By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
The city of Yachats is trying to get a Eugene excavation company to pay most of a $2,309 water bill owed by businessman Nathan Bernard rather than shut off service to his building at 430 U.S. Highway 101 N., which is rented by the Yachats Cannabis Co.
The shutoff issue has been brewing since Wednesday, June 12, when the City Council voted unanimously to cut off water because Bernard had not paid the building’s water bill this year. It gave him until Thursday, May 20, to pay up.
Bernard, owner of the building across from the Yachats Commons and the nearby Yachats Brewing and Farm Store, had asked the city to waive four months of bills — $3,186 — because of an undetected water leak he contends was caused two years ago by Pacific Excavation of Eugene, a state contractor on the Highway 101 sidewalk and utility project.
The city had already waived $877 of Bernard’s March and April bills, leaving a balance of $2,309.
But after the council voted unanimously last week to set a shutoff deadline, the city did more investigating into the area of the damaged water line. Although Bernard had already replaced the water line, City Manager Shannon Beaucaire said after a closer inspection the old water line could have been damaged during construction. Pacific Excavation had already reimbursed Bernard earlier this year for having to repair a damaged sewer line serving the building.
This week the city sent pages of documentation on the water line issue to Pacific Excavation and is waiting for a response. If the company pays, then the issue goes away. If not, then the city has to decide whether to go ahead with shutting off the water.
If the water is shut off, Bernard told YachatsNews.com last week that he would install a water tank as a temporary supply to the building and sue the city.
“I’m not paying a water bill that was caused by their contractor a long time before I owned the building,” he said.
Bernard bought the vacant building across from the Yachats Commons in 2018 with the plan to rent it to one or two tenants. Yachats Cannabis Co.’s owners spent several months remodeling two-thirds of the interior and opened in late January.
A sewer problem surfaced almost immediately, Bernard said, because a connection to the city’s sewer line was apparently crushed during sidewalk construction. He repaired it and got the excavation company to reimburse him.
But no one detected a major leak in the water line until April, four months after the cannabis store opened its doors and after the city billed Bernard for using almost 70,000 gallons of water. Bernard hadn’t paid his water bill since December. Beaucaire told the council on June 12 that Bernard told her there was a problem with mail delivery.
In April, Bernard asked and received two months’ credit to his water and sewer bills. City policy says it can only credit two months bills, but offers an option of appealing the bill to the council.
Bernard asked for a public hearing before the council on the issue. He failed to show at the first scheduled hearing June 5 so the council rescheduled it to June 12. Bernard missed that one too, saying he only opened a certified letter from the city the morning of the hearing. “It’s totally on me that I wasn’t there,” he said, but added that a phone call would have also sufficed.
Because the water bill was 45 days past due and he had already been given credit for two months service, the city last week mailed two “red tag” notices to Bernard, warning him of the shutoff.
Shortly after receiving the shutoff notice last week, Bernard took a $556 check to City Hall, representing four months of the base rate for his water bill. But a notation on the check said if it was cashed it would signify that his bill is paid in full. The city has not cashed the check, Beaucaire said Thursday.
It is the first time the city has taken direct enforcement action against Bernard and his companies. Starting in 2013, he constructed his Yachats Brewing building without approved permits from Lincoln County. Twice in 2017 the city sent letters asking Bernard to stop work on the property and get permits, but it never enforced those.
Last year Bernard promised to get plans submitted by January, but missed that deadline. He later told the city they would be submitted in April, but County Building official Al Eames this week he has “received nothing.”