Thoughts on watering ban

[DTro]

Ok so in the city I live, there is an odd/even and no watering between 10am and 6pm. I have a sprinkler system with 5 zones.

Yesterday I finally found some free time to apply some fertilizer/broadleaf killer. About 1pm:

I set each zone to 1 minute to wet the lawn so fertilizer will stick. Five minutes total.

Wait until cycle completes spread fertilizer and just finishing up and I notice Mr Officer parked at the curb. I push spreader towards car and lean into open window.

Mr Officer: Are you aware of the watering ban here?

Me: Absolutely

Mr Officer: My chief (my neighbor 4 houses down) just phone me and said your sprinkler was on so i need to write you a citiation ($50).

Me: I wasn't watering I just wet the lawn for 5 minutes

Mr Officer: I don't care I have a boss and need to listen to him

Me: Well, I'll just walk over and talk to your boss

Mr Officer: Fine, good luck with that

Me: **walking towards chiefs house and almost there**

Mr Officer: *pulls up to me again* "I just talked to chief and it's his day off....please respect that and don't bother him today, deal with it on Mon"

Me: well it's my day off today and you didn't respect that too much did you.......I will respect that however.....good day

Am I wrong to be pi$$ed off here?????

[eurolarva]

I dont suppose you have sandpoint wells for the sprinkler system or a well? If so the water ban does not apply to you. But yeah you have reason to be angry.

[Bobby Bass]

Well you did water your lawn. So I guess you get the ticket. The part about the Chief's day off well that went out the window when he made a point to have one of his officers make a visit to your house. Just a neighbor calling would never have gotten a response time of less then five minutes for a water violation. Fine line of he is your neighbor and the police chief but sounds like he was an [Note from admin: Please read forum policy before posting again. Thank you.] To me he is a neighbor who I would give a fifty dollar piece of my mind. Of course me being a little older and set in my ways offer you this advice because it would make no difference if he was the police chief to me.

[harvey lee]

I understand where you are coming from but when it comes to the goverment you will have a hard time with this one.

I would wait until he is back to work and call or talk to him in person. You did water when you were not suppose to and they will probably stick to it. I would talk to the Chief or maybe the city administrator and explain and just maybe they might let it go.

I would guess they are going to tell you that you should have waited until your watering day to do the work.

[DTro]

yeah, I can see that, the problem is that even on my watering day I can't do it between 10 and 6. Not only that but as I talked to the officers I pointed out kids playing in sprinklers and people filling up kiddie pools.

I just think they were a bit out of line is all

[hoggs222]

In Andover, you can water every day if....you had just seeded. Sounds like you just seeded your lawn...right?

[Eric Wettschreck]

Dude, I think you are going to end up writing a check for 50 bucks. You can, and should, go to court. However, the chief of police has just set a precedent. I would bother him on Sunday in the future, but that's just me.

To answer your original question, yes I would be bothered. Not about the ticket but about the police chief sitting in a crystal palace on Sunday saying,"Don't bother me."

[Northlander]

Save yourself the time and lost wages from taking a day off of work to go to court and pay the $50. You should have waited til your watering day to fertilize etc. and thus water. I know it sucks and is a inconvenience but thats the way it is these days.

Im afraid this is one you wont win.

[New Yankee]

Yep - I'd be ticked off as well. Chief was bothered enough to call, but doesn't want to talk to his neighbor on Sunday? Real nice guy.

Most of the officers I've been around over the years are pretty good fellows - live and let live for the most part. Folks wonder why they sometimes get a bad rap about being power junkies - this is a good example of why it occurs.

Maybe if he was to get out of the house every now and then and talk with the 'common folk' he wouldn't feel so compelled to use his authority in such an inappropriate fashion.

[KMR85]

i just dont like how police officers have to come off so arrogant all the time. but yeah, you will probably be better off paying the $50 because we all know that in Minnesota (mankato especially) cops are above the law.

[DTro]

honestly, I don't think he is a bad guy at all, but I would've like to talked to him in person at least.

I did just talk to him on the phone and we had a length discussion and we agreed to disagree on the definition of watering

It's funny, you can water all the plants you want, fill all the pools you want, wash all the cars you want, but don't you dare get any of it on the lawn, because that would be considered "watering".

I'll take my lumps and pay the fine (turns out it's 25 and not 50) and move on with my life.

I'll consider it an "administration fee for moistening my broadleaf weeds"

[Abrams]

Another fine example of government at work. I would have been angry, not about the money but about the chief calling it in. Just think it's a service that you get to pay for as well.

[rushing]

Perhaps you should of been outside running through the sprinklers in your underwear while applying your fertilizer?

