Trafalgar Utility Supervisor Resigns, People Upset with Water Rates
TRAFALGAR, Ind. (WISH) — The Trafalgar utility supervisor resigned Tuesday, and the Town Council next week will have a special meeting.
Water in this part of Indiana, south of Indianapolis in Johnson County, is a big deal. Not everyone has city water or a well, and they depend upon commercial water haulers for their water. I-Team 8 on Thursday ran into one of the haulers, who says the town is charging people different rates.
On Thursday, a local resident, Ronald Brock, came to the Trafalgar Town Hall to get answers.
“I think there is a snake, and he is going to get bit,” said Brock on a phone call to the utility department.
Brock says the town charges him double the rate for water that others are charged.
The utility supervisor on Thursday wasn’t at Town Hall and didn’t answer the phone at the wastewater treatment plant.
Brook gave the person that answered his phone call an earful.
“Well, someone has been doing a crooked deal because there are four or five haulers in Trafalgar, and we are all paying a different price,” said Brook.
President of the Trafalgar Town Council, Jessica Jones, told News 8 that a special meeting was called “to address the honor system and concern for the theft of water on the hydrants throughout town and video evidence of such happening.”
Jones sent I-Team 8 a handful of pictures of water haulers filling up their tanks with little or no supervision from the town. Jones says she had reason to believe that water was being stolen from the town and has asked the police to investigate.
“I do. I have seen certain people have sent me videos and pictures of people that have been on our hydrants,” Jones said last week.
The town has installed surveillance cameras to keep an eye on those who fill up the water haulers.
Brock didn’t get any answers on the phone so he went inside to air his complaints, the clerk behind the counter can only do so much. He is now considering “to get a lawsuit started.”
I-Team 8 on Thursday also tried to talk to members of the Town Council, but none of them returned phone calls.
