ORDINANCE NO.  110-15
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTION 28-406–DEPOSITS OF THE
CODE OF ORDINANCES OF THE CITY OF OPELIKA
BE IT ORDAINED by the City Council (the “Council”) of the City of Opelika, Alabama (the “City”) as follows:
Section 1.  Amendment That Section 28-406 of the Code of Ordinances of the City of Opelika, Alabama, is hereby amended to read as follows:
Sec. 28-406. – Deposits.
A deposit may be required at the option of OPS from an applicant for services to guarantee the payment of all bills and the protection of OPS’ equipment on the customer’s premises.  For residential customers, the deposit will be in the form of cash. For commercial and industrial customers, the deposit will be in the form of cash, approved surety bond or irrevocable letter of credit.  Electric and refuse deposits are required and must be paid at the time of application.  Telecom deposits may be required according to the customer’s credit rating.   Deposits are not billable.  When service is terminated, deposits may be applied by OPS against any unpaid bills of the customer.  If any balance remains after such application is made, said balance shall be refunded to the customer.  OPS may require a separate deposit for each customer account.  Deposits remain on file until services are disconnected or final billed or the deposit is refunded to the customer.  Deposit amounts are as follows:
Electric Residential Deposit: Based on Experian National Risk Model = $75.00 (Green) Based on Experian National Risk Model = $150.00 (Red and Yellow)
Electric Commercial Deposit: $200.00 minimum or two times the estimated high bill at location. The minimum deposit is based on a formula of $0.30 cents/square foot for commercial accounts and $0.45 cents/square foot for industrial accounts. OPS will also consider the type of business that will be occupying the space. For example, OPS may require a higher deposit for a restaurant than a book store based on electrical usage.
Garbage/Refuse Deposit: $25.00
Telecom Residential Deposit: Based on Experian National Risk Model = $0.00 (Green)
Based on Experian National Risk Model = $75.00 (Yellow)
Based on Experian National Risk Model = $150.00 (Red)
Credit Scores: Green 685—850
Yellow 630—684
Red 0—629
Note: A yellow flagged customer may have a deposit waived based on past bill payment experience with OPS. If a customer wanting telecom service has no non-sufficient funds or returned checks, they may qualify for no deposit for telecom services. A CSR will make that determination based on a customer’s past payment experience and the Experian risk model information. All customers that are flagged yellow will be considered equally when determining their qualification for deposit waiver.
Telecom Business Deposit: $200.00 or the total of one month’s service fees, whichever is higher.
Section 2.  Repealer Clause.  All former ordinances or parts thereof conflicting or inconsistent with the provisions of this Ordinance or the section hereby adopted are repealed.
Section 3.  Severability.  If any section, clause, provision or portion of this Ordinance shall be held to be invalid or unconstitutional by any Court of any competent jurisdiction, said section shall not affect any other section, clause, provision or portion of this Ordinance which is not in or of itself invalid or unconstitutional.
Section 4.  Construction.  If any section, paragraph, sentence or word of this Ordinance or the section hereby adopted be declared for any reason to be invalid, it is the intent of the City Council that it would have passed all other portions of this Ordinance and the section hereby adopted independent of the elimination therefrom of such portion that may be declared invalid.
Section 5.   Effective Date.  This Ordinance and the section hereby adopted shall take effect and be enforced immediately upon its adoption and publication as required by law.
Section 6.  Publication.  The City Clerk of the City of Opelika is hereby authorized and directed to cause a copy of this Ordinance to be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the City of Opelika, Alabama.
ADOPTED AND APPROVED this the 21st day of April, 2015.
/s/ C. E. “Eddie” Smith, Jr.        PRESIDENT OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE
CITY OF OPELIKA, ALABAMA
ATTEST:
/s/    R. G. Shuman
CITY CLERK
TRANSMITTED TO MAYOR on this the 22nd day of April, 2015.
/s/ R. G. Shuman            CITY CLERK
ACTION BY MAYOR
APPROVED this the 22nd day of April, 2015.
/s/ Gary Fuller
MAYOR
ATTEST:
/s/ R. G. Shuman
CITY CLERK
Legal run 4/24/15