The Sundown City Council listened to a potential water metering option for the city during their regular meeting earlier this month.
The USG AMI presentation regarding water meters was the first item addressed by the council. It was presented by John Hoffman, a water system consultant.
Hoffman said part of what was evaluated as best for Sundown were three data collection units in the city that would reach 30 feet high. Two tanks and a pole would be used to place them.
Every meter is read by these collection units, and information will be sent to a provided software, Hoffman said. Data would be stored in a cloud for the city of Sundown and can be monitored at a control center to catch any issues with the meters.
Data collection units would use a solar panel to charge their batteries.
After a propagation study that looked into the meters that Sundown had and their characteristics, an ultrasonic meter was selected for the city, Hoffman said.
“They either read or they don’t read,” Hoffman said, “they don’t slowly start to wear out and break in favor of the customer in the way a traditional meter will.”
Transmitting units were also proposed as part of the updated system. They would sit under the lid of the meters or be attached to a sensor and send data out, Hoffman said.
The consultant mentioned some features of the transmitting units, including 96 days of hourly reads, encrypted data, remote shut-offs and a 20-year battery life. They could also send alerts if water is sent through the meter backwards.
With the updated metering, an app would also be made available to rate-payers, in which they can monitor their own consumption and set an alert for limits in order to budget their usage, Hoffman said.
He said if they do go to work with Sundown, they will install new meters, and a warranty will cover them for 15 years.
Costs of the project were discussed at the meeting, and Hoffman said 10% non-revenue water – meaning water being lost to things like bad meters or possible leaks – was calculated for the city.
He introduced a 5% revenue enhancement that would provide an annual benefit of $45,000 after an annual maintenance fee is paid. He said a 7% rate enhancement is optimistic, but also manageable, and would provide a $53,000 annual benefit – if they can capture 7% of the nonrevenue water.
Hoffman said it could be $696,000 to get it all installed and up and running. The fee to set up the system can be spread out over some years, he said.
“It’s just a matter of budgeting that number into the city’s budget...” Hoffman said.
Hoffman said the next step in the metering process would be a site survey, which would include going around town and looking at meters to document them, as well as considering other components like meter lids and how sensors and transmitting units will be attached.
The site survey would not commit the city to a purchase, but would just help to put a number together, he said.
“So we know exactly what we need, and we can put together an inventory list and a scope of work that is specific,” Hoffman said.
After Hoffman confirmed there’s a green, conservation aspect to it, the council considered the possibility of grants that go towards meters. The council was told a $750,000 grant was brought up in Morton regarding metering.
The consultant said he suspects the topic will take more than one meeting to come to a decision.
“This is a big, expensive decision and I’m just here to give information,” Hoffman said.
The council approved to proceed with the site survey and bring Hoffman back to answer more questions next month.
The city’s quarterly financials and investments were reviewed during the meeting. The council was told the sales tax revenue was $150,000 short of what was budgeted.
A loss of $316,000 between total expenditures and total income in the general fund was resolved and explained to the council that grant balances rolled over and was already money in the bank under revenue.
There was an overall loss in refuse collection funds, as a landfill costing $98,000 was being dug, the council was told. The water/wastewater was also explained to the members, which was said to reflect the use of corona fiscal relief funds and spending of money from the government on the wastewater side.
The report showed an increase in the gas fund and a loss in the EMS fund. The council voted to accept the review.
A potential cemetery expansion project was another action item discussed.
According to a Parkhill City of Sundown Cemetery Expansion breakdown, the engineer’s opinion of probable cost for the project was a total of $304,818. It included improvements like an irrigation system and new trees for the area.
The council was told a revisit with Parkhill would consider trying to get a grid system done, seeing if the county can do a caliche road and having elevations marks for the road.
The cost of setting survey benchmarks in the cemetery in order to start selling plots, if needed, would also be asked about. There is also the possibility of moving or protecting water infrastructure, as it feeds the backside of the cemetery’s sprinkler system.
The council approved a motion to get the cost of the road and survey markers for plots.
The council voted to table an item that proposed relinquishing the right of way near East McCallon Street.
In his letter addressed to the council, Mr. Lewis said the street running alongside his property is unused and undeveloped and would need to be cleaned up in order to give himself access to the rear portion of his property.
As outlined in his letter, he’d be willing to clean and maintain the part of the street at his expense if it can be transferred to him as the sole property owner for a fee.
The street area is 50-by-300 feet and priced at $3,750, according to the meeting’s agenda. The council considered relinquishing half of the 50 feet to address possible use by others in the community.
The council tabled the topic in order to further discuss pricing.
After this, the court adjourned into an executive session for review and evaluation of City Administrator Billy Hernandez’s job performance and contract.
Hernandez received a oneyear contract extension following the session.
The council reconvened into open session and approved payment of monthly expenditures for September after.
The City Administrator report followed, including a total of four items presented to the council.
Grant administration for the next cycle – including a $750,000 grant that was mentioned during the metering presentation – will be coming up next month. They will have to advertise for grant administrators, the council was told.
Regarding Triple Crown Internet, the kind of equipment to be put up is being finalized, but there is no contract yet.
The presenting councilmember was waitlisted for an economic development conference in Bastrop, and the council was also told of the possibility of the November meeting being rescheduled for Nov. 19.
Updates from multiple Sundown departments were also read at the meeting.
A public works summary report was given, highlighting work on line inventory, a groundsource tank, completed county road work on Malachi Avenue and a water well.
The Sundown Library summary reported on a new ebook vendor, and three grants were outlined in its report.
A Parkhill grant was stated to be coming to a close, and another grant was submitted for work on baseball field fencing and dugout updates.
Additionally, an American Heart Association grant had a successful ribbon cutting, according to the updates, and blood pressure machines are being consistently used.
The Fire Department summary reported a total of 16 calls in September and upcoming training.
The Sundown Police Department’s activity summary for September stated that the department responded to several calls for service, as well as assisted Sundown’s Volunteer Fire Department and Levelland EMS in other calls. The report also mentioned that Captain Isaac Garza remained on field training in September.
An ordinance designating the Levelland and Hockley County News-Press as the official newspaper was approved by the council during the meeting.