CITY OF EL PASO DE ROBLES
"The Pass of the Oaks"
City Council Agenda Addendum
Tuesday, May 16, 2023, 6:30 PM
Council Chamber 1000 Spring Street, Paso Robles
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Pages
K. DISCUSSION ITEMS
*1. Sole Source Authorization for Advanced Metering Infrastructure 2 - 7 Kirk Gonzalez, Utilities Engineering Manager
CEQA Determination: The City finds that this action is not a project under the California Environmental Quality Act pursuant to State Guidelines Section State CEQA Guidelines, §§ 15060, subd. (b)(2)-(3), 15378.
Recommendation: Approve standardizing on the Badger Orion AMI system provided by Badger Meter Company and sole source procurement from Badger for AMI equipment and associated data management services.
Council Agenda Report
From: Kirk Gonzalez, Utilities Engineering Manager
Subject: Sole Source Authorization for Advanced Metering Infrastructure CEQA Determination: The City finds that this action is not a project under the California Environmental Quality Act pursuant to State Guidelines Section State CEQA Guidelines, §§ 15060, subd. (b)(2)-(3), 15378.
Date: May 16th, 2022
Facts
1. The City provides water and wastewater service for all homes, businesses, and institutions in the City.
Potable water is delivered to the City’s water customers through approximately 10,935 metered service connections.
2. The City’s water and wastewater charges are based on actual water consumption. Therefore, the City relies on accurate and timely water meter reading information for the billing and collection of approximately $28 million in annual revenue.
3. The City currently uses a third-party vendor to read customer’s water meters. Each meter is read manually each month by vendor employees physically visiting all meter locations throughout the City.
4. Over the past two years, the time between meter readings has varied significantly on account of vendor staffing issues. These delays have caused customer frustration and confusion regarding billings for water and sewer service, have increased staff time to adjust billings and assist customers, and have delayed collection of revenue Water and Wastewater fund revenues.
5. The City’s Capital Improvement Program in the City’s adopted budget includes a project to retrofit existing water meters to advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) beginning this year. AMI is an integrated system consisting of electronic meter registers, a communications network, and data management system that collect water consumption data without requiring manual reading by visiting each meter.
6. The City’s Purchasing Policy Section 5.0, Sole Source Vendors, states that quotation and bid requirements may be waived when the City is best served by a particular vendor. It further states that sole source justification includes, but not limited to, the replacement part for a specific piece of equipment (e.g., a Ford engine for a Ford vehicle); or consistent with current inventory (e.g., all police cruisers being the same make/model).
7. The Water Department has evaluated AMI alternatives that are compatible with the City’s existing water meters and has piloted a cellular AMI solution provided by Badger Meter Company (Badger) for the past three months. Badger provides conventional water meters and AMI solutions.
8. The City has long been standardized on Badger water meters for all meters 2 inches and smaller, which represents a large majority of the City’s active water meters.
9. Badger has developed a product for their existing meters that allows agencies to convert to AMI by replacing only the meter register, forgoing the need to replace the entire meter body. Foregoing replacement of the meter body will reduce the cost of AMI implementation.
10. The Badger Orion AMI system is directly compatible with approximately 96% of the City’s active water meters, is provided by a well-established water meter vendor that has provided reliable service to the City for more than a decade and provides cost-effective equipment for conversion to AMI.
11. Staff is recommending that the City authorize sole source procurement of Badger AMI equipment and services. This authorization will allow staff to:
- Continue preparation for the AMI Retrofit Project and move toward developing bid documents for installation of AMI equipment on the City’s existing water meters. - Establish an agreement and long-term pricing for the selected AMI system. - Begin integration of the AMI data management system with the City’s utility billing system Options
1. Take no action;
2. Authorize sole source procurement from Badger Meter Company for the Orion/Beacon AMI system;
3. Provide alternative direction to staff.
Analysis and Conclusions
The City currently contracts with a third-party vendor for monthly reading of the City’s approximately 10,935 active water meters and requires timely meter readings for customer billing, calculation of customers’ sewer usage, and water demand estimates. Recently there have been extensive delays in meter reading on account of the vendor’s staffing issues. For example, in early 2022, meter readings were significantly delayed for five consecutive months. These delays impacted the City’s water customers and required additional staff time to make necessary adjustments to billings, assist other customers with questions and concerns over variations in billings, and provide re-reads. Additionally, the vendor has indicated that they are not sure how long their business will continue operating.
