Noise restrictions changed to allow activity as early as 5 a.m. in order to allow work to be done before the heat of the day

By Morgan Rothborne, Ashland.news 

Ashland city councilors Tuesday changed the process for appealing utility shut-offs, which are once more an issue after a long hiatus of non-enforcement during the COVID-19 pandemic. When the change goes into effect 30 days after the meeting, the process will culminate in review by an in-house staff committee, including an optional non-voting council liaison, with a final decision in the hands of the city finance director.

Until that’s official, utility customers in that position have the option of choosing to go through the new process, or the old, which culminates in a public hearing before the City Council — which was the case with one such customer Tuesday.

Ashland Mayor Tonya Graham navigated a sensitive situation, guiding a woman in distress through a public hearing process for those appealing a shut off of utilities. 

The customer — who was not named — said she lost her job in late August. Immediately prior to the shut off, she took her son to college, was out of town and returned to find her utilities had been shut off and she had no electricity, water, sewer or internet. 

“It didn’t bother me because I hadn’t been turning my lights on at night anyway because I lost my job and I didn’t have any money so I can move in the dark pretty well. … I hear somewhere that ‘water is life’ — is my community going to turn off my water if I can’t pay? Because last I heard we stand up for that,” she said. 

As the customer began to cry and struggled to speak, Graham encouraged her to continue, as difficult  as it was for all. The customer asked if Graham in fact understood the discomfort of the situation. The mayor affirmed she did. 

Councilor Eric Hansen attempted to ask about the timing of taking her son to college and when utilities staff would have attempted contact at her residence prior to the shut off. 

The customer did not allow Hansen to finish his question, instead attempting to ask why councilors appeared to have more information about her case than she did. She turned to the audience and started to question them. Graham informed her if she did not cease this behavior the hearing would end. 

The customer confirmed someone from city utilities did come to her home and that she did sign a payment plan, though she believed this was done under duress. She also stated ACCESS made a payment to the city, but did not specify the size of the payment or when it was made.

Deputy Director of the Finance Department Brynn Morrison stated the city’s procedure for delinquent accounts is to first attempt to contact the customer over the phone, followed by a “good faith” effort to contact the customer at home. If they cannot be found, a door knocker hanger will be left, informing them that, if they do nothing, in no less than seven and no more than 10 days their utilities will be shut off. 

To resurrect a delinquent account, customers must pay a reconnect fee, all back bills and penalty fees. Utilities staff can offer a payment plan for the past due balance, she said. The customer in question signed and returned the payment plan after the utilities had already been shut off. 

The customer was also given the option to wait to appeal her case until after the city’s pending ordinance change to alter the appeals process, but chose the existing public process. 

Council voted unanimously that city staff followed the process, and, while the shut off was upheld, staff was directed to offer a payment plan to the customer to assist her in reestablishing her utilities. 

After completing both hearings, councilors unanimously voted to alter the city charter to change the process for delinquent utilities. Delinquent accounts within to appeal will now file a form with the city recorder’s office. The case will be reviewed by the Utility Appeals Commission which will make a recommendation to the city’s finance director, who will make the final decision on the case, according to page seven of a draft of the proposed update to the city’s code. 

Morrison said the utilities department encourages customers to communicate with staff if they are attempting to access assistance from nonprofit organizations such as ACCESS or St. Vincent De Paul that offer help. 

“We always tell customers, ‘please communicate with us,’” she said. 

Other business

In other council business Tuesday, council unanimously approved a contract for a seismic retrofit for the Talent-Ashland-Phoenix Intertie (TAP) water system, unanimously voted to approve a draft of an ordinance for a framework for greater cooperation with the Parks & Recreation Commission, made alterations to the city’s rules for committees and commissions, and unanimously voted to approve an annexation of land from the county to continue the process to create East Main Park. 

Leda Shapiro spoke during public comment to say she’s resigning from the Citizen’s Budget Committee, citing “lack of respect, derision and bullying,” such as the denial of a request for salary and benefit information by job title from the city attorney and said that she was “admonished loudly to ‘shut up’ by Eric Navickas.” 

Navickas is running against Councilor Dylan Bloom for Ashland City Council position 3. 

Councilors also expressed reluctance for but unanimously passed an alteration to the city’s noise ordinance allowing earlier start times for work such as construction or leaf blowers in the interest of worker safety during extreme heat. 

Ashland resident Dan VanDyke stated he believed the city could have done more to inform the public about the change before the second reading, himself only learning about it from an article in the Grants Pass Daily Courier. 

The ordinance would change the hours of operation for city workers and potentially sanitation workers to as early as 5 a.m. and was unanimously approved in a first reading during the August 21 business meeting, as previously reported by Ashland.news. 

VanDyke argued the restrictions on noise preserved “civility and livability” in Ashland and the city should reconsider or restrict the change to extreme heat events rather than the proposed window of June to Sept. 

Mayor Tonya Graham stated if a leaf blower fired up near her home at 5 a.m., she “would not be happy,” and wondered if the city could restrict the ordinance to confirmed extreme heat events. City Manager Sabina Cotta cautioned this could make the ordinance a source of extra work for whichever city staff are expected to monitor the weather forecast. Councilor Eric Hansen stated that, in his experience working in construction and project management, such a restriction would be a complication for workers as well. 

“I reluctantly support this. … There’s a bit of faith that goes into this and there will be common sense in play,” said Councilor Jeff Dahle. 

Email Ashland.news reporter Morgan Rothborne at morganr@ashland.news.

Sept. 23: Corrected to say that Leda Shapiro requested information by job title, not by name.