The 2022 Capital Budget includes $375,000 for funding of the Residential Water Meter Replacement Program. The Residential Meter Replacement Program is a four-year program that will replace approximately 18,538 residential water meters and encoder receiver transmitters (ERTs), so the Village can continuously and remotely read and monitor water usage throughout the Village. The Village Board authorized the purchase of the ERTs at the September 19th Board meeting.
Over the past two years, staff has met with several water meter and transmitter companies and have determined that the Badger water meter and the Itron radio transmitter components to be the most robust, with the most accurate flow characteristics.
Staff recommends approval of a multi-year contract for negotiated unit pricing to purchase residential water meters from Midwest Meters, of Edinburg, IL, in an amount not-to-exceed the budgeted allocation per year. By negotiating with the preferred vendor, the Village was able to freeze current meter pricing for two years and minimize future price increases to 5% each year, to allow for stable budgeting and expenditures. The Village’s most common residential meter is the M25 with a negotiated price of approximately $20/meter less than normal pricing, representing a saving of approximately $350,000 over the course of the project, as compared to current meter pricing. The purchase of 3,000 water meters represents approximately 20% of the program. Lead time for the products is four to six months. Unit pricing for the first two years is shown in the attached table.
If approved, the next step in the program will be to bid out the installation of water meters and ERTs services. Staff anticipates this occurring in the first quarter of 2023.
Funds for the meter purchases are available in Account No. 505-9001-571.50-25 (WA0302).
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the Village Board waive competitive bidding requirements and approve the negotiated multi-year contract at the fixed unit prices to purchase residential water meters from Midwest Meters, of Edinburg, Illinois, in an amount not-to-exceed budgeted yearly funding allocations and authorize Staff to execute the necessary documents.