New electric surcharge will pay for upgrades

MORGAN CITY — The city’s electric utility system is set to receive upgrades aimed at improving system reliability after the council approved a power bill surcharge Tuesday to pay for the projects.
The surcharge will add about $2.50 per month for a small residence using 1,000-kilowatts, City Utilities Director Bill Cefalu said. A larger residence using 2,000 kilowatts would pay $5 per month extra, he said.
At Tuesday’s city council meeting, the council approved an ordinance to add a $0.0025 per kilowatt-hour surcharge to city residential and commercial users to pay for the cost of work and equipment required to make electric utility upgrades. City officials intend for the work to improve the reliability of the power system. Mayor Frank “Boo” Grizzaffi said the surcharge mimics the city’s transformer recovery surcharge, which expired Jan. 1, in terms of the rate of the surcharge.
The utility surcharge will last until the council decides to get rid of it, or until the electric utility upgrades are complete, Grizzaffi said. The surcharge will go into effect 15 days after the notice of the ordinance is published in The Daily Review, he said.
At the December 2014 council meeting, Cefalu outlined some major projects the city needs badly, Grizzaffi said.
“One is to complete the SCADA system around our entire loop, which is going to help reliability,” Grizzaffi said.
The city’s SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System), is necessary to complete the city’s fiber optic loop in order to allow city workers to isolate certain parts of the city in the event of a power outage.
The first phase of upgrades is expected to cost about $300,000 and will be completed within a year, Cefalu said this morning.
“This year’s going to be dedicated mostly to getting everything digitized and all the instrumentation in place and getting that SCADA system online,” Cefalu said.
The transformer recovery surcharge raised about $380,000 and $370,000 each of the two years it was in effect, Cefalu said.
City officials also plan to cut trees away from power lines in the city, Grizzaffi said. A project in Auburn subdivision to complete an underground utility system is also on the list, Grizzaffi said.
The city wants to put residential and commercial properties on the different power grids, the mayor said. “Right now, certain grids have residential and commercial on the same grid,” Grizzaffi said. “It makes it difficult when we’re trying to work on a problem.”
Lots of circuit breakers need replacing across the city as well, Grizzaffi said.
Most of the work in the 10-year utility upgrade plan could be done in the first two years, Grizzaffi said.
During the meeting, the council approved an ordinance to create a set rate for gas tap fees, which will be whatever the cost is to the city, Water, Sewer, Gas Supervisor Kawika Kaai said.
The council also approved an ordinance for a sewer tap fee “at a reasonable fee, not to exceed the cost to the city, including outside labor and materials, will be charged for sewer main taps from the sewer main to the property line.”
Council members voted to accept the finance committee’s recommendation to purchase a new fire truck for $257,000 to be paid for out of the general fund, and the parish will reimburse the city $100,000 of those funds in 2016.
Also at the meeting, Aimee Monnin of Ricohoc, who spoke at the January’s council meeting in an effort to change the city’s vicious dog ordinance that bans pit bulls and puts restrictions on rottweiler ownership in the city, asked the council what the next step should be to change the ordinance. The council passed the vicious dog ordinance in 2006.
Councilman James Fontenot has received 30 to 40 calls in favor of keeping the ordinance as is, but has not received any calls in regards to changing the pit bull ban, he said.
Monnin gathered 360 signatures in an online petition to change the ordinance, she said. Monnin believes the city should go with a non-breed discriminatory dog ordinance as cities such as Breaux Bridge have, she said.
Councilman Barry Dufrene said Monnin needs to get a council member to back her efforts in order to try to change the ordinance, he said.
Councilman Ron Bias said he was the “lone no vote” when the ordinance was passed, and he still feels the same way. Bias believes the ordinance was a “rush to judgment” by the council, he said.
In other business, the council:
—Approved the American Legion Riders Post 96’s plans to hold its Freedom Fest May 24 at Lake End Park.
—Approved a change order for the Roadway Repairs & Improvements, Phase VIII project in the amount of $22,700.
—Approved substantial completion of the Road Repairs & Improvements, Phase VIII project.
—Approved a resolution to declare a list of items as surplus equipment.
—Approved a Class B liquor and beer permit for Danyell Michelle Mahoney at Stop-N-Shop.
—Went through the first readings of ordinances to adopt the 2015 tax year millage rates and to amend the 2014 budget.
—Approved the Federal Avenue and Bowman Street Lift Station upgrades engineering agreement with Environmental Engineering Services Inc.
—Approved the reappointments of Lauren Hebert and Christina Bourg and appointment of Scott Sicard to the Main Street Committee.

This story is by Zachary Fitzgerald of the Daily Review staff. Reach him at zfitzgerald@daily-review.com