HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda Bill 05/21/2001 (21) tapy212p01
Thomas Hargis
From: Dave Spriggs
Sent: Wednesday, May 16, 2001 9:08 PM
To: Thomas Hargis
Cc: Lynn Hulme; Steve!:Simmons
Subject: Water Waste Ordinance Safety Issues
Steve asked me to address your question regarding thesafety'issues;of the;WaterWaste Ordinance. I see the
Ordinance as an opportunity to educate'the public on'water conservation and less of a confrontational issue. If the
customer refuses to cooperate with us we can always get down and dirty,•but that should be our last option. In most
cases, the customer will be over watenng:his yard or watering duringtl e;wrong time or in windy conditions. Our first
contact in this situation would,beby hanging'a"OOP's"tag on their front door. This would.usuallyinvolve no personal
Contact by City employees. The OOP's tag:invites'the'custdmerto contact us:for information on proper watering
techniques and allows us to,keep an eye on that property to see if things improve. Whenever a customer calls me for
irrigation advice,I try to;go'out to their address for"show and dell',', f find'thatthey understand it better if I can show them
in person. These situations are:always nonconfrontational,-though,it can be a hard sell sometimes trying to get the
customer to change their ways. in all these instances, personal.contactbetween:the:customer and City employees would
be at the invitation of the customer
Assuming they do not improve, our next move?would be a formal written.notice to.the customer of the water waste
violation including a specified period of time,to'correct the violation. Again, we would invite the customer to contact us
for assistance and information. Failing that,;the City`has the option of installing a'flow-restricting device at the meter,
fining them, and/or turning off the water to the property: Turning off the water or installing flow-restricting devices is
something we do now for non-payment of the:bill and usually do,not involve`confrontations. If a customer is being very
difficult and a confrontation is a possibility, ourpolicy now isto;send,several people to the site and/or involve the police.
Once we have gotten down to the Point of installing flow restrictors;orissuing fines, it can be assumed,that our
relationship with the customer is bad and further contact would be by mail or on the phone. As long as we can avoid
getting into the punitive aspects of the Ordinance we should have pretty good relations with the customers. Of course, its •
up to the customer as to where it all ends up.
P.S. •
Santa Rosa does not.have a fine schedule for water wasters, if the customer does not correct their wasteful ways,
they turn the water off. Works for me.
Dave
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