Paris, TN – As the Paris Board of Public Utilities makes the transition to Paris Utility Authority, both entities will continue to hold monthly board meetings until the transition to Paris Utility Authority is complete on June 30. Meetings will take place in succession beginning with Paris BPU.
The Paris BPU meeting of the Board began per usual with a review and approval of minutes from the last regular monthly meeting, April 28, 2020, followed by a review of the monthly financial and statistical reports.
Six bids were submitted for the Spruce Street water tank rehabilitation process discussed at the April meeting of the Board. Bids ranged from $361,675 to $548,900 and were submitted from contractors in Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky and South Dakota. Jacobs Engineering, the Engineering Firm for the project, reviewed all bids and recommended the low bid of $361,675 from Preferred Sandblasting and Painting from Shelbyville, TN.
The bid includes the sandblasting along with interior and exterior painting of the 1,500,000-gallon tank. As a proud supporter of the Henry County Patriots, this bid will allow BPU to incorporate a large ‘HC’ on the tank. The tank was last painted in 1998, with the normal life cycle of paint being 15 years. At the last inspection of the tank in 2015, it was recommended that the tank needed rehab at the next 5-year inspection.
“The process for this rehab will be very similar to the Volunteer tank rehab in 2015,” said Tony Brown, BPU Director of Water and Wastewater Operations. “After this rehab, two of our five water tanks will be rehabbed and in excellent condition with only routine inspections required for many years.”
Originally, this project was planned to be a part of the 2020-2021 budget but was moved up due to USDA grant funding. Approximately $350,000 will be available from USDA and Paris BPU will fund the remaining balance with internal funding. No money will be borrowed to perform this necessary rehab.
The final item of new business was the presentation of fiscal year 2021 budgets for electric, water and wastewater. No action was taken at this time. The budget will be voted on at the June meeting.
In other business, Paris BPU General Manager/PUA President and CEO, Terry Wimberley, discussed the re-opening of the main lobby and the resumption of normal disconnect policies. Wimberley noted that as of 8:30 am this morning, Tuesday, May 26, there were a total of 254 customers with past due amounts for a total of $31,434.00.
Wimberley also discussed the impact to Paris BPU caused by the May 3 storm that came through Henry County. Damage from the storm was widespread with over 350 individual outages across Henry County to repair. Crews repaired or replaced 60 poles and several miles of downed wire due to trees and wind. The total estimated financial impact to the system is over $187,000.
After the Paris BPU meeting adjourned, the PUA meeting was called to order. The Paris Utility Authority board meeting began with an approval of the minutes from the last (and first) PUA Board Meeting held Monday, May 18.
The Board also approved awarding the Spruce Street water tank rehabilitation project to Preferred Sandblasting & Painting, mentioned above.
Ralph Anderson, PUA Board member and long-time Paris BPU Board member was appointed by the Board for a four-year term beginning July 1, 2020, pending approval from the City Commission. This is the first time, the PUA Board appointment process has been put into action.
“Mr. Anderson has served on the Paris BPU Board for 29 years, said PUA President and CEO, Terry Wimberley. “His years of experience and knowledge are so valuable, especially as we make this transition to PUA. I look forward to working along side him for another four years.”
The final item of business was the presentation of fiscal year 2021 budgets for electric, water and wastewater. Again, no action was taken at this time. The budget will be voted on at the June meeting.
The next meeting of the two boards will take place on Tuesday, June 23, beginning with Paris Board of Public Utilities at 10 am followed by Paris Utility Authority directly after.