Winchester facing extra cost for metering system
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By Carmen Ensinger
When the Winchester City Council approved going with a new metering system for their gas and water system a few months back, spending approximately $414,000 on the system, they assumed that it was a done deal.
However, Alderman Lawrence Coultas informed the board at the July 6 city council meeting that a member of the company informed him that because of a difference in 140 of the meters, there was going to be an additional expense of $14,000.
“We had a meeting with the representative from the company at Benton and Associates in Jacksonville last week and I told him that myself and the council members are not crazy about this extra expense,” Coultas said. “I told him he needed to take a closer look and give us some consideration here.”
Coultas said he thought the problem came down to a lack of communication.
“I think part of this comes down to the fact that John (Simmons, Utility Superintendent) didn’t know something and the representative didn’t think to ask,” Coultas said. “Who is responsible for it in this case? I don’t know. I understand what you are saying – they gave us a bid of $415,000 so it should be done for that.”
Apparently, the problem lies in that there are 140 meters that are different. Making allowance for these different meters is going to cost approximately $100 per meter.
“They have already eaten part of the extra expense, so the cost is really more than that,” Coultas said. “Still, $14,000 is still a pretty big difference. I don’t want to say they have us in a difficult position, but we have already invested so much in this project – how do we back out now. But I also understand where you are coming from as well – you gave us this bid – do it for this price.”
The council eventually made a motion, which passed unanimously, to spend up to $14,000 to get the problem corrected.
The council also approved putting a metering system out at the water tower to monitor how much water comes out of the tower.
“This way, if we are pumping 100,000 gallons of water a month from the tower, but we are receiving payment for only 50,000 gallons, then we will know that somewhere along the line we are losing water,” Mayor Rex McIntire said. “It will also give us a good idea of how much money we are losing on this water that we are treating but never getting paid for.”
