Seminole council approves financing to install automated water meters; $800,000 in SRF forgiveness expected

The City of Seminole voted to authorize financing and pursue state loan forgiveness to install an automated meter reading system for the municipal water system.

At the meeting, the council and the Seminole Municipal Authority considered a resolution to sell promissory notes to the Oklahoma Water Resources Board to fund the system. A city presenter said engineering work is complete, the project is cleared for bidding and the Water Resources Board process requires the authority to approve the loan resolution before final approval by state regulators. The presenter said the resolution was drafted to provide for “at least $800,000 of loan forgiveness” after a late email from the DEQ indicated the project may qualify for an additional $200,000 of forgiveness.

Councilmembers and staff discussed how the system will operate. Staff described a node-based network that transmits meter reads directly to city hall, reduces manual reads and complaints, and provides flags for abnormal overnight usage for staff to investigate. Officials said the system is not currently set up to send automatic texts to homeowners but will produce near-real-time information at city hall and is expected to integrate with the city’s accounting system.

An audience member asked whether meter cans would be locked; a staff member replied yes. After questions, a trustee moved to approve the resolution; a roll-call vote recorded approval and the chair announced the motion passed.

Next steps: staff will proceed to advertise for bids and return results for further approvals and final state sign-offs. The council also approved a companion resolution declaring an emergency and formally incurring the indebtedness necessary to begin the procurement process.