KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City releases an audit on its water system after some bad feedback from customers.

A number of residents have received unusually high bills and complaints have poured in to water services.

Water Services Director Wes Minder went before the city council Thursday.

“We have a 40%t vacancy rate in our customer service support team,” he said to them.

The statement drew the attention of councilwoman Ryana Parks-Shaw, who asked him how he’s trying to get that vacancy number down.

“What we’d like to do is create a classification that would allow us to compete with Water One, BPU, and Independence Water on attracting service people who are used to using billing systems,” Minder responded.

“No. I did not,” Minder said to FOX4 after that discussion when asked if he felt like he was being grilled. “We have issues with retention and attraction like everyone else, and we’re working through those.”

Department wide, Minder says KC Water’s down 290 workers. Auditor Doug Jones released a report that said customer service representatives could do a better job at explaining to somebody on the phone why their bill is so high.

“We just pointed out we need some more clarity of information to help somebody understand a leak, how they can identify that leak in their house, the things that they can do, things on their website,” Jones said in an interview with FOX4 after his presentation to the city council. “So, maybe somebody instead of calling, can look on the website and more easily find, ‘How do I determine a leak? What are the things that I can do?'”

In November of last year, FOX4 Problem Solvers reported about customers being double billed for their water usage. This audit though, did not focus on that as KC Water has said those customers have been refunded.

Jones advises people to sign up for E-alerts that will tell you if you have an unexpected spike, which could help you realize your bill may be higher before your payment’s due.