Despite making an impassioned plea to the Powell City Council, a resident will remain stuck with a $15 late fee on her utility bill.

Faith Chmielewski and her husband were six days late in paying their September water bill — one day past the city’s grace period — due to what she described as an issue with their mail.

“We got one government agency [the U.S. Postal Service] that didn’t follow on what they were supposed to do and then we got penalized by another government agency,” Chmielewski said at the council’s Nov. 4 meeting.

She and her husband own a home just outside city limits on Road 8H (Gilbert Street) that is served by city water. The couple had their mail held while they were out of town, Chmielewski said, but they gave the postal service “written instructions to deliver our held mail in plenty of time to pay this bill on time.”

City bills are due on the 10th of each month. If customers don’t pay within five days, they’re assessed a penalty of $15 or 2% of their bill, whichever is greater.

Chmielewski said they received their bill on Oct. 15 — the final day of the grace period — and paid it on the 16th.

After learning of the penalty, Chmielewski wrote a letter to the city asking for it to be waived.

“There is no way we could have paid it [the bill] prior to receiving it,” she wrote, noting it was their first late payment.

However, City Finance Director Kaela Nelson said staff was unable to remove the penalty, as it’s spelled out in municipal ordinance. When Chmielewski remained unsatisfied, she was directed to take her case to the council.

“That’s a lot of work to get a penalty removed that shouldn’t have been put on to begin with,” Chmielewski said at last week’s meeting, “but here I am.”

The council, however, backed up the staff’s decision.

“It’s really not our practice to waive late fees,” said Mayor John Wetzel said, adding, “I don’t know that I’m in favor of making an exception, because I have a feeling that we would have somebody at our council meeting every month if we did.”

The response frustrated Chmielewski, who twice said that she was being “penalized for something I didn’t have control over.”

“Thank you for your unfairness,” she told the mayor as the discussion wrapped up.

“You’re welcome,” Wetzel responded.

Chmielewski then walked out of the chamber.

“Rude,” she said as she left. “Rude, rude.”

In an earlier letter to Chmielewski, Finance Director Nelson noted that customers who are out of town or don’t receive their bill can check their balance online or contact the city. Customers can also sign up for automated billing.

For her part, Chmielewski said she had security concerns about providing the city with direct access to the couple’s bank account and reiterated that they had been expecting the bill in the mail.

According to city figures, the Chmielewskis’ late fee was one of 394 penalties assessed in September, coming among 3,588 total bills.