La Conner utilities staff described a plan to replace the town's water meters with cellular-enabled units to provide real-time consumption data, diagnostics and leak alerts, and recommended a phased, multi-year rollout.

Brian (utilities staff) said the switch would deliver real-time reads, pressure and temperature diagnostics and automated alerts that customers and staff could access. He explained the town currently budgets about $40,000 annually for meter work; to complete a full conversion in about four years the annual request would rise to roughly $100,000 during the transition years before settling back to a lower maintenance level.

"Everything's real time with cellular," Brian explained, noting benefits including earlier leak detection, fewer costly repeat field reads and better diagnostic data to prioritize repairs. Staff noted that once a conversion starts, it needs to continue through the rollout to capture expected efficiencies and to avoid fragmented systems. The proposal would have town crews performing the meter change-outs and include device monthly service fees through cellular providers; staff said those recurring service fees are typically passed through the cell providers rather than the town's current on-site reading system.

Council discussion focused on budget timing and scale. Staff said an initial budget request of about $40,000 was available for the current year but that council guidance was needed before committing to the multi-year program. Councilmembers expressed support for the benefits but asked staff to present options (for example, scaling the program to $60,000 if $100,000 is not feasible) during the next budget cycle.

No formal resolution or appropriation was passed at the meeting; council signaled appetite for a phased approach and asked staff to return with budget options and a timeline for implementation.