SWAT robot1
A Maricopa family was "Swatted" Wednesday night when someone called in a hoax call, bringing police to their home in Maricopa Meadows. [File photo]

The Maricopa City Council will hear a response from the city’s largest water utility Tuesday regarding recent complaints lodged against them concerning their business practices.

The letter, issued by Global Water Resources Inc., was penned in response to numerous customer complaints concerning an unusual number of spiked bills, broken water mains, poor customer service and fees for meter maintenance and replacement.

City Manager Gregory Rose indicated the council will discuss Global Water’s response to these issues as well as the issue of cyber security brought up by council members during a special meeting Feb. 8.

Rose said the city council’s concerns were not so much about rates, as they were about customer service and the potential for a “terrorist-like” cyber-attack that could disrupt the city’s water supply or compromise their customer’s privacy.

Global Water has maintained there have been only a few incidents were customers received spiked bills out of error. Most spiked bills, they claimed, are from leaks happening on the customer’s side of the water meter and not because of a malfunction or technological error.

The utility said in response to the fees and poor customer service, they have rectified the issue by offering to waive meter-checking fees for customers who received higher than average bills, and the quality of their customer service center has been improved.

In response to the question of cyber security, residents will have to wait to hear the letter during the council’s Work Session on Tuesday, at 5 p.m. –  one hour earlier than usual.

Later, during the regular meeting, on the consent agenda, council will look at purchasing more than $100,000 in new law enforcement equipment, including $54,000 for “E-Citation hardware and software,” to be paid for by the City’s capital project fund, and $56,600 for a “Mini Caliber SRT Robot from ICOR Technologies,” to be paid for with state RICO funds.