COMMISSIONERS OF PUBLIC WORKS

Minutes of June 8, 2006

A regular meeting of the Board of Commissioners of Public Works was held on Thursday, June 8, 2006, at 10:15 p.m., in the Boardroom of the Greenwood Commissioners of Public Works at 121 Court Avenue.

In attendance:

Gene P. Hancock          Steve D. Reeves, Jr.     Vickie Gorham    Curtis Burnett

Michael G. Monaghan     Kenneth Barnett           Ken Whittle         Richard Gentry

Jeff Meredith                 Melinda Bishop            Mark Amick        Jeff Auman

Ron Lemon                   Denise Giannetti

I.          Chairman Hancock called the meeting to order. Chairman Hancock gave the invocation.

II.         Chairman Hancock gave the statement of compliance with the notification provision of the Freedom of Information Act.

III.               Discussion Items:

A.     Manager Reeves explained that bids were opened at the May bid opening for a copier at the COC. Rather than making a decision at last months Board meeting, it was decided to allow the low bidders an opportunity to provide demonstration units. Based on the closeness of the bids, the ease of use and staff’s preference, the recommendation is to go with the Lanier unit. He noted that the Lanier unit was the second low bid by less than $100. He added that Mr. Auman talked with Metro and the hospital, who use Lanier copiers, and they have had good service and both highly recommended Lanier. Mr. Reeves recommended purchasing the Lanier unit at a total cost of $10,599.51. A motion to award the bid to Lanier was made by Commissioner Monaghan, seconded by Chairman Hancock, and unanimously approved.    

B.     Manager Reeves presented a purchase order for consideration for an additional 510 gas meters at a cost of $27,979.88. Mr. Reeves stated that the additional meters are needed for change outs and new sets. He noted that this is the same vendor as with the annual bid. Commissioner Monaghan asked how many total meters will be bought this year and Mr. Lemon stated it would be a little over 2,000. A motion was made by Commissioner Monaghan to approve the $27,979.88 purchase order for an additional 510 gas meters; the motion was seconded by Chairman Hancock, and unanimously approved.

C.     Manager Reeves informed the Commissioners that since the last meeting, staff had reviewed the proposed Gas Incentive Policy. Ms. Gorham’s staff had a lot of input into the suggested revisions and some questions came up. Mr. Reeves stated that we want to be sure the Commissioners are in agreement with what is being proposed. The biggest thing addressed is that we wanted to make sure it was for homeowners. At first, the policy had “residential accounts” and that could be construed as renters. Mr. Reeves stated that they did not think that was the intent so some of the language was changed to make that clear. Another area of concern from Vickie’s staff was with how to make the reimbursements to people who potentially owe us money. A section was added to Item III. so that if they qualify for reimbursement and owe us money, it goes against the bill before we issue them a check. Mr. Reeves recommended these changes if the Board was in agreement. A motion was made by Commissioner Monaghan and seconded by Commissioner Hancock to adopt the revisions to the Gas Incentive Policy. The motion was unanimously approved.

Commissioner Monaghan stated the need for an ad showing how gas is cheaper than electric. Mr. Gentry stated that he and Mr. Lemon would put together the figures for gas versus electric and come up with an ad.

Mr. Reeves noted that Ms. Gorham had a question about the policy. Ms. Gorham asked for clarification with the amounts that we would collect from a customer who owes us money, and whether it would be past due amounts only, or any amount that is owed. Ms. Gorham pointed out that if we collect past due amounts only out of the incentive, the programming is more complicated and more costly. Whereas if we collect the total amount that a customer owes from the incentive, it is a lot less complicated and a lot less costly. Mr. Reeves pointed out that Ms. Gorham’s concern comes from the delay in getting our computer programmers to input this into our system. Mr. Auman added that if it just goes against what is due, that is much simpler from a programming standpoint with less chance of errors. Commissioner Monaghan stated that if someone owes $1,000 and says they are going to pay $400 this week and $400 next week, we handle that, so why can’t we just handle the $450 incentive. Mr. Auman responded that it is a different kind of issue for the programming. Mr. Reeves stated that it can be done either way; it is just that one way is going to be more involved and therefore more costly. Commissioner Monaghan stated that we should keep it simple; just say that we will apply the past due amount against the incentive. Mr. Reeves added that if we go with past due, it should be based on whether it is past due on the day of the incentive. Commissioner Monaghan asked about the size of the ad and Mr. Gentry provided a copy of the ad and stated it would run in the Greenwood, Ninety Six, and Ware Shoals papers. Both Commissioners stated that this should be in a billing insert as well. Ms. Gorham noted that there is already a June and a July insert. Mr. Gentry stated that the programming is not ready yet anyway and we will wait until that is ready to start advertising. Mr. Auman noted that the programming should not take more than a week or so.

