By: Melina Matthes
mmatthes@klkntv.com
Water violations in Lincoln are piling up. Since Monday, Lincoln Police have written about 130 tickets. Of course the number of calls that have come in, are much, much higher than that, and officials say its overwhelming their staff.
As we wait for rain the frustration level for Lincoln homeowners and many others, goes up. That includes the people who have to take your calls and complaints. It's the sign of the times, brown and tan dormant grass. And while homeowners have 3 designated days a week to water. Some are still not following the rules.
"It's hard for me to believe that someone hasn't heard about this from their co-workers or their family members or TV or radio or print or twitter or social media or those message boards," Public Safety Director Tom Casady said.
Casady says they've been receiving hundreds of calls questions from people. Neighbors turning in neighbors. The problem is they can't just give citations like a parking ticket. They won't leave them in your door or under your mat. They have to determine who is responsible for the violation and hand it to the person because it's a misdemeanor charge.
"The Police department is just absolutely deluged with complaints of these violations. It's been consuming a huge amount of their work load in the past 12 to 13 days. It's over 750 complaints that we've responded to and we'd really like to deal with those at the time," Casady said.
Casady says the 911 dispatch center has received so many calls they've actually had to bring in additional staff and they say it's becoming stressful.
"It's just that when we have too many calls coming in that becomes more stressful because they're trying to answer 911 calls and so the other lines are ringing and just getting the call management perspective of it is a little stressful if we're getting lots of calls and not enough call takers," Julie Righter, Communications Director said.
Just a reminder 911 is only for emergencies. If you see someone violating the water restriction they ask that you call the non-emergency line, 441-6000. If you just have a question, call the Lincoln Water System at 441-5918.
