Faux meter-reader?

The Austin city utility reports the expected next meter-reading date (water and electricity) in each bill. Today was not anywhere near the date. Yet, quite early someone was out with one of those tools to lift the cover from the water-meter. K. saw him, not I, but I don't think the guy was a real reader. This is another service that the City, in its wisdom, contracts out to some outfit with high employee turnover. In a perhaps not unrelated, though again out of the ordinary, occurrence, an Austin Police Department patrol car sat on the street for at least twenty minutes. Waiting for the "meter-reader"? It's been about three years since the Police Department has bothered to update its website to show current APD district reps.