BLAND — Bland aldermen discussed the growing cost of damaged water meter reading equipment on July 13 after Public Works Director Rodney Turner reported the city has nearly exhausted its supply of replacement units.

Turner explained that the electronic radio transmitters attached to water meters are frequently damaged by lawn mowers, deer and other causes, making it impossible to remotely read customers’ water usage.

“This goes on top of your water meter lid,” Turner said while displaying one of the devices to the board. “This transmits out, and this is how we read meters.”

According to Turner, city employees received two work orders that day alone involving meters that were no longer functioning, with both believed to have been damaged while mowing.

“People are cutting them down with their lawn mowers,” Turner said. “Some of them do stick up a little high.”

He explained that while the plastic cap may appear minor, internal wires are easily damaged once the top is cut off.

“Once they trim this top off, it cuts some wires, and you’ve got to throw this away,” Turner said.

He added that the city has only two replacement transmitters remaining in inventory and needs to purchase additional units.

The transmitters cost $177 each and are sold in cases of 26, bringing the total purchase price to $4,602.

Board members expressed concern about the expense and discussed ways to reduce future replacement costs.

Mayor Merrilee Spurgeon suggested residents should be responsible for replacement costs if they repeatedly damage the city’s equipment.

“I suggest, too, that we replace them once, after that they’re responsible,” Spurgeon said.

Turner noted that damage is not always caused by lawn mowers.

“I’ve been to some houses where they were feeding deer over the meter pit,” Turner said. “They trampled them to where they broke.”

Board members discussed keeping records of damaged transmitters so the city could identify repeat incidents.

Turner said the city uses the transmitters not only to replace damaged units but also when connecting new water customers, making it important to maintain an adequate inventory.

While no formal action was taken on charging residents for replacement costs, the board members agreed the city should purchase another case of transmitters to ensure enough units are available for repairs and new service connections.