Jackson Public Works Director Bob Miller issued the following statement yesterday.
The City of Jackson has hired professional investigators to conduct an investigation into its water metering and billing system in an effort to expose and correct any improprieties which have adversely affected the City of Jackson and its customers.
During the course of this investigation, which is still ongoing, we have found that some of our water customers have been purposely taking steps to prevent us from remotely monitoring water consumption by cutting the wires in their water meters – damaging, or destroying the meters.
Tampering with or destroying your water meter is a criminal offense.
Having an illegal water connection, otherwise known as straight piping, is a criminal offense.
Anyone caught tampering with the City’s water meter, destroying the City’s water meter, or stealing water through an illegal connection will be subject to arrest, imprisonment, and a substantial fine for each violation. Water service will also be terminated.
The investigation has revealed that some municipal employees may have advised water customers on how to avoid billing. Any employee who aids in the illegal avoidance of billing or aids in the tampering or destruction of a water meter is subject to arrest, imprisonment, and a fine. Additionally, any employee who becomes aware of the destruction, tampering, or stealing of water should report it in writing to the Public Works Director.
Any employee who becomes aware of the destruction, tampering, or stealing of water and fails to report it in writing to the Public Works Director shall be subject to severe disciplinary action, up to and including termination.
Everyone should be aware that the City of Jackson and the Water Sewer Business Administration office takes this matter seriously. We will not sit idly by and let our residents or our city continue to be taken advantage of by bad actors who do not have the city’s best interest at heart.”
22 comments:
Collecting money from Jackson residents is a lot like trying to get blood from a turnip. It just isn’t there.
Bob Miller is a class one jerk. I'm going to straight pipe my water.
Those hoots of laughter you hear are from Siemens' lawyers. Jackson has now issued a press release stating that its own employees are criminals who are helping people bypass, damage and otherwise interfere with the meters and billing system on top of the citizenry of Jackson who are also criminals and are doing a lot of the tampering on their own.
While water theft is a problem, maybe we could focus on stopping the daily murders first.
There wont be a single person incarcerated for this-
I suspect bond holders care much more about the stolen water than the murders.
I'm typically a naysayer of this administration, but over the past few day's, while not sure of the cause, I am glad to see the perception of giving a shit.
"There wont be a single person incarcerated for this-"
Oh, I don't know...when Lightfoot, Franklin tells Mayor Chopsteak that having the water department tell the world that it and its customers are a crooked clusterfuck wasn't a smart idea and that Siemens' lawyers just sent an email that said, in its entirety, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!," Mayor Chuckroast may just lock Mr. Miller in his office for a week or two. With little Sheldon Alston, a keg of Pabst and a box of Trojans....so little Sheldon can do a little fun-cramming.
Y'all really except the fine customers of Jackson city water to pay their water bill, when that money is needed for bling, 40s, and fine wheels?
You sick fucks, you haven't got the cojones to walk into Robert Miller's office and make your comments there, or the Mayor's office for that matter. They are starting to clean up after previous administrations, and they have the brass to do it. Go oil the hinges on your neighborhood gates.
You don't reckon last weeks video of those fine and upstanding Jackson yutes having fun with the POPO with squirt guns quite possibly filled with illegal ammo brought on the ire of Mayor Chuckroast to clamp down on this criminal behavior, do ya?
Can you envision the final scene to the movie "Scarface" battled out with squirt guns and Mayor Chuckroast holding a master blaster exclaiming "SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND!"?
Well you can now!
No one will ever be prosecuted.
......"The City of Jackson has hired professional investigators".......
Too bad the police department cannot say the same.
Suburban dads soil their pleats when Jackson starts solving problems after soiling their pleats upon learning problems exist. I've lived many places, but the Jackson metro is unique in its level of people who argue and gripe about everything, even, nay, especially, when it is something positive. "Souther hospitality" my rear.
@12:51.. Reminds me that people cant pay their traffic tickets using cash in Jackson because the people responsible for collecting said fines kept stealing the cash!
People gripe that Jackson has problems, and that is certainly understandable. But now people are griping that they are trying to solve them? Really? This is a step in the right direction. I work in this industry (but not for Jackson), and I know Bob Miller professionally. They are trying to take the steps to clean some of this stuff up. But it is difficult. Very difficult. It's a work in progress.
I promise you that straight piping goes on everywhere (just not to the degree that it does in Jackson). It happens in Flowood, Canton, Madison, Bear Creek Water, Ridgeland, Clinton, Pearl, Brandon, Byram, Fannin Water, North Hinds, etc. It is a constant battle. And homebuilders/plumbers are the worst. They will connect to the water service prior to purchasing a meter so that they can test their plumbing. Or the foundation guy will connect to the water service prior to purchasing a meter so that they can have some water for pouring the slab. That is just as illegal. It's stealing water and it happens every day.
Jackson has 99 problems where the other neighboring utilities have 1. But kudos for them taking steps to work on some of those problems. But now they have to follow through.
8:22 You hit on the real problem of this city government in your last sentence: "But now they have to follow through." Antar is a very young and inexperienced version of his father, an idealistic radical. But he's not a crook, he just wants to do the radical economic thing, but reality keeps getting in the way. The last thing in the world he wants to do is hang black "business men" out to dry, or prosecute poor folks who steal utilities, but he's finding out the hard way that life outside the lecture hall ain't so nice. At least not in Jackson, Mississippi which is too busy shooting itself to death, literally, to be the test case for "cooperative economics" or whatever. But can he follow through?
Baby Chok can talk the talk, but can he walk the walk?
Let me get this straight: The, er, financially-embarrassed Jackson water department was (allegedly) shocked to recently (again, allegedly) discover that customers, often aided and abetted by water department employees, were stealing water using a variety of methods and its first reaction was to hire "professional investigators" rather than calling JPD. While I can understand one's trepidation at calling the JPD, good form would seem to dictate that when one city department is the victim of wanton, open and wholesale theft, it should at least give the city department whose purported purpose - its raison d'être for the swanky out there - is to deal with that very sort of thing at least a shot (pardon the pun) at those crimes before bringing in outside "professional investigators."
Besides, how much "professional investigation" is needed to determine where water accounts are not or the billed usage indicates tampering, visit those properties and if there is water at the property or evidence of tampering, the "investigation" is pretty much complete. I mean, it is not like the house or the water lines are going to take off running when the cops show up. Where does one even find "professional water meter investigators?" Is this really a viable career or just another BS job to hand out to friends and family?
8:22 - My Bear Creek bill runs almost $80 a month, and that's not summer months. Please tell us how to 'straight pipe'. Or did you lie?
@7:43 I think the guy is saying that Flowood has 10,000 connections/meters, Canton has 9000, Madison has 6000, Bear Creek has 17,000, Ridgeland has 10,000. So the odds are pretty good that at least one customer on each system has stolen water at some point. The odds just say it has probably happened. Just nowhere to the degree it has happened in Jackson.
@7:43 PM - You must have a large family or watering landscaping?
Our last water bill from BC was $14.00.
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