To the editor: On March 25, I opened a letter from the city of Griffin, which was a payment due reminder, but with a not-so-friendly “Scheduled Disconnect Date: 30-MAR-2010.”

I told the nice clerk in the Utilities Department that my bank notified me that this bill had been paid by my bank “online” March 12. She said that’s the problem, we are not online. How about that? Here is an outfit that demands we bar code our items for trash pickup and they are not online, go figure.

It makes no difference to them that I have been a loyal “captive” customer of the city’s for over 40 years without a blemish of late payment, but just once and “swat,” slap in the face. Talk about being treated like an unwanted stepchild. You would think after years and years of paying thousands of dollars in property taxes, school taxes and utility payments without any notices of late payment that someone there would at least call me and ask if something was wrong.

But no, government businesses are never operated as efficiently as a private enterprise must operate, in order to compete and keep their client base. Competition is the key and without competition, we will always be treated in this manner. Maybe, since the city is not “online” to receive direct payments from the banks, they still don’t have the operation on computer either. Could they still be fighting over a radio system?

No business can function at the highest level possible without competition. It would appear that the citizens of Griffin will have to continue to expect, and get, mediocre service as long as the city has a captive customer base.

We taxpayers continue to make the same mental mistake over and over, we “continue” to think, and expect, our government agencies to run efficiently and effectively and that is seldom an occurrence with any government. We just tug along and continue to hope and pray for a utopian local government.

TERRY WALRAVEN

Griffin resident