Committee approves Itron maintenance subscription and $2.64 million phase 2B meter conversion contract

The Tuscaloosa City Public Projects Committee approved two items related to the city’s advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) on an unspecified date: an annual maintenance, hosting and software subscription agreement with Itron, and a contract with United Systems Software (USS) to carry out phase 2B of the city’s water meter conversion.

Mister Bernie (city staff) described the Itron agreement as an annual subscription and maintenance package that covers hardware maintenance for the AMI communication network (radio towers, collectors and repeaters), hosting of AMI data on Itron‑certified servers and the software subscription for the Metro software interface. The contract amount was described in the meeting as “not to exceed $102,000” and will be paid from the meters outside services operations budget.

The committee also approved a professional services / construction contract with United Systems Software for phase 2B of the AMI conversion, described in the meeting as a $2,643,802.80 contract to convert approximately 26,000 small (1‑inch and smaller) meters. City staff said the water system includes roughly 55,000 meters total; prior phases include a phase 1 of roughly 5,000 meters and phase 2A of 19,000 meters (phase 2A expected to wrap up around Thanksgiving), meaning the city expects to be about halfway complete after phase 2B.

Staff said the phase 2B work will be done by the same installer completing phase 2A, and they expect phase 2B to finish by the end of next year or early 2027. The meeting transcript cited a funding source for the work as a bond, quoted in the discussion as “$20.25 b bond”; the transcript did not clarify the numeric figure or whether that was a typographic error and the meeting record did not provide an alternate amount. The United Systems contract was approved by the committee.

Committee members noted benefits of the AMI system beyond remote reading, including automated alerts that can flag continuous water usage at a customer location; one committee speaker said they received a notice indicating a possible leak at their office, illustrating how the system can prompt leak investigations and water savings.

Both agreements were moved, seconded and approved in committee; the transcript records voice assent (“aye”) rather than a roll‑call with individual votes.

Why it matters: finishing the AMI conversion and maintaining the AMI network lets the city collect meter data remotely, detect potential leaks faster, and modernize billing and operational monitoring. The phase 2B contract represents a major construction/installation tranche in the multi‑phase program.

Next steps: USS will continue installations under phase 2B; staff will monitor the Itron hosting/subscription services and report on conversion progress and metrics such as applicant/customer notifications and system alerts as the program advances.