Jackson staff to interview firms for utility meter project

Jackson city staff will interview two engineering firms next week for their automated meter infrastructure project, city administrator Jim Roach told the Jackson Board of Aldermen in a study session Monday.

A dozen firms submitted bids for the wireless project that Roach said will allow all of the city's residents' water and electric meter readings to be reported back to a data center at Jackson City Hall. The project will cut down on labor costs, he said after the session.

Engineers from Burns and McDonnell in Kansas City, Mo., and Utility Works in Baton Rouge, La., will go before a panel of city staff, who will make a decision about who will complete the project. Their decision will be brought back to the aldermen.

"Either one of the firms look capable of leading us through a major project in Jackson, which will spill over in the next calendar year most certainly," he said.

During their regular meeting, the aldermen approved an application to the Missouri Department of Transportation to apply for funding for overtime for Jackson police officers. The grant, Mayor Barbara Lohr said, would allow officers to conduct additional checkpoints in the city.

The board also approved an ordinance amending a portion of the city code regulating the obstruction of sidewalks for new developments.

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