— from Boyd and Lovel Pratt —
Ballots for OPALCO have arrived by mail.
We thank all the candidates running for OPALCO’s Board of Directors. We are grateful for the many years of service Randy Cornelius provided as General Manager of OPALCO and we believe he would make an excellent member of the board, but at a future date. More than a few months are needed for there to be an effective transition from the role of General Manager to that of a Board Director.
The current OPALCO Board of Directors has taken important steps to provide essential broadband infrastructure for our community. Century Link will not step up to provide the reliable and high-speed internet that is essential for the viability and success of our businesses and schools, as well as home use. It’s up to OPALCO to provide the necessary bandwidth, reliable service and reasonable rates. As OPALCO members we need the current board and administration to stay the course and see the Broadband Directives through to implementation.
We hope you’ll join us in voting for OPALCO Board member incumbents Chris Thomerson and Winnie Adams.
These are my unedited thoughts from a post a couple of days ago. I will be frank. Sutton has displayed very poor judgement at the sewer district., and Randy created the mess we are in. Opalco needs to QUIT SPENDING money that most of it’s customers can’t afford.
It does not surprise me that Opalco employees defend the company. When size of staff is questioned all organizations, “Circle The Wagons”. I have posted my thoughts before and here they are again. The bottom line is STOP SPENDING MONEY!!! It is Interesting Theresa that you said, “OPALCO is committed to managing the finances in a way that make it possible for the Co-op to borrow money from its government lender to finance big projects”. The mission as management sees it and expressed on the web site in
RATES AND REVENUE STABILITY FOR SUSTAINABILITY
is all well and good but only certain groups can afford it. We would rather have the Plymouth and a few outages.
STOP BORROWING AND SPENDING AND LOWER THE RATES. I repeat, STOP BORROWING AND SPENDING AND LOWER THE RATES. All spending even borrowed at 0% must be paid back by us the rate payers. This is a classic example of taking from the poor and giving to the rich.
I wonder how many rate payers are merely financially comfortable, very financially comfortable, very well off or rich or super rich. I fall in the first category. The problem is that many individuals and family’s do not. I do not know the percentage.
When Doug Bechtel retired, the Opalco staff total employee count was thirty nine. Doug managed the utility like a very conservative republican. It was like a Plymouth or Chevy. For the most part I believe, things were maintained or replaced as needed. Our problems started when Doug retired. We needed another bare bones director. The board hired Randy Cornelius. I like Randy. He was very capable and knowledgeable. He was also a very good salesman. He hollered to The Board “The Sky Is Falling” and The Board bought it. I am certain that The Board Members will have no problem with the continually rising rates.
Our problems are not because of Randy though because The Board signed off on his plans to turn our Plymouth into a Cadillac at the least and maybe a Mercedes Benz. Here is the problem though. There are only 11,000 plus members to pay for the upgrade. If we had 50,000 members, the new and improved infrastructure would have cost each member 80% less.
Have you noticed how the contractors tend to use old equipment until it is dead. That is because we are paying for it ourselves. The Fire District and Opalco have everything shiny and new. That is because they are not paying we are. My most basic rule in my contracting business is, “It’s Not My Job To Lift Your Wallet”. Well, our wallet has been lifted by 8 or 10 Board Members who thought they were doing the right thing but never observed how many people use the food bank. For Gods sake, we are the richest county in the state with the highest income inequality
The Board drank Randy’s Kool Aid and the chickens have come home to roost.
Apparently, I won’t be getting Harvey’s vote. Oh, well !!