Exh 3AAGENDA ITEM #3A
JULY 11, 2005
__. _.._
July 5, 2005
MEMORANDUM
T0: The Honorable Mayor
and Members of the City Commission
FROM: Jim Hanso
SUBJECT: Follow-up eport
Water Complaint from Jack Murphy; 1126 Main Street; Jack Murphy came to the last City
Commission Meeting to complain about the high water bills that had been received for his rental
unit at 1126 Main Street. After three months of high consumption, Mr. Murphy requested that
the city have the meter tested. City crews removed the meter fo be tested and installed a new
meter. Consumption over the next couple of months was lower. This, according tv Mr. Murphy,
was proof that the city's original meter readings were in error and that he should receive a refund
for his water bills.
• . Following is a chart of the monthly water consumption at 1126 Main Street:
Month Gallons (x1,000) Customer Pa~~ Water Bill
May 2004 2 Builder
• June 2004 10 Builder
July 2004 235 Builder
August 2004 1 Landlord (Jack Murphy)
September 2004 5 Landlord (Jack Murphy)
October 2004 (7 days) 6 Tenant
November 2004 66 Tenant
December 2004 52 Tenant
• January 2005 28 Tenant
February 2005 4 Tenant
March 2005 3 Tenant
The meter was tested at Mr. Murphy's request. in January of 2005 and the f rst bill using readings
from the new meter was in February of 2005 for 4,000 gallons.
First, water meters do not "speed up". They are very simple mechanical devices. They can
sometimes become clogged with grit and slow down, but there is no physical way for them to
"speed up". The City has a policy of testing water meters at the customer's request. This is
more of a "feel good" policy for the customers benefit because no meter tested has ever been
found to run significantly fast (above the normal tolerance of about +/- 1%).
AGENDA ITEM #3A
JULY 11, 2005
When high consumption complaints are received, the staffusually works with the customer to try
and find if there was a leak or what else may have caused for the higher than normal
consumption. In Mr. Murphy's case, several members of our staff spoke with Mr. Murphy and
others on numerous occasions in recent months. The periods of high water use appear to result
from watering of newly installed sod. The July of 2004 bill resulted from the watering of new
sod installed by the builder just before the house was sold, and that charge was not disputed.
Apparently, little or no watering of the sod occurred during August or September while the bill
was in Mr. Murphy's name. During this time, we have been told that he complained about the
dead grass both to the builder and the real estate agent that handled his closing. The real estate
agent replaced the sod in the rear yard in September of 2004. It appears that the resulting water
use, which showed up on the November, December and January bills, was a result of irrigation,
although this is disputed by Mr. Murphy.
Atlantic Beach has approximately 7,500 water customers. We receive about one excessive use
complaint per month. Many of these are found to be leaks on the customer's side of the meter.
In some cases, no apparent reason for the high water use is found. Similar situations are
common with virtually every water supplier in the country. The only objective and fair way to
handle these cases is to use the meter readings as a basis for billings.