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Lino Lakes Public Services Department 600 Town Center Parkway Lino Lakes, MN 55014 (651) 982 -2440 Fax (651) 982 -2439 www.ci.lino-lakes.mn.us July 2, 2009 Mr. and Mrs. Parker 6383 Hartford Circle Lino Lakes, Minnesota 55038 Dear Mr. and Mrs. Parker, We respectfully disagree with your request for the City to forgo all past due water charges during the time the meter wasn't registering any consumption. The belief that since the meter failed, you should be granted free use of all water consumed is an attempt to take advantage of the situation. Our water meters work mechanically by utilizing a positive displacement chamber. Water comes into the meter, turns a wheel shaped measuring chamber, and then exits the opposite side into the house plumbing. There are two reasons why meters fail: 1. Chamber gets stuck — foreign matter (ie, flake of copper, grain of gravel) or a long term buildup of calcium /iron impedes the wheel shaped chamber to freely rotate. 2. Lightning or electrical surge that damages the circuitry in the register head. It should be noted that faulty /failed meters using positive displacement always register lower consumption than water actually used, not higher which you claim is the blame for your single above average water bill for the quarter ended 11/30/03. I would like to address several statements in your letter dated June 25, 2009. I have been the Public Services Director for Lino Lakes since August, 1998. I demand that every employee, without exception, be responsive and respectful to all resident's requests and concerns. The claim that repeated requests for a meter audit were refused, just doesn't fit with the Public Services Department's operations. I closely monitor staffs interaction with residents and I wholeheartedly disagree with your claim that, "city staff aren't responsive or friendly when they pick up the phone and talk to people." I also need to respond to the statement, "The spreadsheet conveniently leaves off the first two full bills, which we disputed as we have stated in point one above, when we moved into the house." The purpose of the colored spreadsheet was to simply show you how we arrived at the lowest actual consumption for each underpaid quarter (by taking the lowest read for each quarter over the previous four years).