Either thru Facebook, email, TV, or just stories, I have heard an unbelievable amount of water bill stories over the past month. Apparently, this is a new billing system. I even saw news stories about our water bills on local TV news programs. I seem to not be able to escape from them.
Well, I figure there can only be three groups (people) to blame.
1. The blue swede shoe people that sold that crap to the city.
2. The city "experts" that let the blue swede shoe people sell that crap to the city.
3. After buying the crap from the blue swede shoe people, the city "experts" didn't test out the equipment before foisting it onto the citizens of Rowlett.
My guess is that some combination of all three reasons exist, and apparently only feeble attempts are being made to rectify the situation. At least, I haven't heard anything more remedial than to test your water meter.
If it were me, I would do a few things.
1. I would sue the hell out of the "blue swede shoe" people that sold the crap.
2. I would fire the "experts" that convinced "officialdom" to buy the crap. Tar and feathering and sent out of town on the next DART train seems appropriate.
3. A severe butt chewing and a threat of a salary reduction would be made clear to the second tier city officials that didn't have enough sense to test the system before implementing it.
4. And, If I was an overcharged citizen, I would demand a refund and if that didn't work, file a small claim suit in court. You will have people say you can't sue the city. Yes, you can. Cities are protected only in the normal course of doing their job. They are not protected from shear incompetence.