DAVIS, W.Va. — Customers of the beleaguered Timberline Four Seasons Utility are learning their water and sewer provider is now under new management.
Canaan Valley Public Service District sent out letters Wednesday to outline their new duties as receiver of the Timberline service.
A circuit judge placed Timberline Four Seasons into receivership and appointed Canaan Valley PSD as the receiver, according to the letter.
“At 9:15 AM, in the Circuit Court of Tucker County, West Virginia, Judge Nelson placed Timberline 4-Seasons Utilities, (T4SU), into receivership. Canaan Valley Public Service District, (CVPSD), was designated by the court as the receiver. This means that Timberline still technically “owns” the utility, however, complete operational and financial control of the utility has now been assigned to CVPSD.”
MORE Read letter here
The correspondence outlined a new address for payments and plans to begin addressing long neglected issues with billing, infrastructure, and customer service.
“The problems of this utility have developed over many years. It won’t be possible to correct all the problems in a few weeks, or even many months. But we’re confident, with your patience, understanding and support, CVPSD will be able to achieve steady improvement,over time, in all aspects of this utility. ”
The letter explained a series of priorities which will be addressed one by one. At the top of the list was establishment of a new phone number along with an e-mail tip line for customers. The list also included locating spare parts to do work on the water and sewer system as well as make changes to the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System. Managers indicated such tweaks would reduce the number of qualified operators needed on site for pumping.
The rest of those priorities listed in the letter:
–Obtain an accurate count of customers and ensure accurate meter readings are input into the billing software.
–Initiate an aggressive leak detection program this spring and summer using the services of the West Virginia Rural Water Association. CVPSD is a member of this association and a leak detection team will be provided to us without charge. We must drastically reduce the water loss rate.
–Initiate a meter replacement and calibration program using transmitting meters.
Canaan Valley PSD told customers they have opened a separate account at a different bank to handle all transactions with the Timberline customers. Under the rules of receivership, all transactions must be kept separate from Canaan Valley PSD’s normal operations. The letter urged anyone in arrears for whatever reason to get caught up on payments immediately because of a need for operating capital to begin improvements on the system.