Selectmen tabled the matter until further research could be done.
BETHEL – Selectmen and Town Manager Scott Cole found themselves in an uncomfortable bind Monday night while discussing a plumbing bill refund request.
Bethel Inn consultant John Laban introduced the matter to recoup about $5,500 stemming from the town’s Sewer System Development Charge for the inn’s Mill Hill condominiums.
Due to faulty math calculations done prior to Monday night’s meeting, the refund request was thought to be $13,673.
According to an Oct. 31 memo from Cole, the original plumbing application was approved at the May 21, 2001, Board of Selectmen meeting. At that meeting, Selectmen Chairman Harry H. Dresser Jr. said the town levied a $17,280 plumbing fee based on water use by the inn.
Inn officials, however, contended that the fee should have been $11,424.
Laban also said Dresser said at the May 2001 meeting that precedent had been set to grant the refund request, but on Monday night, Dresser said precedent had yet to be set.
“The fact that we’ve been asked to make a reasonable expectation based on wrong conversation has us in a bind,” Dresser said. “It’s not a staggering sum, but it strikes me as being easy to do to provide a lasting business relationship, but there’s no reason to do it.”
Selectmen finally tabled the matter indefinitely or until Town Clerk Christen Mason could research Planning Board minutes to learn if town officials agreed to grant the refund to reflect actual water use.
In other business, Mason said she expects heavy voter turnout at the Tuesday, Nov. 4, polls, based on 85 absentee ballots that went out by 3 p.m. Monday.
In addition to voting on state ballot items, Bethel is conducting a special town meeting by referendum to finance two capital improvement projects.
One referendum article seeks to expand the Bethel Ambulance barn while the other seeks to relocate a portion of Taylor Smith Road. Money from the undesignated fund balance would be used to pay for the projects if approved. Voting on the referendum articles can be done from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday while the polls are open.
tkarkos@sunjournal.com
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