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Alpine staff weigh third‑party utility managers and AMI smart‑meter pilot amid staffing and infrastructure strain
Summary
The city manager presented options to contract interim utility management and a pilot proposal for advanced metering infrastructure (AMI). Council and staff discussed candidate screening, housing costs for interim managers, and a small AMI pilot to test base station coverage and customer portals.
City Manager Megan told the Alpine City Council on April 16 that staff is pursuing two short‑term strategies to address capacity and data issues in the city utilities department: (1) contracting interim, third‑party management or licensed operators and (2) piloting advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) to improve meter reads and detect leaks.
On interim management, the city solicited information from SRG (which offered interim staffing), US Water (used previously by the city) and Water Workforce. Megan said SRG provided three candidate resumes and one candidate (Mr. Harris) appeared to have the right small‑town experience; staff planned to interview him. Council members asked about costs: past contracts with third‑party providers included salaries, travel and housing. Megan estimated contract lengths of 3–8 months and said historical total costs varied; council members urged caution about high per‑month figures and suggested negotiating options such as higher salary but no housing allowance so that the contractor would find local housing.
On AMI, staff reported that about 85–90% of the city’s meters are Master Meter brand, which integrates with Premier Water Works. Master Meter offered a propagation study at no cost and proposed a pilot that would install a base station and repeaters, a small number of meter communication attachments and provide customer portal access. The initial setup proposal cited a one‑time set‑up cost of roughly $27,797 plus per‑meter attachments (roughly $335 for a typical residential 3/4" device); the full system for all city meters was estimated in conversation at roughly $800,000–$1.2 million depending on commercial meters and base station/repeater needs.
Council members discussed scale and sequencing. Some suggested a larger pilot (beyond council members’ handful of meters) to ensure representative results and requested vendor references; staff said Premier has worked with nearby cities and would provide references and that the company can phase the rollout. Staff recommended a pilot that places meters across wards and includes several commercial accounts so the council can evaluate data access, customer portal features, and operational impacts. Council members emphasized training staff so future installations can be performed locally rather than relying on outside contractors for every deployment.
The council asked staff to pursue interviews with SRG candidates and to obtain a formal written proposal from US Water, and to return with a detailed AMI pilot plan that includes base station placement, repeater counts and a proposed list of pilot addresses before any larger expenditure is authorized.
Ending: Staff to schedule candidate interviews, request formal proposals, run vendor reference checks and prepare an AMI pilot plan with cost estimates and implementation milestones for council review.
