Commissioners Court Meeting

Issue viewing agenda items? Click here to switch to the old format.

Return to the Minutes Page

Meeting Date:	01/28/2019
Automated Meters Project - National Meter
Submitted for:	Adrian Montemayor	Submitted By:	Adrian Montemayor
Department:	Water Utilities

Subject:

Discussion and possible action to award a one year (1 yr.) automated metering infrastructure project to include the purchase of 2000 meters, cellular registers, and a software licensing agreement commencing January, 2019 thru December 2019, in the amount of $415,697.86 pursuant to prior award of RFP 2018-008 "Advanced Metering Analytics Software for Water Utilities" between Webb County and sole bidder Badger, Inc., d/b/a National Meter & Automation and authorizing the County Judge to execute any and all relevant documents and any other matters incident thereto. This solicitation complies with the Texas Local Government Code, Section 262, Sub-Chapter C (Competitive Bidding in General). [2016 Bond Series Account #7220-7280-001- 474501 (Construction in Progress)]

Issue: Currently the Utilities Department utilizes existing maintenance workers and operators to provide the manual reading of all 1900 meters within the communities of Rio Bravo and El Cenizo. This operation requires up to 432 man hours to complete the process of reading meters, keypunching results, and re-reading meters with errors. In addition, hazardous conditions exist out in the field with our personnel that leads to an injury involving dog bites, insect bites, and physical injury due to holes in the ground. We also have a significant level of water loss and therefore revenue loss associated with meter tampering and illegal connections to our system.

Solution: The newest technology in remote meter reading involves cellular service meters that can provide immediate results of consumption, water leaks, illegal water consumption, and provide feedback to the customer of exactly when and how much water is used by thehour for moderating their water use.

Result: Automated water consumption directly inputs into the accounting system limited to read and keypunch errors, providing for a safer process for employees and accurate confidence of metered consumption with our customers.

Background:

The Utilities Department has piloted 25 meters with the Company of National Meter and Automation using Badger Meter, Model M25 Positive Displacement Meter with ORION Cellular Water Endpoints and BEACON AMA software for monitoring consumption.

These 25 meters were installed in the most remote locations and operated for 4 months. Results were excellent in terms of the communication and accuracy in relation to existing manual consumption metering.

Previous Court Action:

Fiscal Impact

Budget Account Number:	7220-7280-001-474501
Funding Source:	2016 Bond Series
Balance:	NA
Financial Impact:
Funding available under ther 2016 Bond Series funds approved under the Capital Improvment Plan of 2016. Funding is to be from both water and wastewater funds.

Budget Account Number:	7220-7270-001-474501
Funding Source:	2016 Bond Series
Balance:	NA
Financial Impact:
Wastewater Construction in Progress

Attachments
Proposal