Marthasville will be getting a large order of water meters.New public works head Brad Landwehr told the board of aldermen at the Dec. 16 meeting he has been working on installing water meters throughout town as one of his first projects. He said he’s been able to install some but is quickly running out of meters.Landwehr said he only had 26 meters left on hand and needed between 150 and 166 meters. He requested the board allow him to purchase the meters.The board unanimously agreed to fund the project and allow Landwehr to purchase as many meters as needed.Landwehr said the last time the city purchased 100 meters, it cost about $30,000. He said it could cost close to $50,000 to get all the meters needed.Mayor David Lange said the city had budgeted $78,000 for meters.At the Dec. 16 meeting, Landwehr said he needed to install 192 more meters. He said his goal is to install four a day, but some days he can get to six.Landwehr said he expects it to take as much as 10 weeks before the new meters are delivered.Tampered MetersWhile working on installing the meters, Landwehr said he has noticed three tampered meters in the city. He said two are illegally hooked up.Landwehr requested permission to address those homes.“As I go forward, (Deputy City Clerk) Lisa Irwin and I need to be able to send letters to get those fixed,” he said. “I think we should give them 30 days. Then we come in and inspect it to make sure that they are correct.”One of the homes has a bypass that allows the homeowner to shut the meter off on his own. Landwehr said he went back and checked old bills and found one month where it was shut off and not turned back on at the start of the next month.Alderman Dan Grafrath asked if it was possible to put a lock on the meters. Landwehr said the meters were inside the home.Mayor Lange said the city should consult the ordinance. He said he thought the city prevented meters from being inside the house.The number of issues with inside meters — tampering, lack of access by the city — were enough for the mayor to suggest a change in the city’s ordinance.“I think we need to rewrite the ordinance to take care of those inside meters,” he said.The board granted Landwehr permission to send the letters and agreed to review the ordinance at a later meeting.Marthasville