CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM
Memo Date: February 5, 2024
Agenda Date: February 27, 2024
Prepared By: Melinda M. Keesee, Field Operations Technician
Prepared By: Donnie Howard, Field Operations Manager
Through: Chris M. Collier, Assistant Utilities Director
Through: John A. Walsh, P.E., Utilities Director
Requested Action:
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To Approve a Resolution Waiving the Competitive Bidding Process for the Purpose of Making an Exemption to Competitive Purchase through The Ford Meter Box Company, Inc. for the Replacement of the Existing Water Meter Test Bench and Related Appurtenances; To Approve the Purchase of the Water Meter Test Bench
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BACKGROUND:
During the design phase of the existing Utilities Building, a decision was made to install two automated water meter test benches capable of testing small 5/8" X 3/4" meters through large 8" meters. Installing this equipment would enable the Water Field Operations Division (WFO) team to test multiple meters simultaneously thus adding efficiency to the ongoing process of testing the metering infrastructure when a meter is pulled from the ground for replacement, or upon a customer's request. The data obtained from this valuable testing process assists the Utilities Department in determining when to replace older meters, thus ensuring the highest level of metering accuracy which benefits the customer and the City.
On January 12, 2010, City Council approved the sole source purchase of two water meter test benches (one small and one large) manufactured by MARS Company (MARS) of Ocala, FL. This purchase was associated with the new construction of the main Utilities Department building located at 351 Shearer Blvd., and the benches were placed in service on or around November of 2010.
On December 31, 2016, MARS ceased to support the legacy computer software that operated the test benches requiring existing customers to 1) continue using the old software without software support (no annual fee up to this point),...
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