By Dennis Brown

Members of the Vanceburg Electric Plant Board met in regular session last week and adopted the budget for the fiscal year.

The $9,144,000 budget will allow for a one percent pay increase for Plant Board employees, half the amount penciled in by Superintendent Bill Tom Stone and one-third the usual annual increase of three percent.

Stone presented the proposed budget to board members and hit a few of the highlights.

Stone said no rate increases or customer base changes were forecasted and estimated income for the utility company at about the same as the previous year.

He said he had budgeted for a new bucket truck as a replacement for an older truck that has been having increasing problems.

Stone said that by changing the health insurance for employees to a high deductible health savings account the company will save about 15 percent annually in health insurance costs. The company provides insurance to employees at no cost to them.

Board Member Charles Ross questioned the two percent pay increase indicated in the budget.

“The only part of it (the budget) that I have a problem with,” Ross said.

Ross pointed out the sluggish economy and noted that Social Security had not given a cost-of-living increase this year. He also noted some of the utility departments were not projected to have income above expenses.

“We’re really not in very good shape in anything other than electric,” Ross said.

Stone said the additional cost for employee raises would amount to about $8,000 to $10,000 per percentage point. He said payroll expenses for Fiscal 2010 amount to about $796,000.

“There is only one place to make this up,” Ross said. “That’s to raise rates.”

After some discussion, board members agreed to a one percent increase for employees.

Stone said he had devised the budget with a conservative approach and hoped there would be no unforeseen expenses for the utility company in the coming year.

Also budgeted is a monthly payment to the City of Vanceburg. Payments stopped earlier this year after an auditor said the payments were not supported by state law.

The auditor additionally said the City should be paying for the utilities it consumes. Both the City and utility company have retained their own separate legal representation and have been working on a solution to the matter.

In other business, Stone reported that utility workers are continuing to find damages associated with flash flooding on May 1 and 2. He said they have been working with FEMA representatives to document the damages and recoup some of the costs associated with the repairs.

He said the costs associated with the repairs will come to about $100,000.

Stone said a large transformer at the Black Oak Industrial Park had failed and was replaced with a spare transformer. He said the cost to repair the transformer is about $22,000.

He said the best bid submitted for a new bucket truck is about $110,000. Board members authorized him to purchase a truck chassis at the state contract price and negotiate for the truck to be outfitted.

Stone said a new lineman had been hired but later discovered he was in an employment contract with his current company that wouldn’t allow him to accept the job with the Plant Board.

“We’re reviewing the interviews now and will be contacting the next person in line to offer them the position,” Stone said. He added he hoped to have the position filled within the next couple of weeks.

Stone reported that work on a project to provide about a dozen residences with water is about 80 percent complete. “The contract with Rattlesnake Ridge Water District has been approved,” he told board members.

He said work is continuing at a slower pace now because workers are dealing with solid rock in some places while installing water lines.

Kevin Cornette, with Buffalo Trace Area Development District, updated members on the progress being made on the combined sewer project for Vanceburg.

Cornette said the project was estimated to cost about $6 million and reviewed funding possibilities for the project.

Board members authorized a letter of commitment for $120,000 in matching funds toward the project. Other funding will come from grants and low interest loans from various state and federal agencies.

As part of the project, Cornette said the utility company would have to complete an independent rate study for sewer rates for customers. He recommended the rate study be expanded to encompass all utilities since the sewer rate is tied to the water rate for customers.

Stone said the water rate has remained unchanged for customers since 1989.

Board members authorized a system-wide rate study to be completed.

Stone told board members that water for Vanceburg residents was scheduled to be off Wednesday evening (June 9) to allow for the relocation of a fire hydrant where work is being done on the Extension Office on Second Street.

Stone said some valves, which had become inoperable, would also be replaced.

Board members approved the payment of bills and financial reports before adjourning.

A teacher from Tennessee is making her way down the entire length of the Ohio River to bring attention to the need for young women and girls needing better educational opportunities.

Mimi Hughes, 54, began her 981-mile swim in Pittsburgh last month and arrived at Vanceburg on Saturday evening. She plans to arrive at Cairo, Illinois, around July 17.

Hughes, who has gained fame as a distance swimmer, said she believes that extraordinary athletic feats can be catalysts for positive change. It’s something, she said, she realized when she carried the Olympic torch in the 1996 Olympic Torch Relay.

She swims about eight hours a day to cover approximately 20 miles. Her lodging in Vanceburg was courtesy of the McKellup House Inn. Roger Jahn served as her host and assisted Hughes and her traveling companions in getting underway Sunday morning from the former Lock and Dam 32 west of Vanceburg.

Hughes wears a wetsuit and is escorted by two kayakers who watch for barges and carry energy drinks and power bars to provide to the swimmer during her time in the water.

While the rain doesn’t cause any interruptions to the traveling schedule, lightning is cause to take cover for the river travelers.

Locks and dams along the river are also minor inconveniences. Hughes said the Corps of Engineers will lock the kayakers through while she merely climbs out of the water and walks across the dam.

Hughes said she wants to see young people have opportunities for better education that will allow them to become better citizens and leaders of the future.

According to her mission statement, this swim is focusing on select organizations from the rural and urban areas of the Ohio River Valley to the remote and fragile environments of the Middle East and Africa that effectively promote education in girls and women. In return, these women and girls will transform themselves, their families and their communities.

Her previous swims for environmental and social responsibility and to promote peace between nations began with a swim across the Bering Sea to Russia (1997) and continued with the Tennessee River (2004), the Danube River (2006), and the Drava and Mura Rivers (2007).

Hughes and her husband, Forrest, have four children. She says that in addition to her educational experiences, she believes her athletic endeavors taught her to search for solutions to obstacles, accepting her fear, but not defeat.

As a remedial/developmental teacher and professional tutor in the areas of dyslexia and learning strategies, she says she knows firsthand the transformation that can take place in women and girls when they are given the appropriate educational opportunities, mentoring, and open doors.