Greene County approves advanced-meter agreement, requires 99% read-rate language

The Greene County Board of Commissioners on an affirmative voice vote approved a formal agreement to upgrade the county's advanced meter infrastructure, contingent on the vendor incorporating explicit language that the contract is “contingent by 99% read rate.”

Mister Moore, who presented the proposal, told commissioners the vendor Mueller had not met the required read-rate in the prior deployment and has proposed an upgraded system. Moore said the agreement before the board would “lock in those prices” from an earlier proposal and give the county guarantees about implementation and continued support for the existing system. He said the new system is expected to be installed within about a year once new transmitters and software are in place.

County Manager DeHaven flagged a gap in the draft agreement: it did not explicitly reference the prior contractual 99% read-rate requirement. Moore recommended the board approve the agreement “condition[al] upon them incorporating verbiage that they acknowledge that the agreement is contingent by 99% read rate,” language he said would match the original design conditions.

One commissioner expressed skepticism, saying the county had "bought a lemon the first time around," but supported moving forward if the 99% requirement is put into the contract. After a motion, second and brief discussion, the board carried the motion.

Next steps: staff will finalize the written agreement with the vendor to include the 99% read-rate commitment and proceed with the signing and implementation schedule the vendor provided.