Git-R-Done — speeding up Jackson's water meter replacement

With an homage to comedian Larry the Cable Guy's most famous phrase, Git-R-Done, the city of Jackson has decided to finish up a multiyear water meter replacement program more quickly by seeking an outside firm's help.

At Jackson Board of Aldermen's meeting Monday, June 5, the council voted unanimously to contract with St. Louis-based Horner & Shifrin for engineering services.

Those services will be limited to designing bidding documents for the city to use in hiring a contractor to complete the work.

"The city has been replacing the meters in-house for a number of years and we have more than 7,000 mainly residential meters altogether," said Janet Sanders, the city's Public Works director.

"Our water department has been whittling away at them (but) we would just like to wrap the job up," she added, noting approximately 1,000 meters are still in need of being switched out.

A key part of the city's effort is moving meters from inside a home or business to outside.

Easier accessibility is one reason for the action, but another is the ability to read meters remotely through automation.

"Homer & Shifrin won't even manage the project. They're just preparing bid documents and doing a spec drawing for us. We'll take what they prepare and bid out the job," Sanders explained.

"For the city to continue as we have without help would take us another five to seven years to finish."

The new remote-read meters are situated in the ground with a metal lid on top, said Sanders, adding that traditional meter readers no longer need to go from house to house under the new arrangement.

Sanders said on-site meter readings will still be needed if an equipment malfunction develops.

"We know other cities have gone to automatic meter reading but we're not aware of anybody who has moved all the meters from inside to outside," she added.

The metal lids, which look like miniature manhole covers, have a small plastic attachment on top, Sanders said.

"The plastic encloses an antenna for the automated meter reading. What we're finding is, periodically, people will accidentally mow too low over the lids and damage or destroy the transmitters," she said.

Horner & Shifrin will be paid an amount not to exceed $8,200 to help Jackson speed its final transition to outdoor remote-read meters.