If convicted of violating water restrictions, you get a misdemeanor. Doesn't sound like much, but down road it could come back to bite you.
It's something Valarie Engler thinks is fair. She says she's been adhering to the water restrictions all summer and that everyone has had plenty of warning.
"Everyone knows which side of the street they live on and when they're supposed to water. It's on the news every day. It's on the radio every day. You have to follow the rules. You have to help conserve water when you can. And a misdemeanor isn't going to affect your job!"
But some city officials disagree. They say in a tough job economy, it's not fair to require this punishment to be anything more than an infraction. Something like a parking or speeding ticket.
"Job applications often times you have to report crimes, " says Adam Hornung. "I think a lot of times it means something different between a misdemeanor and infraction. And, in fact, a lot of cases you don't have to report infractions."
That's why the city councilman will ask the ordinance be changed next week at the council meeting. It's a process that normally takes several weeks; he'll petition to condense the process so the nearly 320 of the 380 ticketed people who have yet to be sentenced will still have time to save their future resumes from rejection.
Hornung says, "Similar to when we tell people not to speed, occasionally they still speed but we have to take the overall, the effect that is has on society. What is means to commit this crime, how much we want to punish people given the crime they're committing."
