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Resident asks Minnetrista to justify a $1,952 water charge; staff says daily telemetry only retained 40 days
Summary
Resident Barbara Salek Shaffer asked the council to adjust a first-quarter water bill that charged 130,926 gallons; staff said the in-home data transmitter stores about 40 days of daily data and cannot produce a complete 90-day daily breakdown for the quarter in question, but offered the available trend and a future move to monthly billing to help prevent similar disputes.
Barbara Salek Shaffer addressed the Minnetrista City Council on May 18 to dispute a first-quarter utility bill that included $1,952.25 for water, saying the packets meter graph covered only Feb. 16 to March 27 and requesting documentation to support the 130,926-gallon charge or an adjustment if such documentation does not exist.
"If it's not documented, it didn't happen," Shaffer said, asking for the daily readings for the full quarter. She told the council a bucket test at her property passed and that she was a snowbird away for part of the quarter, though relatives sometimes stayed at the home.
City staff responded that the ERT (in-home telemetry device) used for current reads stores roughly 40 days of detailed telemetry; for a 90-day quarterly billing cycle staff typically has only the beginning and ending meter reads and the 40-day history the device retains. Staff offered to provide the 40-day trend reports available and said the citys transition to monthly billing this summer will permit more frequent, day-to-day access to usage data and reduce similar documentation gaps going forward.
Councilors and the resident discussed the March 15 spike (about 600 gallons), possible visitor presence that weekend and the limitations of the current data-retention approach. Council agreed staff would attempt to provide the available trend information now and that monthly billing, once implemented, should reduce future disputes because residents will receive more frequent detail.
No formal adjustment or credit was issued at the meeting; the dispute remained unresolved pending staff follow-up and additional documentation.
