In 2018, the Public Works Department resumed a proactive small meter replacement program.  The program was restarted after a third-party water loss audit findings estimated the City was losing approximately 117 million gallons of water each year because of meter inaccuracies.  This loss is responsible for approximately $684,000.00 in lost revenue. Further, an Intelligent Meter Conversion Feasibility Study confirmed that proactive meter replacement would not directly affect long-term AMI decisions.

Public Works submitted a Key Issue to address this problem as part of the FY18 budget cycle. The Key Issue highlighted a 10-year replacement cycle for all meters 1 inch (1”) and smaller. The request was approved in the FY18 budget, and the City has been replacing meters through several contracts since then.

Currently, the City has a total of 36,700 meters that are 1” and smaller within the main City, River Park, Greatwood, and New Territory service areas. To achieve the recommended replacement cycle, the City needs to replace 3,670 each year.  The City has additional funds through carryovers and previous contract savings to replace an additional 2,000 meters in the fiscal year 2021.

An Invitation to Bid (ITB) for the replacement of 2,000 meters 5/8" - 1" was advertised on April 28, 2021, and included cost for replacing broken meter boxes and curb stops.

The ITB only included the labor to complete the replacement (base fee). The contractor will purchase the materials (meters, meter boxes, and curb stops), at unit costs already in place for the City. The City competitively bids material unit costs for water meters along with all other materials used for operations and maintenance. This structure is in the best interest of the City as it allows the City to utilize an already competitively bid price for the materials and control the overall cost of the program.

On May 13, 2021, the City received and opened four bids with Ratliff Utilities being the apparent low bidder.

Ratliff Utilities has not worked for the City, but references were verified, and they have completed similar meter replacement contracts all across the country. All references checked came back positive. Staff has met with Ratliff to review their replacement procedures, and we are confident the replacements can be completed without any impact to the customers and their billing cycle.

The Public Works Department recommends the approval of a contract with Ratliff Utilities for small meter replacement in the amount of $178,133.00, consisting of a base fee of $62,133.00 for meter replacement, and material costs (meters, meter boxes, and curb stops) estimated at $116,000.00. The contract term is for one year with no renewal terms.