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Pocahontas County Public Service District attorney Chris Negley talked about the PSD's recent wastewater project submission when the board met last week in Durbin.

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ﾓThis is the first time we've had a public meeting since we filed our application,ﾔ Negley said. ﾓThat was filed February 27. We filed that with the state Public Service Commission and the state Department of Environmental Protection. Since that time, I believe our engineer has had discussions back and forth with the DEP engineer.ﾔ

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According to Negley, the next step in the application process would be determined by a comment letter from the state agencies. Negley said they have not received the letter yet, but expect to receive it soon.

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ﾓWe'll be able to review it and determine what to do,ﾔ said Negley. ﾓI would be surprised if we sat here next month and did not have something from those agencies.ﾔ

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PSD treasurer Ricky Barkley talked with board members about the board's current finances.

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ﾓWe're still showing a loss of $48,000 at the end of June,ﾔ said Barkley.

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Barkley said that after discussions with water plant manager Lloyd Coleman, they don't see where they can find money for any maintenance work for the remainder of the fiscal year. Barkley said they've already made deep cuts where they can, and they are quickly running out of options.

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ﾓThe only way he [Lloyd Coleman] can cut costs, is to lay off employees in order to get money to do maintenance work with,ﾔ Barkley said.

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Barkley said if there were lay-offs in hopes of saving money, Coleman wouldn't have enough employees left to perform the maintenance work.

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ﾓWe quit any discretionary spending months ago,ﾔ Coleman agreed. ﾓThe only place I have left to cut expenses is in labor.ﾔ

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As requested by board members, Barkley said he approached a local bank in hopes of establishing a line of credit, but was unsuccessful.

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ﾓI've talked to First Citizen's Bank about a line of credit,ﾔ he said. ﾓThey won't give a line of credit. Most banks will not give a line of credit unless you've got an asset, such as a building or property that you can put up against that line of credit.ﾔ

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PSD board member Amon Tracey expressed his displeasure with the current financial crunch.

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ﾓI think it's a shame that, the three of us sittin' here, we had $740,000 in the bank a year ago. Now we're wondering how we're gonna pay our electric bill,ﾔ Tracey stated.

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Board president Tom Shipley suggested a new approach to the annual budget.

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ﾓYou can't fix it with the budget,ﾔ Coleman told Shipley. ﾓYou're spending more money than you're taking in. To budget a different way isn't going to fix it, you have to have more revenue.ﾔ

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Barkley suggested approaching Griffiths and Associates for assistance with getting the budget out of the red.

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Board members agreed to discuss the budget further at a special work session.

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W.D. Smith, from Region IV, talked to board members about the most recent bill for the PSD water system improvement project. The $1,505 bill was for a Department of Highways inspection fee, and is being paid through a West Virginia Infrastructure Jobs and Development Council loan.

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Smith said the board budgeted $3,000 for the inspection fee, and that the surplus would be spent on additional touch-read water meters.

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Smith discussed a miscalculation in a recent change order for the Durbin water project.

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ﾓYou folks approved a change order number a couple months ago,ﾔ Smith explained. ﾓWhen we started reviewing the change order we recognized there were some errors in it. A long story short, there were some miscalculations. I'm not here to say who made a mistake, I'm just here to say there was a mistake made. The good news is, is we caught it. It was kind of hard to unravel what the heck happened. As recent as yesterday afternoon we were still verifying that we had this exactly right.ﾔ

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Ultimately, the clerical error means the board will be able to purchase only 145 of the touch-read water meters, instead of the 262 they had been anticipating. Smith reminded the board that all of the meters and other work the board was able to have done resulted from an unexpected surplus.

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ﾓThe point is, you're getting more out of your project than you originally planned on because originally it [the project] was nothing more than fixing your issues,ﾔ said Smith. ﾓYou've got your issues fixed, and your tank painted. You're getting fence around your water plant. You're getting a generator, plus you're getting several new meters.ﾔ

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The PSD is scheduled to meet again at a special work session Wednesday, April 4, at 5 p.m. at the Jerry Holder office.

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