Group: Is it legal to add to the requirements to hold office that one be in “good standing” with one’s water and or sewer bills with the town in question? Second part: if not, how can you enforce paying a sewer bill that is not tied to a water bill (water is provided by a water district not the town)? Larry Vickers, Jr. Attorney At Law, P.L.L.C. www.lvickerslaw.com 303 South Thornton P.O. Box 1302 Vian, Oklahoma 74962 Vian Phone: 918-773-4004 Muskogee Phone: 918-682-5900

Larry, As to the first question, I'm not sure the Charter vs. statutory form of government issue would even come into play. The eligibility requirements to run for and continue to hold office will be set by statute and/or by Charter, and absent a Charter provision that allowed the Council to adopt additional eligibility criteria I'm not sure any ordinance or resolution establishing such a criteria would be enforceable. As to the second question, I experienced the same issue where I'm City Attorney (we provide sewer by OKC provides water). The issue we kept running into is that people would pay their water bill but not the sewer bill and we couldn't cut them off sewer if there was water service at the house (per ODEQ, who was very threatening in advising me of this). So we worked with the legislature and got SB 1029 adopted in 2016, which enacted 11 O.S. 22-112.5. Basically it provides duck and cover for a public entity providing water service to terminate such service (even where the person is current on their water bill) if the sewer bill is delinquent. It's permissive, not mandatory (i.e. allows the water providing entity to terminate water service, but does not require it). But while it's located in Title 11, it's worded more broadly and picks up all public entities, not just municipalities. Matt On Mon, Apr 24, 2023 at 2:41 PM Larry Vickers <larry@lvickerslaw.com> wrote: > Group: > > Is it legal to add to the requirements to hold office that one be in “good > standing” with one’s water and or sewer bills with the town in question? > > Second part: if not, how can you enforce paying a sewer bill that is not > tied to a water bill (water is provided by a water district not the town)? > > *Larry Vickers, Jr. Attorney At Law, P.L.L.C.* > > www.lvickerslaw.com > 303 South Thornton > P.O. Box 1302 > Vian, Oklahoma 74962 > Vian Phone: 918-773-4004 > Muskogee Phone: 918-682-5900 > -- > Oama mailing list -- oama@lists.imla.org > To unsubscribe send an email to oama-leave@lists.imla.org >

Thanks, Matt! Insightful and helpful as always. Larry Vickers, Jr. Attorney At Law, P.L.L.C. www.lvickerslaw.com 303 South Thornton P.O. Box 1302 Vian, Oklahoma 74962 Vian Phone: 918-773-4004 Muskogee Phone: 918-682-5900 On Apr 24, 2023 at 3:09 PM -0500, Matt Love <matt.love@gmail.com>, wrote: > Larry, > > As to the first question, I'm not sure the Charter vs. statutory form of government issue would even come into play. The eligibility requirements to run for and continue to hold office will be set by statute and/or by Charter, and absent a Charter provision that allowed the Council to adopt additional eligibility criteria I'm not sure any ordinance or resolution establishing such a criteria would be enforceable. > > As to the second question, I experienced the same issue where I'm City Attorney (we provide sewer by OKC provides water). The issue we kept running into is that people would pay their water bill but not the sewer bill and we couldn't cut them off sewer if there was water service at the house (per ODEQ, who was very threatening in advising me of this). So we worked with the legislature and got SB 1029 adopted in 2016, which enacted 11 O.S. 22-112.5. Basically it provides duck and cover for a public entity providing water service to terminate such service (even where the person is current on their water bill) if the sewer bill is delinquent. It's permissive, not mandatory (i.e. allows the water providing entity to terminate water service, but does not require it). But while it's located in Title 11, it's worded more broadly and picks up all public entities, not just municipalities. > > Matt > > > On Mon, Apr 24, 2023 at 2:41 PM Larry Vickers <larry@lvickerslaw.com> wrote: > > > Group: > > > > > > Is it legal to add to the requirements to hold office that one be in “good standing” with one’s water and or sewer bills with the town in question? > > > > > > Second part: if not, how can you enforce paying a sewer bill that is not tied to a water bill (water is provided by a water district not the town)? > > > > > > Larry Vickers, Jr. Attorney At Law, P.L.L.C. > > > > > > www.lvickerslaw.com > > > 303 South Thornton > > > P.O. Box 1302 > > > Vian, Oklahoma 74962 > > > Vian Phone: 918-773-4004 > > > Muskogee Phone: 918-682-5900 > > > -- > > > Oama mailing list -- oama@lists.imla.org > > > To unsubscribe send an email to oama-leave@lists.imla.org