Frenchtown Township officials are betting that these three devices will make the township's water plant and distribution system more efficient. The small square device (bottom left) is a Ramar radio reader, which is being installed on every meter in the township. The computer-like device is a Walkabout, which the township meter readers will use to read meters while driving the neighborhood streets. The Sensus meter (center above) is required equipment to use the Ramar devices. The radio devices will give more accurate meter readings. By JOSHUA KENNEDY FRENCHTOWN TOWNSHIP - It's called a Ramar radio read.

It's a 3-by-3-inch blue box that's about an inch thick. It's got a nearly foot-long antenna, and it's going to keep a better eye on water consumption for those in Frenchtown Township. The device, cased in a navy blue plastic shell, also is expected to get the township's water plant generating revenue equivalent to its water output.

"These will ensure that people are paying for what they are using," said Treasurer Jacqueline Rousselo about the device the township is installing on every water meter. "No more, no less."

It's another change the township board has decided on to make the 4-million-gallon-a-day water plant at N. Dixie Hwy. and Pointe aux Peaux Rd. more efficient. Two years ago, the board hired McNamee, Porter and Seeley, Inc. - the company that built the plant in 1994 - to run it, amid complaints of billing and service errors.

Mrs. Rousselo said her department immediately went to work correcting the billing problems.

"The girls and I have done an extensive audit of the system," she said, which includes the township's 6,500 water customers. "We found several customers that were not even being charged. But we've gone through it all and we've got a good handle on it now. We've just got to get the new meter readers in so we can eliminate even more potential problems."

That's where the Ramar comes in. The board hired SLC Meter Services of Waterford to install a Ramar radio read on each meter in the township. In many cases, if the meter is more than two years old, that job includes replacing the old, analog meter with a new digital Sensus water meter.

"The whole system is going to radio read," said Supervisor James K. Spas.

The conversion comes with a hefty price tag. Mrs. Rousselo estimated that about 4,000 of the 6,500 meters in the township will need to be replaced with a Sensus meter, which cost $78 each. The Ramar units are $48 each, and the labor to change a meter and install a radio reader is $38 a unit.

If a home already has a Sensus meter, SLC will install the Ramar for $18. If 2,500 meters need only the Ramar, the township will spend $45,000 having those units installed. And for the 4,000 homes that need the replacement and the Ramar, the township will spend about $656,000 to install the new gear.

That puts the price tag for those conversions around $700,000. But in the beach areas, many of the water meters are in pits in front yards. They're buried underground in many cases. The township will pay $50 an hour for one man and $50 an hour for a backhoe to dig up the pits and replace them.

In many cases, those pits are tarred cardboard, said Dave McKeen, superintendent of the water plant. There's no real way to estimate how many pits will need to be rebuilt because every case is different.

Residents won't pay for the conversion individually. The cost is being picked up by the township's water fund. The account used by the treasurer to hold money paid for water and money used to pay for plant maintenance carries about a $1.5 million balance, Mrs. Rousselo said.

It fluctuates, depending on when bills are due and what maintenance is being paid for, but the fund is expected to cover the conversion costs.

"We're losing money through our metering system," Mr. Spas said. "We've got to spend money to make money."

The conversions already have begun. The township will be serviced in quarters with about 1,250 customers in each quadrant. The west side of the township is being worked on now. The conversion will take about a year.

"Within two to five years, this will be a wash," Mrs. Rousselo said. "We'll gain in revenue what hasn't been operating properly and make all the money back. This is a much more accurate system. There are less people keying in numbers, less room for error. The meter does it all."

After the Ramar is installed, a meter reader needs only to drive the streets of the township to collect billing data, Mr. McKeen said.

"We're real excited about this," he said. "What used to take my meter reader two weeks of walking the township will now take about two or three hours. That frees her up for a lot more stuff."

The Walkabout, the computer used to read the Ramar devices, even will troubleshoot the devices from the street. So missed reads will be highlighted during the reading process and corrected before the billing cycle.

"Currently, when a remote isn't working, we have to guesstimate bills," Mrs. Rousselo said. "That's difficult because no two families are the same. This system will ensure no more estimates are used and that people will pay for all the water they are using."

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-- Anonymous, February 02, 2002