- by Anne Finlay-Stewart, Editor

The hot pink sign caught my eye, just as Ruth Voelker hoped it would. "This could happen to you."
I recognized Mrs. Voelker as the woman who had spoken at public question period at city council a few weeks ago.
Her question? "What would you do if you received a water bill for $2937.92?
Acting Mayor Arlene Wright's reply was "I'd pay it."

Last October, before she left for Florida for five months, Mrs. Voelker said she emptied and cleaned the hot tub, and closed the two water shut-off valves inside the house. I tried to imagine what possible proof one could ever produce that one had done that.

A friend who is the local crossing guard checked the house regularly on her way to work. The friend later provided a letter that said no water was running, nothing was amiss and there were no signs of any forced entry into the house over the winter.

Mrs. Voelker returned to an undisturbed house, her carpeted basement completely dry.
When she received the $2937.92 water bill she did just what she was told. She called the city and she called Ken Acton - "I think they are best plumbers around," she said. Mr. Acton provided her with a signed letter that he had found no evidence of any leaks in the "WC", kitchen, bathroom or laundry taps, or any of the house's piping or drains.

Mrs. Voelker worked at our hospital for 30 years. She describes herself as a rule-follower. Her late husband, a long-time Owen Sound business owner, kept meticulous hand-written records of all their household expenses, and I read the water column for the past few years. Nothing above $200.

The bill for more than ten times that shows the previous bill paid by direct deposit was $214 and the bill that followed was for $211. Mrs. Voelker thinks that the price for water and waste water is quite reasonable in Owen Sound.

A representative from the City came and replaced her water meter, although he said there was nothing wrong with the one she had and she had not requested a change. He told her that it was monitored remotely, from the street. Issues with such systems are certainly not unheard of since their introduction about a decade ago.

The City has admitted no fault, and insists there was no problem with any of their equipment or processes, but they deducted $1511.53  leaving Mrs. Voelker with a bill of $1723.40.

She says she has paid it because if she doesn't it will only be added, with interest, to her tax bill. Two lawyers told her it would cost more to fight it. The situation is over for her she says, but the sign is up because it could happen to anyone else, and "it's election time."

From my editor's eye, Mrs. Voelker pays attention to detail – her sign says "be careful whom you vote for".