Martinsville Bulletin, Inc.
P. O. Box 3711
204 Broad Street
Martinsville, Virginia 24115
276-638-8801
Toll Free: 800-234-6575
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| City won't rush into power investment, Monday says |
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Tuesday, December 11, 2007
By MICKEY POWELL - Bulletin Staff Writer
Martinsville officials on Monday pledged they will take public opinion into consideration and think long and hard before investing a huge amount of money into the construction of power plants.
“We’re trying to flood the public” with relevant information so people can form opinions, City Manager Clarence Monday said during a Martinsville City Council neighborhood meeting at the Blue Ridge Regional Library branch on East Church Street. “We’ll listen to the public and analyze all of the facts” before deciding whether to invest funds into the projects.
“I promise you, we’re trying to come up with the right answer” to that question, said Vice Mayor James Clark.
But there were few people at the meeting to make a promise to. Except for city officials, the only people there were Ralph Lawson, husband of Councilwoman Kathy Lawson; library system director Hal Hubener; city resident Danny Turner of East Church Street; and a Martinsville Bulletin reporter.
Mayor Kimble Reynolds Jr. and Councilman Mark Anderson were not at the meeting. Council members present responded to questions Turner asked.
Turner has expressed interest in being appointed to the council seat now held by Anderson, who recently resigned effective Dec. 31. Anderson is moving to Danville, where he now works.
American Municipal Power-Ohio, an agent through which the city’s electric utility buys wholesale power distributed to residents and businesses, wants Martinsville to invest in three power plant projects.
If the city invests in all three, it will spend $3.5 million a year for 40 years, which equates to $140 million.
The council will hold a public hearing on the issue at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 20.
Turner said that in 40 years, technology used to generate electricity today could be obsolete. Two of the AMP-Ohio projects are coal-fired plants, while the other would use hydroelectric dams.
Clark basically agreed with Turner. Investing in the power plants would be a gamble, the vice mayor said.
“I’m not totally sold” on the idea, but “we’ve got to do something” to try and keep the city from facing rising costs for wholesale electricity in the future, Clark said.
“My understanding is that rates are going to continue to rise,” he said, and the city will have to buy electricity at whatever rates the market dictates.
The notion, Clark said, is that by being part-owner of power plants, the city can get electricity for lesser amounts than it now is paying.
“We’re trying to stabilize” rates the city pays, he added.
AMP-Ohio officials predict the city’s debt on the plants would be offset by the potential savings from lower wholesale power costs, officials have said.
Yet before he considers voting in favor of investing in the plants, Clark said “somebody’s got to sell (convince) me ... we’re going to get back more than we’re going to put in ... in a relatively short period of time.”
In an article in Sunday’s Martinsville Bulletin, Councilman Ron Ferrill said the power plant investment proposal “looks like a way to see some stability” in wholesale prices, and “I don’t know of any other way.”
He emphasized Monday, however, that he wants more information on the issue before he decides whether to vote for or against the investments.
In another matter, officials said the city will not pay the Richmond law firm of Hunton & Williams any more money if the firm gets no compensation for Martinsville from Adelphia Communications Corp. bankruptcy proceedings.
The city already paid Hunton & Williams $711,003 for its services in a failed attempt to buy the local cable television franchises from Adelphia. Now, the city is suing Adelphia for about $3 million for an alleged breach of a franchise agreement related to an antenna site.
City Attorney Eric Monday has estimated any attorney’s fees related to the suit — if the city ever is compensated — would be about $50,000.
Comcast now operates the local cable franchises. |
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