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Council reviews SCADA/HMI upgrade to restore alarms and cloud monitoring, asks staff for bids
Summary
Council discussed installing a touchscreen HMI and StrideLinX router to convert legacy serial SCADA data to Ethernet and restore alarm notifications; staff will seek three bids and follow procurement rules for equipment purchases.
Cornish — Council members heard a technical proposal to modernize the town's SCADA controls and restore alarm notification capabilities.
Unidentified Speaker S6 explained that the current PLC-based system communicates through a local PC running aging software and that the town cannot reliably send alarms because the software is out of date. S6 proposed installing a touchscreen human-machine interface (HMI) that supports both serial and Ethernet protocols (quoted cost ~ $3,500) and a StrideLinX router with a recurring license (about $500 per year) to allow cloud monitoring, alarm alerts, and historical data collection.
"That'll get all of our SCADA back up and ... it can come into our phone," S6 said, describing benefits including alarms, reports, and removal of the single out-of-date computer. Council members agreed the upgrade could reduce operational risk and requested three procurement bids. Unidentified Speaker S1 emphasized the need for a documented paper trail and public procurement steps to avoid any appearance of impropriety.
S6 offered to gather bids from three suppliers, including an itemized price from a direct supplier and a solution price if purchased through a vendor, and pledged to present the results to the council for approval. The council discussed whether the purchase is a repair (which can be expedited) or a capital purchase requiring competitive bids; participants leaned toward formal bids to ensure transparency.
No purchase was approved at the meeting. Staff were asked to obtain three bids and to verify ongoing licensing and maintenance costs before bringing a procurement item for formal approval.
