Jasper Utility Service Board discusses leadership training among other items last night

Jim O’Neal WITZ News

The Jasper Utility Service Board Meeting was held Monday night and Jasper Mayor Terry Seitz made a push to the board to accept his choice of Chorus, Incorporated, to perform the training for the Strategic Planning and Leadership Initiative.

The Board, however, pushed back against the Mayor’s request, instead asking for another 30 days to look at references on what the company has done with other organizations.

Board Chairman Wayne Schuetter asked “Why Chorus?” questioning the choice of the company Mayor Seitz picked to develop and deliver the program.

Seitz says that his choice of Chorus was due to his previous work with the company, and that as incoming Mayor, he believes that since the program is his idea, the choice of who to use for the training should be equally his as well.

Schuetter and others expressed concern that a local company was not sought out to perform the training.

Seitz told the board that he has “a great comfort (level) with them as a Mayor.” He also told the board that he is adding himself back in to the training at the request of Schuetter after originally saying that he would not take part to save the City the $2,700 cost. He told the board last night that he would find the funding from a private company to fund the extra cost.

Board member Alex Emmons questioned why there was no budget review onthe issue since the USB would be required to fund $22,000 of the training for those in the Utility Department that would be sent to the training. Schuetter asked for another 30 days to examine references before he would ask for a motion on the training.

In other news, Seitz asked the board to approve another 90-day contract with Shaneyfelt and Bohnenkemper to provide legal services for the City at $14,000 per month.

Seitz told the board that advertising for a full-time legal representative has produced a “trickle” of resumes and instead of having to come back to the board every 30 days to renew a contract with Shaneyfelt and Bohnenkemper, he preferred a 90 day extension, which would give them the time to review and select a candidate for the position. The board passed that request.

The board also passed a motion to make another payment – this one in the amount of $376,164.85 – to Force Construction for the Beaver Lake Dam project. Utility General Manager Bud Hauersperger reports that this would be the 6th payment to them, which represents about one half of the projects total price tag.

Hauersperger says that the project is coming along, but that they are still about 30 days behind and are working on Saturdays to try to catch up. However, Hauersperger says that Force would need an extension on the original completion date to finish the project beyond the original date.

Hauersperger also gave an update on the Heidorn property behind the Jasper Power Plant, saying that a purchase agreement is now in place between the two parties. The board passed a motion to accept the purchase agreement, which is in the amount of $315,000. The motion will be forwarded to the Jasper City Council for a vote during Wednesday night’s meeting.

Finally, Waste Water Manager, Ed Hollinden, gave an update on the north side sewer project. He explained the city gave the customers an opportunity to voluntarily have inspections done of their lateral lines. He felt this could potentially save them money before the contractor came through and repaired the sewer lines. This has went over well with the customers.