City staff presented two water‑related purchasing items: a planned purchase of Neptune potable water meters and a ratification of an emergency interim dewatering service for the city’s wastewater treatment operation.

Staff reported the city currently holds about 900 domestic meters and 470 reclaimed meters in inventory and installs or replaces roughly 400–500 meters per month; at that rate the current inventory would be depleted by December 2025. To support the meter change‑out program through mid‑FY26, the water department recommended purchasing 2,898 meters from Ferguson Water Works (sole source provider) at a cost of $999,810. Staff said meters are acquired as inventory and charged to the appropriate cost center when deployed; costs for new construction are assigned to developers rather than the city.

Separately, staff described an emergency purchase to address failures or imminent failures in variable frequency drives (VFDs) on the belt press system at Wastewater Plant 3. The belt press converts sludge into a transportable cake; while repairs are underway the city contracted Synagro South LLC for a mobile dewatering centrifuge capable of processing up to 120,000 gallons of sludge per day for roughly two weeks. Staff issued an emergency purchase order for approximately $71,000 to expedite mobilization and requested retroactive ratification by the commission because the amount exceeded the city manager’s threshold for sole‑source emergency buys.

Staff said the centrifuge deployment was intended to maintain operations during repairs; no formal vote to approve the meter purchase or the ratification was recorded in the transcript provided.