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DeRidder council reviews $6.2 million plan to replace failing water meters, finance through lease purchase
Summary
The DeRidder City Council workshop reviewed a vendor proposal to replace about 5,000 water meters with an AMI system after staff reported roughly 1,300–1,900 failing units; staff estimated about $574,000 per year in lost revenue, and presented a 10‑year lease‑purchase financing plan with the first payment deferred one year.
Mayor Harris and city staff outlined a plan at a May 26 DeRidder council workshop to replace the city’s aging water meters with an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) system, after staff said thousands of meters are underreporting usage and costing the utility hundreds of thousands in annual revenue.
Roy, a city staff member who led the presentation, said the city tested 50 loaner meters from vendors and used 47 for analysis, finding that 11 of 47 had minimum‑bill readings. "Mueller did not honor that agreement," Roy said, describing earlier problems with the previous supplier and adding that the city had opened a lawsuit after recent shipments arrived without radios and the supplier proposed charging for splice kits.
City staff applied the pilot results to an estimated population of nonworking meters and calculated roughly $574,000 a year in lost revenue; Roy said engineers from Myers & Associates estimated the loss could exceed $600,000 annually. Vendors and staff warned the count of failed meters is rising month to month and ranges from about 1,300 to as many as 1,900 depending on recent replacements.
Vendors from E‑Tech, UMS and the meter manufacturer described the AMI system’s technical and operational benefits. Joey Mitchell of UMS said the project will require systems integration so new meter serial numbers and readings flow automatically into the city’s billing system: "We're going to create a interface with Admin's that will automatically ... populate the new meter information," he said, describing a mass change‑out process to avoid manual entry errors. UMS estimated about six months from start of installation to turnover after a 45–60 day integration phase.
Manufacturer and distributor representatives emphasized leak detection and customer features. Chad Robin of E‑Tech warned the switch will initially raise some bills when meters begin measuring actual usage — "one person used several hundred thousand gallons of water that they paid the minimum bill on," he said — and urged proactive communication. Marcus Camero, a solutions engineer, described embedded acoustic leak detection in the meters and software that can localize leaks so crews can intervene earlier.
Finance staff reviewed a funding package and lease‑purchase terms for the roughly $6.2 million purchase. Holly, a staff member managing the financing discussion, said the lender would delay the first payment for one year and that semiannual payments of principal and interest would amount to about $612,000 annually (two payments of about $306,000). The term discussed was 10 years with the option to refinance later. Holly said, "If we do it this way, I'm confident in it, yes. I'm confident in the product." Staff told the council the water fund would be the source of payments and that recovered revenue from corrected meters should help cover the loan once the system is active.
Councilmembers pressed for detail on customer impacts and outreach. Several raised concern that residents who have paid minimum bills for years could see large first corrected bills; vendors and staff said they would provide advance letters, door hangers, portal alerts and payment‑plan options to reduce customer surprise and offer staff‑assisted adjustments where warranted. Staff said they would re‑assess rates after meters are stabilized and urged a public education campaign ahead of installations.
No formal vote occurred at the workshop. Staff said the next steps are to introduce a contract or ordinance to authorize the purchase and financing, follow the ordinance process with required notices and a public hearing, and complete paperwork to close on the lease; vendors said, if approved, crews could begin shortly and finish installations before the end of the year depending on the contract date.
The council agreed to proceed to the formal procurement step and to prioritize resident outreach to explain expected billing changes and the timeline for installations. The workshop adjourned with staff directed to prepare the ordinance and detailed fiscal materials for council review.
