City council awards contract for water meter replacement

Correct Equipment, Inc of Redmond, Wash. was the winning bidder for installation of the cities new Advanced Metering System. The winning bid was for $614,698.60. Not including the cost of replacement of any meter well lids. It is unclear from Council meeting minutes if the potential cost of lid replacements was explored. It depends on the number of lids that need to be replaced. The new meters do require that current cast iron and concrete lids be replaced with Polymer lids in order for the radios to be able to remotely read the meters.
The original estimates for this project were that it would cost $900,000 to $950,000. Six bids were received ranging from Correct Equipment’s low bid of $614,699 to $907,656. City staff interviewed the top three proposals on May 13. Staff recommended the low bidder Correct Equipment.
The project is funded by two grants. One from a Federal WaterSMART Grant of $300,000 and an Icicle Work Group Grant award of $487,000. Depending on the cost of lid replacements the project could be completely funded through the two grants.
Councilwoman Sharon Waters had a few questions about the impact of the new meters on customers. She was concerned about loss of water pressure as a result of the new meters, how the new meters would impact customer bills, security of the data being transmitted and the impact of weather on the system.
It was pointed out by the spokesperson for the installation of the meters that the meters do send out an alert if the temperature in the pit drops below 37 degrees. City Public Works Director Herb Amick pointed out that the pits are insulated and he actually thought getting alerts about temperature in the pits would improve the functionality of the system.
Waters was assured that it would not impact water pressure but that the improved accuracy of the meters could well result in increases to the customers’ bills. Waters was also assured that the information being transmitted was encrypted and could only be read by the city staff.
Council approves transfer of $20,000 to Festhalle Fund
As a result of cancellation of events at the Festhalle the fund will become negative by $2753.75 as of May 26. To prevent that and recognize the ongoing problem of reduced revenues from Festhalle events. Council approved a transfer of funds of $20,000 from the General Fund.