April 2010
By ANNE KAZMIERCZAK Register Reporter
MORAN — Billing discrepancies with Westar Energy prompted the Moran City Council Monday to hire Scott Shreve of Energy Management Group of Topeka as a go-between in negotiations between the municipality and utility giant.
In March, Moran received a bill that City Clerk Lori Evans could not reconcile based on kilowatt transmission loss.
After calls and e-mails with a Westar representative, she was told the company had changed its formula to calculate that loss.
Using the old formulas, the city had been incorrectly billed. The new formulas, however, made December through February’s accounts unbalanced. Westar told Evans they had foregone applying the new formula to those months.
“I’m not nitpicking — I want to verify the numbers,” Evans told council members.
She felt she did not receive willing assistance from the company in uncovering the differences. “We kept calling them every month and they just kept putting us off,” Evans said.
The company’s paperwork sat three inches high before her. Evans said with the changes, she no longer felt capable of properly analyzing the figures.
At some point, Westar’s mistakes will be great enough to matter, the council concurred.
“I think it’s a shame you have to hire a team of experts to understand your utility bill,” said councilman James Mueller.
Nonetheless, the city elected to hire EMG to attend to the monthly task.
Shreve told the council his company should be able to negotiate savings for the city.
The contract with EMG will run $300 per month.
“Essentially, we just raised our electric bills another $3,600,” said Mayor Phillip Merkel.
“I don’t think we had a choice,” Mueller replied.
Also at issue was the date Westar billed the city, which had been changed by the company to the 5th of the month. Previously, usage information was given so that Moran could bill its customers by the first of the month.
Westar would not commit to a solid billing date for the city, but told them the fifth was the most likely date each month it would transfer the information.
“If I ran my business like Westar, I would not have any customers,” said City Attorney Brett Heim.
To be on the safe side, the city opted to change its electric billing date to the 10th of each moth. Bills will be due 15 working days thereafter, with electricity shut off effective five days later if unpaid.
“I think people are going to complain no matter what you do,” Mueller said of the change.
NEWLY RESIGNED library board member Patti Boyd asked the council to consider funding the library’s admission into the SEK n Find shared circulation system used by many Southeast Kansas Library System libraries. Cost would be $450 a year for membership plus $200 annually for a courier system to deliver books to and from participating libraries. Additional funds, for a total of $1,000 the first year, would be helpful to train staff and complete data entry of all library holdings into the computer data base, Boyd said.
The council took no action, but will consider the request for the upcoming budget cycle.
Other changes being looked at for the library are a remodel or, preferably, rebuild, integrating a storm shelter within the building.
Costs for a prefabricated storm shelter had been reviewed, with the council opting to have a representative from Iola’s Shafer, Klein and Warren address city space needs and possibly submit plans for a new building.
Other considerations include parking bays for city vehicles and a loading dock exclusively for library use.
Appointed to the library board to replace Boyd and Frances Poling, whose term ended, were Ruth Spangler and Jo Tucker.
PARKING on sidewalks and downtown were addressed. Residents at 112 E. Oak have repeatedly blocked access to the sidewalk at that address, in conflict with city ordinance, Evans said.
Sidewalk deterioration has resulted, but the city will not remove the sidewalk as requested. Instead, it will notify the property owner of the code violation and request replacement of the sidewalk, as per ordinance.
A cattle trailer parked downtown has brought a “pre-complaint” said Police Chief Shane Smith.
It is legal for tractor trailers to be parked downtown on private property with property owner permission, Smith noted.
The council took no action on the trailer.
Residents who wish to receive the city’s all-electric utility rate must have gas meters at their homes removed, not merely locked, the council decided. An all-electric rate realizes a $7 per month savings for a homeowner, Evans said.
The city will arrange soon to have its buildings inspected for termites.
Micro utility vehicles or mini trucks are not valid for driving on city streets. No unlicensed drivers or uninsured vehicles may be driven in Moran, Smith said.
Issues with the new 911 dispatch system need to be addressed. Communications channeling through the center “sound ... out of range,” said Merkel. The problem was not present before dispatch services moved to new quarters at 410 N. State Street in Iola.
The fire department is using National Fire Incident Reporting software that allows reports to be accessed through the fire marshall’s Web site, Smith said.
Citywide cleanup was set for June 8.
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