Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Commission Will Not Charge For Change Till 1996

To charge, or not to charge. That was the question

In its regular meeting Monday night, the Gurdon Water and Sewer Commission discussed its proposal to charge $15 to replace meters which are operating correctly at the request of customers who complain repeatedly about their water bills. The discussion included several members of the Gurdon City Council.

In the end, however, the commission agreed not to charge for replacing any water meter until after the first of the year.

Apparently, there has been some misunderstanding on the part of the public. The idea seems to be the department will charge customers $15 regardless if the meter is working or not. This is not the case.

Harold Hurst, who oversees the department, said the fee is not designed for the testing of the meter, to check for water leaks or to read meters at the request of customers. He said it was designed for those who want a new meter after theirs has been tested in-line with a new meter and checks out.

However, he said the fee will not be placed on the water and sewer bill until the meter checks out to be working properly. In addition, the new meter will be left in, while the old one will be used elsewhere.

"The dry summer led to high water bills," he said. "We go out and reread meters. This doesn't satisfy the customer. They demand a new meter."

He said the department has developed a system to check meters and test them. If the old meter checks out with a new one, he said, they assume the old one is working properly. Generally, Hurst told those on hand, when a meter fails, it slows down, not speeds up. Most of the time, he said, they just stop and don't register at all.

According to Hurst, the process to be followed goes like this: A customer calls with a complaint. A representative goes to the person's home and rereads the meter, comparing it with the former bill. There is no charge.

Should the customer continue complaining, the department sends a man out to change the meter. The old meter is brought back to the shop where it is hooked up in-line with a new meter. If both check out the same, they consider the old one to be working fine and the customer will then be charged $15 on their next month's bill.

Hurst said the meters cost $35.50 each, and the department can't afford to put new meters in for all of their 1,052 customers.

In addition, he said there is an audit trail the department has to see who is complaining and if it's the same people repeatedly. For the most part, he said, the complaints tend to come from the same handful of people all the time.

Hurst said in checking with the manufacturer of the water meters, he was told they don't register fast, but slow down if anything. "It's just a flow meter," he said.

"It's not fair for the rest of the city to pay for your meter because you're not satisfied with the way it reads."

Hurst said his department buys about two dozen meters a month, and replaced three last month at the request of customers. All three replaced tested fine.

Still, he said, no one has been charged for getting a meter replaced, even though, he continued, the same customer has complained more than once about their water bill.

During a year, Hurst said his department will replace 30 to 40 meters.

"It's not the meter's fault 99 percent of the time," he told the commission and council. "There is no charge to reread the meter. If they keep complaining, we'll put in a new meter and test the old one. If it works right we'll assess the $15 charge, and we'll leave the new meter in and reuse the old meter."

Hurst said the new meters are marked to register water in 1-10 of a gallon increments and five gallons is enough water to test a meter with.

The manufacturer, he said, guarantees a new meter to be 98 percent accurate.

Hurst reiterated his position the charge is not a penalty, nor was it designed to discourage people from complaining about their bills.

The department replaces about five meters per month, or about 60 annually. This mainly occurs in the summer months when water consumption, and subsequently bills, rise significantly.

Hurst asked those members of the council their opinion on the charge and what they wanted him to do.

Gurdon Mayor Rick Smith said the department probably should have informed the public about the changes before instituting such a charge. He said the water department is one of the most controversial ones in the city. This is primarily because people come to the department and physically pay their bills.

"We've tried to win back the trust and confidence of the people for this department," Smith said. "We put decals on city vehicles. If the water department is doing work it should get credit for it.

"Unless there is an excessive amount of changing meters, you'll be tearing down the trust and confidence we've tried to reestablish."

Smith said no one wants a power struggle between departments, but would rather let the commission run the water and sewer department. He said the council's position, at its meeting in October, was to ask the commission to reconsider its decision on the charge, and possibly rescind it.

He continued saying those on fixed incomes, such as Social Security, may fear calling the department to check their equipment if they get a bill out of line with what they normally are. Smith said those people have a hard enough time coming up with the extra money to pay the higher bill.

He suggested the department collecting data on how many complaints it receives a month, how many meters are reread, tested and changed. If the documentation supports a charge, then it should stay.

Hurst said the department's computer system is programmed to "kick out" any bill out of line with a customer's normal consumption. Once the bill is kicked out of the system, the customer is notified and an employee goes out to check on what the problem could be. This is all done at no charge to the customer.

Smith said he has received several calls from citizens concerning the charge, saying it has taken the people by surprise.

"There is a fine line to prove we're innocent," Hurst said. "The only way we can keep people from calling us out again and again is to charge them. The responsibility lies with them. If we find the reason (for customer complaints) we will do the work at no charge. There is no end to what we have to do to convince the people it's not our (equipment) problem but is theirs."

Hurst said many times, especially during extremely dry weather, people forget how much water they use. He said they may not remember watering their lawns or flower beds.

In addition, he said, people often don't check for possible plumbing problems or leaks. He said there have been times his workers have found toilets run longer t