Jasper Utility Service Board Meeting – September 17

The Jasper Utility Service Board met for their regular monthly meeting Monday night and concluded their business in less than 30 minutes.

The board held a quote opening on a Emergency Generator Upgrade for the Wastewater Department. Only one quote was submitted to the City in the amount of $90,955.00 from Evapar of Evansville. The quote was taken under advisement by Wastewater Manager Ed Holliden for review.

Electric Committee chairman Ken Sendelweck and Utility Manager Bud Hauersperger reported that the Request for Proposal was released Friday for the Heidorn Property next to the Jasper Power Plant. This is a requirement by the state since the City of Jasper wants to lease the property.

Meanwhile, Hauersperger also presented to the Board the fact that two rate studies are being performed for the City. “Umbaugh and Associates will be in town on Friday to kind of kick that off and they’ll be basically accumulating data from our water plant,” Hauersperger said.

Umbaugh will be determining financial information and cost projections for the next five years to complete the rate analysis. The rate study for wastewater started this summer and a draft is ready to review. According to Hauersperger, the wastewater committee will meet in the near future to receive the draft for review.

Hauersperger was unsure whether the study would recommend a rate increase for the water and sewer usage in the City and that information would not be available until the rate studies are completed.

The studies are required every five years to make sure that rates are in line with what other utilities are charging and are appropriate for the size of customer base and usage activity.

Finally, the Board passed resolution 2012-16 which gave a raise of 1.5% across the board for all salaried utility employees with a $10.00 per week differential for on call work. Hauersperger reported to the Board that the increase is the same that the rest of the City salaried employees received as well.