Legal questions about the process for utility service applications

A move by the Walhalla City Council to make changes to the city policy to apply for utility service was tabled last night, as concerns arose about legal questions.  To recover what’s owed when a customer disconnects and leaves without satisfying his final bill, there had been talk of requiring a customer to furnish his social security number on his application.  But the city officials are told that’s a no-no because of a 1974 privacy law that forbids utility providers from requiring a social security number identification.  David Underwood, utilities chairman, advanced the idea that, in place of a social security number, the city would apply an extra fee.  But that idea led the council last night to table action to amend the city’s 15-year old ordinance that spells out the procedures customers must follow to obtain water service.