What I think that sucks is, what if the rolls were reversed and you called, would he have gotten a ticket? Absolutely not.

As far as bothering him....tough sheet, he got himself involved. I would of walked over and thanked him for being such a good neighbor.

[MNice]

From the city's point of view... In the suburb that I work in we go from about 4 million gallons per day in the winter, to 8 and sometimes 9 million gallons per day in the summer, with most of the excess going to irrigation. If our pumps run continuously, we can do about 10 million gallons per day. Without some sort of regulation, we would literally run out of water for important things like fires/human consumption, etc. For those that will think, why not bigger pumps, it just gets down to money. Taxes are high enough without everyone paying to just irrigate lawns. Just one point of view..

[Shack]

[so haaad]

D, just chalk it up as a lesson in life. I also work for a city. So I know that working for govt and enforcement of these kinds of rules is not an easy job. The officer made a mistake in telling you that it was his chief that reported the offense. That made it personal for you and really worsened the situation. If the officer would have just said it was an "anonymous" complaint or said that it didn't matter who reported the offense and the issue was that you were violating the watering ban, then I think he would have avoided the ugly (personal) situation altogether. As for the ticket, I agree with Northlander in that it's not worth your time to fight it. It will not go on your criminal record, and it's only $25.

[kaz2611]

I'm sure if you would just let your grass die so your yard was just a baron dirt patch the chief would complain to because it would have a bad effect on the value of his property since its in a neighborhood with someone who didnt keep their yard up. darnED IF YOU DO darnED IF YOU DONT.

[Duffman]

Sounds like the chief doesn't like the sound of a squeaky boat trailer driving by after it's out chasing cats until who knows when.

[Powerstroke]

I also work for a city and for us the sotry is the same. We pump maybe a millon gallons a day in the winter, but right now on the hot weekends we pump 4 million gallons a day. Last year we pumped down our main water tower to nearly empty because our pumps couldn't keep up. Its hard to believe, but we have several wells pumping to one water treatment plant and only so many pumps to get it to the tower.

There are logical reasons to not using the water during the day like it does more harm than good with your lawn and doens't usually soak in cause it can evaporate before it soaks in.

I know its a dumb situation for you, but the rules are the rules. I think the bigger problem is with the neighborhood (Contact Us Please) down the block. He should mind his own business or talk to you rather than bring the police into a situation like that.

[Powerstroke]

Also, please keep this on topic. This is about a watering ban, not for cop-bashing. The cop was only doing his job. If you have a beef with watering bans and the penalties than talk to the city council. All the cities in the metro have different rules. Some will give a warning, but many go right to the fine because fines make money. I don't know any cop who wants to write someone up for a watering fine.

[DTro]

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I know its a dumb situation for you, but the rules are the rules. I think the bigger problem is with the neighborhood (Contact Us Please) down the block. He should mind his own business or talk to you rather than bring the police into a situation like that.

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I don't think you got it. The neighbor is the Chief of Police.

[DTro]

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I don't know any cop who wants to write someone up for a watering fine.

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come to my city, they wrote 65 in the last couple of weeks

[DTro]

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There are logical reasons to not using the water during the day like it does more harm than good with your lawn and doens't usually soak in cause it can evaporate before it soaks in.

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I agree 100% and understand why they make restrictions, I wouldn't water during the day either, and that was part of my argument

It's done now so it doesn't matter

[Powerstroke]

I know he is the chief of police, but he is still your neighbor. Rather than rat-fink you he should've made a phone call.

Cops don't like writing those tickets but they have to. Oursa have written hundreds. I have a private well, but I still get notices about once a month. Then I have to prove myself rather than the other way around.

And finally, I raelize you weren't trying to water for the sake of watering. That part was somewhat in general for the rest of the posts others have made. It sucks when the system hurts good honest people making an honest mistake. A huge percentage of laws have room for discretion, but some are black and white. Like I said, some cities give warnings, mine and yours don't.

[aanderud]

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You did water when you were not suppose to and they will probably stick to it.

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He had a sprinkler on and water was coming out, but I'm not sure if that meets the definition of "watering a lawn".

Getting your grass wet enough so that fertilizer sticks to it is NOT the same as watering your lawn in my book. My dog tipped his water dish over the other day and got some blades of grass wet -- that's not watering the lawn either.

Anyone in their right mind can see that you're in the middle of spreading fertilizer and that the fertilizer package says to apply to wet grass. If you weren't out in the yard applying fertilizer, I could see him thinking you were 'watering' the lawn, but this should be obvious. All it would take is a little communication, instead of just writing out a ticket.

Sounds like a great way to spend taxpayer dollars.