Glenn Mayernik’s Father’s House in Vero Beach

INDIAN RIVER COUNTY UTILITES DIRECTOR VINCENT BURKE is now all over this one like hot sauce and it was the first agenda item of his staff meeting this morning.

Last week we were contacted by Glenn Mayernik who had found our website and wanted to know if we could help him, on behalf of his 92 year old father, with an erroneous invoice from the Indian River County (IRC) Utilities Department for water consumption.

Mr. Mayernick not only felt we could help out his father by raising the issue; but also correct what may be an “abuse” to others, who do not scrutinize their utility bills; particularly elderly people who do not have children do so.

Mr. Mayernik’s father, Charles Mayernik lives eight months in Vero Beach and four months in New York and is a former lawyer and New York Judge. His children oversee his financial affairs.

Charles Mayernik received this invoice with a line item of $ 1,379.18 for his water consumption charge for the service period 5/14/2015 – 6/11/15. The total utility bill for the prior IRC service period was $ 83.82.  Glen supplied us with 12 months of bills and the total charges were all in this range.

(Note that the reason for the Chicago address is that Mr. Mayerik’s other son lives in Chicago and pays the bill from there.)

According to Glenn, “I called the Utilities Department and described the situation and they said that a supervisor would call me with my concerns.

I called everyday to follow up. My sister called. My brother-in-law called. We were all told that the only one that could handle the situation was the supervisor.

Being very persistent and after over 10 days the supervisor returned my call. I was told to get a plumber and have him certify there were no leaks. I hired a plumber and there were no leaks anywhere under foundation, in the house or elsewhere.

The supervisor said there would be no adjustment and the bill had to be paid.

Garden Grove is the name of the development where the house is. Amy is in the office at Garden Grove was the one who sent their plumber to help us out.”

During this process the Utilities Department turned off the water to Mr. Mayerik’s house. It is still turned off.

“My father’s bills include connect and disconnect fees. What if my father had had a direct deposit? We would not have had an opportunity to receive any reimbursement.

My father was planning on going back to Vero in August; but they refused to turn on the water. I am concerned as to if they are taking advantage of other seniors who may have direct deposit and don’t analyze their utility bills.

When my brother-in-law recently called the supervisor said: they will not be discussing this situation with him any longer.”

Also, “I told them the water meter is in the wrong place and gets filled up with water when it rains.

Can you help me?”

We’re anxious to follow this and report on how it plays out.

Thank you, Vincent, for jumping on it.