04-A Locking Water Meters - Laserfiche WebLink

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MEMORANDUM TO FROM SUBJECT DATE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL DRAFT MICHAEL E. MALONE, CITY MANAGER PROPOSED POLICY OF LOCKING WATER CUT-OFFS / METERS MAY 30, 2002 Council Member Benny Plata has related a constituent concern to me about the present policy of charging a fee when a meter or water cut-off is locked. In discussing this concern with Council Member Plata and Council Member Bell, who shares his concern, a possible policy change has been discussed. For background information, the City at this time does not routinely lock the water meter or ;vater cut-off when service is discontinued and the meter is read or when the water is cut off for non-payment. Meter readers routinely read meters where service has been cut off and, on those occasions when the reading indicates that water has been used illegally without an account being active, either the meter is removed or, if the meter cut-off can be locked, a padlock will be used. In the event that a lock is used, a fee of $20.00 is charged to the property owner to have the lock removed. In the event that the meter must be pulled, a fee of $20.00 is charged. This is placing the cost of this service on the responsible party and not on the public at large. Mr. Plata was contacted by a landlord who had rented a residence to a family who moved in and used water without setting up an account, turning the meter on themselves. A meter reader discovered that water was being used with no account being opened, so a lock was placed on the cut-off. The tenant subsequently moved out. The landlord rented the house to another tenant who came in and made application for service. It is current policy that the landlord is responsible for the water used and for the convenience fee for the lock. The landlord objected to the fee for the lock and asked that the City routinely lock the meter when service is discontinued, removing the lock when a new account is opened and the water is turned on. Some cities and water districts do lock their meters routinely. I agree that such a policy would be desirable, though expensive to implement. It is not foolproof in that locks might be removed illegally and water used anyway. In such an event, the property owner would still be the party ultimately responsible for the water used and the cost of the lock, etc. In considering this new policy, our first challenge is that there is a total of approximately 13,000 active and inactive accounts. Our meter readers estimate that approximately 70% of