04-A Locking Water MetersMEMORANDUM
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
DRAFT
the meters will not lock. This means that they do not have an angle stop with loops for
attaching a lock or if they have it, it is positioned so that a lock cannot be attached. The angle
stops cost $10.53 each and it is estimated to take between one and one and one-half hours to
install an angle stop at a cost of $19.50 (1.5 hours X $13.00 per hour, including salary and
benefits). This means a cost of up to $30.03 to prepare each of these meters to be locked. To
prepare the approximately 9,100 meters that presently cannot be locked for possible locking
is estimated to cost $273,273.00.
I would recommend a special type of lock which is difficult to cut off and which is unlocked
by a special key which is not readily available to the public. These "barrel lock" devices cost
$3.50 each. The special keys cost $36.25 each. We would need enough of these "barrel locks"
to secure all 3,110 inactive account meters and also have an additional 400 available for cut-off
day use. Cut-off day is the day we send water office personnel out to cut off the meters of all
customers who have not paid their bill in a timely manner after a cut-off notice has been
mailed. We cut off the meter in the morning and then restore service later in the day if the
customer comes in and pays. To be consistent in the application of this proposed new policy
we would need an additional 400 locks. The total number of"barrel locks" to purchase would
be 3500 X $3.50 = $12,250.00. The appropriate number of keys to be purchased for the various
personnel would be 15 X $36.25 ~- $544.00. Therefore, a reasonable estimate of the total cost
of this project would be $286,067.00 ($108,617.00 for parts and $177,450.00 for labor).
An alternate solution to the problem which I could recommend would be to establish a policy
of installing locking angle stops in our meter box as and when the current installation is
replaced or repaired, such as when a meter is pulled for any reason, thus phasing in this cost
over a period of years. We can also elect to start with rental property or with property where
we have had a problem with illegal use. The phase-in can be completed as funds are budgeted
and rates are set to pay for it.
If we choose not to budget funds and raise rates to cover this cost, we could advise water
customers that they could install their own separate locking cut-offoutside of our water meter
box which should be located, according to our code, adjacent to the water meter box. It would
be the landlord's responsibility to lock and unlock this cut-off. The cost of this cut-off, its box,
and the lock would be the responsibility of the property owner.