(a) Installation and Maintenance.
(1) Water meters shall be installed upon all premises supplied with water and shall be maintained by the City. However, with the approval of the Superintendent of Public Works and pending the installation of a water meter, water may be supplied to any premises at an estimated rate based upon the usage during the first billing period following installation of the meter.
(2) Any damage to a water meter resulting from failure of the owner, agent or tenant to properly protect the same shall be assessed against such owner, agent or tenant.
(3) No person shall tamper with, interfere with or remove a water meter from any service where it has been attached without first receiving permission from the Superintendent of Public Works.
(4) There shall be proper valves provided on all connections from a meter, free from all danger of frost, and perfectly accessible. Owners and occupants are prohibited from obstructing meters or doing anything that interferes with the reading thereof. All meters shall be protected by proper check and relief valves.
(5) In any instance where a meter is not readily accessible to meter readers for the purpose of being read, the City shall relocate it in an accessible location.
(6) Meters and their valves shall not be allowed in closets or compartments that are kept locked or that are in coal bins, under buildings or porches or in any location where there is difficulty of access. Meters will be allowed in toilet rooms and under show windows only as follows:
A. A meter may be set in the toilet room of a gas station provided the same is set in a clean, sanitary location, easily accessible for removal or reading.
B. A meter may be set under show windows only when set within eight inches of a door at least twenty-four inches wide and twenty-four inches high, and with couplings at least four inches above the floor with eighteen-inch clearance above the meter coupling to allow for meter reading.
(7) All meters shall be set horizontally in dry, clean, heat accessible, sanitary places, perfectly accessible, with gate valves on both sides, and where a small leak and spilling of water will do no damage. The rod shutoff will not be accepted in place of a valve.
(8) Appeals of all decisions under this subsection may be made to the Superintendent of Public Works.
(b) Costs; Control.
(1) All meters one inch and under shall be installed by the City free of charge. All meters over one inch shall be installed by the City at a reasonable cost to be established by the Superintendent.
(2) All water meters shall be under the control and remain the property of the City.
(c) Computation of Charges. After a meter is installed upon any premises, the charge for the water furnished to such premises shall be according to the amount actually used as registered by the meter, and at such rates as Council may establish.
(Res. 83-462. Passed 6-6-83.)