Andy,
The support fees get invoiced directly to the City by Badger Meter. General Pacific is the local distributor and we provide meters, which we invoice the City for, under the name General Pacific and local support, which we don’t invoice for.
Those charges, that come at the same time every year, look like they are for support services, even though some say WATER METERS. In 2011 the City upgraded to READCENTER software and upgraded the laptop reader. I would guess that the last year the laptop was covered was 2016, and that’s why the charge was close to $4,000 every year. Laptops are only able to be covered by maintenance for 5 years. At the end of that term, the charges dropped considerably so it would be my assumption that your coverage changed to READCENTER support only. Badger historically invoiced annually, but have recently changed that to the 6 month term to help accommodate the large number of utilities that are upgrading to BEACON software.
I don’t have a copy of a formal agreement, and am not ever sure there is one. There is a licensing agreement that is signed at the City when the initial training is completed by Badger personnel and returned to Badger corporate. I am however the person that can work with the appropriate contacts at Badger Meter to determine what agreements were signed and get you copies. I will forward to you as soon as possible.
Thanks for the clarifications and the good questions!
Lori Bryson
Business Development Manager
General Pacific Water Utilities
From: Andy Peters [mailto:apeters@cityofmolalla.com]
Sent: Friday, October 5, 2018 2:32 PM
To: Lori Bryson; Adam Shultz
Cc: Aaron Lambert; Heather Penni; Chaunee Seifried; Gerald Fisher
Subject: RE: READCENTER Software
Lori, of course we wish for the support you describe, but the City needs to understand the terms if that’s okay. I’m assuming the City of Molalla signed an agreement outlining these services you are billing for? The document attached appears to be more of a brochure and would not constitute terms of agreement to my thinking. Please provide me with your copy of this signed agreement (unless there isn’t one?).
Also, I’m not sure I understand what you are saying about billing every 6 months. Do you bill as Badger Meter? Or as a parent business of some kind, because it doesn’t match my billing history below. The only invoices ever received from Badger Meter in the last 5 years are for water meters, and a single Service Renewal Fee dated 8/26/17 for over $4000. I could of course be mistaken. I just want to understand the business space we are both playing in.
Thank you
Andy Peters
City of Molalla
Public Works Operations Supervisor
(503) 829-6855 x220
Cell: 503-793-0507
117 N Molalla Ave
Molalla, OR 97038
From: Lori Bryson <lbryson@generalpacific.com>
Sent: Friday, October 5, 2018 2:15 PM
To: Adam Shultz <ashultz@cityofmolalla.com>; Andy Peters <apeters@cityofmolalla.com>
Cc: Aaron Lambert <alambert@generalpacific.com>
Subject: READCENTER Software
Hi Adam & Andy,
Adam thanks for the call today… I have attached a document that outlines the maintenance support program that you have been invoiced for on your READCENTER Route Management Software. The ReadCenter Reading Data Management Software Maintenance Support Program has been designed to provide utilities with additional support for their reading system, after the expiration of the initial product warranty. As the critical link in the transfer of meter reading data to the utility billing software, the program provides software updates to the utility, technical support to help troubleshoot and diagnose problems, discounts for online and on-site customer training, and the ability to increase your return on investment by reducing unexpected downtime.
I always encourage customers to invest in the ongoing support and maintenance contracts – it provides instant access to Badger’s tech support group for your customer service clerks, no matter what the problem is. With the ever-changing staffing utilities have to deal with, it is added protection that the knowledge in using the software can be ongoing. Also, when changes are made to the billing software, tech support can help guide you through challenges with set ups in READCENTER, because they keep records of your installations. The attached shows what the hourly or per-call rate can be as well. In your case, I know that Ginger has been able to utilize the tech support experience several times as she is learning a new system. They can help her decide when the call or the adjustment really needs to go through the billing software provider.
READCENTER is invoiced in 6 month intervals. If during that 6 month time frame the City were to choose to move to a newer technology (like our BEACON software) any remaining months credit would be converted to cover the new BEACON Mobile Hosting Fees, dollar for dollar, so no investment would be lost. The City could send a request through me, the distributor, asking that any remaining value be transferred to the new technology.
This makes it very easy for municipalities to have the confidence that they will be covered no matter which solution they are using, and they will not be penalized or burdened with additional expenses when making a change.
I hope this clarifies your questions. Please feel free to reach out if I have failed to address anything we discussed.
Lori Bryson
Business Development Manager
(503) 477-0912 Cell
