Non-Emergency at Water Station
A computer glitch is responsible for a brief failure of systems that monitor the chlorine levels in drinking water at the water treatment plant in Florence. Overnight on September 12th an error occurred in the computer software that caused a brief shutdown of the plant. The system shutdown did not alert after hours staff. Once the problem was noticed in the morning staff immediately isolated the plant water from the distribution system. City staff took water quality samples from residences nearby and determined that no untreated water had been introduced into the system. As a precaution, staff flushed the hydrant on the corner of 24th and Willow. The programming error was corrected and new components were added to the system to force an automatic alert if the system were to fail in the future. There are no emergency requirements to boil water or take other actions.
Scam Alert
The Florence Police Department issued a release warning Florence residents of recent scams that have been reported. One recorded message demands that the caller respond immediately or have your criminal attorney ready for imminent proceedings. According to the release a few members of the community have fallen victim to the telephone threats and the police are reminding people that legitimate agencies will not ask for money or demand immediate payment while threatening arrest. Illegitimate requests will often have the caller to send cash, personal check, wire the money through Western Union or send a pre-paid visa card. Scams can also come in the form of someone offering you a prize and all you need to do is send the money needed to ship the prize. If you have any doubt of the legitimacy of a call, contact the Florence Police.
Trick or Treat Opportunities
Tomorrow is Halloween and trick or treaters have several options for haunting the neighborhoods. In addition to traditional house to house trick or treating the Florence Justice Center will be open from 5-6:30 for a safe event operated by the Florence Police Auxiliary. In addition, the annual tradition of the Old Town Trick or Treat will begin at 3pm tomorrow until 5:00 pm. This allows children to safely trick or treat in a well-lit environment.
Transportation Committee
The City of Florence transportation committee meets tomorrow morning at 10 am. Part of the agenda is to look at options for optimizing parking in old town, especially during high traffic season. The most recent parking study was completed in 1998 and recommendations from that study have not been implemented. The committee will be looking into whether it is necessary to produce another study.
