On Tuesday, Feb. 23, the Tallapoosa City Council began discussing the possibility of installing digital water meters throughout the city during a work session. The city had also planed to hear details on March 4 about the installation and equipment from Johnson Controls, Inc. (JCI) of Roswell, who would install the meters and their required software. Details of that meeting were unavailable before press time and will be published in next week’s issue.

The contract the company proposes to the city is to survey the city, estimate the cost of installing the new meters and software, then present the findings to the city. According to the proposed agreement, “JCI agrees to undertake a detailed evaluation study of potential cost reducing strategies, including operational efficiencies, and equipment efficiency improvement strategies to City of Tallapoosa facilities and infrastructures.”

The survey also promises to report to the city a projection of savings to operating costs, a projection of implementation costs as well as the financial impact and a plan for support services and training for staff members. The installation of the meters and software is meant to increase efficiency of the city’s infrastructure, improve customer service, reduce leaks, and improve meter reading and billing accuracy. The meters achieve this through the ability to be read by an automated system with the aid of computer software.

According to the proposed contract, the city would be responsible for paying JCI roughly $34,500 after the city has received the survey information.

“We need to really make sure this is the system we want before we get started,” said Tallapoosa Mayor William “Pete” Bridges, “because once we start, there’s no going back unless they find it won’t save us any money.”

The stipulations of the contract allow for waiving the fee if the survey finds the new system will not save the city substantial funds, the evaluation is not properly performed, or if the city decides to include the cost of the survey with their total cost of implementing the new program.

According to Bridges, the new meters and meter-reading system would reduce meter reading errors and dramatically decrease the time it takes to read all the water meters in the city.

“Right now it takes three to four days to read all the meters in the city,” he said. “And they have to stop at every single meter to read it.”

The proposed meters from JCI would simply send out a signal that could be picked up by a computer inside the water authority’s truck as it drives down the street. City workers would no longer be required to stop at every house and inspect each meter.

Bridges said that JCI would be responsible for both supplying the new meters, installing them and installing the software used to read the meters if they accepted a contract with the company.

“If we can save enough money to pay for the program,” he said, “then it’s a no-brainer.”

However, the mayor said it could take the city 10 years to save enough money through reading and water efficiency and lack of waste to make up for the total cost of the new meters and the system.

Other water authorities in Haralson County have already adopted the system and installed the new meters, including Haralson County Water Authority and the City of Bremen.

“I’ve talked to people who have installed the system, and they tell me they are happy with it,” Bridges said.

Tallapoosa City Manager Philip Eidson also shared that though there is no “red-flag” feature in the proposed system to notify the water authority of a leak, the system will provide more up-to-date information that would allow for earlier detection of a water leak if a customer called to request their records be checked.

The council decided to hear more directly from JCI before addressing the issue during their regular city council meeting on Monday.

In other business, the city council decided to investigate the possibility of adding debit and credit card payments and online payments to customers’ options when paying the city utility bills or membership dues for the golf course.

“We really should have this as an option for our citizens,” Briges said.

Bridges estimates the cost of this option will be about 25 to 50 cents per transaction, which the city would have to absorb.

Council member Jacqueline Roberts agreed this option would be beneficial to younger generations, and Council member Charles Worthy acknowledged it would be helpful to those absent from town on long vacations.

Bridges also said that the new payment option should reduce the workload somewhat on city employees when it comes to processing payments.

“People won’t change [to this method] all at once,” Bridges said, “but a majority of people should benefit from having this option.”

The city plans to consult CSI and their banks on the possibility of implementing this new payment option.

The next regularly scheduled city council meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Monday, March 8, at City Hall.