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LOCAL
THURSDAY, JUNE 28 - JULY 4, 2018 • Page 4
COUNTYWIDE
How will DeKalb handle
backlog of unpaid water bills?
DeKalb County residents at a water billing town hall meeting. File photo.
BY HORACE HOLLOMAN
horace@dekalbchamp.com
In March, DeKalb County
officials announced that the
final batch of approximately
37,000 held water bills was
being released.
Releasing the held bills was
a process that took more than
a year, starting in December
2016.
But there are still unpaid
balances for some of the
previously held bills, and the
county is unsure what the next
step will be. In an interview
with The Champion, DeKalb
officials said no decision has
been made on what to do
with the remaining balances
for water billing and sewer
customers.
“A final decision has
not been made regarding
repayment on any potential
unpaid balances as a result
of the 37,000 previously
held water bills,” said county
officials in a statement.
“DeKalb County CEO Michael
Thurmond will share his
proposal for resolving the
unpaid bills issue with the
board of commissioners and
there will be an open, public
discussion before any final
decision is made.”
County officials said they’ve
improved resolving customers
disputes from year to year.
In December 2016, there
were approximately 4,300
disputed water bills. As
of May 30, the number of
disputed water bills was 410—a
reduction of 91 percent,
according to statistics provided
by DeKalb County. The county
also stated the average wait
time for calls to the water
customer service center is
three seconds.
Some residents say they’re
still experiencing issues with
the county’s billing process.
One DeKalb County resident
said she has not received a bill
at her address in more than a
year.
Liz Settle, a member of the
Facebook group Unbelievable
DeKalb Water Bills, said, “I’m
wondering if anyone out there
still isn’t getting billed? We
bought our home over a year
ago and still haven’t received
a bill. The customer service
representative said she didn’t
know why it was like that and
that she would forward it to
her supervisor. She also said
I should pay a small amount
each month.”
Antrameka Knight, deputy
director of utility customers
operations for DeKalb County
Watershed Management, said
reasons for customers not
being billed for an extended
period could be returned mail
or a faulty meter.
Knight said she urges
residents to call billing
customer service with any
issues.
An investigation by The
Champion determined that
DeKalb County officials had
not started a “water meter
replacement” program.
Though county workers
replace meters when customers
call regarding defects,
approximately 102,000 water
meters are still at risk of failure.
The potentially defective
meters may have contributed
to inaccurate water bills
for years. The water meter
replacement program was
initially slated to begin at the
end of 2017.
“The important thing is,
anyone who feels as though
someone has not accurately
billed them can dispute their
bill. It doesn’t have to be a held
bill,” Knight said. “There’s no
limit to the number of bills you
can dispute. You can dispute
anything whether it was a held
bill or not.”
Knight said the county
keeps “an eye” on bills which
were resolved through the
initial dispute process.
According to Knight, the
county “does not see return
disputes often.”
“Once we have the type
of issue identified, we correct
any other bills that could be
impacted. No DeKalb County
resident will be adversely
impacted by a DeKalb County
error,” Knight said.
COUNTYWIDE {
Conviction upheld for man who killed 18-month-old
BY HORACE HOLLOMAN
horace@dekalbchamp.com
In a unanimous decision,
Supreme Court of Georgia
justices upheld a murder
conviction and life prison
sentence of Nicholas Wade,
who is accused of beating an
18-month-old to death.
Supreme Court of Georgia
officials released their
opinion June 18. Justice Carol
Hunstein wrote that the court
rejected Wade’s argument in
the murder, stating evidence
at trial “was sufficient to
authorize a rational trier of
fact to conclude beyond a
reasonable doubt that [Wade]
was guilty of the crimes of
which he was convicted.”
Defense for Wade argued
Wade
that the trial court made a
number of errors, including the
judge’s failure to instruct the
jury prior to its deliberations
that it could consider the
child’s death an accident.
The court’s opinion
states that because the jury
concluded that Wade acted
with “malicious intent” in the
beating of 18-month-old Keon
Belk, the jury would have
rejected any defense on the
basis of an accident.
The incident occurred in
2014 when Wade was dating
the child’s mother Jillian.
Wade and Jillian lived together
with her son and, according
to reports, she began to notice
bruises and scratches on the
boy’s body.
On Feb. 3, 2014, emergency
medical personnel responded
to a 911 call from the house
reporting a medical emergency.
Responders found the child
unconscious and unresponsive.
According to reports,
medical examiners noticed
bruising on Keon’s head and
healing burns on his toes.
Examiners also noted the
child’s ribcage and spine had
been compressed and his liver
had lacerations from “blunt
force trauma” to the abdomen.
On the day of his arrest,
Wade locked himself in a car
with a “sawed-off” shotgun
and threatened to shoot
himself. DeKalb County
Investigator Victor Jones asked
Wade to lower his weapon and
Wade fired at Jones, according
to reports. Wade was injured,
given aid and arrested.
In 2015 a jury found Wade
guilty of the malice murder on
two counts of felony murder,
cruelty to children in the first
degree, aggravated assault and
aggravated battery, aggravated
assault of Investigator Jones,
and other criminal charges.
Wade was sentenced to life
without parole.
While in jail, Wade told an
acquaintance Danny Cooper
that he had been trying to
make the youngster “tough.”
He admitted he had put the
baby’s foot in a space heater,
struck him with a remote
control, and kicked him in the
chest, according to testimony.
On the day of the child’s
death, Wade allegedly told
Cooper that “he wasn’t raising
a punk,” and he kicked and
punched the baby in the chest
before putting him back to
sleep on the couch. Shortly
after, he noticed the baby’s face
was blue and called police.