Politics & Government

Northville OKs Road Assessments, New Water Meter-Reading System

The City Council hires two Michigan-based firms for two new contracts.

A new road repair assessment project aimed at getting federal dollars for Northville city streets and a new automatic reader system were approved Monday night by Northville’s City Council.

Road assessment firm OK'd by council

In a report to the council, Director of Public Works James Gallogly explained that the road repair assessments program “is intended to provide a tool to cost-effectively use street improvement funds. The proposed plan is to gear this program at preserving pavements in good condition while systematically rehabilitating and reconstructing pavements in fair to poor condition.”

Assessing these roads will allow the city to become more competitive in seeking federal dollars in Oakland and Wayne counties for city street repairs, he said. Using what is called the Pavement Surface Evaluation and Rating (PASER), the system for evaluating road conditions will standardize the process to one used by many communities seeking federal dollars. The assessments will be limited to city streets, not county ones, Gallogly said.

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The council voted to award the contract to Michigan-based Spalding DeDecker for $23,710. The company was one of eight bidders but did not have the lowest bid.

“The fact that Spalding DeDecker does this nationally impresses me,” Gallogly told the council.

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Councilwoman Nancy Darga voiced support for his reasoning, saying that “I’ve never been a proponent of the lowest bid because you get what you pay for,” she said.

The project is expected to start immediately.

New water meter-reading system approved

Gallogly also discussed a new meter-reading system that is expected to save city dollars.

He explained that 10 years ago the system required entry into city residents’ homes in order to get a water reading. Later, when the city switched to its current system, staff was able to get meter readings by pressing a button.

“Well, it’s 10 years later and there are new systems out there,” he said.

According to his report to the council, when the current system experienced technical problems, the city discovered that it is so outdated that it is no longer made or even serviceable.

The City Council unanimously approved a temporary fix—replacing it with a system compatible with the Neptune meters used throughout the city. The city will pay Madison Heights-based RIO Supply Michigan Meter Inc. $17,840.

“This is state-of-the-art new stuff,” he said.

In the future, per the suggestions of the citizens budget committee, the city will have to replace the entire system and meters to the tune of $1 million. It would allow city staff to get meter readings by a feed to a desktop computer for billing to customers.

Gallogly said, “it’s a great system, but it’s an expensive one.”

Councilman Doug Bingham asked if Gallogly recommended increasing the cost to residents in anticipation of such a big expenditure.

“We’re hitting residents pretty hard this year with what DWSD (the Detroit Water Sewer Department) and Wayne County passed on to us,” he said. “I don’t think this would be a good year.”

He explained that the city was able to obtain the rate under the Oakland County Inter-Governmental Cooperative Purchasing Program.


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