Any person refusing to allow reasonable access to City employees for the purpose of inspection of pipes and fixtures; setting, testing, repairing, replacing or reading meters; turning water off or on; or for generally enforcing the rules contained in this chapter shall be subject to a discontinuance of water service.
If the City has reason to believe a meter has been removed from service or tampered with in any way so as to preclude or avoid an accurate water meter reading, the person(s) responsible for such action shall be subject to a fine of up to $300 and costs of prosecution or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding 90 days, or both fine and imprisonment, for each and every convicted offense, in addition to the normal billing for water service. If the fine and other costs/fees are not paid within 30 days after conviction, then water service to the property shall be discontinued by the City until paid. If a person(s) is convicted of meter removal and/or meter tampering two or more times, the City will then require a two-hundred-dollar service deposit to be paid for the service address where the meter removal or tampering took place. If such service deposit is not paid within 30 days after the second or any subsequent convictions, along with the fine and other costs/fees, then water service to the property shall be discontinued by the City until these costs/fines/deposit are paid.
If a meter has been frozen or damaged in any way, the water customer served shall be responsible to pay the City's costs associated with repairing or replacing the meter. If such charges are not paid within a thirty-day period after notification, then the water service may be discontinued by the City until such time as such charges are paid in full.
Any violation of the rules of this chapter not so particularly described previously shall be grounds for discontinuance of water service. The City reserves the exclusive right to enforce the requirements of this chapter, and nothing herein contained shall be construed to relinquish the City's right to enforce this chapter by whatever means are available under law.