Wilmington City Council fails to override Carney veto of a bill to prevent water shut offs

Why Should Delaware Care?
Household costs rose steeply during and after the Covid pandemic. In response, some consumer advocates have called on utilities to protect vulnerable people from a loss of service. Wilmington City Council followed the trend last month when approving a measure that would have prevented the city from shutting off water service to vulnerable households that meet certain criteria.

An attempt to override Mayor John Carney’s veto of a measure to prohibit water service cutoffs for certain vulnerable people fell short Thursday after too few Wilmington City Council members showed up to attend a special meeting to consider the override. 

Only five members of council were in attendance at the meeting, falling two short of the quorum threshold. A public body cannot take official action unless it reaches a quorum of members in attendance, which is seven on Wilmington’s City Council. 

Introduced by Councilwoman Shané Darby, the bill would have prevented city officials from shutting off water service for certain homes with unpaid accounts. Low- or middle-income households that are occupied by a senior citizen, a person with a disability or a child younger than five would have qualified for the protection. 

Last month, the City Council narrowly passed the measure. About two weeks later Carney vetoed the legislation. According to Wilmington’s charter, the City Council had 15 days from the date of a veto to hold an override vote, meaning Thursday’s special meeting was its last chance to do so. 

Darby, who held a press conference this week to tout the override vote, attended the Thursday meeting, along with Council President Ernest “Trippi” Congo, and councilmembers Coby Owens, Christian Willauer and Alexander Hackett. 

Congo announced that all other members of council had contacted him before the meeting to be excused.

“This was our one opportunity to override the veto,” Congo said during the meeting. 

Nine of the council’s 13 members would have had to vote in favor of the override motion to reverse Carney’s decision. Only seven members voted in favor of the legislation when it initially passed in July. 

In a statement issued Thursday, Carney reiterated his justification for the veto. 

“Wilmington has worked hard to strike a balance between supporting residents and ensuring the financial health of our public utilities,” Carney said. “We recognize the importance of making water service affordable and accessible, but we must also maintain policies that encourage customers to engage with the city to resolve delinquent accounts.” 

In further defending his veto, Carney also emphasized existing protections against water service disconnection for people with delinquent accounts. He said that while there are around 4,000 delinquent accounts, protections in place make water service disconnections “rare.” 

Still, keeping the enforcement mechanism in place is crucial in maintaining the water system’s financial viability and upkeep, Carney said. 

Several residents spoke in favor of the veto during the Thursday meeting’s public comment period.

And many of them acknowledged they were “preaching to the choir,” given that the council members in attendance were all likely to support the bill’s goals.