D.     Mr. Auman and Ms. Giannetti gave an update on accepting credit card payments. Mr. Auman stated that he and Ms. Giannetti agree that the best solution is through the SC.gov portal, which is part of the state site. Because it is through the state and because of the volume with all of the cities and other entities, the costs and rates are less than what we could get on our own. He explained the difference with them versus one of the larger vendors in that they go through a board to approve any programming changes. However, they will do most of the programming for free, but it has to go through about a three to six months process with their committees and board. Mr. Auman stated that doing the web site side is much quicker. He stated that they would like to go ahead with that side first because it can be accomplished within six to eight weeks. They will continue working on the over-the-counter part at the same time. He stated that we have to wait for them to do the programming part on their end and we still need some things from ASI as well. Commissioner Monaghan stated that there are other sites that go electronically. He stated that last time he paid his CPW payment and put in the 6th, then Vickie sent him a DUN letter because the envelope from the bank didn’t really hit in time. Mr. Auman stated that they are mailing it so there is a delay. Commissioner Monaghan stated they are supposed to mail it in time. He stated that even the golf course receives payments electronically, and asked why we cannot receive electronically. Mr. Auman responded that once we have the website part up, we will be able to because they can go through the web portal and will eventually be able to do it anyway through the regular credit card processing. Ms. Giannetti explained the fees associated with SC.gov. They only charge a percentage of the transaction if it is a VISA or MasterCard and they also take Discover cards. The rate of 1.83% is the same for all cards with a $1 transaction fee that we can absorb or pass on to the customer. Ms. Giannetti stated that we cannot pass on the merchant fee, but we can pass on the $1 transaction fee. She noted that the state will be able to handle most customer questions about credit card transactions on their end. Mr. Reeves stated his understanding that we will not be charging the customer the $1 transaction fee. A motion was made by Commissioner Monaghan, seconded by Chairman Hancock, and unanimously approved to proceed with SC.gov for credit card services.

E.      Ms. Giannetti presented information on a proposal from the Countybank to move excess funds over to the trust. Ms. Giannetti explained to the Commissioners how those funds in excess of $5,000,000 in any of our accounts could be invested in federated money market funds. They would be swept up as they are now into those accounts and then put back in the next morning. She stated that a worksheet was done on the rates at that time and the spread was .54%. She added that as of today, they are starting to close in on each other, the rate for the Treasury constant maturities which we currently have is 4.84%, the federated money markets were .55% so the spread is getting a lot closer. She explained that the difference in what we would earn in interest is smaller than it had been. Based on an $8,000,000 balance, before it was a $19,000 difference per year in interest, and would be smaller with this spread. Ms. Giannetti stated that we had asked the Countybank to provide some written information and documentation stating that those funds would be backed up, safeguarded from loss and they did provide that letter to us. Commissioner Monaghan asked how liquid these are, and Ms. Giannetti responded that we would just need to call them and say we need to have those funds released. They are swept everyday, but if we knew we were going to have a huge need, we just let them know. Commissioner Monaghan asked if these are funds for capital expansion and debt service. Ms. Giannetti responded that it is not the debt service funds because they are not held by Countybank, those are held by The Bank of New York. It would be the money in the Operating Accounts; the money in the Bond Construction Fund could also be swept. Mr. Barnett reminded the Commissioners that we cannot include the money at The Bank of New York because they are the trustee of the debt. Commissioner Monaghan stated that he thought the $5,000,000 to $6,000,000 in “restricted” would be put into something with a little better return than a money market. Ms. Giannetti responded that we are limited; those funds for capital construction need to be more liquid. Those funds would be less liquid in an investment account. She added that if we start investing capital construction funds, then we get into issues of arbitrage. Commissioner Monaghan asked about having two years to use the funds before you get into arbitrage. Mr. Barnett stated that it is true that we have that initial two years, which is up in September, and basically between now and September, we could earn pretty much what we wanted to earn. Once you go beyond September, then you have several issues. Once you are into the arbitrage rules; they look at how much you have earned. If it is past 36 months, then you go into another area of the tax law that really gets you in trouble. Commissioner Monaghan noted that interest is going up now and asked about 90-day CD’s. Mr. Barnett stated that some one-year CD’s have approached 5%. Commissioner Monaghan stated that we can plan how much is needed short term and reserve that, and then get a better return on what we don’t need. Ms. Giannetti stated that anything over the $5,000,000 with Countybank is to free up the money so they don’t have to tie up the obligation of having those funds available to back up our money. Should we choose, we could move the excess someplace else, but the issue now is that the Countybank is proposing we do this because they like to have the $5,000,000 to back up. She stated that we will make a little less interest and Commissioner Monaghan responded that is not what we want to do. Mr. Reeves added that if we want to maximize our return, that is not what we want to do. Commissioner Monaghan stated his belief that we should not do it and asked Ms. Giannetti to keep looking at other ways to get as much return as we can. If there is a capital project that will not start for a year or so, then we can plan to invest short term. Mr. Reeves stated his understanding that the answer is “no” unless the Countybank comes up with an investment alternative that offers a better return.

