Hope Water & Light Commission Meets

The Hope Water and Light Commission met in the boardroom at the Hope Water and Light building on Wednesday (11-15). After roll call there was the approval of the minutes from the October 18th and 25th meetings and the October 24th meeting at Hempstead Hall.

Next discussed was the budget. Broadband was completed without requiring another bond to be issued. For the first time there is an interest on the investment for water recording. Another truck will need to be purchased to replace a truck from the 90s. The cost of vehicles has gone up dramatically since the last time a vehicle was purchased from $250,000 to $400,000.

HWL is down two employees in Water Distribution and so is looking for two positions.

Customers expressed satisfaction with the broadband service but many have wanted it extended to other areas of the house thus requiring a wi-fi booster.

Equipment has come in for the drive-through and there is the anticipation that it will be installed by the Thanksgiving break.

The next meeting is expected to take place in January.

The issue of bonuses was discussed with a motion made for $1,000 employee bonuses as there were last year. The bonuses are based on a sliding scale which depends upon the length of employment.

The scholarship grant which Hope Water and Light was planning to give to the Hope Public Schools was found to be not allowable so Hope Water and Light will look for other channels in order to accomplish the same thing, possibly in lieu of taxes.

An issue which has come up is the change of the formula rate filed at FERC by SWEPCO used to recover retired facilities. This will increase costs for Hope Water and Light so the Board is trying to fight it.