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losophy is that the company no longer turns the power off--the customer turns it off themselves by not having enough credit to pay for electricity. He also reported that power quality issues have been created by the improper grounding of variable frequency drives (VFD). If a VFD is not property ground, it raises havoc with the load management signal and can also reduce the life of the VFD.
• Lowary gave her report on the Northeast Finance Officer's meeting she recently attended. She reported that Groton's water and sewer rates are on the low side compared to other municipalities. While Groton's sewer rate is $22, one town is charging as much as $40 a month for sewer. In addition, if the city is going to apply for water or sewer grants, the rates will have be raised to the new minimums in order to qualify for the grant.
• The grievance policy in the personnel manual will be removed. It is the new recommendation among municipalities. Some places are also switching to a shortened version of the personnel manual where benefits are not listed in the manual; but rather, each employee would receive a letter of benefits and the municipality could offer a different benefit package to each individual employee. Councilman Clare Brotherton said the city has a good bunch of employees and sees no reason to make such a drastic change.
• The west side street project is slated for next year with Second Avenue West and Third Avenue West, along with all cross streets, to be done. The council had previously cut out of the budget to do the asphalt mat, but decided to include an alternate on the bid. The thinking is that if the bids come in low, the city may be able to swing doing the asphalt at the same time.
• The city received a $6,000 grant from the South Dakota Broadband Initiative. A new load management computer will be purchased and other security devices will be purchased for both city hall and the city shop internet service.
• - Paul Kosel
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