A few days ago, our local (Knoxville) television channels were all reporting a tremendous increase in monthly electric bills.
According to the reports, the bills in Knoxville were doubled and even tripled. Several officials from the Knoxville Utilities were interviewed as to the reason for the large increases and they explained that there were extra days in the period. The week of very cold weather was also included in the bill.
When our bills came out this month, we had almost the same situation. I had numerous calls and contacts from users demanding an explanation for the large increases.
I met with Mrs. Cheryl Tidwell, Utilities Director, on Wednesday, February 10th and discussed the bills with her. According to Mrs. Tidwell, most bills started on December 23rd (some meters were read earlier and all meters were read prior to the Christmas holidays so that employees could have Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off). The average meter reading day was January 25th (not all meters can be read on the same day). The average number of days on the bill was 33 (an average increase of at least 3 days on each bill). And of course we experienced the same week of very cold weather during that period that was cited by the Knoxville Utilities officials.
Mrs. Tidwell says that the Utilities Board understands the hardships that such a large increase creates upon users - especially those living on fixed incomes. And that is why the Utilities Board offers a budget plan that eliminates the ups and downs of monthly bills by equalling them out over the entire year.
Mrs. Tidwell says that information is available concerning the budget plan and she invites everyone to stop by the Municipal Building and pick up brochures explaining the plan.
I listened carefully to the televised news stories concerning the bills in Knoxville and I also called friends living in our surrounding towns to inquire as to any increases in their monthly bills. Not all utilized power purchased from the Tennessee Valley Authority.
All reported large increases except one family in the Williamsburg area that had virtually the same monthly bill as the previous month. However that family's meter was read several days after the Christmas Holidays and was for a very short billing period.
And if it is any consolation, every councilman and every city employee (including those in the Utilities Department) that I have talked with experienced the same increases. Mrs. Tidwell said that her bill also reflected a similar increase and my own bill was up by a considerable percentage.
We have had questions as to why we cut trees and did other work on private property along Fifth Street. And the answer is that we did not!
The city has long owned a right-of-way there that has never previously been opened. But at least one individual wants to eventually construct a residence there and others have expressed interest in lots along the right-of-way if access is made available. And we are going to do everything possible to encourage such development.
However before the Council gave approval for the work to start, the right-of-way was surveyed and clearly marked as City of Jellico property.
The recent sale of Jellico Towers "A" and "B" came as a surprise to most of us.
As was reported in the media on several occasions, a contract had been signed over twenty years ago between the City of Jellico and developer/owner Lawler-Wood, LLC, whereby the City guaranteed full occupancy of those buildings. And we were placed on notice that is was the opinion of Lawler-Wood that the contract was still in effect.
I have not conferred with our City Attorney but it would appear that the sale of The Towers will release the City from any further claims in that respect.
We are all aware of the recent rash of tornados that struck throughout Tennessee and most of this country. Many towns reported that their tornado alert warnings/sirens did not function properly.
We are very fortunate that we live in an area of relatively few tornados but some have touched down in this area in past years that caused tremendous destruction and even deaths.
Mr. Roy Price pointed out at our last City Planning Commission meeting that Jellico has no warning alarm/signal to alert area residents should a tornado develop in our area. And to anyone's knowledge, no such alarm or signal is available anywhere throughout Campbell County or nearby Whitley County.
I often mention new construction going on in Jellico and I plan to do an update report on our downtown renovation project sometime within the next few weeks. Members of the City Council and I pledged to work toward making visible improvement to the appearance of the downtown area by Memorial Day. And we plan to keep working toward that objective.
In the meantime, the new building on Florence Avenue that will house the International Headquarters of the Church of God of the Mountain Assembly is fast nearing completion.
And a small building has also been placed on the old Jellico Ford dealership property on North Main Street near the new General Dollar Store.
That site has also been partially cleared and graded and Mrs. Downs, owner, says that additional work is planned.
Mr. John Turnblazer, Mrs. Wilma Cox and others have taken great interest in the proposed monument to the coal miner that would be erected in the downtown Veterans' Park.
We currently have someone exploring the design, required materials, cost, etc., for such a memorial and we hope to have some preliminary plans for consideration sometime in the near future.
Although our town has moved almost entirely away from a coal based economy, coal still plays an important part in the lives of many of our citizens and there would be no Jellico without the coal industry and the coal miner.
We need to always remember that fact.
I previously stated my amazement with the current technology--especially the internet.
I mentioned in one of my recent columns that a lot of our citizens would like "Sports South Network" added to our local television cable service. Later I received a call from Mr. John Sorrells, Sports South Network, Atlanta, Georgia who said that he had read my comments in the Jellico Advence-Sentinel.
I was so surprised that I forgot to ask where he had obtained a copy of our local paper. But later I realized that he probably had seen it on the internet since Interstate 2000 runs this column each week.
I have also been working with Mr. Dave Hudson, a supervisor with Falcon Cable TV, to work out the details necessary to add Sports South to our local list of available channels.
I have been talking with Mr. Paul Begley, Begley & Associates, Barbourville, Kentucky about the possibility of moving that firm's machine shop to our city owned building next to the Municipal Building. Begley manufactures roof bolts and other mining equipment and plans to give serious consideration to relocating to Jellico due to restrictions on space and power in their present location.
I have also received correspondence from Norfolk Southern Railway in response to my request for that firm to donate any property that is excess to their needs to the City of Jellico. Norfolk Southern is willing to consider my request and Ms. Vickie Smith, is to meet me again within the next few days.
We could use the property for any number of purposes, E.G. parking, industrial site, recreation center, fenced area for storage, etc., etc. As far as I know now, there would be no restrictions should we decide to sell the property for development. However it is in the flood plain and will need building up two or three feet higher in elevation.
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