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MINUTES <br />CITY COUNCIL <br />MAY 8, 2013 <br />at that time. With regard to the 12 non - responsive properties, staff will be <br />sending one final letter requesting installation on a voluntary basis. If that <br />cannot be achieved, staff is recommending that the City obtain <br />administrative warrants to enter these properties and make the installation. <br />With regard to the integrity of readings, the Superintendent stated that <br />there are a couple of commercial properties where the radios are deep in <br />parking garages or utility rooms and the City does not receive consistent <br />readings. Staff is working with these property owners to relocate the <br />radios to a better spot for transmitting signals to the water tower. The <br />Superintendent also reported that the data collector on the water tower <br />went down last May for a period of 4 weeks and had to be replaced. As a <br />result, there is a period of time where the day -by -day data was not <br />collected. However, the data both before and after this outage is accurate, <br />and data used for billing purposes was accurate. The supplier has now <br />purchased spare data collectors to have on hand in the event that another <br />outage would occur. <br />McGraw asked about leak detection through the new system. The <br />Superintendent reported that he runs leak reports about once per week, and <br />has followed up with property owners when the reports provide evidence <br />of a leak. This information has been well received by property owners. <br />The Superintendent also noted that he runs a "Not Advancing" report <br />which provides information on meters that may have stopped working and <br />a "No Read" report which provides information on meters that have not <br />transmitted a reading in more than 24 hours. Public Works can then <br />address these issues. <br />With regard to improved billing and customer service relative to the new <br />system, the Superintendent reported that the Utility Billing Clerk is very <br />pleased with the new system. Having data from each meter easily <br />accessible on the computer has allowed staff to quickly answer questions <br />regarding usage, etc. <br />The Superintendent reported that there are a few property owners who <br />have opted out of the new system and are paying an extra quarterly charge <br />to have their meters manually read by the Public Works Department. <br />With regard to meter accuracy, the Superintendent noted that the City <br />aspires to bill for all water used in a given quarter. There is always going <br />to be some water loss due to water main breaks, unauthorized hydrant <br />usage, slow leaks underground, etc. Ideally, a city is able to account for <br />all but 10% to 12% of water used each quarter. The Superintendent <br />reported that the Utility Billing Clerk compiles a water usage report after <br />each quarter to determine the amount of unaccounted water. He noted the <br />table in his report showing unaccounted water from 2008 through the first <br />9 <br />