MorganHillTimes.com | Red Phone: What do we about vandalism?

Red Phone: What do we about vandalism?

Dec 24, 2008

"We have had vandalism every night for a week, on multiple houses in our neighborhood. We live in La Grande Estate area behind Paradise Park. It is ruining our Christmas spirit, but feel it might not be appropriate to notify the police. The problem: Christmas lights and decorations are being stolen, deer and other decorations rearranged, destroyed, stolen and unhooked. Initially, we were recovering some of the decorations throughout the neighborhood. Our timer and electrical system have been vandalized. This has happened to us and three of our immediate neighbors. We have set up a Web cam. What are our options to stop this problem, besides completely putting away the decor? Please let these people know, while they are out having fun, it is upsetting our kids and ruining the spirit in which it was intended."

Dear Disheartened, Red Phone contacted Police Chief Bruce Cumming, who said you should notify the Morgan Hill Police Department of these acts.

"By notifying us we can have our patrol officers spot check the area and look for suspicious people," he said. "If this is occurring late at night which it most likely is and if it is local kids, there is a curfew and officers can stop, detain and check those kids out and see what they are doing. We can then notify their parents to pick them up and the youths might even admit to the vandalism or tell the police who is doing it." Cumming said he will ask officers to patrol and pay special attention to these acts of vandalism and thefts.

Water bill snafu irks resident

"Dear Red Phone: The city charges for water by the month - the more units you use, the higher your unit price. Fair enough, but on my last bill the city charged for 37 days of use (six days more than the longest month). So I was billed for about five extra units of water in the 'month,' and the last two units of water were billed at the highest rate ($3.31 instead of $2.21). This error caused me to pay an extra $2.20 for the water I used. When I called the city, they were polite but not willing to admit there is an error in the system. Thanks for looking into the problem."

Dear Overbilled, Red Phone contacted Jack Dilles, finance director for the city. He said the city charges different residential water rates for three tiers of usage as a way to encourage conservation. There is sometimes an inaccuracy in the system when a customer is billed for more than 30 days of usage. A portion of such a customers water usage may be billed at the third and highest tier rate when the usage exceeds the third tier threshold only because the city billed for more than 30 days, he said. If the city had only billed this customer for 30 days of usage then the extra days would have fallen into the next month's bill and would have been subsequently billed at the smaller second tier rate. This is a function of water meter reading dates because meters are not read on exactly the same day every month for a variety of reasons, including work schedules, holidays and weekends. "The solution to this issue is to reprogram our water billing software or to purchase new software," Dilles said. "The city will be looking into this."

So good caller, looks like you found a flaw in the system the city is looking into. Anyone else out there who experiences the same problem, let Red Phone know. Hopefully, the city finds a quick solution to the problem.