Council approves LaHarpe rate hike

LAHARPE — LaHarpe electricity customers will pay more for their electric bills starting next month.
LaHarpe City Council members approved a 6 percent hike in electric rates, effective immediately, because of an uptick in wholesale costs.
Mayor Mae Crowell said the city was notified by Westar that the utility giant was raising the city’s rates 6 percent June 1, with even larger rate hikes higher by 2018.
Without the rate increase, the city stood to lose money for each kilowatt sold, an all-too-frequent occurrence in recent years.
Councilman Danny Ware noted LaHarpe has lost money in its electric fund in five of the past 10 years because rates weren’t high enough.
“You’re not going to be in business very long if you keep losing money,” Ware said.
Meanwhile, Councilwoman Sara’Nicole Prock noted LaHarpe’s rates were the third lowest in the region.
The Council declined to take further action in anticipation of future rate hikes, declining, for example, to increase the base rate on meter charges for residents or business owners. The meter charges are flat fees each customers pays, regardless of the amount of electricity consumed.

IN A RELATED matter, former councilman Clayton Carr and LaHarpe resident Ralph Holland pressed the Council for answers on a pair of recent incidents involving the city’s electric service.
A recent storm toppled a power line, and with City Superintendent Shaun Atwood out of town — he was not on call at the time — a city employee contacted Carol Buzbee, former city superintendent, who helped re-erect the line and restore service.
“That totally blows my mind,” Carr said.
Holland said he was concerned about the city employees’ lack of training.
“If you’re hired to do a job, you should be able to do the job,” Holland said.
Carr also spoke about a Friday incident in which an employee for a private contractor narrowly avoided being electrocuted while helping replace a transformer because the wire was still live because some of the equipment had been incorrectly installed previously. The employee was uninjured.
Crews should have tested the wire first, Carr contended, regardless of how the equipment was wired.
Council members agreed to investigate the matters further.

THE COUNCIL amended the city’s ordinance relating to building incentives for new homes or businesses.
The incentives allows the city to pay for installation of electricity, water, sewer, gas, telephone, cable television and high-speed Internet, and one 20-foot entrance to a property at no charge to the property owner, provided the qualifying structure has an appraised value of at least $50,000.
The city has had such an ordinance in place for years. The amendment shortens the amount of time, to 18 months, for applicants to complete construction. The old ordinance allowed for 24 months.

CROWELL’S recent purchase of an $800 gun safe for the city raised Councilman David Lee’s brow.
Crowell explained a recent case of vandalism at City Hall — a juvenile shot at a door to the LaHarpe Police Department — left the office interior unsecured for a spell on Memorial Day.
While the perpetrator was content solely with vandalism and not burglary, no further issues arose, Crowell said.
Had the vandal entered the office, he would have found a closet filled with unsecured firearms, including an AK 47.
Lee said the incident begs the question: What is LaHarpe doing with such weaponry?
The city does not own the firearms outright, Crowell explained, but instead has them on lease from the federal government. She was unsure when the city acquired the weapons, or why.
But for the time being, they needed to be kept secure, thus prompting the gun safe.
Lee suggested, and others agreed, the city take steps to get rid of the excess firearms.
Crowell noted the juvenile responsible for the crime, whose name was not released, has been identified. The case is in the LaHarpe Municipal Court system.

CROWELL said the city could still get some use out of a modular building next to City Hall.
The building was left over as a classroom annex when City Hall still was LaHarpe Elementary School, but has sat vacant since the city took over the property.
Prior attempts to sell, and then give away, the building went for naught because of the impression many had the modular building was in poor condition.
While the floor has buckled in one spot, likely due to a water leak, the rest of the building is in good shape, Crowell said.
She suggested the city consider using the modular building for the Police Department.
Lee was not as enthusiastic, noting the city would essentially be emptying a portion of City Hall, and then having to pay added utilities for the modular building.
In any event, Crowell said the city should at least look into again selling the modular, or finding another way to get rid of it.