EXCELSIOR SPRINGS – The city is buying and replacing 400 residential water meter bases. Per a request by Public Works Director Chad Bird Per a request by Public Works Director Chad Birdsong approved April 18 by the City Council at the Hall of Waters, the meter bases will cost $35,304 – $88.26 each, Birdsong stated in an April 12 memo to city leaders and reiterated before the vote. KC Winnelson Co. of Kansas City, Kansas, will supply the meters. The city will remove meters “nearing the end of their service life,” Birdsong stated. Meters are swapped out on a 15-year basis, he wrote. “We try to replace about 10% of our meters each year to keep … a newer stock in meters,” Birdsong told city leaders during an April 15 work session at the Hall of Waters. “Typically, the meters last about 15 years, so we … try to stay around that (mark of) 400 meters replaced each year.” The city will install the meters this year “as other meters age and meet that time frame,” Birdsong said. Generally, the…