Commissioners split on new meter readers

Sarasota County in the 2013 fiscal year is in the murky chasm between new and old technology when it comes to portable water meter transmitters.

Innovation that would lower costs of automated water meter systems and components is several years away, but Sarasota County Environmental Services Operations General Manager George MacFarland says he’s running out of meter inventory and needs to put about 45,000 more in the ground.

Sarasota County commissioners approved the expenses June 26 in a 3-2 vote, but voted unanimously to add a discussion item in an upcoming meeting agenda for MacFarland to further explain meter technologies and to analyze other meter providers.

“I’m not prepared to vote for this,” Commission Chairwoman Christine Robinson said after hearing McFarland’s presentation. “It’s a large amount of money and we’re obligating ourselves to something that I think we need to understand the ramifications of better.”

The current company the county uses for its meter readers, Badger Meter Inc., charged $125 for its meters when they were initially installed five years ago and has had the price locked for the duration. Badger will increase its price to $150 per meter with the new three-year contract, the duration of which troubled Commissioner Joe Barbetta.

The problem with the current technology is that each meter only responds to meter readers designed by the same company. MacFarland said there is a possibility that a firm in the next three years could emerge with readers that work on frequencies of all manufacturers meters.

Further, MacFarland estimated that uprooting the 30,000 meters already in use would cost more than $2 million.

Barbetta joined Robinson in her trepidation of approving the contract. He said the county in the past had signed long-term agreements and were stuck with outdated technology they had to retrofit with improvements.

However, there is a 30-day termination clause in the contract with Badger, which would allow the county to end the relationship as soon as a market-leveling technology was introduced.

“I don’t see why we can’t go ahead and approve and then go on and have the discussion everyone wants to have,” said Commissioner Nora Patterson.

“I just don’t see any advantages of prolonging the discussion,” Thaxton said after he made a motion to approve the contract.

County Administrator Randall Reid said he did not expect for the recommendation to change regardless of the time given for Environmental Services Operations to re-analyze potential meter providers.

“They’re waiting for a technology that can read multiple reader types and a manufacturer of a common device,” Reid said. “And, as we know, even Apple and Microsoft don’t do that.”