BONNERS FERRY — The council voted to move forward with a contract for a new electric and water metering system with Aclara at its July 20 meeting.

The item has been in discussion for several years, including at two council meetings, City Administrator Mike Klaus said. But, due to the $1 million cost, he said it made sense to get approval from the council to move forward with the contract with Aclara.

"This might be a fairly complicated one and I think Aclara wanted to make sure they had some surety that that's what the council intended to do."

Klaus said city staff has been working on a capital plan for the electric department, one of two departments that would fund the new meters. The other would be the water department. Roughly $800,000 would come from the electric department and the remaining $200,000 would come from the water department.

In the city's 2026 capital plan, the budget includes $250,000 for metering. The electric budget would bring another $550,000 over the estimated three years it will take to change over the city's estimated 3,000 meters.

The new meters would allow staff to read water and electrical usage remotely instead of having to manually read them, preventing potential interactions with upset residents or aggressive pets. In the event the city has to close service, it could be done remotely as the system is wireless.

"I think the new metering system will make it a lot easier on staff to collect reads," the city administrator said.

After discussions with Aclara, Klaus said it made sense to push the date to switch to the new meters until after the city switches to its new billing system on Oct. 1, 2027. By waiting until after the new billing system goes live, the city administrator said there will only be one implementation and one training instead of two — one with the old meters and one with the new ones.

"It kind of pushes the project out a little bit too, maybe more so than what I even show in the (capital improvement) plan here," he told the council. "But the further you go, the easier it is to pay for it, too."

In other business, Bonners Ferry Police Chief Willie Cowell reported that three misdemeanor cases were sent to the Bonner County Prosecutor's Office and 36 infractions were sent to the clerk's office.

Cowell told councilors that the department's new Glock pistols had arrived and officers would begin training on the guns, with plans to transition to the weapons on Aug. 5.

The council voted to declare a variety of items surplus, including eight police cars — seven somewhat operational and an eighth that had been wrecked. Other items declared surplus were an old golf course sprayer, an old compressor and an old mower.

The items will be available for bid on GovDeals, an online system that sells surplus assets from government, education and related entities to the public.

The council voted to approve a contract with Selkirk Sealcoat to pave Apple Alley for $18,859.

Bonners Ferry Golf Course manager Ben Staples told councilors that the golf course is "pretty much right on the case" of its 2025 numbers. Renovation of the bar is about 70% done, with plumbing among the work left to complete. A potential kitchen upgrade was moved to a second phase due to higher-than-expected costs, Staples said.

In terms of the course itself, Staples said a key box is being added to the sixth hole with a shorter par 5 of 460 yards. Work is being done on the cart path and a new water line is planned.

A fire was started on the golf course on Saturday, July 18, after someone threw something out of a car at about 4:30 p.m.

"Everyone with a half-mile heard it explode," Staples told the council. "Got both sides of the road with fire and it was headed toward the hill above (Hole) 5 there."

A quick response by the fire department and other first responders prevented a serious fire, Staples said.

"It could have been bad," he added.