Officials from the Mississippi Public Service Commission are continuing their investigation into Arnold Line Water Association in Hattiesburg, which has been fraught with customer complaints and rule violations over the last year and a half.
Southern District Commissioner Sam Britton will hold a public comment hearing at 6 p.m. Oct. 25 in the board room at the Paul B. Johnson Chancery Building, 641 Main St. in downtown Hattiesburg. All members of Arnold Line are encouraged to attend and discuss service and quality concerns.
“As I’ve said before, the end result is for people to be treated fairly,” Britton said in statement. “I look forward to visiting with members of Arnold Line and discussing the quality of service at the association.”
In October 2016, the commission opened a case regarding Arnold Line, citing compliance issues with the association’s rules and regulations. In particular, it was discovered that Arnold Line officials were requiring bills or account numbers in order to make payment, a policy that is prohibited by state law.
The association eventually agreed to comply with an order by Britton to change its rules and regulations to better serve customers, but the case was reopened after the commission received 38 informal complaints since June 2017 stating Arnold Line was still requiring the bills or account numbers. In a Final Order issued by the commission, Arnold Line was told to delete from its service rules the requirement that a customer must provide a bill or account number in order to make payment.
Further, Arnold Line was ordered to remove any signage from any location that stated that a customer must have a bill or account number in order to make payment. In July, the Mississippi Rural Water Association asked to be allowed to intervene and participate in the latest re-opening of the case against Arnold Line, requesting “all rights of an interested party to fully set forth its position and rights, and to have the opportunity to fully participate in discovery and all hearings.”
Representatives from Britton’s office said a recent string of customer complaints warrants further investigation by the commission.
“The bottom line is that I want people to be treated fairly,” Britton said in a previous story. “We have worked with Arnold Line in hopes of coming to an understanding as to how customers should be treated so I’m disappointed to hear that these problems are persisting.
“However, there are avenues in which we can go down to ensure customers are treated courteously. And I plan on going down every one of them until we see a tangible solution in this case.”
