In our department heads meeting last week, Andy Metts reported that despite the heavy rains we experienced during Hurricane Matthew, our utilities system had no overflows. There have been two water line breaks and one sewer line break recently, but repairs were made quickly and precautionary boil water advisories were in place for a short period of time. In addition, the town received $8,000 from the state as part of our reimbursement for repairs made after last October’s flood. We had previously received $23,000 from FEMA so we were able to recover about 80 percent of the expenses we incurred to respond to pump station overflows and the repairs for the broken line off Murray Lindler through federal and state disaster relief funds. Please know we are doing everything we can to be good and responsible stewards of taxpayer’s money.
I also want to share an excerpt we received from one of our utilities customers in response to her calling about an issue at her home. “I noticed a utilities problem at my home around 8:15 a.m., so I called the after-hours telephone number. Eddie Gable answered my call and he was very professional and pleasant. He gave me a reasonable time-frame of 45 minutes to expect an employee to arrive at my site to assess the problem.
Jeff Smith and Matt Cameron promptly arrived (well under the 45-minute estimate). They were knowledgeable, courteous, hard-working, and professional. They immediately went to work on the problem, and had everything taken care of in just an hour or two. Before he departed, Mr. Smith took the time to explain to me what work he had completed in terms that I can understand.
Please congratulate your employees on a job well done and let them know how much their hard work is appreciated. I can tell that they take pride in the work that they do, which translates into excellent customer service, and reflects very well on the Town of Chapin Utilities Department.”
Our Utilities Department continues to distinguish itself with high standards for operation, technical expertise and great customer service. Bringing the utilities function in-house not only helped save the town tens of thousands of dollars annually, but also has improved the service our customers receive day-in and day-out. I appreciate Andy for his continued leadership and all of our utilities employees for their hard work and commitment to excellence.
We were pleased to host the Chapin Chamber’s annual meeting at Town Hall this week, and enjoyed getting an update from Chip Huggins and Nathan Ballentine on what the General Assembly will be working on in 2017. And I look forward to having Paul Kirby, come visit us on Friday. A Chapin native, Paul runs the South West Lexington Ledger (radio and social media) and recently invited me to be on his radio show. We talked about some of the development going on in Chapin, the town’s relationship with the schools and Lexington County, and the blending of old Chapin and new Chapin. He wanted to tour Town Hall and visit some places in town to see some of the developments underway. We look forward to hosting Paul and working with him to keep folks aware of our progress.
Don’t forget we have Chapin Fall Night Out Wednesday (Oct. 26) from 5 – 8 pm. We will be closing off part of Beaufort and Clark streets to set up vendor booths, public safety displays, inflatables and activities for children, as well as refreshments and music. We have several mascots planning to attend, including Plato from Publix and Mason, the Columbia Fireflies mascot. And we look forward to having Publix open on the 26th. I know that’s probably the most often asked question I get so it will be great to check that off our list!
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