11/15/2005 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Council Minutes of 11/15/2005 that service will continue regardless of what Green Mountain does. Right now there is a lawsuit from NOPEC towards Green Mountain challenging their ability to leave the contract. If they leave or they don't leave, NOPEC has taken steps to make sure that our service to our constituency continues. They have negotiated a contract for electrical power through First Energy Retail. Dominion East Ohio Gas will continue with the gas aggregation. But First Energy, under our new contract, will be bringing forward a 5% decrease. So a 5% credit will be on the bills of everybody who was taking part in the electrical aggregation program through NOPEC. The credit will appear on the January bills as long as the customer is in NOPEC. The bad news is that the energy costs are outrageous, specifically in northeastern Ohio. Ohio as a whole is higher than many of the other United States. But in northeastern Ohio, we pay about double what they do in other areas of Ohio. The experts point to a number of reasons that we may all be suffering through these higher energy costs: Humcanes Katrina and Rita; the war in the Middle East; increased fuel consumption by China. In his opinion, we should look closer to home for the cause of our woes. He would suggest, as others have, looking at the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. The PUCO has been named as one of the most energy friendly commissions in the USA. Additionally, actions taken by the PUCO in northeastern Ohio have led to these high fuel costs. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal stated that the average cost to homeowners to heat their homes with gas heat over this coming winter will be about $1,096. This is significant in that it is a 48% increase over what we paid just last year, and last year the rates were already high. The great concern to him is that, while energy companies earn record profits throughout the USA, citizens are going to be forced into a decision in many cases of whether or not they are going to heat their homes or buy groceries or pay for medications. All elected officials and citizens who are active in their communities should contact our Governor and State representatives to emphasize that we need protections. The PUCO lobbyists in Columbus are currently having their way, much to the detriment of Ohio citizens. It's something that we need to get aggressive with and something he promises his attention will be dedicated towards in the months ahead. 4) Service Director Dan Driseall has accepted a new position with the City of Solon. He offers his sincere personal thanks, and the thanks of our community as a whole, to Dan Driscoll for the outstanding job that he has done here. He has spoken with Solon Mayor Kevin Patton and emphasized with him the high quality of the person that he is getting into his city. Taking Dan's place, subject to confirmation of Council this evening, will be Safety Director Duane Limpert. This will create a vacancy in the Safety Director position. Please forward candidate names to him. Thank you to Duane Limpert who has agreed to step into that position on short notice. With all the important projects that are underway, we will have someone at the helm of Service who understands not only the Service Dept., especially the WWTP, but understands our city, our projects and our workers. Mr. Duane Limpert has demonstrated that repeatedly while he has been on Council; he has demonstrated it while he has been a director. He is an ideal selection. 5) Department reports: Human Resources/Community Life Services: • Monday November 21St is Flu Shot Day at the Senior Center. We will give out approximately 300 flu shots with the help of the County Board of 2 ~:4,,,~,,y ~~..,.~.