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1 <br />CITY COUNCIL <br />REGULAR MEETING STAFF REPORT <br />AGENDA ITEM 5A <br />STAFF ORIGINATOR: Justin Williams, Public Works Superintendent <br />MEETING DATE: December 11, 2023 <br />TOPIC: Consideration of Resolution No. 23-130, Approving Utility Meter <br />Reading Equipment Hardware and Customer Portal and Analytics <br />Software <br />VOTE REQUIRED: 3/5 <br />______________________________________________________________________________ <br />INTRODUCTION <br />Staff is requesting City Council consideration to approve the purchase of Utility Meter Reading <br />Equipment Hardware and Customer Portal and Analytics Software. <br />BACKGROUND <br />Staff’s current operations to obtain quarterly meter readings is accomplished in a drive-by <br />fashion. A radio signal is sent out to the MXU (Meter Transceiver Unit). The reading on the meter <br />is communicated from the meter to the MXU and sent back to the receiver in the truck and stored <br />for export into the City utility billing software. <br />Currently, the City does not offer any type of customer portal with analytics to support resident <br />interactions with their water usage. <br />Staff is proposing to implement a tower base station and antenna located at the Water Tower #3 <br />(1750 Birch Street). Cloud storage and analytic software will support a customer portal. This will <br />allow for 1200 MXU radios to be read on an hourly basis, with the MXU communicating back to <br />the base station every 4 hours. <br />The customer portal will allow every resident with a utility account to see their use on a monthly <br />basis. Once all MXU’s have been upgraded, the city can then reprogram the meters city-wide to <br />move from a 1,000-gallon resolution down to a 1-gallon resolution, this will enhance the analytics <br />and will aid in water conservation. <br />The customer portal will also have an app for ease of use. The software and meter reading <br />technology will be able to detect leaks and have the ability to alert the user if they choose. Toilets, <br />sinks, and irrigation systems are all common culprits of unplanned water use and would be able <br />to be detected with the implementation of this system. <br />403