Water service terminated over dispute involving trash collection charges

By JIM HARDIN CNHI

FATE — An ongoing dispute with the City of Fate over charges for trash collection services has left Michael Drayovitch Jr. without water to his home since Jan. 26.

On Feb. 17, an attorney representing Drayovitch demanded that the city restore his water service immediately. He still had no water service Wednesday.

The Fate City Council met in executive session on March 1, apparently to discuss the issue. The purpose of the executive session, according to the agenda, was “to receive legal advice regarding contemplated litigation concerning fees for garbage collection.”

The city council took no action after the brief executive session.

City Manager Vicki Mikel said she could not comment because Drayovitch has legal counsel.

Cathy Cunningham, the city’s attorney, said the charge for trash collection service is part of the water bill “and he’s not paying it.”

It’s common practice, she said, for trash collection services to be part of the water bill, and water services are terminated when the water bill is not paid in full.

Drayovitch said he doesn‘t know what his next move will be. Litigation is possible, he said, but that would be costly action. Drayovitch is a 67-year-old retiree on a fixed income.

The issue involves charges for trash collection services at Drayovitch’s home. He has insisted he has not requested trash pickup services. Drayovitch said he does not need trash pickup services because he recycles, burns some paper in his fireplace and has a compost heap. Drayovitch said he is billed monthly for a service he does not use.

He has continued to pay for the water portion which appears monthly on his statement, choosing only to not pay the trash collection fee.

“If they could show me an ordinance or anything that says I have to (have trash collection services), I will,” Drayovitch said. “They haven’t been able to do that.”

According to Cunningham, the City Charter and franchise agreement calls for the city to provide trash collection services for all residents.

Fate’s City Charter, under general powers of the city, states: “Regulation. To the full extent allowed by law, the power to regulate the rates, charges, fees, operations, and services of any person, utility, or entity providing water, wastewater, electricity, natural gas, telephone, telecommunications, cable television, taxicab, bus, solid waste, transportation, or similar service to the public within the city.”

Drayovitch insists the city has no regulation.

Drayovitch, who has lived on Margaret Street since 2005, said he has never requested, not did he receive, trash pickup service until the City of Fate entered into an exclusive franchise agreement with IESI TX Corporation on June 1, 2009. After the agreement became effective, his monthly bill changed to include a refuse/garbage charge, and he has been billed $17.74 per month since June 15.

A letter from Rockwall attorney Bryan T. Pope to Mikel stated that Drayovitch brought his concerns to the city’s attention twice by letter, the first dated Aug. 7 and the other on Oct. 8. In the letters, Drayovitch advised that he did not wish to use or be billed for this trash collection service.

The attorney’s letter to Mikel states that the franchise agreement between the city and IESI “is simply a contract between the service provider and the city and has nothing to do with individual citizens being required to have mandatory trash disposal fees added to their bills.

“You have, to date, not provided my client with any regulation or ordinance that states that all citizens of the City of Fate are required to pay for this service whether or not they make use of it and even if you had such an ordinance it would be void against public policy and amount to an unconstitutional taking.”

A notice Drayovitch received when his water service was terminated highlighted the following statement: “Failure to pay solid waste disposal fees collected under contract with a county or other public agency.”

The attorney stated in the Feb. 17 letter to Mikel that Drayovitch “is retired and on a fixed income and you are now making him carry buckets of water back and forth for bathing, using his toilets, cooking, having drinking water or any other use. This is unconscionable and appalling.”

Cunningham said she has received reports that Drayovitch sometimes places his trash with a neighbor’s trash.

“I’ve heard that, too,” Drayovitch said. “That is not true. That is not true.”

Drayovitch said a neighbor has volunteered to supply him with water occasionally, but he has not used trash collection services.

The attorney’s letter added that if the city does not respond, Drayovitch reserves the right to use any and all legal remedies available to him, including litigation and injunctive relief.

If he had a family, Drayovitch said, he would pay the fees billed by the city.

He owed the city $182.70 for trash collection services when his water service was terminated.

“It’s the principle,” Drayovitch said. “If they could show me where I have to, I will. It’s the principle. I would pay the $182. … It’s not right.”

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