Jun. 22—A discussion and decision by Palestine City Council during its June 12 regular meeting to complete a five-year water meter replacement project with in-house resources opened the door to questions regarding the project and the costs conveyed to the public.
The council considered awarding bid RFP 2023-015 to Core & Main, a distributor of water, wastewater, storm drainage and fire protection products, for the installation of 1000 3/4-inch meters in the amount of $60,000. The council ultimately rejected the proposed outsourcing of the project, voting to complete the project in-house with expected completion by the end of September.
"My understanding was that we had an internal deadline of Oct. 1 to complete the project," said Public Works Director Kevin Olson. "I pushed to get bids for outsourcing to meet that deadline, but there was no mandate or anything, so it was tabled to discuss it further. The decision was made for us to keep replacing the meters in-house."
In 2018, then Public Works Director Tim Perry said the city planned to replace all 5500 of the city's residential/commercial meters over the next four to five years, paying for improvements as they are made. The goal was for city workers to be able to read the new meters electronically from city vehicles, which would save time and money while improving accuracy.
"The department just had an internal deadline, so spending the extra $60,000 for outsourcing wasn't necessary," said City Manager Teresa Herrera. "There are plenty of areas where that money could be better spent. I have given the department a deadline of Dec. 1 to complete the project, but they have assured me that they can complete it by October."
"We are on schedule," Olson said. "We do have around a thousand 3/4-inch and 5/8-inch meters left to complete. We received 500 meters last week and are expecting the remaining 500 by Friday."
Olson said there are still larger meters, from 1-inch up to 4-inch, that still need to be replaced, but those require more planning to execute.
"We are getting those on order because we are experiencing some lengthy lead times for delivery," Olson said. "Most of those meters are for businesses like hotels and restaurants. We have to schedule those for nights or other times for minimal disruption to those businesses."
At the time the project began, it was determined that water users would pay an extra $6.36 a month, until the city, installing more than 1,000 meters a year, finished the project. Perry said the fee would end once the meters were installed.