CAIRO — Grady County NAACP president Cindy Williams said no consensus was reached at a group meeting Thursday on how they believe recompensation should be addressed for customers who were incorrectly assessed late fees on municipal utilities bills.

“We’re trying to give the city ample time to see whether they want us to help them come up with a reasonable solution or exactly how they are going to proceed with the situation,” Williams said. “We’re trying to give them time to tell us what their position is.”

City Manager Chris Addleton said the issue would likely be discussed during an executive session at the next council meeting Feb. 25.

“Hopefully we’ll have something in a week or two,” Addleton said. “I’m hoping they give me some direction.”

Williams said the NAACP had not interacted with city officials since she appeared before the city council Feb. 11.

Addleton asked Williams at the Feb. 11 meeting to forward him the statement she made to the council in writing which she did the following day.

“We are still awaiting the response from Mr. Addleton and the city council on how they plan to proceed with the issue,” Williams said. “Our stance has not changed that we are more than happy to work with them to come to a reasonable resolution, but we are petitioning them to make amends for this situation because people were unjustly charged.”

Williams said she planned to make another request to speak before the council Monday to ask them how they intend to proceed with the issue.

Williams said at the Feb. 11 meeting it had been brought to her attention that the city had been incorrectly applying a 10 percent late fee 10 days after the bill date instead of the due date for years prior to late 2018, which was in conflict with the city code of ordinances.

A cutoff date 20 days following the bill date instead of the due date was also in conflict with city code.

In both cases, the amount of days allowed before the penalty and cutoff agreed with the code of ordinances but was incorrectly applied to the bill date instead of the due date.

Addleton met with Williams and Grady NAACP vice president John Monds on Jan. 24 to discuss the issue.

The city manager conducted an investigation into the discrepancies and discovered that when the city’s ordinances were codified by the Municipal Code Corporation in 1984 they may have incorporated a 1975 water and sewer ordinance as a part of the utilities ordinance and confused the language regarding billing and due dates.

An ordinance adopted September 2018 corrected the issue by clarifying the language in the city code.

The bills municipal utilities customers currently receive state the correct cutoff date of 10 days after the due date.

Williams said she hoped the council and residents could find an amicable solution to the issue that involves recompensation for what she says are unjust charges.

“We are encouraging the city council to work with us and we hope that that is what will happen,” Williams said.