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Advisory board recommends city council consider MOUs to pilot real‑time E. coli sensor
Summary
A private team proposed a pilot of an in‑situ E. coli sensor and analytics platform; the board recommended City Council approve two MOUs (city–Ceribault and city–Verity) pending final MOU review and voted to pilot the technology to collect trending data and refine EPA validation.
A company representative asked the City of Fort Myers Advisory Board to recommend that City Council approve two memoranda of understanding (MOUs) so the city can pilot an in‑situ, near‑real‑time E. coli sensor and an AI analytics platform.
Terry Lewis, who said she is affiliated with a private project team (Ceribault) and has worked with a Colorado‑spun firm called Verity, described a sensor that streams E. coli trends into a visualization platform (AquaSage AI). Lewis said the team competed nationally and ‘‘We made it to the final 5 and committed, competed in April in San Francisco.’’ (Speaker 7). She asked the board to recommend council approve two MOUs — one with Ceribault and one with Verity — to deploy one sensor in Manuel’s Branch and evaluate how the data correlates with the city’s monthly lab samples.
City staff and the board discussed operational details: Lewis said there is no direct upfront cost for the pilot and that maintenance is minimal (battery changes roughly every three months and occasional cleaning). Staff emphasized that the city would continue its approved monthly grab-sampling and would treat sensor results as a trend/trigger tool until the technology is validated and accepted by the EPA/DEP. The city attorney and staff discussed data-ownership and public-record issues and recommended that the MOUs clarify data access and responsibilities.
Following discussion, a member moved that the board recommend City Council approve the two MOUs pending a review of their structure; the motion was seconded and the board voted unanimously to recommend the pilot under MOUs subject to final MOU approval.
