Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

City Council Ponders Cost Of Providing Electricity Locally

BY AUTUMN LEAMONS

Electrical rates were the big topic at the Monday, October 19, meeting of the Prescott City Council.

The city provides electricity to both Firestone and Potlatch. The city has been doing so for several years and plans to keep doing so in the future.

The city receives electricity from the Entergy Corp. and then the city has a contract with the two plants. Therefore, when the city renews its contract with the electrical company it must also get Firestone and Potlatch to renew its contracts.

The council never voted on whether to except the bid from Entergy or to receive other bids from other companies. An ordinance had been passed stating that if the council had not made any decisions by now that the contract with Entergy would be set into motion, unless the council decided to start all over again from scratch. This would mean that the residents of Prescott would not see any lower rates for a long period of time.

The council approved to accept the Firestone and Potlatch resolutions with a vote of 6 for and 1 against with one Howard Austin absent.

Councilman Danny Beavert had this to say in a prepared statement explaining his vote against the decision, "I had several reasons I had to vote against a new agreement with Entergy at this time. One reason was that the citizens or the council had no idea what we could purchase power for from another wholesaler, because Mayor Taylor would not seek out other suppliers. We had 2 years left on our present contract with Entergy, so there was no hurry.

"It is true," Beavert continued, "residential rates should be about 9% lower in the next 5 years, and industry rates, Potlatch and Firestone, will be approximately 15% lower. However, in 2 years we would have had a chance to reduce our rates even greater, perhaps even twice that much by seeking another supplier. By getting another wholesale price or two, no doubt Entergy would have come down on their price also. Mayor Taylor needed to be more open-minded and try to find out what is best for the people of Prescott, not just sign off on a 'quick fix.' Entergy came running to us with a 'good deal' and Mayor Taylor was satisfied. The opportunity to lower our electric bills considerably in 2 years, now no longer exists. I am sure Potlatch and Firestone would like even lower electric bills had they had a chance to choose. I feel as if this was a very important issue that was not looked at or evaluated from all angles by Mayor Taylor for the best interest for the entire city.

"I do say I have the highest respect for the vote of my fellow councilmen, and support their decision and we will continue to work together for what is best for Prescott and its citizens.

"I ask that Mayor Taylor now show as mush 'forcefulness' to some other needed items, such as city streets, a lease law, civic-community building, rural water project and the enforcement of all city ordinances," Beavert concluded.

Next month's meeting will discuss the big topic of residential electrical rates and should be a meeting for all to attend. The council is hoping to get everything ironed out and maybe have new lower rates in effect by December 1. The members will check into the legality of the matter and will further inform the public at next month's meeting.

Walt Denton was present at Monday night's meeting to answer questions that the council might have for him.

Councilman Beavert had heard that the rural water system had been put onto the back burner and he was very upset.

Denton answered Beavert by explaining that the company that was in charge of putting in the water system is back logged at this time and unfortunately Prescott was on the back log list. Denton is optimistic that by the year 2,001 the project around Prescott should be underway or possibly through with.

Denton also said that he is trying to get more information on who the rural water will be affecting in order to receive funding from the state. The funding is provided to programs that can prove that schools, churches, small businesses and many citizens will be benefitting from the water. Denton said that he and Mayor Taylor will keep gathering information until they believe that they have enough to give to the funding committee.

Gary Lewis and George Odom were present at Monday night's meeting to inform the council that the Kabota tractor that is used to clean up and maintain certain places around the city had recently thrown a rod.

The council said that the tractor was purchased around nine years ago and the city should be able to find a new motor for it. Lewis told the council that he and Odom had tried to locate one, but had not been successful since the tractor is made overseas. The council then asked if any bids for new tractors had been received and what they where. Lewis said that they had talked to Fallin Tractor in Magnolia and that they would give them $2,500 trade-in on a new Kabota tractor that they would be able to find parts for. The cost of the tractor after trade-in would be $7,800.

Odom and Lewis had also checked with a John Deere salesman and was told that they could not give them anything for the trade-in of the old tractor. The cost of a new John Deere without the trade-in would be around $11,000.

The council decided to get some more bids from other tractor companies to see what its options are, therefore, putting the topic on hold until next month's meeting.

Council member Ann Stockton brought up some problems with the library that she had experienced for herself and had heard others mention also.

Stockton said that you could not get any help when you were in the library unless you do it yourself. Other council members chimed in to say that they had also had experiences with this problem.

"The library is an important part of our community and the county," Stockton said. "Our children need to be able to get the information they need when they need it." Karen Ward strongly agreed with Stockton as well as the other members.

Some council members wanted to know what had happened to the money that was donated to the library by the city. It was agreed that the money had been used to improve the library, but there is too much that needs to be done. The roof is still leaking and books are being ruined. There are also complaints about the parking area around the library.

The mayor agreed that something needs to be done about these particular problems. He appointed a committee to look into possible ways to better the library, or maybe even find a new location. The committee is made up of Karen Ward, Ann Stockton and Danny Beavert.

During last month's meeting the problems with the police radios were questioned. A report was requested last night to see if any progress had been made.

William Latin, Prescott Chief of Police, said th