BYLAWS & POLICIES

TGW Bylaws & Policies:

GENERAL: The objects and purposes of the Company shall be to develop, distribute, supply, and deliver water for domestic, municipal, and irrigation uses or any one of such uses to its Members, who shall be customers and owners of the company, at cost, and to no one except its Members, or to the State or any agency or department thereof, or to any school district, or to any other mutual water company at cost. The Company shall be authorized to do whatever may be deemed necessary, conducive, incidental, or advisable to accomplish and promote said objects or purposes.......See attached document for more information.

GENERAL: TGW is responsible for maintaining the wells, tanks, distribution lines, and to the meters.

TGW is not responsible for member service lines, pressure pumps, and resident water tanks.......See attached document for more information. 

GENERAL: In cases where membership has been terminated for reasons such as, no payment received for 6 months or foreclosures and new owner or pre-existing member requests for reinstatement.....See attached document for more information. 

GENERAL: In cases where members are concerned about the health hazards of radio read meters, TGW is providing an Opt-Out Policy.  TGW Members are required to make a written request to the Board of Directors requesting the removal of the radio read and installation of a manual read meter......See attached document for more information.

GENERAL: In cases where there is a member service line has a leak and TGW staff has discovered a leak to that line.....See attached document for more information.

GENERAL:  It is the responsibility of the Member, not the Tenant/Renter, to communicate with the Board of Directors regarding payment and water rate issues. Tenants/Renters will need to resolve any payment issues, questions or concerns directly with their Landlord/Member on water rates and payment agreements......See attached document for more information.

GENERAL:  The purpose of this document is to establish protocol for account closure water shut off and new owner/tenant account set up, including turning the water back on. In cases where a TGW member is selling their home and a new owner-member purchases and needs to set up an account with TGW.  This policy includes change of Tenant or third-party billing protocol.......See attached document for more information.

GENERAL:  The purpose of this document is to provide a policy for members who have encountered economic hardships and need a repayment plan option.  This policy also provides the TGW Board of Directors the option to waive late fees and water shut off during catastrophic, health and/or economic emergencies. 

GENERAL:  TGW is a non-profit business that relies on members and member tenant’s to pay their water bills in a timely manner........See attached document for more information. 

GENERAL:  In cases where Trout Gulch Mutual Water Co. (TGW) is unable to supply sufficient amounts of water to it’s members for reasons such as Tank offline for maintenance and repairs, Well failure, System failure, Earthquake or Disaster. TGW has an Intertie connection with Soquel Creek Water District (SCWD) in such cases.  TGW will request Soquel Creek Water District access to this Intertie.  It is the policy of TGW that any purchase of water from SCWD will constitute an emergency and all TGW members will be subject to emergency conservation rules and water rates.........See attached document for more information.. 

GENERAL: In cases where a TGW Board Director and/or Company Contractor want to submit a bid outside of their contract, job description or board duties on a particular project,  the following protocol is to be followed to avoid conflict of interest.........See attached document for more information.

GENERAL: Member and or renter complaints will be recorded every month on the Board of Director’s Agenda under Member Issues..........See attached document for more information. 

GENERAL: In cases where TGW staff contractor is at a member’s property for TGW water related business and a member and/or tenant becomes aggressive, harassing or hostile; The TGW staff contractor is to follow the protocol below..........See attached document for more information.

GENERAL: TGW is committed to protecting the safety, health and well being of all contractor’s and individuals in our workplace. We recognize that alcohol abuse and drug use pose a significant threat to our goals. We have established a drug-free workplace program that balances our respect for individuals with the need to maintain an alcohol- and drug-free environment..........See attached document for more information.

GENERAL:  The purpose of this document is to identify the customer past due notification process and financial procedure including shutting off or reconnecting customers........See attached document for more information.

GENERAL:  Any TGW checks that are in the amount equal to or over $10,000.00 require two (2) Check Signatures by TGW Authorized Board Members......See attached document for more information.

GENERAL:  The purpose of this policy is to protect the water supplied by Trout Gulch Mutual Water Company to its members from the possibility of contamination or pollution that could backflow or back-siphon into the TGW water distribution system.....See attached document for more information.

GENERAL:  The purpose of this policy is to establish a Water Transfer Policy to enable TGW to sell or trade water at current costs to agencies in accordance with Trout Gulch Mutual Water Co. Bylaws section 1.03.

GENERAL:  The purpose of this policy is to establish a New Member Service Connection Policy in accordance with Trout Gulch Mutual Water Co. Bylaws Article II Membership.

GENERAL: This policy is to ensure that the person who is authorized to handle the bank reconciliations does not have authority nor access to sign check, handle deposits withdrawals nor has access to check signing....

GENERAL: This policy is to establish that all TGW agreements made are only to be agreed upon by the TGW board of Directors at a TGW board Meeting especially involving monetary transactions.

GENERAL: This policy is to establish pricing when member’s request to upgrade their existing meter for a larger one.  

GENERAL: In the event of a major disaster when there is a TGW distribution system outage TGW has an emergency multi faucet jug filling water dispenser, which can be connected a water tank to provide survival quantities of water.  

~~~~For copies of Bylaws and policies, contact Patricia at tgw.generalmanager@gmail.com~~~~