B. Discuss Water Meter Radio NeedsCITY OF MEMORANDUM
C - YY'_Y SE TO: Todd Gerhardt, City Manager
7700 Market Boulevard „
PO Box 147 FROM: Paul Oehme, Director of Public Works /City Engineer
Chanhassen, MN 55317
DATE: February 13, 2012
Administration
Phone: 952.227.1100 SUBJ: Discuss Water Meter Radio Needs — PW02401
Fax: 952.227.1110
Building Inspections
Phone: 952.227.1180
BACKGROUND
Fax: 952.227.1190
In 2001, the City installed radio devices on all the water meters to obtain the water
Engineering
usage remotely without having to go on private property and read the meter.
Phone: 952.227.1160
Previously, each meter had to be physically read which would take weeks to
Fax: 952.227.1170
complete. Currently, all meters can be read by one Utility Department staff member
Finance
in approximately 4 hours by driving a vehicle throughout the city and collecting the
Phone: 952.227.1140
usage data. This data is then downloaded to the Finance Department for billing. This
Fax: 952.227.1110
system has served the City well however the batteries for the radios have begun to
fail. The batteries for the radios had a life expectancy of 10 years. Staff has been
Park & Recreation
looking into this situation for two years to identify options to address the battery
Phone: 952.227.1120
failures. Staff had originally included funding in the 2011 Water Operations budget
Fax: 952.227.1110
to start replacing the radios last year as the batteries failed. Since replacement of
Recreation Center
equipment is more of a capital improvement project, these funds were shifted to the
2310 Coulter Boulevard
Capital Improvement Program in 2012 for one year until Council gives staff direction
Phone: 952.227.1400
what replacement option system is desired.
Fax: 952.227.1404
D
Planning & ISCUSSION
Natural Resources
Phone: 952.227.1130 Staff has noticed an uptick in the amount of batteries that are failing. Over the next
Fax: 952.227.1110 few years, staff is estimating that most of the radio batteries that were originally
installed in 2011 will fail. The City had 6,262 water accounts in 2001. Today there
Public Works are 7,679 accounts. Staff is planning to replace the units as the batteries fail however
7901 Park Place it is hard to predict how many batteries will fail each year.
Phone: 952.227.1300
Fax: 952.227.1310 Since 2001, radio technology has substantially advanced. It is now possible to gather
Senior Center meter readings without having to send a staff member into the field. Battery
Phone: 952.227.1125 technology has also substantially improved. The new radio system batteries now on
Fax: 952.227.1110 the market have a life expectancy of up to 23 years.
Web Site Staff has looked at many options to address the failing radio meter batteries. The
www.ci.chanhassen.mn.us options are as follows:
1. Replace only the battery of existing radios. This option is the cheapest
however the radio batteries can only be replaced with the same 10 -year life
Chanhassen is a Community for Life - Providing for Todayand Planning for Tomorrow
Todd Gerhardt
Discuss Water Meter Radio Needs
February 13, 2012
Page 2
battery since the housing of the radios will only fit the smaller 10 -year life battery. The older
generation radios are likely to use more power in the future as the system gets older which
may decrease the life expectancy of the batteries even more. Staff would also need to take
apart the radio, cut out the old battery and splice in a new battery. The spliced connections
are not an approved replacement since the wire splice connection can be hard to make with
fine gage wire in typically low light environments. These connections may have a tendency
to fail. This is approximately a 10 -year solution.
2. Replace the radios and batteries with the same manufacturer (Sensus Co.) system the City
currently uses. This mobile (drive -by) meter reading option incorporates the same radio
frequency and software the City currently uses. Staff has looked into possibly switching to
another manufacturer's mobile radio system; however other systems are estimated to cost
more. The system would still require the utility operator to physically drive up and down a
street to obtain the meter reads. It employs a one -way radio system meaning there is no
modern functionality features common with modern systems. Meter re -reads and final meter
reads also require an employee to physically visit the outside of the homes to obtain the
readings. In the last quarter alone there were 66 final reads that required a physical
proximity visit. This system has approximately a 20 -year life expectancy.
3. Upgrade the radio meter system with a fixed -based system. This more technologically
current system uses a 2 -way radio system. The system would require collectors and antennas
to be located on water towers and lift station antenna poles to collect the readings. Meter
readings can then be read at City Hall by the Finance Department freeing up valuable time
and costs of a Utility Department. Also with this system comes an increased customer
service function, a customer service software suite for instant re -reads and final reads.
Billing questions can easily be addressed in real time by this system providing greater
customer and timely service. Billing would be much more streamlined and efficient for the
Finance Department. This system has approximately a +20 -year life expectancy.
Staff has contacted other communities that are in the process of replacing radios. Several cities in
the metro area are upgrading or migrating to a fixed -based system. These communities include
Maple Grove, Roseville and Lakeville.
Staff will be giving a brief overview of these options and costs associated with each option.
c: Kevin Crooks, Utility Superintendent
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