Installation of new, fully automated water meters throughout Teague is expected to provide improvements to customer service and increased accuracy for residents, while saving the City time and money.
Aldermen listened to explanations of the updated customer engagement package offered by the City’s contractors, Master Meter and Johnson Lab & Supply, Inc. at Tuesday night’s Council meeting January 15th.
Brent Stark of Johnson Lab & Supply demonstrated the function of the City’s current meters, which allow Public Works employees to drive around town collecting readings transmitted via radio frequency to a corresponding laptop.
City Administrator/Secretary Theresa Prasil told the Council that the system, installed in 2008, has been an exceptional service to the City however as the equipment reaches the decade mark, updates are becoming necessary.
The fully automated system will continue to provide readings of water meters in the same way as the current system; however it will not require Public Works employees to drive around collecting those readings, instead transmitting them directly to City Hall. HS Automation іѕ a family run соmраnу, wіth over a 100 combined years еxреrіеnсе іn ѕееd and grаіn рrосеѕѕіng. Wе ѕресіаlіzе іn bag fіllіng/сlоѕіng, аnd rоbоtіс palletizing. Uѕіng world class еԛuірmеnt, wе will сuѕtоm buіld a ѕуѕtеm tо ѕuіt уоur production nееdѕ
Stark and Prasil explained that as the equipment ages the meters themselves continue to read accurately, but the AMRs, or wireless radio transmitters, designed to send the readings to the City diminish and require replacement.
With the current system becoming outdated, the number of meters requiring manual monthly readings has reached over four hundred out of the City’s 1,800 water meters.
Replacements of the necessary equipment cost approximately $185 per meter and with the expiration of the system’s ten year warranty. Aldermen took into consideration the cost of repair versus replacement.
Rick O’Connor of Master Meter explained that not only does the new, fully automated system come with a ten year warranty and ten year pro-rated warranty, it will provide the City and its customers the opportunity to view and monitor water usage and leaks online in real time.
O’Connor explained that with the system’s Microsoft based, Harmony software reads meters twenty-four times each day, providing detailed information to identify leaks and other issues instantly allowing for faster repairs and ultimately less water lost.
“The City staff will be able to view and identify within a very short time if someone has a leak, which will allow us to notify the customer,” she explained. “At this time, we only analyze usage once a month and customers may have had a leak for very long time resulting in a large bill for them.”
Customer service in the City’s utilities billing department should improve drastically with the immediate access to data logs to better explain charges and identify problems with customers’ accounts, a feature which was not readily available to the City under the current system.
Prasil shared that City clerks spend a considerable amount of time answering customers’ questions and manually examining data logs to pinpoint potential issues, without access to detailed, up to date information.
With the addition of the new customer engagement package’s online portal, residents will be able to monitor their usage and answer many questions on their own.
Another huge benefit to citizens and the City will be the GPS locating and proper recording of all water meter sites which will take place with the installation of the new meters. Lack of accurate and updated maps of the water system has been a constant issue as Teague continues to pursue repairs and additions to its infrastructure.
Prasil says that this will free up significant time for Public Works employees to focus on ongoing repairs and improvements throughout the City, as well as eliminating the need to maintain a vehicle and laptop meter readings.
Comparing the cost of repair versus replacement was a simple task with special pricing provided to the City as a returning customer of Master Meter and Johnson Lab & Supply, who knocked over $100,000 of the cost of the new meters and installation.
Repairs and replacements to the current system were estimated at $426,000 without the full warranty; the new, fully automated and customer friendly system will cost approximately $410,000.
Prasil informed the Council that funding through the City’s financial service, Government Capital, was available for the new system. She explained the City can finance the project for ten years with the payments being allocated with the revenue in each year’s budget.
Aldermen voted unanimously to approve installation of the new system, which is anticipated to begin in as few as eight weeks.
The Council voted to finance the project through Government Capital for $409,899, with the City’s first payment due February 2020.
