Jeff Waters
Suwannee Democrat
Live Oak —
The Suwannee Democrat sat down recently with the city of Live Oak’s two meter readers to try to settle a question that’s been on the table for some years now: are water meters being read in Live Oak?
Some city councilmen say they’re not. However, the meter readers say they are and the “proof is in the paperwork at City Hall.”
The topic has been debated a while now, but most recently came to a head earlier this month at a budget workshop when, reviewing the 2010-11 proposed budget, Councilman John Yulee asked why the public works department needed a new meter reading truck.
Yulee said the department doesn’t need one because the meters aren’t being read.
Not true, say Billy Law and Keith Touchton, the city’s only meter readers.
“Everybody has this impression that you have to uncover all the dirt and grass from a meter, but it’s not true,” said Touchton. “If we walked up to every meter and dug out the dirt and removed the grass over it, we would never get finished. Yeah, there’s grass growing over it, but most the time the lid to the meter doesn’t even get removed.”
Touchton said that in some cases, he and Law merely have to lift the lid with a screwdriver, look in, read the numbers and move on. When dirt covers the dial, Law said they use the screwdriver, move the dirt aside on top of the meter, just enough to read the numbers and move on to the next one (both scenarios were witnessed by this reporter on three separate meters).
Law said they don’t have time to dig out the dirt, and since they only carve a small half inch or so line in the dirt to read the numbers, the dirt quickly fills back in.
They have about 5,200 gas and water meters to read in the city in a 20 day window. That averages to about 130 meters each a day.
They said that’s not impossible. With their experience, about 30 years between the two, it gets done, they said. On any given day they miss a few, often due to weather, but they get read the next day.
As for those that leave coins or rocks on the meter to see if the meter readers stopped by, Touchton said they put them right back when they’re finished.
“We want people to understand that we are trained for this job,” he said. “We have the experience and the knowledge that we have to perform this job with accuracy and efficiency.”
Each meter reader has a handheld device containing each address along with its previous reading. Once they see the number on the dial they key it in. The handheld device “learns” a residence’s normal usage, so if a number gets transposed or the figure is significantly different than usual, the device emits a loud beep and asks the user if he is certain of the entry. If not he rekeys. Otherwise, the entry remains but is downloaded at City Hall and verified by a supervisor. Usually the pair get a number of re-reads in which the supervisor or the device didn’t like a certain read. Last month 91 were re-read. In some the mistake was human error.
“We do make mistakes, but we have those fail safe systems,” said Touchton. “We’re only human, people don’t realize that we have to work in 100 degree heat all day walking around in rain, dirt. It takes a toll on you and you’re going to mess up. But the end result is usually accurate. If not, it gets taken care of.”
Law and Touchton said sometimes you will see them both riding together or just taking it easy under a shade tree.
“We have to take breaks every now and again, you just have to,” said Touchton. “But that is the perception right there. They ride by and see us and think ‘they’re not doing anything, look at them just sitting there,’ but do they ever stop and ask if we’re OK in the heat?”
In any case, there’s plenty of incentive to do the job and do it right, the workers say.
“We’re monitored very closely [by OMI],” said Law. “By the time I kneel down and lift up the cover, the hard work’s already over. Why not go ahead and get the numbers? It would be silly of me not to.”
Law referred to a recent entry in the Suwannee Democrat Rant & Rave column in which a caller had feared a high water bill following a leak, only to find the next month’s statement unchanged.
Law said they only read the thousands on the meter, not the hundreds. In other words, if a water meter reads “425,099,” only the “425” is recorded.
“If (the caller) had an inch of water in the kitchen and if it’s a basic kitchen size of say 12 by 12, then that’s only 98 gallons of water, so that won’t even be counted on her bill,” said Law. “We only bill by the thousands, not hundreds. You’d have to have 10 inches to get it there.”
However, he said the “099” eventually rolls over and that is the reason why some people’s bill spikes one month for no apparent reason.
“It’s going to get you eventually,” said Law. “We try explaining this to customers.”
Law and Touchton both said the most complaints are received this time of year because folks use more water washing their vehicles, watering plants and lawns and for other outdoor activities. They say their bill goes up and the complaints start coming in.
A minimum bill, for 3,000 gallons of water, is $12.08.