The Water Department has planned for conversion to AMI metering and has budgeted for conversion of the City’s existing meters to an AMI solution. Benefits of AMI include:
- Improved timeliness and consistency for meter readings. - Customers can access water usage data and customize alerts for high water use thresholds. - Rapid leak detection and notification will reduce water losses and save customers money. - Improved customer service and customer assistance.
- Meter tampering alerts.
- Improved distribution system operation and demand projection. - Identification of backflow events, providing greater protection of public health. - Lower monthly meter reading costs.
- Significantly reduced vehicle trips for meter reading and re-reads.
Approximately 96.4% of the City’s water meters are directly compatible with the Badger Orion AMI system.
Therefore, most of the City’s existing meters can be cost-effectively converted to the Badger Orion AMI system because the meter bodies themselves do not have to be removed, replaced, and reconnected to the City and customers’ service lines.
The Water Department has evaluated other AMI product offerings and identified the Badger Orion cellularbased AMI solution and Beacon data management system as the best approach to meeting the City’s needs.
The Badger Orion system can be installed without requiring replacement of existing meter bodies. The system uses a cellular network that does not require the City to build or maintain a fixed network of communication antennas to transmit data throughout the City. Badger’s user interface is the most evolved and user friendly for both the utility and individual customers. Further, the Badger Orion AMI system is provided by Badger Meter Company, an established manufacturer of water meters that has a proven track record and has reliably served the City for more than a decade The Water Department has also successfully piloted the Badger Orion AMI system on water meters throughout the City over the past three months and, using Badger’s “Beacon” data management system, received timely meter reads during this time. Additionally, during the pilot, several water leaks were identified almost immediately, and the City was able to alert customers of the issues so they could be corrected. Even small leaks that would normally go undetected are easily identified and flagged by the system.
In contrast, with monthly meter reading, high usage is not detected until near the end of the month, when a significant amount of water loss and expense has already occurred.
Staff have received budgetary pricing for implementation of the AMI retrofit project. The pricing includes hardware costs for the AMI encoder registers that will be installed on existing customer meters, costs for implementation of the data management and analytics software (Beacon), and integration with the City’s existing billing system which generates customer bills.
City Council’s authorization for sole source procurement of the Badger AMI system equipment and services will allow City staff to continue progressing the City’s AMI project including working with the AMI provider to establish an agreement and formal pricing for the AMI hardware, software and data management service (Beacon), and integration with the City’s billing system; and move toward developing bid documents for installation of AMI equipment on the City’s existing water meters. The City would also update fees associated with meter installations provided by the City for new development, preventing newly established services from needing to be retrofitted at a later date.
Fiscal Impact
Authorization for sole source procurement of the Badger Orion AMI system does not have any immediate fiscal impact. However, implementation of the AMI system will involve payment of fees for set-up of the data management system (Beacon), integration with the City’s utility billing system, purchase of AMI equipment from Badger Meter Company, and payment of an ongoing service fee. The City’s Capital Improvement Program in the City’s approved budget includes budget for implementation of the AMI project. Additionally, the City is also pursuing a grant opportunity through a State Water and Efficiency Grant Program.
Recommendation (Option 2)
Approve standardizing on the Badger Orion AMI system provided by Badger Meter Company and sole source procurement from Badger for AMI equipment and associated data management services.
Attachments
1. Resolution 23-XXX
Attachment 1
RESOLUTION 23-XXX
RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF EL PASO DE ROBLES
APPROVING STANDARDIZING ON THE BADGER ORION AMI SYSTEM AND SOLE
SOURCE PROCUREMENT FROM BADGER METER COMPANY FOR AMI EQUIPMENT AND
ASSOCIATED DATA MANAGEMENT SERVICES
WHEREAS, the City provides water and wastewater service for nearly all homes, businesses, and institutions in the City; and
WHEREAS, the City currently uses a third-party vendor to read customer’s water meters. The contract meter reader’s staff manually reads meters each month by visiting all meter locations throughout the City; and
WHEREAS, the level of service provided by the City’s third-party vendor for meter reading has recently declined and significant delays have occurred in meter readings for consecutive months; and WHEREAS, the Capital Improvement Program in the City’s adopted budget includes a project to retrofit existing water meters to advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) beginning in 2023; and WHEREAS, the City has evaluated AMI alternatives that are compatible with the City’s existing water meters and has piloted a cellular AMI solution provided by Badger Meter Company (Badger); and WHEREAS, the City has standardized on meters manufactured by Badger for all water meters two inches and smaller; and
WHEREAS, an AMI system provided by Badger is directly compatible with approximately 96% of the City’s active water meters and is a cost-effective alternative for conversion to AMI that meets the City’s needs for conversion to AMI; and
WHEREAS, authorization of sole source procurement of AMI equipment and services will allow the City to continue preparation for the City’s AMI project to retrofit existing manually-read water meters to AMI, which includes establishing an agreement and long-term pricing for the selected AMI system, integration of the AMI data management system with the city’s utilities billing system, and procurement of AMI meter equipment for new meters being installed in the distribution system.
NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF EL PASO DE ROBLES DOES HEREBY RESOLVE AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. All of the above recitals are true and correct and incorporated herein by reference.
Section 2. The Council finds that the standardization on Badger AMI equipment is in the best interest of the City and the community because:
The Badger Orion system can be installed without requiring replacement of existing meter bodies; The system uses a cellular network that does not require the City to build or maintain a fixed network of communication antennas to transmit data throughout the City; Badger’s user interface is the most evolved and user friendly for both the utility and individual customers;
The Badger Orion AMI system is provided by Badger Meter Company, an established manufacturer of water meters that has a proven track record and has reliably served the City for more than a decade.
Attachment 1
Section 3. Based upon all of the facts and evidence in the record, the City Council hereby approves the standardization of advanced metering infrastructure equipment from Badger Meter Company and the sole source procurement of equipment and services from Badger Meter Company for advanced metering infrastructure.
APPROVED this 16th day of May, 2023, by the following vote:
AYES:
NOES:
ABSENT:
ABSTAIN:
Steven W. Martin, Mayor
ATTEST:
Melissa Boyer, City Clerk
Public Comments--- City Council Meeting, May 16, 2023
Discussion Items
Item K-1. Sole Source Authorization for Advanced Metering Infrastructure I urge the council to reject this request to authorize sole source procurement from Banger Meter Company for the Orion/Beacon AMI system. Please request that City staff come back at a subsequent council meeting— with an agenda item presenting a full comprehensive presentation of the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) project goals, requirements, benefits, with initial and long term costs. _______________________
The AMI has been mentioned only briefly in past City documents including the latest budget and water rate study. However, the council and the public have never received a comprehensive presentation of the project that could be reviewed and scrutinized. I resent the fact that the City raised water rates on a project that has not been reviewed or approved by the City council. It made my protest vote an easy decision.
No basis of estimate for the initial $6M estimated cost has been provided. I made a public records request, thinking there might be a more detailed analysis of the problems and the proposed solutions and costs. But that is not the case. The most detailed document I received was labeled ‘Draft’ and not complete---and I wonder why this has not been presented as an official City council agenda item.
It’s not clear there is an unfulfilled need driving this project. The project need seems to be based on staffing issues at the current meter reading company—that reportedly have caused delays. The fact is, staff shortages have caused problems for most all companies and even the City. This began during the COVID pandemic.
All other benefits proposed by the City in support of AMI appear to be ‘nice to have’, but there are no details really explaining how all these benefits operate or how they help. And are these ‘nice to have’ items really worth $6M+?
And again, where did this $6M estimate come from, and is it all inclusive? The 2022 water rate study reportedly (according to the City draft document) also identified $18.3 million in 30-year costs. I expect these numbers could rise. I want to see details.
So now—the City wants to approve a sole source provider. The City makes some statements in support of their request, but it doesn’t reflect adequate due diligence I feel is needed to make this decision. And it’s certainly a premature request and decision, considering the public and City council have not reviewed or approved a comprehensive presentation of the project and its costs.
This is not ‘good government’. However, this process is sadly too familiar. This is the school board proposing a swimming complex. This is the City downtown parking system that seems to never be ‘right’ and has locked the City into long term product and consulting costs—and no agreement about how they should be paid. This is prematurely extending the current waste management contract to build a project that by some accounts is not needed or cost effective. I could go on. ---- Please, I implore the council to demand that comprehensive details of this and all projects be presented and reviewed before they are approved.