Medina County approves AMI change order; sanitary engineer proposes $40 monthly opt-out fee

The Medina County Board of Commissioners approved change order number 2 for the county’s advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) project and discussed a separate opt‑out policy that would bill customers who decline the AMI service.

The resolution authorizing change order No. 2 for the AMI project was introduced by Jeremy Cinco, sanitary engineer, and approved by roll call: Commissioner Sweatick — yes; Commissioner Hambley — yes; Commissioner Harrison — yes. The motion and second were made on the record and the resolution carried.

The matter returned to the board in the discussion session, where Jeremy Cinco told commissioners he had “thrown out a month or a per billing cycle fee of $40 per billing cycle” to cover the labor of dispatching staff to manually read meters for customers who opt out. He said the fee would cover bringing the manually read data back into the billing system.

Commissioners and staff noted possible additional costs beyond labor — including mileage, gasoline, equipment replacement and any necessary hardware changeouts — and agreed that equipment and labor costs should be recovered. Commissioner discussion included whether the proposed charge was reasonable and whether the form and fee language had legal review; Cinco said the opt‑out form “has been worked through the prosecutor’s office” and that he would bring a resolution to amend the county’s fees and charges schedule at the next meeting.

No formal vote was taken on the opt‑out fee during this meeting; the board directed staff to prepare the amended fee language and the associated resolution for future consideration.

The AMI project change order and the pending fee amendment are separate actions: the change order was formally approved at the meeting, while the opt‑out charge remains a staff action in progress pending a future resolution.