Holly Electric Rates to Remain Unchanged

Holly Mayor, Calvin Melcher, cast the tie-breaking vote for Ordinance 530 to prevent the raising of rates and tariffs for municipal electric customers. The four to three split had Trustees Corey Stephens, Jacob Holdren and Joshua Reinert in favor and Larry Sitts, Anthony Moldenhauer and Rod Swisher opposed. The tie was ended with Mayor Melcher’s vote opposing the rate increase which would have impacted the current monthly rates paid by Holly customers. The increase had a smaller adjustment on the base kilowatt per hour charge which was increased fractionally for six different classes users.

The proposed increase was recommended following an independent study conducted for the town by Nebraska Municipal Power Pool (NMPP) which suggested the across-the-board adjustments to help offset expenses for needed future upgrades to the town’s power infrastructure. Several residents, those mostly with agricultural interests, asked for clarification as to how their operations would be impacted by the rate increase, especially for peak usage periods during field irrigation. Some rate increases last occurred in 2009 and again in 2014.

The Holly landfill has only about three months of life left. The Trustees have two options on the table, contract with a waste removal firm to collect and haul away town refuse or develop a transfer station where refuse will be sorted, some will be compacted and the bulk will still be hauled away to another landfill. The Trustees decided to reject the lone bid submitted for consideration although there were two interested firms present. The project will be re-bid, but only after more specific adjustments are made to the bid request. That will cover the size and number of totes or trash bins that would be required by customers, the number of trips required for trash trucks for various customers, the price of hauling and a guarantee that given the availability of area landfill sites, the trash would still be hauled away.

The Trustees are facing a $30,000 shortfall of funding for the landfill, over the $30,000 which is already earmarked for the closing study. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment also requires a community closing its landfill have funding needed to address any repairs or upgrades for a thirty-year period.

In other action, the Trustees will advertise for bids for a new riding mower for the town crew, voted to designate the Holly Shopper at the official newspaper for circulation and appointed Town Administrator, Michael Tanner to represent the community with SECED and Prowers Economic Prosperity. Phil Malouff was retained as Town Attorney, Kim Verhoeff as Municipal Judge, Sheriff Sam Zordel as Town Marshall and the Finance Committee will be: Calvin Melcher, Corey Stephens and Jacob Holdren. The next Trustees meeting will be Wednesday, February 5^th.

By Russ Baldwin