Laserfiche WebLink
MINUTES <br />CITY COUNCIL <br />NOVEMBER 22, 2010 <br />After further discussion, it was the consensus of the Council that we <br />should back bill one year's worth of prior usage. The Council also <br />initially favored using four quarters of usage and apply the differences per <br />quarter as this would also spread the impact of repaying for the under <br />billing over a one year period. <br />WATER METER The Public Works Superintendent reviewed his memo regarding the <br />REPLACEMENT options available to replace the City's water meters. Those options <br />PROGRAM include utilizing a meter and touchpad remote system (the touchpad <br />remotes have proven very reliable compared to the old style), a drive -by <br />radio read, and a fixed- network radio collection. There was discussion of <br />the differences between the systems. <br />The touch read would still require manual meter reading at each house and <br />business. There are currently some houses that do not have remotes on the <br />outside of the house due to difficulties in getting a wire to the outside of <br />the house. <br />The drive -by radio read system allows one worker to drive through the <br />city and pick up reads from the truck. The meter vendors have estimated <br />it would take about 2 -4 hours to read the entire city. The data is then <br />downloaded into the billing software and bills are generated. The drive -by <br />system allows the city to pick up on leaks and meter tampering much more <br />quickly than the touch read system where some leaks and tampering may <br />never be noticed. <br />The fixed- network system does not require any reading. The meter <br />readings are transmitted from each property to a data collection unit on the <br />water tower and then downloaded onto a computer at City Hall every <br />night. Every day the utility billing clerk would receive flags for accounts <br />that have potential leaks or have been tampered with. The fixed- network <br />system offers the most customer service and greatly reduces reading and <br />billing costs. It is also the most expensive system so a decision would <br />have to be made on how valuable the enhanced customer service is. <br />There was then a discussion of batteries in the meter radios. For both the <br />drive -by and fixed network systems the radio on the meter is powered by a <br />battery. One preferred vendor has a replaceable battery and another <br />preferred vendor does not have a replaceable battery. Both batteries are <br />warranted for twenty years with the first ten being fully covered and the <br />second ten years covered on a percentage basis. The brass meters should <br />last at least 25 years with the soft water Little Canada has. There was <br />discussion of the value of being able to replace the batteries in the radios <br />for $18 and getting more life out of the meters themselves. <br />3 <br />