The Fannin County Water Authority will officially turn water off in the Bluebird project area Thursday, October 31.
This decision came during the authority’s regular meeting Wednesday, October 16. While the authority had previously voted to cut the water off by the end of September, Chairwoman Anita Weaver said they had delayed turning it off at the request of property owners, however she said, “I think really and truly the only way we’re going to get it done is to cut them off. They just keep putting us off saying, ‘We’ll get to it. It’s busy time,’ everything like that.”
Weaver suggested cutting it off immediately.
County Attorney Lynn Doss asked if the properties were home to tenants and Weaver said they were. Doss then suggested giving the property owner through Friday to find a solution before cutting it off and leaving the tenants without water for the weekend.
“They’re innocent parties,” Doss said. “Maybe we should draft something up and go and literally post something on each property that says, ‘Water, if not connected to the Fannin County Water Authority system by so and so, will be disconnected to this property.’ And then you’ve got the tenants saying something to their landlords.”
Authority member Larry Chapman urged that the cut-off would not effect properties who have already signed on to the project.
The authority discussed the best dates to cut-off the water and came to October 31 as the official date. They agreed to send a certified letter to the owner of the properties and then place copies of the letter on each of the property doors for the tenants to see.
Mike Scearce told the authority members there is now a drop box outside of the courthouse for customers to use to pay their water bills after hours.“If you walk up, it’s to the right of the mailboxes,” he said. “You can’t miss it. It even says on there ‘Fannin County Water Drop Box,’ I think.”