cover
TO: Mayor Thomas J. Weisner
FROM: Ken Schroth, P.E., Director of Public Works / City Engineer
DATE: January 18, 2016
SUBJECT:
Resolution Approving a Settlement Agreement and Authorization of a Contract for the Installation of a FlexNet System with a Five-Year Service for Analytics with the Sensus, USA, Inc Company for the Water and Sewer Meter Maintenance Division and the Water Billing Division
PURPOSE:
To obtain approval of the settlement agreement and authorization for an installation contract and a five-year service for Analytics with Sensus, USA, Inc., Raleigh, North Carolina.
BACKGROUND:
In 2013, an interdepartmental staff committee comprised of representatives from the Finance Department (including the Water Billing Division) and the Public Works Department (including the Water Production Division, Water & Sewer Maintenance Division, and Water Meter Maintenance Division) met to consider how to address the replacement of aging mechanical water meters and expiring batteries attached to the water meters. After many years in service, the metering accuracy of mechanical water meters can decline. The batteries power the electronic reading transmission component (MXU) of the meters. Those batteries must also be replaced as they expire. The MXU is a small device that attaches to a water meter and relays the reading via radio signal to a nearby vehicle mounted antenna to obtain bi-monthly readings. Prior to 2013, the City had been installing Sensus SmartPoints and iPerl meters on a limited basis. The interdepartmental staff committee met several times to review and select the next generation of MXU's that should be installed to replace the aging MXU's that had old batteries. After considering two major alternative hardware systems, the committee chose the Sensus smartpoint as the preferred MXU since there was no basis for departing from Sensus products and the fact that one day the City would be installing an Advanced Metering Infrast...
Click here for full text