Meter Project Almost Complete

There are about 168 meters that have not been changed. Of those, 30 will be able to be changed.

The rest, he said, are at vacant homes. Water has been shut off to those residences. When the water is turned back on, the meters will be changed out; however, once Pedal Valves is finished, the city will be responsible for changing the remaining 138 meters.

“We really have no timeline of when (the water at) these homes will be turned back on,” he said. “Those meters would have to be installed by city crews.”

Quaethem noted that some of the meters were in homes that have been demolished.

Mark Hidritch, councilman, asked if there would be a reduction in the contract price since the city will have to install the last meters. Quaethem said the topic hasn’t been addressed at this time.

The city contracted with Siemens Building Technologies and the firm’s installation partner, Pedal Valves, Inc., to install the new residential and commercial iPERL water meters throughout town this year.

The project encompassed the installation of 6,746 meters. The city has been working on the installation of the last 1,000 meters since September 2012 including about 400 that were on a “no contact” list.

The entire project will cost about $4,590,000 and is being funded through a lease agreement with lease payments being provided by a group of local banks.

Under terms of the agreement, the city will pay interest costs totaling $1,154,838.50 over the 15-year term of the lease.

Installation should be complete by the end of February.