Read Monday's Standard article by clicking the link below:
Sewer complaint filed by owners of Huntsville condos
For more history of the Mountain Sewer Corp., click here.
From Monday's Scott Schwebke article:
Several Huntsville-area residents have filed a complaint with the Utah Public Service Commission contending Mountain Sewer Corp. failed to prevent raw sewage from entering 15 condominiums in Lakeside Village during a flood.The article goes on to state:
The complainants are asking the Public Service Commission to inspect Mountain Sewer to prevent a recurrence of problems that happened the night of March 16.
They have also requested that the Public Service Commission audit Mountain Sewer's financial records to determine if charges to customers and prospective customers have been proper and uniform.
The complaint isn't an attempt to crucify Mountain Sewer or its owner, Ronald Catanzaro, Zini said. "All we really want is a sewer company that functions properly and bills properly," he said.
Mountain Sewer does an outstanding job serving Huntsville-area residents, said Catanzaro, who denied the allegations contained in the complaint. "I think we have been successful," he said.
Ross Hudson, a complaint specialist with the state Division of Public Utilities, said he will recommend that the Public Service Commission hold a hearing on the complaint. He declined to provide the Standard-Examiner with information regarding the grievance. However, Zini gave the newspaper a copy of the complaint and noted that Mountain Sewer serves about 125 customers in Lakeside Village, The Summit at Ski Lake and Edgewater Chalets.
Mountain Sewer and Lakeview Water Corp. in Huntsville, also owned by Catanzaro, are scheduled to be sold at a tax auction on May 26, according to the Weber County Treasurer's Office. Catanzaro owes a total of $1,722 for Mountain Sewer and $3,222 for Lakeview Water for unpaid property taxes from 2006 to 2010, records indicate.What do our Ogden Valley Faithful have to say about this stinky mess?
Catanzaro said he will pay the bill this week.
7 comments:
How can this clown Catanzaro be allowed to operate as a developer and utility owner in Weber County?
Word on the street is that Catanzaro may have mixed the income from several corporations that he owns. That is illegal if true. All revenue from Mountain Sewer customers for example, must be booked and spent on Mountain Sewer operations or infrastructure and not anywhere else. The PSC examination of his financial books should prove interesting.
Catanzero owes taxes but he did contribute to Zogmaister's campaign, so he's got that going for him.
Speaking of our ever-vigilant County Commissioner, what were the Commissioners doing for the last ten years in their roles as Ski Lake Special Service District Trustees? Apparently letting Mountain Sewer do whatever it felt like doing, but certainly not minding the store, eh?
Can you say non-feasance? Breach of fiduciary duty?
How has this been allowed to continue all these years?
This incident should be a wake up call for all residents served by a special water and sewer district. If you are, in that category, demand accounting of the books of the district, and don't let them talk you out of an audit.
Remember, in a regulated utility environment, if some customers are not paying their fair share for water or sewer due to sloppy bookkeeping, the rest of you are going to make that shortfall up by higher rates.
It is obvious that you cannot depend on the County or State to look out for your interests.
It should be noted that after the initial PSC complaint, the PSC sent representatives out to inspect Mountain Sewers facilities. After that inspection they noted several problems and indicated that the next step in the process would be a Formal Complaint.
It is silly to think the only way to solve the problem of malfunctioning pumps was to truck the raw sewage to someone else's private property and dump into their manholes instead of fixing the pumps!
What is hard to fathom, is how this guy Catanzaro could operate the sewer system so poorly over the years without the body politic (The Weber County Commission) in charge of oversight, doing anything to correct the situation.
There have been sewage problems years before this at the Lakeside Villiage Town Homes. None of the problems were ever reported to the PSC or the County Commissioners until this last incident.
The other issue about billing irregularities is dynamite. It is incumbent for any regulated utility to keep accurate records of income, expenditures and depreciation of equipment in order to ask for rate increases. The idea of sloppy records is insane.
A properly operating sewer system is not something that citizens should have to worry about with Weber County in charge of oversight. Who is responsible in the County staff for the oversight? Do they still have a job?
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