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An agenda item added at the start of last week’s Wyoming city council meeting may be a larger issue than it appeared to be at first blush. The question put on the agenda was if the city should suspend installation of the new remote-read water meters because city ordinances call for “licensed plumbers” to install meters, and the sub-contractor crews that have already put in 500 meters are not licensed.

Complaints about bypassing the city’s code motivated him to raise the issue, Mayor Sheldon Anderson said.

Mayor Anderson and Council member Joe Zerwas felt the city must adhere to its own rules and voted for Anderson’s motion to halt meter work while the issue is looked into.

Council members Ted Phillips, Tom LaBarre and Blake Tiedeman opposed and the motion halting meter work failed.

LaBarre, Tiedeman and Phillips said they have heard nothing but good comments about the installers working for Midwest Testing LLC, of St. Lous Park. Representatives for the installer company attended the council meeting and assured the city its installers are not doing any “plumbing.”

“They are unscrewing two bolts, pulling the old meters and attaching the new ones,” they maintained. If the meter site requires repairs to piping, valves or has other plumbing issues, the Midwest installers call in plumbers and put the location on a call-back list.

Midwest is a subcontractor for Minnesota Pipe and Equipment in Farmington, which the city council awarded the meter installation based on their bid of $292,376.

Christian Anderson, with Minnesota Pipe and Equipment, told the Chisago County Press that Midwest Testing LLC has worked with Pipe & Equipment many times. Anderson said he recalls no wording in the bid specs requiring the meter equipment and installation to be done by “licensed plumbers.”

Wyoming’s public works supervisor Bill Eisenmenger also noted during the city council meeting that public works has been “changing-out meters for 14 years” in the city and Eisenmenger hasn’t had licensed plumbers doing that.

City Attorney Tom Miller said the definition of installation might need clarifying. He said he could work on the issue to see if the city ordinance could contain better language defining licensing for “installation” versus unlicensed skills suited for replacing existing meter units.

Miller explained that normally state code doesn’t mandate licensed plumbers doing work like this in cities of fewer than 5,000 population; but for whatever reason Wyoming does have an ordinance specifically requiring licensure.

The upshot of the council discussion was Midwest Testing LLC representatives left the meeting with the impression they will continue to changeout meters even though there was no action taken officially waiving the city ordinance.

Councilmembers Tiedeman, Phillips and LaBarre had said they could support a temporary “waiver” of the ordinance, which Miller advised was a potential way to resolve the meter project but there was no motion or vote.

Gary Menne, a Wyoming-based plumber, said after the meeting that he knew of plumbers who were questioning how the meter equipment and installation bid was handled and that he would be pursuing additional details about the bid advertising and awarding.

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