Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Utilities Billing topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
South River moves to new billing contractor; staff to pursue access to thousands of water meters
Summary
Council approved a contract with Byron Metering Solutions as part of a consent agenda; borough staff said the contractor will begin March 1 and the borough will pursue unresponsive residents with letters and potential court summons to gain meter access.
The Borough of South River approved an agreement with Byron Metering Solutions to replace its utility billing system and begin a transition expected to start March 1, council members said during a February 2025 meeting.
The measure was approved as part of a consent agenda adopted by the council. A staff member said the borough negotiated with the only responsive bidder after rejecting earlier bids and that implementation will take several months. “We’re authorizing agreement with them to begin on the watch first. And so it won't take over right away in March 1. It takes 4 or 5 months to get through the whole entire process,” the staff member said.
The change follows prolonged billing problems residents and officials repeatedly raised during public comment. Art, a borough staff member who oversees the water-meter project, told the council the town has about “5,000 water meters in town” and described outreach steps to secure access to properties that have not allowed meter reads: phone calls, mailed letters and, if there is no response, court summonses. “They gave us the list. We are making a phone call. If they don't respond in 10 days, we are sending them a regular mail letter. They don't respond in 7 days for the regular mail letter. We'll be sending the summons to court for failure to allow someone to access the meter,” Art said.
Resident Jim Hutchison (38 Virginia Street) asked whether the borough planned to replace private service lines when mains are replaced; the council and staff said it was too early in the design process to decide ownership or replacement of service lines.
Council members and staff said the new billing vendor will not immediately resolve all issues; officials warned of expected glitches during a transition period. The agreement with Byron Metering Solutions was listed on the consent resolution roll as resolution 94 and was adopted with the rest of the consent agenda.
The borough did not provide a firm timetable for completing meter access or for when the new billing system will be fully controlling customer accounts. Staff said they will return to the council with updates as the implementation progresses.
