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Century Considers Company To Replace 400 Gas Meters, Postpones Over Bid Law Concerns
March 3, 2020
The Town of Century considered a proposal Monday night to hire company for about $64,000 to replace natural gas meters, but the council stepped back and did not vote over concerns if state bid laws were met.
Interim City Administrator Vernon Prather recommended that the town hire Precision Meter Repair (PMR) of Plant City to replace 400 residential meters at $160 each.
Florida Gas Utility, which provides natural gas consulting service to the town, obtained three quotes to change out the meters ranging from PMR’s $160 to a high of $1,000 each, Prather said.
The town council was not completely satisfied that would meet state bid laws, and tabled action until compliance could be determined.
The town purchased hundreds of new meters in early 2019 to replacing aging meters believed to be causing the underbilling of many natural gas customers. Since that time, 15 commercial and about 200 residential meters have been replaced. With their other daily tasks, town employees have not been able to progress any faster, leading to Prather’s recommendation to hire an outside firm that could complete the task by installing 400 meters in matter of weeks.
The town does not have a sufficient balance in its gas fund to pay an outside company to replace the meters, but Prather recommended using Local Option Sales Tax funds.
Comments
10 Responses to “Century Considers Company To Replace 400 Gas Meters, Postpones Over Bid Law Concerns”
Let new the people running the gas department have a chance. Seems to me things are headed in the right direction. Didnt the gas department almost turn a profet for the first time in years
@Donald Duck, PMR was the low bidder out of 3 bids. Read the article.
Is it possible for the city public works dept to schedule gas meter re-installs for when resident is home? That would eliminate doubling back to re-check and re-light appliances.
Look, the town only bills for about 300 or so gas customers, right? Then tell us why there is an urgent need to replace 400 more meters if 200 are already done? You can’t make this stuff up. Century is so out of whack it’d be like electing Bernie Sanders as president just to see who can give away the most stuff.
“Interim City Administrator Vernon Prather recommended that the town hire Precision Meter Repair (PMR) of Plant City to replace 400 residential meters at $160 each.”
This was the guy that talked the council into hiring an interim administrator who then turned around and talked them into hiring this guy. Now he has a particular vendor that he’s recomending … so his expensive advice is to pay somebody else more money that we don’t have. He doesn’t own stock in this company, does he?
When a Gas Meter is replaced, someone needs to be home, because the Gas has to be shut off. After installment, all appliances, Water Heaters have to be Re-lit.
If the meter is changed with no one home, someone has to go back to the home when a Re-light has been called in because the person came home, found a note on the door and no Gas on.
This is not a job for the Mayor to get a shovel (retired on March 3rd), and to (chris)
this would require those Two employees to be on stand-by 24-7 to receive those call when they come in, and go back to the location a second time.
Let’s be realistic, let the City handle the mess that they inherited.
“The town does not have a sufficient balance in its gas fund to pay an outside company to replace the meters, ” But hey, let’s have a council meeting and talk about it anyway. Century talks an awful lot about spending money they will never have.
What exactly do Century employees do all day? You feel the need to hire an outside contractor to do what should have been taking place for months now?
How long can this has never business continue?
reassign two currant gas employees to do the replacement.
IF THEY DO 2 A DAY
WILL TAKE THEM ABOUT ONE YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BETTER YET TEACH THE MAYOR TO USE A SHOVEL