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ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION — JULY 19, 2021 6 their inquiry so only about 55 accounts needed to be estimated. The Ancom Study has since been completed and it was determined that the only likely source of interference was an elevated noise floor, as there were no other discernable sources of interference present during the testing. Finance Director Bauman explained for this 2nd quarter billing, the City ended up not getting reads on about 140 properties. In looking back, the meter readings seemed to drop off about a week before Thanksgiving, which is also the same time the State went into lockdown again because of COVID 19. It also appears as if some of the reads came back on line, at least intermittently, in mid -January. This would correspond to the time the lockdown started to be lifted. There is a possibility that some of this interference had to do with an increased use of electronic devices and companies working to increase their signal strength for their customers. Finance Director Bauman stated the three solutions presented to the City by Ancom were to replace our antennas, upgrade our antennas, or install a 4th collector in the City. Metering & Technology Solutions also strongly suggested that we upgrade our Read Center software as they no longer support the transmitters we currently use. As we need additional transmitters or as the old ones start to fail, they will be replaced with ones that use a cellular signal to transmit data and the Read Center software does not work with them. Staff is moving forward with upgrading our Read Center software to Beacon software. This should be completed by the end of July. This upgrade won't help with the interference issues we are having but we were told it will take care of the power issues we are experiencing at the North Tower. Also, it will enable us to obtain additional transmitters as old ones wear out and new services are added. Finance Director Bauman commented a benefit of the new Beacon software is a Customer Portal that will be made available to all customers, regardless of the type of transmitter they have in their home/business. Once customers sign up for this portal, they will be notified of abnormal water usage (potential leaks) in real time, and the City will no longer need to prepare the courtesy leak letters. Staff is currently working with Metering & Technology Solutions and Badger Meter to overcome the interference issues we are experiencing. Councilmember Holmes stated she was having a problem with the explanation being "signal interference". She expressed concern with the fact the City was proposing to spend more money when it does not know what the actual problem was. Mayor Grant reported there were more and more people and companies using radio frequency which meant it was getting harder for the City to listen or hear the meters. He questioned what improvements staff was proposing at this time. Finance Director Bauman reviewed the improvements she was proposing to complete at this time, which included software updates and a 4' collector for the south end of the City. Mayor Grant indicated staff was requesting to spend $13,000 to get the existing system properly reading the City's meters. Finance Director Bauman stated this was the case. She reported the water meter replacement throughout the City would be an entirely different project.