The issue of the city of Porterville's effort to eventually place smart water meters at all of the 17,000 places that it services came up art the Porterville City Council's meeting on Tuesday.

The issue came up as the result of a consent calendar item that was placed on the agenda for $100,000 to be allocated from the water replacement fund for the repair and replacement of smart meters that have been installed so far.

In the end the council decided to approve for only up to $5,000 to be spent on the repair and replacement of a small number of meters and for city staff to come back on an as needed basis if more funds are needed. City staff can spend up to $5,000 for needs without council approval.

Several years ago the then-council approved allocating about $4 million for the city's wat

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