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Officials talk weekend leaks, calls to staff phones and need for a separate dispatch line
Summary
Staff described responding to low-pressure calls and weekend contacts about leaks, and a participant said the department should provide a separate phone for the on-call dispatcher or staffed responder; a motion to table hiring of outside operators was also made during the meeting.
Staff and meeting participants described repeated weekend calls and requests for assistance with low pressure and suspected leaks. A staff member said they received calls from residents on weekends and sometimes had to respond outside normal hours to locate and repair leaks.
“One morning about 6 a.m. … we had one water down. Because we don't have emergency contact numbers … I had to call Central to see where it says this isn’t the residence house,” a staff member said, describing a weekend response. The staff member said citizens sometimes have individual staff phone numbers, which leads to after-hours calls.
Participants discussed providing a separate phone line for the on-call water/dispatch function. “I think BJ definitely needs a phone,” one participant said, adding that tying the dispatch line into personal phones creates extra work and interruptions.
The meeting also discussed planned yearly flushing of services to customers; staff said the town typically flushes once per year and had delayed spring flushing this year because of heavy rain. Another staff speaker said they planned to test water pressure in higher-elevation areas and had ordered fittings to assist with pressure checks.
Earlier in the meeting a participant moved to table discussion about hiring outside operators for certain maintenance tasks; the transcript records the motion to table but does not record a vote or final outcome.
Staff said they will coordinate schedules and look into providing a designated dispatch phone number so that on-call duties are handled through a departmental line rather than staff personal phones.
