BELLE — A Belle resident’s water was shut off last week after an online payment system error caused her bill to be returned twice — but thanks to a Facebook post that caught the mayor’s attention, the issue was resolved within hours.

Stephanie Castillo said she paid her bill early morning Oct. 1 around 4 a.m. before leaving for work in Union.

“When I went to work, it was showing pending, so I assumed it went through,” she said. “By the time 4:30 came, I got a phone call from my husband saying the water was shut off. I said, what? I paid it this morning.”

When Castillo checked her bank account, she saw that the payment had been returned. She immediately repaid the bill, but it bounced again. Frustrated and worried, she took to Facebook to share what happened — a post that quickly drew attention from Mayor James (Pudd) Mitchell.

“I am without water tonight cause the city’s system to pay bills keeps returning my payment all day and I have a child and a disabled husband at home,” Castillo wrote Oct. 1 on Facebook.

Mitchell said he saw the post that afternoon.

“I seen it on Facebook,” he said. “I called Charro, and I told her about it.”

Mitchell said Castillo told him she had paid the bill, but it hadn’t posted.

“Charro said, no, it never posted,” Mitchell said. “So Charro said, ‘tell you what I’ll do, I’ll meet you at city hall and me and you’ll go through it.’ So, that’s what we did.”

After confirming the payment wasn’t recorded at city hall, Mitchell went to Castillo’s home to get her phone number.

“Her husband give me her phone number,” he said. “I called her. She was at Walmart buying water.”

Mitchell said he and Reasor quickly worked to fix the problem.

“She screenshotted what she had done,” he said. “As soon as Charro seen the screenshot, she knew we had went through this before.”

Reasor said she recognized the issue right away.

“She has something that is routing her to Venmo, and the city doesn’t have a Venmo account,” she said. “Once I seen it, I knew exactly — it jogged my memory from a past time that this had happened, and we were able to resolve it rather quickly. I took her payment over the phone. The mayor went and turned her water back on almost immediately.”

Castillo confirmed the quick turnaround.

“He got one of the city clerk ladies to go in,” she said. “I paid it over the phone, and he ended up getting it turned back on before I even got home. It was resolved before I got home — within about an hour and a half.”

Reasor said she ispoke with the city’s IT contractor to determine why the system redirected Castillo’s payments. She was told the glitch was on Castillo’s computer and not the city’s system.

“Some way she’s getting to Venmo, and the city doesn’t have Venmo,” she said. “So anytime you would see a Venmo, don’t follow through, call us because it’s all through a third party. It’s not us.”

Mitchell said he hopes residents will reach out directly when issues arise instead of venting frustrations online.

“Don’t get on Facebook and slam us. Don’t say that we’re not doing what we’re doing, what we’re doing ain’t right, or we don’t care, because we do,” he said. “She (Reasor) gave up her evening and came down here, I gave up my evening, which it doesn’t matter, we’re here for the people in this town. And I wish people would realize that.”

Mitchell said he asked Castillo to update her post once the problem was fixed.

“I called her and told her that her payment went through, and she said thank you,” he said. “She couldn’t thank us enough. And I said, okay, I’ve got one thing more to ask of you. She said, ‘what’s that?’ I said I would like for you to go on Facebook and recant everything you said. She said, ‘I can absolutely do that.’ And she did.”

Reasor said she also provided her personal number so Castillo can reach her after hours if necessary.

“She did explain to me that she doesn’t get off work until later in the evening,” she said. “I told her, anytime there’s any issue, here’s my phone number, call me. I’m more than happy to help anybody.”

Castillo said she was grateful for that support.

“They even gave me their personal phone numbers to call if this ever happens again,” she said. “They cared. They fixed it. It showed me that the community does care. They came out after hours and made sure we were taken care of.”

Reasor said the city has seen an unusually high number of shutoffs in recent weeks.

“We had an extreme amount of shut offs this month,” she said. “We had 60 on our list, and of the 60, we had four that were really upset. I understand it’s frustrating. I completely understand. I sympathize. But four out of 60 is a small majority.”

She said Belle currently has 724 active water accounts, meaning a little over 8 percent of residents faced disconnection this month.

“Normally we see 35 to 40,” Reasor said. “Half of those don’t get shut off. We do courtesy knocks. We try. The guys, when they’re out there, they try.”

Mitchell said city staff make multiple attempts to contact residents before a shutoff.

“We put a notice on the door if the meters inside,” he said. “We give a courtesy call. We don’t have to do that. These girls are set up there on that phone. Some of the aldermen don’t like it, but it’s a courtesy. We care.”

Mitchell added, “We’re the same as they are. We put our pants on one leg at a time, and we talk to our families and citizens in this town. We’re not here to hurt nobody.”

Both officials said residents who are struggling to pay should reach out before services are disconnected.

“If you’re struggling, just give us a heads up and we’re going to work with you,” Reasor said. “That’s all I can honestly say — we will try to work with you.”

Reasor said the city’s online payment system is managed by a third-party provider and that a small number of users may experience redirects.

“From the city, there should be no redirect,” she said. “It should just take them directly through the city’s processing. They shouldn’t be going any place. The city does not have Venmo.”

Mitchell said he hopes the incident encourages residents to call first.

“Anytime you go to Facebook, it gets blowed up,” he said. “You got people that’s calling up here, beating on the girls (verbally). A little conversation goes a long way.”

Castillo said the situation reminded her how much a small-town community can still come together.

“I was expecting to be told there was a reconnection fee or that I’d have to wait until morning,” she said. “But they didn’t charge me a reconnection fee. They fixed it and reacted quickly once they saw.”