ISHPEMING — The city of Ishpeming may soon have a fix in place for its utility customers who experience a catastrophic utility loss.

The Ishpeming City Council will consider implementing a new policy and associated form during its regular meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Ishpeming City Council chambers that will allow customers who go through a catastrophic water loss to apply for a one-time forgiveness.

According to the proposed policy, in order to apply for relief the customer would be required to: complete the catastrophic loss form and agree to the terms and conditions of the forgiveness; pay a new monthly bill amount for the period of the catastrophic event based on the last three months of “actual meter reading”; have a “radio-read” water meter installed for the account and agree to pay for half of the installation costs of the meter, with the city paying the other half; and the customer agrees that the “one-time forgiveness” applies to all of that customer’s accounts, regardless of how many that customer has.

In addition, in order to be considered for the forgiveness, all customer accounts must be current and all taxes paid in full as of the date the form is submitted.

The minimum utility bill to be considered under the proposed policy is $1,000.

Although Mayor Karl Lehmann said he has brought up the need for such a policy at recent meetings, Ishpeming residents with a nearly $19,000 water bill for two months of usage kicked the discussion into high gear.

Property owners Ashley and Matt Cody each spoke during public comment at the council’s April 3 meeting regarding a broken pipe in the crawl space of a rental home they own that poured out about 1 million gallons over a two-month period.

Ashley Cody said later on her Facebook page the city informed the couple of the problem on April 1 and the leak was located and repaired the same day.

The council will also consider amending an existing utility policy to reinstate “door hanger” fees for utility customers who have a past due utility balance and have not turned in an application for temporary extension or hardship form to the city’s billing office.

Also on the agenda are a right-of-way permit extension request from AT&T, a proposed amendment to the city’s solid waste ordinance, and a $6,604 request for a new video storage server system for the Ishpeming Police Department’s body cameras.

Lisa Bowers can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 242.