LINDEN &8212; Members of the City of Linden&8217;s Utility Board discussed complaints from residents near County Road 44 about their water meters, during the board&8217;s meeting Tuesday night.

Currently, the department of public works has equipment to locate meters in order to check their readings, but over the years there have been many meters that have been lost due to the fact there is no mapping system in place to notate the location of the meters.

City Administrator Cheryl Hall also said that many years ago there were individuals who had paid deposits to hook up to the city&8217;s water system but never actually signed up to be customers, therefore there are meters located there that are not is use.

Director of Public Works, Terry Tyson, said that they do have locating equipment that would be able to do the job, but in most cases they end up having to prod and locate them physically because the meters have experienced wear and tear that would not allow the locating equipment to pick up a signal on them.

Gaddy asked if the department had use of a global positioning system to assist in locating the meters.

Gaddy said, &8220;That will be something down the road to look into.&8221;

The board also inquired as to the state of the current crew working for the City of Linden.

According to Tyson, there have been several employees that have had recent injuries and healthcare problems that have kept them understaffed.

On the subject of needed labor, Cheryl Hall said that the city is looking into contracting labor for some of the workers from the Farquhar State Cattle Ranch, but they are waiting to see if the sale goes through with the state.

In the report on equipment for the department, Tyson said they are doing well. He said that the contract for the backhoe that they currently use will be up soon, and he hopes to present some specifications to the board for another one by August.