- November 17, 2024
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A 66-year-old Palm Coast man irate over a high water bill caused by a ruptured pipe beneath his home used crass, vulgar language to swear at and threaten women who work for the city of Palm Coast’s utility and customer service departments, according to Sheriff’s Office reports.
The man, B-section resident Lorenzo Fields, then showed up at a Flagler County Commission meeting Monday, June 1, saying during the meeting’s public comment period that he would be suing the city of Palm Coast. By that time, city officials said, the bill had been paid, and Fields' water had been turned back on.
After Fields got the high bill, according to the Sheriff’s Office report, he demanded that the city compensate him for it. The city, which has some leeway to assist residents who can show that an unusually high water bill was due to a leak, lowered the bill at one point to $50, City Clerk Virginia Smith said. But he still wouldn’t pay it, and made repeated, harassing phone calls to city offices over about two months, Smith said. The city turned off the water for nonpayment.
Fields then “intentionally parked his truck on top of both meters” — his and a neighbor’s, whose meter is in the same spot — “and prevented access to them,” according to a deputy’s report.
May 26, Fields called the county administration offices — which have nothing to do with the city's water bills — and told the county’s administrative assistant that he hadn’t had water in months and would dump a load of gravel over his meter so the city’s employees couldn’t read it.
“Someone is going to get hurt soon,” he told her, according to the Sheriff’s Office report.
He called the city offices and went on profanity-laced tirades, using sexual slurs to address the women who answered the phones, and at one point telling one to ask another how many sexual favors she'd performed to get the job. When Fields showed up at the city offices May 27, three Sheriff’s Office law enforcement officers told him to “cease the harassing communications with the City of Palm Coast,” according to the report, and a deputy accompanied city utility workers to Fields’ home as they read his meter.
After Fields spoke at the county meeting June 1, saying he’d sue the city, Palm Coast City Councilman Bill McGuire addressed the County Commission and the audience.
“I want to share with you that people that meet the public in government are often treated very shabbily,” McGuire said. “…I’ve witnessed yelling and screaming; I’ve witnessed foul language, things that you would never permit your wife or your daughter to be exposed to on a regular basis. In the city of Palm Coast, we’re going to take a close look at what, if anything, we can do about that. ...I just wanted to go on record saying that this is no way to treat people that are being paid to serve you and to help you and to assist you in any way they can.”
