PUBLIC NOTICE – Pinedale Water Metering
by Town of Pinedale, WLC Engineering, Surveying & Planning
May 26, 2011
The Town of Pinedale has historically provided the people, families and businesses of Pinedale with clean, safe, reliable drinking water service, upon demand, at whatever consumption volumes residents desire. The Town has never before attempted to measure the amount of water our residents or businesses consume. In return for reliable, on-demand drinking water service, the Town of Pinedale has historically charged among the lowest drinking water consumption rates in all of Wyoming.
The State of Wyoming now requires Pinedale, and all local communities throughout the State, to begin:
1) measuring the amount of water we provide to each customer; and
2) charging the drinking water consumption rate necessary to properly maintain our community's drinking water system.
Because the Town of Pinedale does not now, nor has it ever, measured either residential or commercial water consumption, and because the Town of Pinedale charges a flat water rate per customer regardless of the volume of water each customer uses, the Town of Pinedale's water rates are insufficient to fund our community's drinking water system.
Consequently, beginning next month (June 2011), the Town of Pinedale must take the following first two steps in the process of installing water meters for all drinking water customers:
STEP 1 Conduct an inventory of every address to determine the precise location and size of each customer’s water service line so that we can install the appropriate meter at each location.
STEP 2 Launch a detailed study of the community's drinking water system.
We anticipate taking approximately 12-months to complete these two steps.
The Town of Pinedale will provide several easily accessible opportunities for you, your family and neighbors to engage in the process and provide meaningful input. Please be confident that ultimately, your input will help shape final rate structures and related decision-making.
To that end, the Town Council intends to host four public workshops the first of which will take place in August with the others to be scheduled at a later date. The purpose of each public workshop is specifically to update the people of Pinedale on project status and to engage the community in candid discussions about the costs of maintaining a safe, reliable, affordable and sustainable drinking water system.
The Town will provide you with mail and newspaper notification and to the degree practicable email notification about the schedule for any/all public meetings.
To complete the tasks at hand, the Town has retained expert assistance from four nationally, regionally, and locally recognized firms:
-Stantec Consulting Services – an internationally recognized engineering firm in charge of managing the project.
- WLC Engineering Surveying and Planning – a local engineering firm primarily responsible for the inventory and installation of meters.
- ESC Engineering – a regional firm primarily responsible for the electrical requirements and system telemetry for the water meters.
- StepWise Utility Advisors – a regional expert in water and wastewater utility rates and finances.
Because the Town will conduct inventories of customers’ water services immediately, please be advised that you will receive a separate notification to inform you specifically about when our contractors will require access to your water service connection to complete their assigned task.
In closing, I would like to offer a warm and sincere "thank you" in advance for your time, patience, cooperation and understanding as we work together to improve the basic drinking water infrastructure upon which we all rely, but sometimes take for granted.
Please call Leah Radakovich at the offices of WLC Engineering at 307-367-6548 with questions.
Sincerely,
Stephen B. Smith
Mayor
CC: Town Council Member Nylla Kunard
Town Council Member Chris House
Town Council Member Dave Hohl
Town Council Member Michael Kudar
Town Engineer, Eugene Ninnie, P.E.
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