F.      Chairman Hancock asked for an update on annexation and specifically what is happening on the Bypass. Manager Reeves reported that the Countybank has already been approved for annexation and they are proceeding with the petition. As of Monday, an agreement was reached with Sam Zimmerman to proceed with annexation on his property. He will get some tax incentives, together with a commitment from CPW for up to $150,000 toward construction of a roadway and utility lines. Mr. Reeves stated that he assumed we will put the same restriction on the sewer lines since we are paying for it that we have put on the CVS sewer line, no one will hook into it without annexation into the city. Mr. Reeves stated that his understanding from Mr. Zimmerman was that is going to proceed. He stated there is a concern with the guarantee of electric service from each of the lots. We have come up with a way to mandate that CPW would provide electric service that Mr. Zimmerman is willing to put into his deed restrictions. We will get with Jimmy Brailsford to make sure that the language put in is ironclad. Mr. Reeves reported on Advance Auto Parts and the Corley property. He stated that we have been trying to get the same deal put together for Mr. Corley, but have not had success with getting the information from the Partnership to him yet. Mr. Reeves stated that we are still in touch with Mr. Corley and he is still interested, but the information is not coming as much as we would like it. He stated there may be other reasons that it hasn’t. Commissioner Monaghan asked Mr. Reeves what information was needed from the Partnership. Mr. Reeves responded that they are working with the City to put together the tax incentive proposal. Commissioner Monaghan stated that he attended a meeting with City Council where Mr. Fowler gave the presentation, and the City Council was very favorable of giving the full incentive. Mr. Reeves stated that he thought that was on the Zimmerman property and Commissioner Monaghan stated that is was on the Corley property. Mr. Barnett stated that when he last talked with Mr. Corley, he had not received anything from Mr. Fowler. Commissioner Monaghan stated that we should get onto Jeff to get the information, and added that City Council was favorable and should be voting on it at their next meeting. Chairman Hancock stated that at the Metro meeting the previous evening, they approved extending the sewer on up and enlarging the size of the lines right in front of that property to solve some problems. He noted that he did not vote for this. Chairman Hancock stated that with the line where we annexed on the corner of Reynolds that was put into CVS under the highway, the line was put in wrong to start with. Now they are building a Waffle House right beside it, so there has got to be a line under there to get to the Waffle House and straighten out the other line. He stated he did not know what was happening there with annexation. Mr. Amick stated he had left messages but had not personally talked with anyone from Waffle House. Chairman Hancock stated his belief that since we created it to get the annexation, we should go ahead and put the line under the road to fix the problem. Commissioner Monaghan asked if we could put our condition on it after we fix it. Mr. Reeves stated that we can if we pay for the line. Chairman Hancock stated that we do not want to miss this one because we put $25,000 in that line under the road, and it would best for us to put that line under there instead of Metro. He noted that somebody did not put a camera through it, and it is not graded deep enough either. Mr. Reeves added that at that time, there was not a requirement for cameras. Mr. Reeves reported on a meeting with Jim Timms on some property that he owns along Calhoun Road across from Sam Zimmerman’s property. We are not sure that this one will work out or if we will get annexation there, but we will continue to work with him. Mr. Reeves stated that Anderson has been turned over to Jeff Fowler and Steve Brown to work up a similar alternative, as well as the Genetic Center. Because of the planning required for underground electric utilities, it is not going to be conducive for us or Duke to put a line in and then have the other come in right on top of them. Once you go in underground, you would like to lock in the entire area and that is one reason we would like to see the Genetic Center go ahead and commit to us for annexation. Commissioner Monaghan stated that last night, Metro agreed to enlarge the Anderson sewer line. Mr. Barnett stated that this takes away our bargaining power. Chairman Hancock stated that was why he voted against it. Mr. Reeves stated the frustration from CPW’s standpoint in that we are dealing heads up with Howard and the others and the information is coming slower than we would like. He stated that he will continue to try to get the information from Jeff Fowler and try to move forward.

IV.              Executive Session:

            A motion was made by Commissioner Monaghan, seconded by Chairman Hancock, and unanimously approved to go into Executive Session to discuss personnel matters.

            The meeting returned to open session.

V.                 With no further business, the meeting was adjourned.