By Dennis Brown

Vanceburg City Council met in a delayed regular session last Thursday and heard an auditor’s report as well as the first reading of an ordinance outlining requirements for accepting new roads into the city road system.

Lori Dearfield, a CPA with Kelley, Galloway and Company in Ashland, presented the auditor’s report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2008.

Dearfield said that in her opinion it was a “clean audit”. She reviewed the report along with financial statements compiled by the accounting firm. The audit also included information for the city owned utility system although the utility company has its own separate audit performed.

The statement of net assets for the city, not including the utility company, shows total net assets at the end of the last fiscal year at $2,019,842 and fund balances of $786,932. The fund balance includes certificates of deposit of $654,126.

Council accepted the report as presented.

The regular council meeting had been postponed from Monday to Thursday because Mayor Angie Patton was attending meetings in Washington, D.C. Patton said while in the nation’s capital, she learned that the city will receive some benefit from the recently announced stimulus package. Most of that assistance will go to the utility system for storm drainage and wastewater projects.

City Attorney John Holder summarized the first reading of an ordinance which will set the standard for roads offered for acceptance into the city’s road system. Holder said the ordinance is similar to a county ordinance with the same purpose. The city presently has no law on record addressing that matter. A second reading is planned for the April council meeting.

Council approved the appointment of city worker Aaron Gilbert to serve as a FEMA agent for the city. City Clerk Jeana Billman has been serving in that capacity and will continue to assist in completing some of the requirements for the job. Patton said Gilbert has been the person making site visits with FEMA representatives and is actively involved in making repairs associated with damage from storms.

Council once again addressed the loss of Lexington television channels from the local cable system. A Time Warner representative had sent a letter to city and county officials to provide information concerning the cable company’s decision to eliminate those channels in the cable lineup.

Rick Carfagna stated in the letter that the company’s primary focus is to improve their lineups across all the services areas by eliminating duplicate programming to bring greater variety to their customers.

He wrote that the company believes that ultimately their product offering is stronger when the channel lineup offers a variety of programming options. He noted that Time Warner followed FCC guidelines on designated market areas that identify which broadcast stations are considered “local” for the areas they serve.

Council member Matt Jarrells noted that the cable company 

is not legally bound to follow those designation areas and may carry any channels they wish. 

Carfagna wrote in the letter that the vast majority of WKYT and WOWK programming is identical although some customers may prefer the WKYT newscasts or have an interest in that station’s coverage of the UK Wildcats.

He wrote that options for customers include installing an outdoor VHF antenna at their home or accessing the station’s website via the Internet.

“I hope that this information helps to further clarify our decision,” he wrote. “We firmly believe that in the long run, avoiding duplications and providing diverse programming options will give our customers the best value.”

Patton said it was her personal opinion that the cable company may eventually regret their decision by the loss of customers who will turn to other sources to receive television programming.

She said in researching the franchise agreement the cable company has with the city, they can’t legally be forced to carry particular channels.

WKYT President and General Manager Wayne Martin attended the February council meeting and said the station would grant consent to Time Warner to carry the station’s signal on its local system at no cost and said that the station can get signal and good picture to the head end of the Vanceburg cable TV site.

Martin said that WKYT is the second most viewed television station in this area. He said WSAZ-TV out of Huntington is first on the list and added that there isn’t a close third. “We are offering for them to retransmit our signal at no charge to them,” Martin said at the meeting.

Patton said Time Warner representatives had previously attended council meetings and had assured council members that they would press forward with planned system improvements and work with council to provide service to their customers in the Vanceburg area.

On January 14 Time Warner eliminated WKYT-TV and WTVQ-TV from the lineup and added WCHS-TV, a Charleston, West Virginia, station. Steven Cuckler, who was the government affairs director with Time Warner at the time, had told members of Lewis County Fiscal Court in a letter that viewers would continue to be able to receive network programming from CBS and ABC through the Charleston and Huntington, West Virginia, channels carried by the cable company.

The franchise agreement the city has with Time Warner which will not be up for renewal until 2015. It was again mentioned during the meeting that while Time Warner is maintaining a local office, it does not have a local telephone number for customers to contact and calls are answered elsewhere.

Members discussed utilizing a local access channel provided by the cable company in supplementing programming to allow for some information of local interest to be provided to cable customers.

Council approved the minutes of the previous meeting before adjourning.

A Vanceburg couple has been charged with theft of services after officials discovered that the electric meter and water meter had been tampered with after utilities had been shut off for non-payment.

Vanceburg Police Lt. Tom Flannigan said utilities were disconnected at the residence by the Electric Plant Board March 31, 2008, for failure to pay for those services. He said that some time after that the utilities were illegally reconnected.

Flannigan said he accompanied a utility employee to the house February 24 and saw that the meters had been tampered with to allow water and electricity to the residence. A warrant was obtained and the couple was arrested at their residence without incident on March 1.

Flannigan said if it is determined that the theft amounts to more than $300 the charge will be a class D felony. If less than $300, the charge amounts to a misdemeanor.

Flannigan said it is a problem that the local utility company has had in the past and is continuing to have. He said more arrests are pending as the investigation continues into the theft of utilities in Vanceburg.

Flannigan said tampering with an electric meter is very dangerous and could be fatal if someone comes into contact with an energized line during the tampering process or even afterwards.

Anyone who may have information about someone who is illegally obtaining utilities should contact authorities or the utility company.