Claim Resp Northouse, Teresa E Q.
BARRY A. LINDAHL, .~,~.
CORPORATION COUNSEL, CI~Y OF DUBUQUE
MEMO
To:
Mayor Terrance M. Duggan and
Members of the City Council
DATE:
December 7, 2001
RE:
Claim Against the City by Theresa Northouse
Claimant
Date of Claim
Date of Loss
Nature of Claim
Theresa Northouse 11/14/01
10/08/01
Sewer Back-up
The claimant states that a blocked sewer line caused water to back-up into her basement
and that if the City had responded accordingly, she would not have incurred plumber
expenses.
According to the report of John Klostermann, Street/Sewer Maintenance Supervisor, his
records indicate that the Operations and Maintenance Department did not receive
notification of the possible sewer problem until the evening of October 8, 2001, whereas
the claimant states that she notified the department that morning. Mr. Klostermann
believes that the claimant did in fact speak with someone in the department who does not
normally handle those calls. Therefore, he recommends that the claim be paid as filed in
the amount of $84.80 due to the prior notice received by his department. The Legal
Department concurs with this recommendation.
BAL/jm
Attachment
Cc:
Michael Van Milligen, City Manager
Jeanne Schneider, City Clerk
John Klostermann, Street/Sewer Maintenance Supervisor
Theresa Northouse
SUITE 330, HARBOR VIEW PLACE, 300 MAIN STREET DUBUQUE, IA 52001-6944
TELEPHONE (563) 583-4113 / FAX (563) 583-1040¥ EMAIL BALESQ~MWCLNET
925 Kerper Boulevard
Dubuque, Iowa 52001-2338
(319) 589-4250
(319) 5894252 FAX
November 26, 2001
Barry Lindahl
Corporation Council
50 West 13th Street
Dubuque, IA 52004-4864
Dear Barry:
This letter will respond to the claim filed by Ms. Theressa Northouse.
We have no record of the first notification that Ms. Northouse claims to have made at
7:30 AM. Our records show that we were first notified of a possible sewer problem at
6:00 PM on October 8, 2001. When the crew ardved, they found that our main line was
plugged. The line was then cleaned and service was restored in a timely manor.
I talked to Ms. Northouse on the moming after the backup and she was sure that she
notified someone in our department of the problem. She also felt that if we would had
responded in the morning, she would not have had the added expense of a plumber.
It is our standard operating procedure to dispatch sewer related calls out to the crews as
soon as we receive them. However, after talking to Ms. Northouse, I do believe that she
may have talked to someone who would not normally handle this type of call. It is
therefore my recommendation to pay the claim as filed due to the prior notice that we
received.
If you need any additional information concerning this claim, please contact me.
Sincerely,
Klostermann
Street/Sewer Maintenance Supervisor
JK/Iml
Service People Integrity Responsibility Innovation Teamwork