City directors discussed the possibility of the city establishing a utility board during Tuesday's city board meeting.
In researching the possibility of a utility board, City Administrator Phillip Patterson tasked Electric Department Director Phil Stokes, Finance Director Christina Petriches and Steve Gorszczyk, director of public works to research the issue.
Gorszczyk, Petriches and Stokes researched different utility boards and found four cities that provide the same number of utilities as Siloam Springs does. The city of Siloam Springs provides electric, sanitation, sewer and water utilities to the public.
The cities that were looked at were Bentonville, Clarksville and Hope in Arkansas, as well as Pryor in Oklahoma, Patterson said.
Hope
Hope Water & Light's utility board began in 1957, Patterson said. The city's utility board consists of five members with staggered five years of service and controls all utility operations including rates and debt, Patterson said.
Hope's utility board also pays administrative fees to the city of Hope and provides free utility services to city facilities, Patterson said.
Pryor, Okla.
The city of Pryor was established in 1951 and like Hope, the utility board consists of five members with staggered five-year terms, Patterson said.
Pryor's utility board controls utility operations, provides rate recommendations to the city council and members are compensated the same as Pryor's city council, Patterson said.
Annual transfers are made to the city budget, Patterson said. In addition to the annual transfers all surplus revenues are transferred to the city's general fund and debt requires voter approval, Patterson said.
Clarksville
The utility board in Clarksville was formed in 1960 and consists of five members with staggered five year terms, controls operation of utilities and provides rate recommendations to the Clarksville city council, Patterson said.
Long term debt and bonds require city council approval and no compensation is paid to board members. The utility board pays a five percent franchise fee to the city, Patterson said.
Bentonville
Bentonville has had its utility board the shortest amount of time, Patterson said. The city established its utility board in 2019 and consists of five members with two-year terms and a two-year term limit, Patterson said.
The utility board controls the operation of Bentonville's utilities and rate recommendations to the city council, Patterson said. Debt requires city council approval and its members are paid $250 per month, Patterson said.
Members are required to attend eight hours of training including one hour of ethics training before the end of the first year, Patterson said.
The utility board pays a five percent franchise fee to the city and provides free utility services to the city, Patterson said.
Reactions from the directors
Director Lesa Rissler liked the idea of the utility board but said decision making process should be left to the city board.
She also said she liked the idea of training the members of the utility board and was for the idea of making recommendations to the city board.
"I see it more as an advisory board in my opinion than running the utility," Rissler said.
Rissler also said she was open for discussion on how it was run. Director Carol Smiley also sees the utility board as more of an advisory board and thinks the city board needs to keep control to a certain extent.
"I think this board would be the one that would delve into utility rates, but we would make those decisions," Smiley said.
Smiley said she saw the utility board similar to the planning commission and that five years is an adequate term for utility board members. Lastly, Smiley said the directors need to be open to what the utility board says.
Director Reid Carroll said he would like the city move forward with a utility board but was not set on what particular direction that should take.
"I'd like to see us look more into this and get more definitive on what we're going to do with it," Carroll said.
Director Mindy Hunt agreed with the recommendations made by Rissler and Smiley, but also said the utility board members should be compensated like the members of the planning commission.
"I think if we ... compensate the planning commission we should compensate this board as well probably at the same type of rate," Hunt said.
In October of 2020, the city board voted to add establishing a utility board to the list of 2021-2022 board goals and when the city voted to pause utility rate increases, Director David Allen called for a utility board to be formed to study utility rates annually.
City directors also approved and heard the following items:
Consent agenda
• Regular meeting minutes for the March 15 city board meeting.
• Resolution 20-22 regarding a final plat development permit for 23006 Lawlis Road.
• Dedication of utility easements for 816 East Main Street.
• Dedication of drainage easements for the 2800 block of East Kenwood Street.
Contracts and approvals
• Contract for the Willows Addition drainage mitigation project with Curtis Construction Inc. in the amount of $99,399.
• Change Order No. 3 with Burns & McDonnell Engineering Company Inc. in the amount of $69,542.
Ordinances
• Placing Ordinance 22-08 regarding the rezoning of the 1200 block of South Holly Street from conditional R-4 to standard R-4 on its third reading and then taking a separate vote to adopt the ordinance. An R-4 zone is a Residential multi-family zone.
• Placing Ordinance 22-09 concerning the rezoning of 799 S. Lincoln St from C-2 to R-O on its first reading.
• Placing Ordinance 22-10 regarding service extension fees on its first reading.
• Placing Ordinance 22-11 concerning restricting parking on certain streets on all three readings and the taking a separate vote to adopt the ordinance.
• An emergency clause to make Ordinance 22-11 effective immediately.
Resolutions
• Resolution 19-22 concerning a final plat development permit for the 2200 block of North Carl Street.
• Resolution 21-22 concerning a significant development permit for 3505 Hwy 412 East.
• Resolution 22-22 regarding 1113 E. Ashley St.
• Resolution 23-22 concerning an incentive for the connection of a 240 volt outlet to charge electric vehicles.
Staff reports
• Water treatment plant update.
• Sunday alcohol sales.
• February financials.
• Administrator's report.