Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 6, 1994 TAG: 9401130013
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
Representatives of Ernst & Young are expected to outline the report to Pulaski Town Council at its Jan. 18 meeting.
Recommendations will include water rates for the future and whether to base those rates on a flat rate or a scale like the one in effect now, which gives high-volume users a discount.
The town administrative staff got the report from Ernst & Young just before the Christmas holiday, Town Manager Tom Combiths told council at its meeting Tuesday, but found that more work needed to be done on it.
For example, although council voted in October to raise town water rates by 24 percent based on an interim recommendation from Ernst & Young, the report based its recommendations on the earlier rates instead of the new ones.
``That does affect a lot of the computations and the conclusions in the report,'' Combiths said. ``The main thing's the rate structure.''
The report will go back to the consultant to plug in the more recent figures.
``The cleaned-up document will be here next week,'' predicted Assistant Town Manager Rob Lyons.
Councilman Don Crispin brought up the report, which was not on council's discussion agenda and which council members have not yet seen.
Crispin, who voted against the water study, stressed that a major recommendation from Ernst & Young was to be what rate structure the town should adopt. ``Obviously, if they made a mistake, they didn't comply with what our request was,'' he said.
``I guess we'll find that out when we get the report,'' said Mayor Gary Hancock.
Hancock noted that billing based on the new rates had to be delayed because the information had not been received by the Water Department in time. ``It was slow even getting downstairs, if you'll recall,'' he said.
Councilman Andy Graham had also opposed hiring the consultant, saying council had enough expertise among its members and the town staff to chart a way of getting the water fund out of debt and improving the aging system.
Graham said he would like to see the preliminary report from Ernst & Young even if it was being returned for additional work, and thought the other council members should be able to see it, too.
``We'll be glad to make that available to all council members,'' Combiths said, but Town Attorney Frank Terwilliger warned that such a step would also make it public before council had gotten the formal presentation from Ernst & Young.
It is still a working paper at this point, Terwilliger said, but would have to be made public immediately if it was distributed to council. ``You're going to have a document that is published in the newspaper and everywhere else that is not yet a final document,'' he said.
Following a 35-minute closed session to discuss the legalities further with Terwilliger and also to discuss an economic development matter, council adjourned the meeting without receiving the document.
In other business Tuesday, council unanimously approved construction of a utility bridge over Madison Avenue by Pulaski Furniture Corp. as part of its plant expansion.
Pete Crawford, the company's vice president for administration, told council the new 75,000-square foot miniplant to be served by the bridge should be in operation in May, and that it could provide even more than the 110 new jobs originally envisioned.
by CNB