City discusses water meters

Jacksboro City Council tabled deciding on a proposal on water meters during their Monday, April 25 meeting.

City Manager Mike Smith said the monies come from the American Rescue Plan Act. The city received $540,000 last August and will receive another $540,000 this August. Some of the money has already been spent on rebuilding clarifiers at the water treatment plant.

That leaves roughly about $800,000 to spend. The funds need to be spent on such things as the loss of revenue due to COVID-19 or water, sewer or broadband infrastructure. Smith proposed two automatic meter readers: one which reads meters twice a day at a cost of $517,000; and the other which is a drive-by system that reads meters by scanning at a cost of $375,000.

Smith said the lead time on the more expensive system is about six months meaning it would be late Fall before work could even begin on the update. The other less expensive system could have work begin on it by late this summer.

Smith also said they could start with the less expensive system and if they decided they wanted to later upgrade, the infrastructure would already be there for a minimal cost. Upgrading the system would also save the city money in the short and long term.

It takes the city three days and the use of up to six employees to read meters every month. Being without one employee already and spending the money on updating the system would eliminate the need to replace the employee. That would save the city about $55-$60,000 in pay and benefits, Smith said.

Updating the system would help eliminate water loss as city staff could tell almost immediately when and where a leak started.

Mayor Craig Fenter asked if the money could be used on other things, such as tornado recovery. Smith said it could not be used for that purpose and must be used for other things.