HASSO HERING

Holiday lights outside City Hall: Wednesday the council held its last meeting before Christmas.

It was an anonymous tipster, the Albany City Council learned Wednesday night, who told city officials about the lack of a required water-safety device at a residential address in North Albany.

This came out during a hearing that ended when the council voted 4-2 to uphold the city staff and reject an appeal by property owner Darla Luther, a longtime community service officer with the Albany police.

Luther’s half-acre property has a 50-year-old well that irrigates about half the lot and is not connected to the water system that serves the house. The municipal code says that when there’s a well on a property that “is or can be” connected to the house, the owner must install and maintain a device to prevent any “backflow” into the city water system.

When someone tipped the city that there was a well on this property, the city found there was no backflow preventer and then threatened to shut off the household’s water unless such a device was installed.

Bob Tyler, the owner’s lawyer, challenged the city’s interpretation of the code language. “Can be connected” is not the same as “could possibly be connnected,” he argued, saying it was not reasomable to assume the well at this house would ever be connnected.

City Attorney Sean Kidd argued that the “possibility” of something is the most common meaning of  the word “can.”

The homeowner got bids that ranged from $1,000 to $2,000 for installation of a backflow preventer, according to Tyler. That’s a far cry from the $200 the council was told by the city staff in September that such a job would run.

Tyler said the “concerned citizen” who contacted the city probably did so because of a grudge against Luther for doing her job, which includes code enforcement.

It’s not uncommon for anonymous informants to contact city officials about perceived code violations, Public Works Director Chris Bailey told the hearing.

Bailey doesn’t know, she said, how many properties on city water also have wells but no backflow preventers. “We do look for them,” she added.

For instance, a city employee driving past a place might spot what looks like a pump house, and then check whether the property is filing the required annual reports on backflow preventer maintenance.

The city knows of about 300 water customers with wells that do have backflow preventers.

Albany has about 19,000 water system customers. Backflow preventers also are required when properties have sprinkler systems connected to their house water, and there are about 9,000 of those. No preventers are required for watering with a hose.

The hearing lasted about half an hour. When it was over, council members Matilda Novak and Dick Olsen voted to grant the Luther appeal. Council members Bessie Johnson, Stacey Bartholomew, Marilyn Smith and Ray Kopczynski turned it down.

Want to play “you be the judge” and reach your own conclusion on this? Then you might want to watch the hearing on YouTube. Here’s the link. (hh)

A screenshot from the YouTube coverage of Wednesday’s council hearing: From left, attorney Bob Tyler, City Attorney Sean Kidd, Councilman Dick Olsen.