McComb residents didn’t get their October water bills on time because the city was short $106 in its payment to the post office, city officials said Wednesday.
City Administrator David Myers said the city has an account with the post office, but it spent more than usual in October because the Mississippi Department of Health required the city to send a public health notice about water quality to all 5,000 customers.
Myers said that caused a $106 deficit in paying the post office when it came time to mail the water bills. He said the post office received the bills on time, but did not send them out or notify the city about being short of postage.
“Part of that was the post office as well,” Myers said. “Those bills, we take them over there and they’re not (mailed) out, we don’t know why.”
Bills are due on the 15th of each month. City officials waived a $5 late fee for October but not a $50 reconnect fee. Water is disconnected if the bill is not paid by the 26th of each month.
“We also want the public to know that once we take those bills to the post office, it’s out of our control. It’s in the control of those post office,” Mayor Quordiniah Lockley said. “That is not on the city. That is on the post office. So many people are accusing the city of not mailing them, but once we take them to the post office, that’s all we can do. It is in their hands and they are responsible for making sure that you get your bills.”
Selectman Matt Codding proposed alternative ways for sending bills.
“In my 9 to 5 job, if something is failing us, kind of when the front half is working and the back half isn’t, how do I take that in control?” he said. “I’d like us to start getting some ideas together of ways to maybe use the post office less.”
Codding suggested texting or emailing bills to customers.
“I think everything is working fine. This is the first time this happened with the water bills,” Selectwoman Tabitha Felder Isaac replied.
Lockley also said the problem is not frequent.
“This is the first time with this administration, but it has happened before,” he said. “But, at the same time, it has been at the post office. We have met with the post office manager in reference to this. After that meeting, everything has gone well until now.”
Myers said the city apologized to customers and would do its best to avoid something similar happening in the future. He said he had yet to receive his own water bill as of Wednesday.
