Jasper Utility Service Board heard goodbyes from members and voted on a 12 month extension for Jasper Clean Energy lease
Jasper Utility Service Board Meeting
It was a Utility Service Board meeting of “finals” for the City of Jasper Monday night.
First, it was the final USB meeting of 2011. Second, it was the final meeting with Sandy Hemmerlein as Board Attorney. And finally it was the final meeting in which the Board addressed Bill Schmitt as Mayor of Jasper. And, unless Doug Schulte is re-appointed by incoming Mayor Terry Seitz, it might be the final meeting for him as well. (The Common Council makes this appointment not the mayor, sorry for the misunderstanding)
USB President Wayne Schuetter made statements to both Hemmerlein and Schmitt stating how great each was in their respective positions and how great it has been to work with both during their tenure.
Hemmerlein stated to the board that she felt fortunate to be a citizen of Jasper, “…where not only do we have outstanding, dedicated elected officials, our appointed officials such as you the members of the Utility Service Board are also tremendous, caring individuals. I want to thank all of you for being so easy to work with and I wish you all nothing but the best.”
Mayor Schmitt thanked each of those present and their predecessors for all that they have done for the City of Jasper.
A round of applause followed each statement.
In another important development, outside City Attorney Bill Kaiser presented to the USB an amendment to the lease agreement with Jasper Clean Energy. Kaiser explained to the Board that the current litigation in Perry Circuit Court has forced a change in the dates on which specific things were to happen if there had not been a delay.
First, the lease option payments in the amount of $60,000 quarterly should have begun on October 1st, if the lease had been signed and the process of converting the Power Plant started. It now has been pushed out 12 months.
Second, the rest of the lease payments also have had to be pushed back as well. Kaiser suggested a 12 month extension for those to give time for the lawsuit to be settled. The amount of the lease payments is specified in the lease agreement to be $425,000.
After a lengthy explanation by Kaiser, and ensuing discussion, the USB voted to approve the amendments to the lease and send it on to the Jasper City Council for their approval as well.
The Jasper Utility Service Board also voted to:
- Approve capital expenditure plans for 2012 for the departments of Electric Distribution; Gas & Water; Wastewater and General Utility operations.
- Approve the purchase of a Loader Backhoe for the Wastewater Department from Hopf Equipment in the amount of $6,974.00.
- Approve the purchase of a Sludge Spreader, also for the Wastewater Department in the amount of $17,990.00; again from Hopf Equipment.
- Approve the continuation of 32 hours for work by Power Plant employees for another 90 days.
The Board heard from Utility General Manager Bud Hauersperger on the denial of the Community Challenge grant for the funding of electric recharging stations in Jasper for electric vehicles but he also stated this is not the last effort for the project, though:
Hauersperger and Gas & Water Manager Mike Oeding report that the Beaver Lake Dam project is behind by a month due to bad weather. Also, a change in winter road rules for county roads might affect how the project is worked on during the next few months:
Hauersperger also got approval to pay Force Construction for work on the Beaver Lake Dam project the amount of $178,209.22 from the funds allocated from grant monies, etc.
He also reported to the Board that the Utility department wrote off $10,771.45 in bad debts for utility services.
Meanwhile, City Attorney Sandy Hemmerlein reported that through collection efforts, the City recovered $15,398.78 in unpaid utility fees less court costs of $5,849.00.
