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Board approves budget amendment to buy replacement water meters after battery failures
Summary
City board approved a budget amendment to purchase water meters after staff reported roughly 1,600 meters lost remote reading capability as batteries failed; council suspended rules to allow purchase this fiscal year and approved $175,000 in purchases now, with follow-up purchases planned next fiscal year.
The city’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen voted to amend the current fiscal-year budget to buy replacement water meters after staff reported that a large number of meter radio heads stopped transmitting.
Water Department staff member Ricky told the board the meters themselves remain functional but the radio-read heads have lost battery power, forcing meter readers to stop trucks and read meters manually. “The meters are functioning properly. The only loss of function we have is we can't drive by and radio read,” Ricky said. He said the city has identified about 1,600 affected meters and still needs about 900 replacements to restore normal radio reading.
The board first voted to suspend the rules so the budget amendment could be considered in the same meeting; that suspension passed on a roll call vote with affirmative votes from Sally Brock, Rachel Kirby, Carrie Morton, Deidra Dunlap, Carrie Youngblood and Steve Harvey. The board then approved the budget amendment to authorize immediate purchases totaling $175,000 for meters to be acquired this fiscal year. Ricky told the board some meters are being reserved by the supplier pending the council’s approval; the meter unit price rose during the procurement period from about $1.89 to roughly $2.15, he said.
City officials said the $175,000 purchase will not put the water and sewer fund into a negative net position. The plan presented to the board calls for purchasing as many meters as possible before June 30 under the current fiscal-year appropriation and completing the remainder of a planned total 1,000-meter replacement in the next fiscal year’s budget.
Ricky and other staff attributed the rapid battery failures to a cold weather episode last fall and winter; staff reported that many of the affected meters were installed in a single time window (September 2016–February 2017) and share the same initial radio ID pattern, which staff used to isolate the problem. Staff said some of the earlier warranty-replacement heads were only replacements of the radio head rather than full meter replacements; current practice is to replace the entire meter when units fail.
The board’s approval followed a motion to amend the budget moved by Carrie Morton and seconded by another board member; the roll call on the budget amendment recorded yes votes from Carrie Morton, Sally Brock, Carrie Youngblood, Rachel Kirby and Steve Harvey and the motion carried.
Board and staff emphasized that the failures increase man-hours and safety concerns because meter readers must stop and exit vehicles at some properties. The amendment includes an increase in interest earnings on the revenue side to offset part of the expenditure, and staff said the net position of the water and sewer fund will remain positive after the change.
A formal resolution to purchase a total of 1,000 meters was described as forthcoming; the purchase will be split between the current fiscal year and the next fiscal year to preserve fund balance and accommodate supplier inventory.
