West Unity Talks Water

In West Unity, water deposits were a major topic of dis­cus­sion Thurs­day night dur­ing a meet­ing of vil­lage coun­cil. That’s because a pro­posed ordi­nance would have made land­lords respon­si­ble pay­ing the water bills for ten­ants who skip out with­out pay­ing. At the end of the night, coun­cil decided not to pur­sue the ordi­nance. The voted instead, by a 4–1 mar­gin, to have a new ordi­nance pre­pared that would increase the ini­tial water deposit to $125… a $50 increase over the cur­rent deposit of $75. The new deposit would cover an aver­age two-month water bill, which coun­cil agreed would alle­vi­ate about 90 per­cent of the unpaid renters’ water bills. The first read­ing of the new ordi­nance will be held at the April coun­cil meeting.