BY DAN HILDEBRAN
Lake Butler’s acting public works director told city commissioners that some of the municipality’s water meters appear to have had wires cut or pulled from meters
allowing the customers to be charged the city’s minimum fee rather than for the amount of water those customers actually used.
Jason Furman made the remarks when trying to persuade commissioners to charge customers to repair damaged meters, such as when a homeowner damages a meter by running over it with a lawnmower.
He said Lake Butler’s water meter supplier told him other utilities charge customers $250 when replacing a meter’s interface unit.
However, when Furman mentioned that he had found at least one meter, the wires of which appeared to have been intentionally cut, and three more in which wires were pulled from the interface unit, Mayor Melissa Hendrix, City Attorney John E. Maines, IV, and City Manager Kim Hayes focused on the intentional acts.
“That’s sabotage,” Maines said after hearing Furman’s explanation. “That’s a violation of state law.”
“It’s actually a felony,” Furman replied. “You’re not supposed to open that box.”
Furman said that once Lake Butler’s remote water meter reading system is in place, the city will be notified daily if any meters record no water use over the last 24 hours, alerting public works of the possibility of a meter problem.
“Every morning, we get an email that says, ‘Hey, these people’s meter did not project a reading,’” he told commissioners. “There’s either something that they cut out there or something wrong out there in the field.”
Maines and Hayes then discussed how the city would investigate possible water theft and notify the sheriff’s office of cases.
“Any time that you suspect foul play or malicious (action),” Maines told Furman, “you need to take pictures. “(Hayes) is going to report it to the sheriff’s office.”
Furman said that besides charging customers for replacing vandalized meters and accusing customers of criminal theft, the city can cut water services to customers who tamper with meters.
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