According to an administrative report prepared by Battleford's Manager of Utilities Aubrey Whittleton and Chief Administrative Officer John Enns-Wind, the water meters in mobile homes in town are nearing the end of their life expectancy and many currently don’t give accurate readings.
Council approved a recommendation stating “that the Council of the Town of Battleford approve the installation of new water meters inside all existing mobile homes by a plumber starting in January 2018.” Cost is estimated to be approximately $65,000.
Achieving accurate readings with the existing equipment has cost the town, as per the report, approximately $21,000 per billing cycle, because of things such as time to perform repairs and maintenance to meters, dealing with skirting under mobile homes, and physically accessing the meters during winter, as the meters are currently located under the trailers.
The new water meters town administration is looking at purchasing are R9000s. Rather than workers needing to access meters under trailers, R9000s are installed inside mobile homes and allow for remote readings by utilities staff.
Discussion that took place prior to council involved whether purchasing the meters should be the town’s or property owner’s responsibility. Enns-Wind said savings to the town and its residents would be maximized if the town pays for the proper installation of units that can perform remote readings, in order to assure installation is done right the first time, and to prevent the trouble of reading meters under mobile homes.
Mobile home residents won’t be charged for new meters.
Public Works Manager Eric Bilanski estimated the meters cost $600 each, while additional costs involve labour.
Mayor Ames Leslie supported the decision in part because paying for new meters are costs the town would incur anyway, and the new meters would prevent leaky pipes and meters that residents find about after it’s too late.
