Officials representing city government, the water utility and a nonprofit are ready to roll out a program that will provide plumbing assistance to people who lost water service during last month's wintry weather and have been unable to get it reconnected.
Representatives from Liberty Utilities, the city of Pine Bluff and the United Way of Southeast Arkansas have been in planning sessions this week, working out the logistics and details on how the community could best use a $250,000 donation that Liberty wants to contribute toward the repairs.
On Monday morning, officials came together to create a system that would allocate funds to people who qualify for assistance with repairs. They mostly finished the effort Wednesday, saying as they left an in-person and Zoom meeting at the Donald W. Reynolds Community Services Center that the program is a go.
"We can do that today," said Lamont Davis, a local Liberty Utilities representative, referring to some of the final details being put in place. "I'll make it happen as soon as I get to my office."
Contributions have been pouring in from public and private parties to assist with the effort. The United Way will receive all funding and administer the money as directed.
Leslie Dorn, executive director of the United Way, said it will be able to handle all contributions through its organization, record them and write the checks.
Between contributions from Liberty Utilities and the Emergency Rehab Program offered through the Community Development department, residents will have more than one option to qualify for funding.
"The city receives entitlement funds from our HUD office every year and in that mechanism, we have a program called Emergency Rehab Program, which provides for those individuals who own and occupy their properties and are income-eligible," said Larry Matthews, Economic and Community Development director. "We can provide through our program to those individuals who have busted pipes or plumbing."
Matthews added that his department could also help in the procurement process since his staff does it on an everyday basis, but he would like to give priority to low-income individuals.
"They are probably the ones that need it the most," he said.
On Tuesday, Liberty Utilities provided Community Development with a list of customers whose water service had been interrupted because of burst pipes. The list showed about 296 customers in Pine Bluff and White Hall who currently have no running water.
According to Lori Walker, Economic Development specialist, the Emergency Rehab Program would be available only to residents in the Pine Bluff city limits.
Liberty Utilities said its funds would be available to any of its customers affected by the wintry weather, no matter the income or location in Jefferson County.
Liberty Utilities will use a third party, Crawford and Co., which provides catastrophe services, to manage the claims process.
According to its website, Crawford works "to restore and enhance lives, businesses and communities through their network or adjusters, contractors, on-demand and desk resources."
"They are going to do the vetting for our customers that are being helped," Davis said.
Crawford will provide the customer with assistance such as gathering information, coordinating insurance issues, site inspections, billing accuracy and timely payments to plumbers.
According to Walker, going through the Emergency Rehab Program would slow the funding process when it comes to processing claims, in contrast to Liberty Utilities, whose funds are more flexible.
Davis said Liberty Utilities will provide up to $500 for a repair.
Upon inspection, if the amount exceeds $500, Matthews said Community Development could fill the gap for those whose incomes qualify them for help.
While securing plumbers is a challenge because of the supply and demand for licensed plumbers in the area, Davis said Crawford is ready to begin processing claims.
"We are probably going to have to reach out to plumbers outside of the city limits," Matthews said. "I'm not sure we have enough licensed plumbers that are not already tied up on projects that we can pull in."
What Liberty Utilities has assured is that Crawford will provide quality service so the needs of the community can quickly be met. Customers who have self-funded their repairs or were covered by their insurance companies will not be reimbursed for the repairs.
To begin the claims process, Liberty Utility customers, starting Friday, may call (888) 820-8393.
Once the call is received, Crawford will collect information, such as the name and address of the customer and the nature of the water interruption. From there, a plumber will be contacted and the need for the work will be verified. Once the repairs are made, someone will confirm that the work was done satisfactorily, and then an invoice will be sent to the United Way for payment.
Davis said the plumbing work will be restricted to getting water reconnected and does not include repairing damage caused by leaks.
Davis said receiving calls about burst pipes during the winter is nothing new for the utility.
"Every time the temperature drops below freezing, we get 40 calls," he said after the meeting, but added that the many days of below-freezing weather last month had caused so much disruption that the utility decided to donate money for the repairs.
The cold weather froze and burst pipes all over Pine Bluff, putting a strain on the water system that could not be met by the three water plants the utility operates. Low water pressure became a crisis, causing businesses and large institutions, such as UAPB and Jefferson Regional Medical Center, to close or curtail operations. For the past several days, as the utility has worked to repair or turn off the water where there were leaks, water pressure has stabilized.
Information for this article was contributed by Byron Tate of the Pine Bluff Commercial.