CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM
ACTION REQUESTED:
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Approve the award of Option Year Two to Contract 16-260, Contract Meter Reading Services for Water, to Alexander's Inc. for an amount not to exceed $483,600
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DEPARTMENT: Finance Department
SUBMITTED BY: Rachel Mayer, Director
BOARD/COMMISSION REVIEW:
N/A
BACKGROUND:
The City has approximately 52,000 meters throughout the Water Utility system with the majority requiring physical reads. The City does not have staff to perform the meter reading services, so the work is outsourced to a contractor. In August 2016, City Council approved the award of Contract 16-260 to Alexander's Inc. for a two-year term from September 1, 2016 through August 30, 2018, with three one-year options to extend. On August 21, 2018, Council approved the first option year with no increase in the per read costs. With the approval of the first option year, the contract was extended to August 31, 2019.
During the first option year, the City and Alexander's have continued to work together to stabilize the meter reading process, but physical reads continue to raise significant challenges in maintaining consistent monthly reads. Historically, the Itron AMR system was mainly used to read unincorporated, water-only accounts. However, using information from Alexander's staff, City staff has expanded the use of the AMR Itron system to some city accounts where physical reads are difficult to obtain.
At the time of the original award in 2016, staff had begun evaluating alternative reading technologies, specifically the logistics of converting to an AMR (automated meter reading) or AMI (advanced metering infrastructure) system. The current system of manual contracted meter reads does not provide accurate monthly bills to our customers. An automated meter reading system will allow the City to raise the level of service to our customers providing greatly reduced estimated reads, customer-side leak detection, more data to help inform custome...
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