OBSERVER Photo by Braden Carmen Portland Town Board member Tammy Thompson described an incident with Chadwick Bay Intermunicipal Water Works that she believes warrants a formal complaint.

PORTLAND — Chadwick Bay Intermunicipal Water Works finds itself in some hot water after a recent experience by a member of the Town Board.

Town Board member Tammy Thompson shared her experience at a recent meeting. Thompson claimed she plans to file a formal complaint with the billing agency if a satisfactory response is not provided to Town Supervisor Rich Lewis at a scheduled meeting with CBI.

In her recent experience, Thompson described how a main valve shut off at the Town Hall. She was unable to restore water to the entire building.

“It was after hours, so what I did was I went and got my CBI bill. I called the number on the CBI bill, and the recording says if you have an emergency or maintenance issues, hit Option 2,” Thompson said. “When I hit Option 2, I left a message thinking someone should be on call, and that was not the case.”

Thompson did not receive a response until approximately 10 a.m. the next morning. Thompson questioned CBI, “In an emergency, if I had a water main break and you’re the only ones who can shut the water off at the street level, then who do I call?”

“That was my question, and I pushed them on that,” said Thompson. “They said the Emergency Contact Number is on the website – and I said if I had a water main break and I’m standing in the basement, my first response is (not) ‘I’m going to pull up the website.'”

Thompson continued, “I’m thinking of, if I had a water main break, how many hours would have gone by where I had flooding water, in a basement, where I can’t stop it. For a homeowner, that would be the same thing … and then they will try to bill them for all the water that dumped into their house. If we don’t get a better resolution to how that is supposed to be handled, so we can tell our constituents, I will file a formal complaint as a business operator.”

The Chadwick Bay Intermunicipal Water Works was created as a billing, collection, and maintenance group to service the Northern Chautauqua Water District. The CBI is to be managed by the five elected leaders of the communities that are a part of the Northern Chautauqua County Water District. Members include Supervisor Juan Pagan, town of Dunkirk, mayor, village of Brocton, Lewis, Supervisor John Walker, town of Sheridan and Supervisor Dan Pacos from the town of Pomfret.