Four natural gas meters targeted for repair
The Century Town Council approved Town Consultant Buzz Eddy's recommendation to pay one natural gas consultant $4,750 and the other consultant $35 an hour to assess and evaluate four gas meters at four businesses in Century that are not working properly at its Monday, Aug. 5, meeting.
Sunrise Donuts, Coin Laundry and Storage, The Panhandle Cafe and Food Giant all have gas meters that are not working properly or at all, according to Eddy.
Eddy said the town has asked Glenn House from Okaloosa Gas and Vernon Prather, retired from Gulf Breeze Natural Gas, to come out and evaluate the four meters at the four businesses and find out what is necessary to get them repaired and operating properly. He said the meters would be read properly and easily by gas department personnel once they are repaired and that they would be up to 2019 standards.
Eddy said the gas meter at Coin Laundry had stopped reading at all and the gas meter at the Panhandle Cafe was not reading correctly.
“We recommend that Mr. House and Mr. Prather be authorized to go out for the price of $4,700 and replace or repair those meters and get them up to standard,” said Eddy. “This amount is to cover Mr. House only, plus time and materials. Mr. Prather would work under me for $35 an hour.”
Council President Ann Brooks requested a motion to authorize GP's Gas Appliance Repair and Piping, LLC to replace gas meters at the four businesses for $4,750 plus $35 an hour for Vernon Prather to begin Wednesday, Aug. 7. A motion was made by Councilman Luis Gomez and seconded by Councilwoman Sandra McMurray Jackson.
A member of the media at the meeting asked Eddy why the town didn't bid out the job.
“We found that just evaluating the prices against what other utilities have paid for similar efforts are comparable and to take the time to bid it out or even inquire about quotes will have those meters inoperable for that period of time,” said Eddy. “It's just one of those things that having an expert come in and tell you I've contacted someone that's competent and they can do the work and they're available immediately, I think time is of the essence to get the people on the job and get it done.”
It was decided the issue does constitute and emergency when media inquired, so the motion was made to include that it is an emergency. There was discussion as to how the poorly or non-operating meters have not been noticed until now and Eddy pointed out that a diagnosis was the key to getting the meters operating properly.
The council voted unanimously to approve the motion. The motion carried.
