Mayor says project won’t cost citizens

The fate of a proposed $1.4 million water meter replacement project was the focus at Thursday’s Ironton City Council meeting, but its future remains up in the air.

The council heard the first reading of an ordinance that would award an approximately $1.1 million bid to Southern Ohio Trenching for the construction of the project. The approximately $300,000 remaining will go towards the design and preparatory work.

Mayor Rich Blankenship and Water Superintendent Mark White began the meeting by showing council and members of the public the equipment that the water department’s six workers use to read the city’s meters.

There were the 16-year-old handheld water meter readers –– two of which are currently broken. Then there was a pole with a magnifying glass on the end that workers use to read the meters when meter pits are filled with rain water and, when all else fails, an old coffee container that they use bail water out of the pits to read the meter, Blankenship and White explained.

When the handheld devices are broken the workers carry around a paper log to record the readings.

“This is what we’re dealing with,” Blankenship said. “Forty-some-year-old meters.”

The proposed new readers are automated. Instead of going door-to-door reading meters, workers could read these meters by driving by each house, which city officials have argued would free up employees to fix leaks and focus on other water distribution issues.

Last year, the city received a forgivable loan from the Ohio EPA to pay for 30 percent of the project. The other 70 percent of the project would be paid back through the city’s three metered fees: water, sewer and stormwater. The debt would be paid back over the next 30 years with 2 percent interest.

Some council members have questioned whether or not these existing fees will generate enough money to pay the debt.

“No one has ever said this was going to raise the water bill,” the mayor said. “I said it two weeks ago. I’ll say it again tonight. I’m not going to raise the water bill. I’m not going to suggest it. I’m not going to recommend it for this project.”

The city’s contracted engineering firm, E.L. Robinson, is in the midst of a feasibility study to determine the city’s ability to pay back the loan, Finance Director Kristen Martin has said. In theory, the project should pay for itself by increasing revenue, she said.

Blankenship also told council the project would increase revenue. The current meters are under-recording water usage, he said.

Two council members, Chuck O’Leary and Mike Lutz, expressed their support for the project at Thursday’s meeting.

Though some council members have expressed opposition to the water meter project, no one at the meeting spoke out against the project.

Council president Kevin Waldo was absent and two others, Bob Cleary and Frank Murphy excused themselves part way through the meeting because of prior commitments.

Last year, council passed an ordinance to start the loan process with a 4-3 vote. Council members Beth Rist, Cleary and Dave Frazer voted against the measure, while Lutz, O’Leary, Murphy and Waldo voted to adopt it.

Cleary is one of the members who has questioned whether or not the project would cause water rates to go up. He has suggested instead installing the meters in certain areas of the city as a trial.

Frazer also has questioned the city’s ability to pay for the project.

Besides Blankenship and White, a representative from the water meters manufacturer as well as several water department workers attended and spoke at Thursday’s meeting in support of the proposed changes.

J.D. Thomas is the department’s water meter reader.

“This month alone, water distribution (department) has had five days to do their actual job because they have to come over to my department and help me,” Thomas told council. He added that the new meters would help the city save money on rereading meters. In an average month, Thomas conducts between 450 and 1,000 rereads because of human error and billing questions, he said. He spends $175 on gas alone, Thomas said.

Missy Shrek, a water administration clerk, also addressed council.

“My primary concern is charging the people what they’re actually using,” she said, adding that in Green Valley many of the meters are estimated frequently. Then, when those meters are read and customers get a high bill, they complain to her and ask the mayor for an adjustment.

The council will likely hear the next reading of the ordinance at its June 9 meeting. Regular meeting rules call for the council to hear three readings of the ordinance before voting on it. They could suspend the rules, however, and pass it on the second reading.