Are people supposed to think Jeanerette city officials thought residents getting water bills for $400 to $1,700 this month wouldn’t notice? We’d heard there was a stir in Jeanerette last week, then read a story in Friday’s Daily Iberian how a number of city residents showed up at City Hall last week upset over huge water bills and demanding an explanation.

Almost as bad as a huge water bill was how several of those who asked for an explanation said city officials really didn’t give one. Elaine Patterson told The Daily Iberian her water bill was $1,700. “They claimed they had a problem with the guy not reading the meter.” She said, “… the mayor (Aprill Foulcard) asked me to give them some time.”

Diane Sillmon said her bill was for $500. She was told she could pay installments. You can imagine that wasn’t of much comfort.

Jeanerette City Marshall Fernest Martin said he got a bill around $400. He said his biggest complaint was the lack of an explanation. “Our biggest problem is we don’t know how they came up with the price. They can’t show us how they got those figures.”

Calls by this newspaper to the mayor’s office weren’t returned before the deadline for Friday’s paper. Jeanerette Alderman Clarence Clark said he’d heard about the big water bills but didn’t have any details. He was telling people to call the mayor.

If Jeanerette officials got caught by surprise to learn a meter reader had under-reported a number of water bills and now the new readings showed big balances were due, how could they not anticipate those who suddenly got a big bill — like one for $1,700 — would want an explanation.

You’d think the city might have sent a letter with the bills explaining that if your bill was more than usual it was because the meter readings had not been properly reported for the past X months. They could advise that installment plans were available for those who would need time to get caught up on what was owed. It’d also make sense that the city wouldn’t send the big bills out without being ready to respond to calls, making sure city employees had facts and figures to share with those who might ask about their big water bill.

You’d also think city officials might have made some public announcements, like through this paper, to alert residents to the water bill issue, so they’d not get caught by surprise and would alert members of the town’s Board of Aldermen so they’d know what was happening and not be like Alderman Clark who said he had no details.

Obviously there are problems that come up that you can’t anticipate, that catch you by surprise.  It’s no surprise that people are upset over huge water bills.

Not offering a detailed explanation up front and not having city employees prepared to answer questions is hard to understand.

The woman who got the $1.700 bill said she’s waiting to see what happens. No doubt so are others who got big water bills, along with the rest of us eager to understand how this all happened.

WILL CHAPMAN

PUBLISHER