Here we go again. SouthsideCentral is LIVE! at today’s 4PM meeting. We’ve completed the article now, so enjoy the happenings, photos and commentary.
Our LIVE! coverage will begin around 3:55PM.
We’re underway. Fred Shanks s not here for this meeting. Tim Blodgett for Hometown Connections is speaking. Steve Vandermeer will help make the organization checkup report.
Hometown Connections has done this checkup process in over 50 places before.
Vandermeer takes the podium. He says the customer is the key for any utility company. Vandermeer explains why they do this study. Yes, we all know why.
Bill Donohue asks why Danville Utilities isn’t being compared to investor-owned utilities. Vandermeer says it’s because his company only assesses public power companies. ¯_(ツ)_/¯ Haha.
We’re talking about strengths and weaknesses now.
The consultants recommend getting rid of credit card convenience fees. They also say to cut back on the 2 late notices, saying using just the original bill would save money. Gary Miller says the extra late notices were put in policy due to customer complaints. The consultants also recommend keeping the business office longer than 8-5 at least one day a week.
Oops. I stepped in the TV camera line of sight when getting photos.
The consultants say it’s good that Danville Utilities offers energy efficiency programs because most municipal power companies don’t. The committee gets bogged down in “but how many people use it?”. The consultants smile and try to say “IT’S JUST FRICKIN GOOD THAT YOU OFFER THE PROGRAMS, SHEESH!”. We’re still in category #3 out of 12 and we’re 70 minutes in. Gah! Jim Turpin still wants to know how much one person’s specific energy-efficient dryer saved in electricity. Blodgett says “You really can’t” while it looks like he wants to scream “ARE YOU INSANE?” Interim Utilities Director Jason Grey maintains a smile on his face.
The consultants say that safety is a high strength for Danville Utilities. They also recommend an orientation process for new commissioners. Hello, boing, hells yeah! I said that from the first one of these meetings.
We’re past the magic 2 hour point but we’re still going on. When it comes to human resources, the consultants said employee morale was down because of the discussion whether to sell Danville Utilities. They also mentioned a weakness because of the frequent executive leadership changes. Bill Donahue said that he had no idea why Ken Ashworth “retired” on such a short notice. I find that unacceptable. As a Utility Commissioner, Bill Donohue should know exactly why Ashworth “retired”. The Utility Commission would be well within their boundaries to call a closed session for personnel and get the story directly from Ashworth (assuming he’s willing to talk). It might make Joe King uncomfortable, but Donohue and the rest of the commission members should know what in the hell is going on with the utility department that they are supposed to be managing.
Donohue also says that they’re not getting the rate comparisons that they need. Every utility company that I know has their rate schedules on their website. It’s not hard to call Fred’s Electric Coop and ask them how much does 1000 kilowatt hours cost. Donohue’s got a lot of outrage, but these are rookie questions. I’m not faulting him for that because he hasn’t gotten the training that should have been given to all Utility Commission members.
Phillip Smith Gets It. He understands most of what’s presented at these meetings. What he doesn’t understand, he’ll ask direct questions until he does. Jim Turpin knows the business too, but at times it feels like he’s in a timewarp back to the days when he was the big man around. I love Bill Donohue’s appetite for knowledge, and I give him high credit for that. I’m not sure how to judge Gary Miller, John Gilstrap and Fred Shanks in these meetings. They’re asking mostly good questions on this but I can see where this material seems like a foreign language to them at times. I expect a higher level of understanding from Fred Shanks since he’s the Council liaison to the Utility Commission, and he’s delivered that.
The next meeting in two weeks will have representatives from PJM (the regional power grid operators) and Appalachian Power. I’m sure it will be a great lesson for everybody, including the at-home viewers. I don’t think it will do a damn thing to put this committee any closer to their ultimate goal of making a recommendation on what to do with Danville Utilities. That’s going to come with the consultant study comes back, and I think this committee will rubber-stamp that. FYI: That consultant study was supposed to have been back by now, at least from what the timeline was when we started this process.
You won’t get this in-depth breakdown from any other media source, and I’m glad that you take the time to read it. Let’s do this again in two weeks, folks.
*The fact that this is 2015 and you cannot use a debit card to pay at the counter must not seem strange to the “consultants”.
*The consultants obviously did not “review” the primitive and inefficient “service” over the telephone.
(The automated dialog and options menu is comical)
*Even if the consultants arrived in a limosine they would have had to be blindfolded not to have noticed the ridiculous parking fiasco at that building.
*It is not easy to take this “review” seriously when they have given “customer service” 3 out of 4 stars.