Mesquite council approves $224,500 water-loss study after debate over staffing and value

The Mesquite City Council approved a consultant contract worth $224,500 to conduct a water-loss study and provide staff training, after several council members questioned why the city could not perform the work in-house.

Councilman V.W. Smith said the city recently invested in new smart meters and asked why staff could not locate the water losses instead of hiring outside help. Smith called the price — roughly a quarter-million dollars — excessive in a year the city is expected to tighten its budget.

City staff and the consultant replied that the engagement is intended to produce a citywide water balance, identify accounting and metering gaps and train remaining staff. Staff noted substantial turnover in the water department and said outside expertise would both perform a deeper analysis and help build internal capacity. The consultant said the study will include top‑down and bottom‑up analyses, field verification, and testing of production and wholesale meters; but it may be limited by existing data because the city has only two wholesale/production meters from its water supplier.

Why it matters: staff said the study will allow the city to account for differences between the water purchased from North Texas and the billed consumption, apply best practices to water accounting, and potentially reduce long‑term costs for water customers.

Key details from the council exchange - Cost: $224,500. Staff said the expense will be billed to water customers through the utility fund. Councilman Smith repeatedly questioned whether the city should hire or train an in‑house employee instead of contracting the work. - Scope: staff described the work as a water balance and accounting review (required annually to the Texas Water Development Board), plus deeper analysis of inputs, some field verification, meter testing and staff training. - Limits: the consultant said absolute identification of every lost gallon may require additional sub‑metering or testing because only two production meters exist at the wholesale connection; the study will “do the best we can” with available data and recommend further metering if needed. - Schedule: the consultant estimated roughly four months to complete the study after receiving needed data. - Procurement: staff said they solicited proposals from consultants with relevant expertise rather than running a formal competitive bid; the selected firm offered a combined scope intended to avoid hiring multiple consultants for different parts of the work.

Council reaction and next steps Council members said they want a thorough final report and evidence of the study’s value. The consultant and staff promised a written report and training deliverables at the study’s conclusion. The contract was included on the consent agenda and was approved as part of the consent motion that passed unanimously.

The council did not direct additional immediate policy action; any capital or operational changes recommended by the study would return to council for decisions.