The Board of Public Works of Trenton Municipal Utilities held its regular monthly meeting on Tuesday evening at city hall and approved an increase in sewer rates.
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The Board of Public Works of Trenton Municipal Utilities held its regular monthly meeting on Tuesday evening at city hall and approved an increase in sewer rates.
TMU Comptroller Theresa Price said the increase is needed to maintain the utility?s bond convenant ratio for repayment of debt. Money was borrowed in 1997 to hook up residences and businesses within the community which were not a part of the system. The utility is required to maintain a debt covenant ratio of 110 percent to ensure payments on the borrowed money. Without the increase the ratio is expected to be 124 percent, which Mrs. Price said she was not comfortable with because of the possibility of unexpected expenses or a decrease in revenues.
The board approved the increase effective with the April billing for March useage. The increase will average 4 percent for residential customers, 5 percent for commercial customers and 13 percent for industrial customers based on usage.
It was also noted that improvements will have to be made on the sanitation plant in the near future because of increased operating requirements by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. The utility has begun a study of long-term needs at the plant with the engineering firm of Burns and McDonnell and they are to be in Trenton on March 16 to conduct a workshop with the board at 5 p.m.
Even with the increase in rates, Trenton will remain in the middle of a list of area communities in a comparison of sewer rates provided to board members at the meeting.
TMU Director Chad Davis told the board work should begin soon on the water project improvements in north Trenton. Davis said a contract has been signed with White Cloud Engineering and design work has begun on the size of mains that will be needed in the area of Barnes Greenhouse on Pleasant Plain.
Davis said discussions continue on their water needs and he hopes work in the area can begin by mid to late March.
Board members approved the purchase of two 69 KV breakers needed for repairs at the north and south substations.
The failure of one of the 30-year-old breakers caused the power outage on Christmas Day in part of town. The lowest quote for new breakers of $36,000 each from Siemens is less than the cost of repairing the breakers.
The breakers will require new relays to be purchased for $4,000 each from Blakely and Associates in Chillicothe, which will also do the installation.
In other business, the board approved the expenditure of $4,800 to Schreiber Engineering to complete a model which will allow for an air operating permit to be obtained from DNR to operate the new electric generating units at the south substation.
The units need to be able to be operated at full capacity in order for the utility to receive capital credits from the power pool to which it belongs. Davis said the pool now has excess generating capacity, but he is sure the credits to pay for the units will be granted to the utility in one form or another.
Also approved was a pay request of $78,731.52 from Nowalk Construction, the contractor on the Tinsman sewer project.
Davis said the company was approximately 70 percent complete with the project and would soon begin testing the new sewer line and then begin connecting existing customers.
No action was taken on bidding for a new sanitation plant truck.
An executive session was held following the meeting and Mrs. Price said approval was given for an employee in the sanitation department, Dennis Robb, to transfer to the electric department. The transfer fills a vacancy in the electric department created by a recent retirement.
The next regular meeting of the board will be March 23.