Photo by Mookie Forcella
Village of Saugerties trustees have received numerous complaints about the wording on postcards concerning the installation of new water meters, which state that customers must make an appointment or their water service would be interrupted.
Mayor William Murphy said the threat is empty. “We say that if someone does not pay their water bill on those bills that their service would be turned off, but we have never done so.”
“Can’t we just tone the note down a little?” asked trustee Don Hackett.
Murphy agreed, saying that the next batch of postcards to go out would have a less aggressive message.
The village is replacing its 1,400 water meters with new plastic models which do not contain lead, boast greater accuracy and can be read remotely. So far 500 postcards have been sent.
The meters are similar to those which caused some controversy in the Glasco Water District in the summer of 2013.
Murphy said appointments are necessary because someone needs to be home when the worker comes to install the new meter, for liability reasons.