Government : VMCU and VMEU Meeting Notes

Click to view meeting

Vinton Municipal Communications Utilities began the meeting last Tuesday evening via Zoom. Sailing through the beginning of the meeting approving minutes, agendas and etc., the meeting quickly moved to an update from Dave Fridley of Farr Technologies.

iVinton should have all of the conduit and have every home that has signed up ready to receive fiber to their homes by the end of May. This is a REMINDER: There is no cost to sign up and have your home connected. The internet is like water and electricity in the sense that it is more likely that your home will need to be hooked up at some point if it is not now. CONNECT NOW to avoid a charge in the future, there is NO CHARGE NOW to do this!

If you signed up for a site survey, you need to allow the utility onto your property to connect you to iVinton. If you received a letter in the mail contact the iVinton office to follow up.

If you have not, contact the office at 319-472-3255, quickly. Once the trucks pull out there will be a charge to connect your property.

At this point 600 properties have signed up and are in the system to be connected, others have signed up but failed to follow through If you are unclear if you are connected or not, call and ask ASAP.

You can also connect to iVinton online here.

Crews will be taking precautions when it comes to entering your home because of COVID-19. To protect residents and to protect the crews, the crews will be wearing protection but if they come to your home and someone is ill and they don't feel comfortable entering they will not enter.

At this point, approximately 600 residents have signed up for services so approximately 1600 have yet to decide if they would like the service.

The board is discussing ways that they can assist families with students at home due to the COVID-19 crisis which may last for months. Until iVinton is up and running there is no way to do that, however, this is another good reason to make sure that your home is connected to iVinton.

The telecommunications meeting was adjourned and the electric utility board was called to order.

The normal business was conducted. For an explanation of the energy rate, go to 1:10 on the video where Tom Richtsmeier the Electric Plant Manager explains how it is figured each month. (something I haven't understood since covering these meetings, so a bit of education if you care to understand it.)

Solar Update

Amy Edison had given a report last month concerning the possibility of pursuing solar power for Vinton. There are three different ways it could be funded. Cash reserves, bond funded or a power purchase agreement. Rich Hainstock said it would run around 1 million dollars for Vinton. With 2 new members, neither has had the opportunity to hear the presentation so were unaware of what had been shared.

There will not be any pursuit of that at this time. The board felt like getting iVinton off the ground first would also be a good idea.

The Board agreed to waive JUST the late fees for residents who may need to pay their bills late for their utilities during the COVID-19 crisis. This does NOT waive your electric bill, you will need to continue to pay your utility bills.

The Board discussed a Rate Design Study Update. This is a study done every 3-5 years, and it was last done in 2016. A new study is done to determine any adjustments that might be necessary for electric utilities. The board decided to postpone the study until the iVinton project is closer to being done.

Under Reports, Richtsmeier updated the Board on the activity of the crews. They are making a lot of line locations for the iVinton program. They are also trimming trees, meter change outs and etc.

The plant is also having a problem with one of the boilers that is only 10 years old. Richtsmeier said that usually, they run 20 years before having issues. Right now he is in the process of checking into the pricing for temporary vs. replacement.

Cindy Michael also wanted to let the public know that to pay utility bills, payments can now be made via ACH payments which are electronic payments that pull funds directly from your checking account, or you can still drop payments via the drop box at City Hall or you can also make a payment over the phone.