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<br />Chairperson Elvig stated that this was part of the reason the City moved to having its own meters <br />and doing our own reading because the argument was made that if the City was physically <br />responsible for reading them the leak could have been caught earlier. <br /> <br />Public Works Director Olson stated that Connexus didn't take a reading for the house that <br />quarter because they said they couldn't get to it because of the snow, so they did an estimate. <br /> <br />Councilmember Olson asked if the meters are removed on foreclosed homes. <br /> <br />Utilities Supervisor Nelson stated that when a foreclosure company wants the water shut off, the <br />City shuts it off at the curb, removes the meter, cl.eans it well and sets in on the floor. He stated <br />that the only time it is physically removed from the premises is if there is damage to the meter. <br /> <br />Councilmember Olson asked how much the new meters cost. <br /> <br />Utilities Supervisor Nelson stated that the meters cost $227.15 and the registers are about half of <br />that. He stated that they were able to disassemble the old water meters and recycle 1,754 pounds <br />of clean brass. He stated that this enabled them to put $3,773.16 back into the water utility fund. <br /> <br />Case #4: <br /> <br />Update on Odd/Even Sprinkling Ban <br /> <br />Utilities Supervisor Nelson stated that the sprinkling ban ended the day after Labor Day and the <br />City sent out 137 certified letters topeople who were in violation of the ban this year. He stated <br />that they used digital cameras to capture the incident and the pictures were time and date <br />stamped. He stated that there were no repeat offenders in 2008, so there were no fines issued this <br />season. He noted that staff made a big effort to educate people this year on the ban including <br />inserts in the utility bills so everyone knew when it went into effect and who it applied to. He <br />stated that the City pumped 320,720,982 gallons, which is about an average of 3.5 million <br />. gallons per day compared to winter consumption of 866,882 gallons. He noted that the past <br />years water consumption was included at the bottom of his report. <br /> <br />Public Works Director Olson stated that the City still has a long way to go because these <br />numbers still put the City towards the top of the list for water consumption. He stated that the <br />DNR is recommending the City sharply increase its water charges. <br /> <br />Councilmember Dehen stated that if their lawns are dying, he feels people will water them. He <br />stated that he isn't sure how much people pay attention to their bills to see how much they are <br />using. He stated that he likes the idea of encouraging newer buildings to catch their water and <br />use that for pumping water. <br /> <br />Public Works Director Olson stated that another thing that may help is switching from quarterly <br />billing to monthly billing because by the time people get their bill, the summer months are over <br />and people can't react and change their habits to decrease their use. <br /> <br />Chairperson Elvig suggested that the City could consider monthly billing in the summer months <br />and quarterly for the remainder of the year. <br /> <br />Public Works Committee / September 16, 2008 <br />Page 13 of 17 <br />