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Council approves meter purchases and moves forward on City Center Park boardwalk despite higher bids
Summary
Council approved a supplemental purchase of automated water-meter equipment and voted to proceed with City Center Park Phase 2 boardwalk despite bids exceeding the 2022 budgets; staff outlined reasons for moving forward and contingency financing options.
During consideration of the consent agenda, councilors pulled items on automated meter reading and the City Center Park Phase 2 boardwalk to ask questions.
Public works director Tom DiPietro explained the automated meter request: the capital plan included $75,000 but staff sought roughly an additional $72,000 for replacement meters because vendor prices were expected to rise; he estimated residential meters last about 20 years and a current residential meter costs about $302. "20 years," DiPietro said when asked about expected lifespan; "the cost of the current cost of a residential meter is $302." The council approved the meter purchase after the briefing.
City manager Jesse Baker explained the boardwalk bid environment: budgets were developed in 2022 before recent inflationary pressures, but staff recommended moving forward because the boardwalk is the critical link between Garden and Market Street and adjacent park space, improves safe student access to schools, is construction-ready, and is the lowest-cost remaining TIF project. Staff said they had contingency plans and were exploring shifting financing across TIF projects or using modest FY25 surpluses to address overruns. The council approved the pulled consent items and the boardwalk procurement was scheduled to proceed.
