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Locked door riles Ashland utility customers By Morgan Rothborne Updated: Nov 03, 2022 06:55 PM A A Lori Calhoun knew her water bill was much higher than it should have been, but the Ashland utility billing office is closed due to staffing problems, making it difficult to get answers from the city. [Jamie Lusch / Mail Tribune] Ashland’s utility billing office closed Sept. 30 with no advanced warning, accompanied by a short press release blaming staffing shortages. As November begins, some Ashland residents are beginning to congregate on social media and outside the locked door of the utilities building, experiencing a shared frustration: No city staff are available for billing problems, but residents are expected to pay on time. In one social media post, residents compared stories of their efforts to get a response from the city or help paying their bills. Some are still waiting; others had success after calling multiple city phone numbers and emailing multiple staff from different departments. For Ashland resident Lori Calhoun, waiting could put her in arrears with the city for the first time. But if she doesn’t wait, she’ll pay a bill double its normal size — which she was sure was a mistake. “I expected my water bill to be lower,” she said. “I haven’t been watering outside as much, my washing machine has been broken and I got a drip fixed. I opened up my bill thinking, ‘How much did that save me?’” she said. Instead of a smaller bill, her bill had ballooned from its usual roughly $70 to over $200. Calhoun, a music teacher and professional musician, said her money comes to her dearly, so she doesn’t want to pay a bill she’s sure is a mistake. An Ashland resident for the better part of 30 years, Calhoun said in the past the city has been willing to work with her. If she ever had a problem with a bill, she said, she called, and the city utilities staff were willing to check her meter to make sure the reading was correct. Calhoun said she went to the city utilities office last week for help with the bill, unaware the office had closed. She found the door locked, with a sticky note someone had left on the outside of the door stating “whoever locked this door should be voted out of office.” Two other Ashland residents also were there — bills in hand, she said. One pointed an angry finger at the sticky note and the door, tried the locked handle and was visibly upset, Calhoun said. Both the email address and phone number residents have been given to contact utilities staff reply with automated messages, she said. Sending a message to the utility’s email address garners an instant response — “due to staffing shortages, a response may take up to two weeks.” Upon calling the city utilities phone number, a recorded message says: “Due to a staffing shortage, your call cannot be returned.” The message encourages residents to visit the city’s website, where they are given the option to pay their bill in a variety of ways, or to send a message to the email address or call the phone number for help. “I mean, gosh, it’s just slammed doors,” Calhoun said. She mailed her electric bill payment, she said, with an attached note that said she feels she can’t pay her water bill until she can talk to a staff member. The bill is a mistake she can’t pay for, she said. “Right now, in the utility billing department, we have one fully trained staff member, one brand-new staff member (about two weeks in) and one new hire yet to start after several departures from the division,” said Ashland Deputy City Manager and acting Human Resources Director Sabrina Cotta. “We are aiming to hire two additional staff to get back up to being fully staffed.” Several people left the utilities department at once, Cotta said, leading to the closure. Hiring and training new staff can take months. “We encourage customers to utilize the information we have provided on the website to make payments, check their accounts, etc. Cash payments can be made at the kiosk,” Cotta said. “We are prioritizing responses both through email and over the phone to emergencies at this time,” she said. After reading about others’ struggles on social media, Calhoun began contacting city staff outside the utilities department. Eventually, one of her emails garnered a response and resolution: Her bill was a mistake, and the city will be sending her a new one, she was told. Reach Mail Tribune reporter Morgan Rothborne at [email protected] or 541-776-4487. Follow her on Twitter @MRothborne.