The Falkville Town Council amended an ordinance to establish a new rate for water account adjustments at its regular monthly meeting Oct. 7.

The ordinance addresses extraordinary water usage caused by a leak on the consumer’s side of the water meter.

According to the ordinance, the mayor may credit the consumer’s account by calculating his or her average monthly water consumption in question over the preceding 12 months and subtracting that average from the total gallons used during the billing cycle in which the leak was reported and repaired. 

The extraordinary water usage would be billed at a rate equal to the town’s actual cost per 1,000 gallons of water. At the consumer’s request, the amount owed may be paid in 12 consecutive, equal monthly installments. 

No such adjustment will be allowed unless the consumer proves such a leak existed and was repaired through plumber’s invoices, invoices from plumber suppliers or other documentation to the mayor’s satisfaction.

In other council action, a 90-day extension for interim Police Chief Aaron Burgess was approved, effective until January 2020. In a separate move, his salary was increased from $50,411.40 to $51,671.78.

The council also acted on the following agenda items: 

• authorized the mayor to renew the police department’s annual agreement with Lexipol at a cost of $3,695. 
• declared as surplus property miscellaneous library books and DVDs, to be sold during the Falkville Fall Festival, and four in-car police cameras to be advertised for sale on govdeals.com.
• approved demolition costs totaling $11,042.43 on the abatement of a nuisance at 94 Clark Street.