NOT! We are already hooked up to the Kingman water system,so just send us a bill and tack on an out of "city" surcharge. Amen
Posted: Monday, November 02, 2009
Article comment by:
Also Offended
This is really hard to believe that some of the people in Kingman who welcomed us with open arms when we bought our homes here and have contributed to the City of Kingman for years, are now criticizing us for expecting the water company to deliver on the water that we pay for and were told would not never run out. Shame on you! We pay our taxes, pay taxes in the city of Kingman everytime we buy anything in the city, and support everything we can. Even though we have no vote for anything in the "city". We bought in this area and not farther out so we would not have to haul water. The people of Fountain Hills and surrounding areas are not snobs. They are some of the most pleasant and friendly people around, which is one reason we bought here. We are hard working people who found a nice place to live in a small town with nice people. Most of the people in Kingman are very nice. "Suck it up", maybe you should find a place to live where you cannot find anyone you think is a snob (good luck with that)!
We are not asking for "special treatment" just fairness with a promise that was made to us when we bought our homes, that we would never be without water! The Neal family should be ashamed of themselves! We pay our water bills (and they are not small ones), we expect to be treated with the same consideration we give the water company. We pay our bills, so should you! Fix the equipment, don't just put a bandaid on it!
Posted: Monday, November 02, 2009
Article comment by:
No name provided
chicken or the egg. Are they wanting to build the plant BECAUSE they are having money troubles???? Don't forget... the county can always put a lien on the land like they did the other NEAL
Posted: Monday, November 02, 2009
Article comment by:
No name provided
Lets see the Neals were here first and a few of them did some good things so for the next 200 years anyone with the Neal last name gets a free pass to do what they want, including pillage every thing they can from the new locals and the land, sounds fair I guess we should all stop talking unless your name is Neal. Is there an exit from the crazy train.
Posted: Monday, November 02, 2009
Article comment by:
No name provided
I just don't get it. Is too much time and money going into building the biodiesel plant so that they can't help the existing customers? Or are they REALLY having money troubles. Someone help me out here.
Posted: Monday, November 02, 2009
Article comment by:
Publius
Guess what, those who live on Cactus Wren or in Fountain Hills chose to live there. Live with the consequences. That is what you get for doing business with Neal and Rick Renzi. You do not live in Kingman, Kingman is NOT obligated to serve you water. What message does this send to the City water people, don't pay your bills? Will the ACC and ADEQ will come begging for you? This is the reason Arizona needs new laws on private water companies, they are always undercapitalized, always a mess, all to support rural subdividing, and "freedom" to live there. Well you have the freedom to go without then. We who live in the City have a dependable water service. Buy your house in the City.
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