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Regular City Council Meeting <br />Monday, March 29, 2010 <br />Page 8 <br />Klausing moved, Pust seconded, enactment of Official Summary of Ordinance <br />No. 1390 entitled, ""An Ordinance Amending Title Three, Section 302: 302.08 C <br />Manager and Server Training; and 302.15 B (Minimum) Penalty;" (Attachment <br />B; as amended <br />Roll Call <br />Ayes: Roe; Pust; Ihlan; Johnson; and Klausing. <br />Nays: None. <br />10. Presentations <br />a. Automated Meter Reading (AMR) Presentation <br />Public Works Director Duane Schwartz provided a Power Point presentation of <br />Automated Meter Reading (AMR) options. The presentation addressed back- <br />ground information on this technology, with more detailed financial and imple- <br />mentation information available at a later date if the City Council is supportive of <br />this system. <br />The presentation addressed the City's current water distribution history and age; <br />staff-consuming process in door-to-door meter readings with approximately <br />10,500 meters read every quarter within a 14 square mile area, with one section <br />billed every month throughout the cycle; commercial and residential reading; and <br />manual read issues. <br />Mr. Schwartz addressed two different AMR systems: drive-by or fixed-based sys- <br />tems; AMR communication types: one-way or two-way systems; and staff's ra- <br />tionale for delaying this technology and review of past versus current technolo- <br />gies. Mr. Schwartz noted benefits to the City and its customers through imple- <br />mentation of an AMR. <br />Mr. Schwartz estimated that .75 FTE staff time and an additional vehicle were in- <br />cluded in the cost of meter reading, including Workers Compensation risks; and <br />estimated that the cost was $1.5 - $1.7 million over a 5-10 year total implementa- <br />tion period, with commercial and hard-to-read accounts first with an initial $200- <br />300,000 expenditure, and then the remainder of residential meters. Mr. Schwartz <br />advised that additional information could be provided in the future related to me- <br />ter and AMR costs as they related to cost-effective purchasing of a meter and <br />reader as a package or bid out separately; and estimating an approximate 19 year <br />payback <br />Discussion included costs over the life of the meter based on battery life span; <br />similar replacement considerations for meters; costs incurred regardless of the <br />system in place (i.e., meter purchases); improved customer service and accuracy <br />of lost water; and building costs into the fee structure, with some funding already <br />built into the current fee structure as a capital improvement, making the increase <br />in fees significantly less. <br />