Julie Couch has been town manager of Fairview Texas, a town of 11,000, since 2012. Prior to that she was city manager of Rockwall, Texas for about 19 years. She recently received a service award from the Texas City Management Association honoring her 45 years as a member. She has spent a great deal of time and effort grappling with the issues of procurement in small communities and shares a series of her insights in the following Q&A.

Couch will also be participating in a webinar hosted by Civic Marketplace and Barrett and Greene, Inc. on September 24 at 2:00 PM ET to talk about the difficulties confronted by small communities that lack procurement expertise. The webinar is titled “Changing the procurement flow: Fairview’s advanced water metering success story.” Speakers, in addition to Couch, are Troy Riggs, executive director of the Alliance for Innovation, and Diane Palmer-Boeck, who plays a pivotal role in the TXShare Cooperative Purchasing Program.

You can sign up for the webinar here.

Q. Many small communities lack procurement departments. Do you have one in Fairview?

We do not. That has been one of our challenges. You know, in my previous role, I worked with a centralized, full-service purchasing department staffed with professionals who understood the details of bid preparation and legal compliance.

And then when I came to Fairview, we didn't have that. After I had been here for about two years, we added a CFO position.  The finance department does help manage the financial administration process related to purchasing. However, individual departments still manage most of their own purchasing, with payment processing centralized through finance.

Q. Is it a problem having the departments handle the bulk of their own procurements?

For routine purchases it is typically not a problem.  We regularly use purchasing co-ops for routine purchases related to equipment, vehicles, and materials.The challenge arises when departments must develop more complex Requests for Proposals (RFPs) for services, especially when they lack familiarity with the process. Our staff is capable, but they don’t regularly engage in complex acquisitions.

When it comes to large or complicated purchasing programs such as an Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) system that involves integration with multiple departments and software, developing an RFP to meet our needs would fall to several department managers to coordinate that effort.  Crafting an RFP that addresses system integration, legal requirements, and procurement standards demands significant time and expertise.

Q. How have your departments gone about making procurements of any magnitude?

If you're having to do it without the assistance of trained purchasing staff, one option is researching other cities for examples of RPF’s for the acquisition being undertaken. When cities put out their own packages, obviously they're tailoring it to their needs, which may or may not meet the needs of the city that’s making the queries. Using an example RFP would potentially involve editing a document to better meet the needs of your city.  On a complicated procurement that can take time and expertise that may not be available from existing staff.

Another option may be to seek outside expertise to develop a program. That’s an added expense that would need to be built into the cost of the project.

Q. Outside of the departments themselves, is there stress on the central government to do significant procurements?

Absolutely. It may require the diversion of staff from their core responsibilities to assist with RFP development. It’s a time-intensive process that impacts overall departmental productivity.

Q. We understand that you’re planning to implement a new utility metering system for the Town?

Several years ago the Town identified the need for a smart water meter system that could interact with an integrated communication software and financial system.

There are several different ways cities can read meters. The old-fashioned way was to have meterreaders read every single meter monthly.  They used to write down each reading in paper books for billing.

Obviously, things have improved significantly over the decades. Our currentmeter reading system, Automated Meter Reading (AMR) transmits a signal to a truck mounted computer.  The truck must drive by all of the meters to collect those readings and return them to the utility department for billing.

Q. What are the problems with the current system?

Our current system lacks the capability to provide detailed usage data, making it difficult to address concerns or answer questions from residents. We have residential properties that can use significant amounts of water. It's not uncommon for us to have residents who have $1,000 water bills during the summer months. Our current system doesn’t allow the Town to easily produce the information desired by users.

Q. How does the new system you wanted to purchase improve the process?

The system we’re now purchasing allows those readings to be transmitted directly to our financial system by radio transmission. The system provides for two-way communication between the town and its residents.  Residents can monitor their usage via an app or website, view real-time consumption, and set alerts to manage water use proactively—without needing to contact town staff.

Q. That’s a huge project, but you used a novel way of procuring it. Can you tell us about that?

We got to the point where we were ready to move forward with the project. Council was supportive of it, and we were ready to proceed with the acquisition. We had an internal team involved in developing an RFP. We began by reviewing copies of RFPs from other cities. We quickly realized that we lacked the technical depth to draft a comprehensive RFP or evaluate proposals effectively.

Q. How did you solve your procurement dilemma?

I was at a meeting that Ron Holifield had set up with area cities to talk about procurement challenges in cities. During the meeting I talked about our procurement issues and the complexity of the metering decision. He saw an opportunity for collaborative procurement contracting and he was able to connect us with theTXShare Cooperative Purchasing Program by the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG), link here.  They partnered Civic Marketplace to assist in the development of the cooperative contract for meter services.

The TXSharerepresentativescollaborated with Town staff to define our requirements. They also reached out to other cities interested in such a program and incorporated their comments as well.  The result was an RFP that included Fairview’s specifications but was flexible enough to serve other cities as well.

Our Public Works Manager, along with representatives from other participating cities,was included on the evaluation committee, helping assess vendor proposals to ensure compliance with RFP criteria. This collaborative approach was instrumental in selecting vendors that met the outlined needs.

Q. Can you describe why a cooperative contracting approach worked well for you in this case?

One of the big advantages to cooperative purchasing like this is that you can anticipate you're going to get better pricing, because the vendors are anticipating multiple contracts ultimately coming from these cooperative purchasing arrangements.

Q. What happened next?

The TXShare bid evaluation committee recommended a number of vendors to be accepted that met the standards that were laid out in the RFP forAdvanced Metering Infrastructure, and we selected one of those vendors for our project. The pilot has already begun with meter installations in a neighborhood with about 125 meters.  We are now in the analysis stage making sure all the systems work together, and ensuring our utility staff is trained to support residents and respond to inquiries.

Q. I understand that other cities can benefit from this work, right?

Yes—one of the strengths of cooperative procurement is its replicability. The RFP developed through TXShare can be adapted by other cities with similar goals, streamlining their procurement process and reducing administrative burden.

Q. Were there any roadblocks as you moved forward?

While not a roadblock per se, securing approval from the governing body is essential. Elected officials must be confident in the program’s value and understand the benefits it delivers to the community.

(Procurement for the Future articles are supported by Civic Marketplace.)

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