MORAN State-of-the-art electronic water meter reading equipment comes with a hefty cost in excess of $40,000.
But Moran City Council members are optimistic the system will bear fruit with other savings, both to the city and its residents.
Council members unanimously accepted a bid from Olathe Winwater Company to purchase as many as 249 water meter sensors, with related transponder equipment and software at an average of about $165 apiece.
The system should greatly reduce the amount of time it takes city crews to read the meters each month, noted Sondra Combs, who spoke with the Council about the system.
Each device emits a radio signal that can be detected with a hand-held receiver that in many cases can be done from inside a city vehicle while doing rounds, Combs explained.
The receiver and software are provided free of charge because of the size of the citys order.
The system also is capable of sending leak alerts, or if there is an obstruction preventing a customer from getting water, Combs said.
Winwater also will provide training on using the devices, and free software installation and service for the first year.
The units should be on hand within six weeks or so, with installation beginning shortly thereafter, depending on how busy city crews are.
THE CITYS 2018 budget reporting received a clean score from auditors at Jared, Gilmore and Phillips.
Neil Phillips told Council members the citys spending reports were accurate and in compliance with the states cash basis laws.
