PSD cutting costs, one meeting at a time

Wednesday October 07, 2009
PSD cutting costs, one meeting at a time
Geoff Hamill
Staff Writer

The Pocahontas County Public Service District (PSD) is cutting costs any way it can and will be saving some bucks on water testing.

Newest board member Amon Tracey made fiscal discipline his main focus since joining the board in July. During his first three meetings, Tracey has questioned every item he thought could be reduced.

The former mine superintendent proposed a new system in August to have PSD financial statements sent out to board members in advance. The PSD approved the proposal, which gives members more time to review finances before meetings.

At August’s meeting, Tracey asked PSD manager Rick Barkley to investigate different laboratories to do the PSD’s water testing, which costs the PSD about $300 every month.

Barkley discovered that the Elkins Waste Water Treatment Plant could do the testing for about 10 percent less than the current vendor, REIC labs in Beckley.

At the PSD meeting in Durbin on September 30, Barkley informed the board of his discovery and said using the Elkins lab would save even more money on mileage costs.

Tracey moved that the PSD change vendors to the Elkins lab and board president Mark Smith seconded, making the change official.

Board secretary Scott Millican was not present at the meeting.

The PSD went into executive session to discuss personnel matters.

At the conclusion of the closed-door session, the PSD announced it would pay PSD contractor Kermit Friel more than $8,000 in expenses for work related to the proposed sewage plant for the Slaty Fork area. The PSD also voted 2-0 to direct Friel to stop all work for the PSD until further notice.

The PSD completed a handbook containing policies and guidelines on employee standards. The PSD currently has five employees – three working out of the Linwood office and two at the Durbin waterworks office.

The handbook provides for a 180-day probationary period for new employees and also implements a sick leave policy. For the first year, employees will accrue four hours sick leave per month. After the first year, employees will accrue eight hours sick leave per month.

PSD attorney Tom Michael reviewed the handbook and said “it looks good.”

Tracey said the PSD could change any policy at any time, if provisions were abused. Michael said that was true, but that accrued benefits could not be reduced retroactively.

The board voted 2-0 to approve the new handbook and policies.

Durbin mayor Donald Peck told the PSD that the town wants to start doing its own sewage billing, currently done by the PSD. The board agreed to work out a contract with the town to provide water meter readings for the town to calculate sewage bills. Durbin operates a municipal sewage plant and pays the PSD to do billing.

In other business, the PSD:

approved the monthly financial statement, which reflected $55,385.95 income and $42,590.74 in outlays under the sewage account and $13,173.20 income and 13,110.48 in outlays under the water account. approved payment of invoices from Region 4, Infrastructure and Jobs Development Council in the amount of $1,663.84 for project administrative services related to the new sewage plant project. approved payment of invoices from Thrasher Engineering in the amount of $4,406.91 for costs related to the new sewage plant project. discussed the purchase of a new truck for the PSD. discussed the leak policy. A water customer in Durbin had a leak which ran her bill up to almost $500. Barkley said the PSD policy is to give customers a break if they have a leak fixed in a timely manner. He said the policy could reduce the customer’s bill by as much as $400.