CITY TO ABOLISH UTILITIES COMMISSION

The Columbia Utilities Commission, which has overseen the city’s water, sewer and gas operations since the early 1960s, will cease to exist as of the end of the current fiscal year, June 30th.
At Monday night’s Columbia City Council meeting, Mayor Pat Bell presented the council members with an ordinance abolishing and repealing all ordinances that created the Columbia Utilities Commission, and to transfer its operation to the City of Columbia.
The ordinance calls for all operations, contracts, responsibilities, liabilities, accounts receivable and assets to be assumed by the city, and that all rights and duties of the Utilities Commission will be directly performed by the city.
City Attorney Marshall Loy gave first reading of the ordinance, with none of the council members voicing any opposition. The second and final reading of the ordinance will be given at the May council meeting.
Mayor Bell told the council that the decision to abolish the Utilities Commission wasn’t done “on the spur of the moment” and a lot of research had been done.
The mayor first noted that since the city joined with the county to form the Columbia-Adair County Water Commission, the city is no longer selling water to the county, but instead has become a buyer itself from the new entity.
“We’ve been looking at this situation for a long time,” he said. “We’ve talked to other cities, an attorney who is knowledgeable on such matters, and it’s a trend all across the country to do away with utilities commissions.”
After the meeting, the mayor noted that Campbellsville is one nearby town that did away with its utilities commission last year.
“Government officials and others began recommending that towns and cities establish utilities commissions after the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) Act, when small towns could form such commissions and sell electricity,” he explained. “Only a couple of towns in this area – Monticello and Glasgow – sold electricity, but most of them formed utilities commissions to oversee other utilities. Now, the recommendations are going the other way, to do away with them.
“The city is the responsible party anyway for what a utilities commission does,” he noted. “It’s the city’s name on any bonds issued, and if anything happens or messes up in the utilities commission, the city stands for it.”
Mayor Bell said that abolishing the commission will also save the city money by eliminating the salary and benefits paid to a general manager, as well as the salary paid to the commissioners ($1,500 a year for the five members).
“The general public will not notice any changes, though,” he said. “They’ll still pay their bills in the utilities office, and all the employees will remain the same, no one’s going to lose their job with the change.”
He also noted that he feels that the utilities operation will continue to run just as smoothly as it has in the past.
“We’ve got a good group of employees,” he said. “And, we’ve got department heads – Dana Rogers in water and sewer, Joe Hare in gas, Bo Murphy at the sewer plant and Ann Marie Nixon in the office that are experienced and know what they are doing.”
In other action at Monday night’s meeting, the council:
•Heard a report on the Agape House Crisis Pregnancy Center, which is set to open Apr. 18th in Columbia.
Rev. Joseph Payne, chairman of the board of directors for the non-profit organization, and Stephanie Caldwell, the center’s director, came before the council.
Rev. Payne explained the mission of the center, which is to assist women, especially teenagers, with unexpected pregnancies, and provide services to them not presently available in the community.
While the center will primarily be supported by grants and donations from the community, churches, etc., Rev. Payne did ask the council if they could make a donation to help purchase the house on Hurt Street where the center will be located.
•Gave second and final reading to an ordinance amending the city’s zoning regulations and maps to zone a piece of property owned by Tommy Grider on Campbellsville Road which is being annexed into the city to zone the property as C-2 Highway Commercial.
The council then gave first reading to an ordinance annexing the property into the city.
•Was informed by Mayor Bell that he recently met with Judge/Executive Ann Melton and Sue Stivers to discuss the new industrial park.
Bell told the council that the 324 acre industrial park has about 200 acres suitable for agricultural use, and that it could be leased for about $65-75 per acre.
If it is leased, the mayor said that the money could be used by the Economic Development Authority. He said a decision would be made quickly on leasing the land.
Any lease would have a provision that would allow the land to be reclaimed immediately if it was needed for industrial development.
•Was informed by the mayor that the bids for the Green Hills-Parrott Avenue sewer project would be let today, Apr. 10.
All council members were present for the meeting.