Milton council approves water meter resolution

Milton Town Council unanimously approved a resolution to begin the transition to outside water meters for all homes. 

The clock will start Sunday, Oct. 1, which will give homeowners two years to make the change. 

According to the resolution, all residences with water meters inside their homes will have to relocate them to an outdoor pit. Residents with an indoor meter must hire a licensed plumber to install the outdoor pit. Following the two-year grace period, the town will enforce compliance up to and including terminating water service for homes that do not comply.

Jimmy Kersey, the town’s water superintendent, estimated about 100 properties have indoor water meters. According to Kersey, installing water meters inside customers’ homes was an old industry standard practice. The problem is that town staff must enter customers' homes to access/read meters, and customers are sometimes not home during normal business hours.

Pine Street resident Scott Siegfried said his meter has always been in the front wall of his basement. The meter is at least 25 years old and has not been changed to his knowledge.

“Up until the last few years, I have assumed the town has been reading my meter remotely. Now they ask to come inside. I’m assuming the meter is no longer sending a signal,” Siegfried said. “I believe a new meter with an AMR [automated meter reading] top would solve the problem. I also believe there is an outside readout that can be installed outside the house and hardwired to the meter.”

He said his meter is easy to access and replace, and he questioned whether installing a meter pit is really necessary. 

Anthony Rendina of Shipbuilder’s Village wrote to council Aug. 21 to express concerns that the resolution would negatively impact him. He said he bought his house in 1993, when the development went up, and at that time, he had a functioning water meter on the rear exterior of the house. Twelve years later, he said, the town opted to disconnect his exterior meter and install a new wireless meter in his garage. He said he was not given any choice in that decision. Three years ago, the wireless meter failed, while the exterior meter – still in working order – recorded accurate water usage. While he does not object to having an outside meter, he said he should not have to bear any expense toward returning the meter to exterior use. 

Town Manager Kristy Rogers said Milton has had radio read meter technology since 2007. She said meters are failing due to age and the reading equipment is outdated. 

“There have not been any enhancements from the manufacturer available to assist us. The current meter failures and decreasing effectiveness of the reading equipment is why we decided on the pilot program with a new meter. The requirement of the pit installation is per town code,” she said. “The most pressing point of relocating the meter to a pit is compliance with back-flow prevention policies regulated by the EPA.” 

The issue actually goes back to June 2019, when council approved a similar resolution. At the time, the cost of moving the meter outside was $3,000. The resolution was approved unanimously, but COVID-19 shut down everything not long after and enforcement of the resolution was put on hold.