The council unanimously voted to extend the city’s agreement with Alexander’s Contract Services, Inc. for Water Meter Reading Services Pilot Program. The extension will allow the city to move the water meter reading program in-house, according to the staff report.
The agreement was set to expire on Dec. 31. The new agreement increases the money paid to Alexander’s Contract Services by $28,000. (This brings the contract to a maximum of $71,618.40, according to the staff report prepared by Management Analyst Sean Sabo. This was a Consent Calendar item. Everything on the Consent Calendar is approved collectively, without discussion, unless an item is pulled for separate consideration. This item was not pulled.
“On March 28, 2022, City Council adopted Resolution 7267 awarding a one-year Professional Services Agreement to Alexander’s Contract Services, Inc. (“ACS”) initiating the City’s Water Meter Reading Services Pilot Program. The pilot program was developed to evaluate the feasibility of a third-party contractor reading and accurately recording approximately 5,500 water meters,” Sabo wrote.
“During the term of the pilot program, ACS has been responsible for manually retrieving water meter reads on a bi-monthly cycle, or six times per year. ACS electronically reports the results to the City’s water billing system for further processing at the end of each cycle. The use of ACS has allowed the City to reallocate staffing resources to address operations and maintenance needs in a more efficient manner,” Sabo wrote.
“As ACS has recently changed their business model where they can no longer provide services pursuant to the City’s contractual requirements, staff will temporarily utilize in-house staff for retrieving and recording water meter reads for a limited duration until a permanent solution can be identified,” Sabo wrote.
“Amendment No. 1 proposes to extend the term of the Agreement to and including December 31, 2023, and increase ACS’s compensation by $28,800 for additional services performed during the extended term. The extension will allow time to properly transition the water meter reading services from ACS to the City,” Sabo wrote.
“Sufficient funding has been allocated in FY 2023-2024 Water Maintenance & Operations,” according to Sabo’s report.
