12-11-02: Coldwater upset with DP&L pact

12-11-02: Coldwater upset with DP&L pact

By BETTY LAWRENCE
The Daily Standard

    COLDWATER - The five-year contract between the village of Coldwater and DPL Energy expires at the end of this year and a proposed new five-year pact remained unsigned Monday.
    The new commitment level requirement in the agreement is the sticking point, says Village Manager-Engineer Eric Thomas, after councilors raised questions about the DPL proposal during the regular council meeting.
    The commitment requires the village to maintain or increase the number of DPL Energy full service fixtures through the life of the pact. Trying to lower number
    "We now have 308 (DPL Energy poles) and they propose we maintain that amount. But we may replace the East Main Street lights with our own poles, which would lower the number of DPL poles we use.
    "Yet with the commitment level, we would still have to pay for their maintenance of 308 light poles. We do not want to stay committed to the number of poles they would like and want to negotiate a lesser number," Thomas said.
    The village pays DPL Energy between $120 and $275 a year per pole to maintain them, Thomas said.
    Currently, there are a total of 324 light poles in the village of which 308 are DPL Energy poles and the remaining are 16 village-owned, located downtown.
    "So we discussed their proposal and decided to keep negotiating and make a counterproposal," Thomas said.
    DPL Energy is an affiliate of Dayton Power & Light and Miami Valley Lighting is part of DPL Energy.
    A half dozen South 7th Street residents attended council's recent environmental committee meeting, chairman Bob Stelzer reported to the full council, to learn what the village plans to do about the deteriorating sewers in their neck of town. Worst sewer area
    "When we videotaped the sewers, this ( South 7th Street) was the worst area, so we had the residents living there come in and we explained about replacing them (sewers)," Thomas explained.
    Finance Director Clyde Ballinger reported several transfers from the general fund to: Street Maintenance & Repair fund, $67,500; Police Block Grant fund, $2,868.25; Fire Truck fund, $10,000; Park fund, $24,250; Industrial development fund, $3,000 and $15,000 from the Fire Levy fund to the Fire Truck fund.
    In other action, councilors:
Income tax law
    - Adopted Ordinance 1468 that amends (updates) the village's income tax ordinance, allowing the document to be in compliance with state legislation.
    - Heard second reading of Ordinance 1469 that establishes a separate medical insurance fund for the village.
    - Heard first reading of Ordinance 1470 that establishes a 3 percent pay increase for village employees in 2003 with no change in benefits.
    - Scheduled a Finance Committee meeting for 9 a.m. Monday and a Safety Committee at 7 p.m. Monday.
    - Changed its regular meeting date to Dec. 30 at 7 p.m. in the village hall council chambers.
    - Learned this year's leaf pickup is now completed.

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