If property owners are being forcibly annexed and want water and sewer services, they must request water and sewer lines be provided to their property within 5 days after what is called a public hearing. The public hearing is basically a venting session where annexation victims can tell city commissioners (who don’t listen) what they think about the annexation.
Wilmington just had their public hearing this week. As I was looking on the city’s annexation web page, I saw the FAQ document the city developed for the annexation victims. This is the document many people will read (as opposed to the unintelligible annexation plan) Here’s something it said:
?How long will it take to get water and sewer service?
Installation of water and sewer lines will occur in two phases. First, the major water and sewer lines that all other smaller lines feed into must be constructed. Then, the smaller hookups to individual residences and businesses will occur. The city plans to have both phases completed within two years of the effective date of the annexation; however, by state law only the first phase must be completed within two years of the effective date of annexation.?
The problem with this answer is that it is a lie. State law requires water and sewer lines to be provided directly to property owners and their property within two years (if they make a request).
I informed the city attorney about this lie, and to his credit, the city did fix it. However, many property owners may have decided not to request water and sewer because of this material “mistake.”
I’m glad that my concerns led the city to separately put the water and sewer request form on the annexation page as a separate document (it just got put up) and the city has also made it expressly clear that the water and sewer request deadline is April 15th, but this information should have been on the site in the first place. Like most cities, the last thing Wilmington wants people to know is how to request water and sewer.
In no way has Wilmington offset the impact of the lie in its FAQ document. BTW: Anyone who thinks this was just an honest mistake has not seen what city after city does with annexation. Cities assume they can take advantage of the public by burying details, misleading and lying about critical information, and not providing information in a manner that anyone could understand. Wilmington just got caught.
If Wilmington decides to move forward with this annexation, they need to do a lot more to rectify this problem–starting with sending a document to all affected property owners that communicates the truth and extending the deadline for water and sewer requests.
However, this won’t be enough either because this lie is just one of the many problems that Wilmington needs to address. I’ll discuss some other problems later.
