Council adopts supplemental wastewater posting, approves aggregation consultant agreement and other emergency resolutions

Greenville City Council on Monday approved several ordinances and resolutions, including a supplemental appropriation to post recent payments related to the city’s wastewater treatment plant project and a consulting agreement to support a municipal energy aggregation program.

The council adopted a supplemental ordinance appropriating $3,593,835.87 to the wastewater capital improvement fund to record payments made on the city’s behalf and reimbursements for engineering costs tied to a solids-handling project. Auditor Mrs. Davis told council the state reviewed the audit and “the city did have a clean audit,” and she explained that OWDA made payments directly to the contractor and the city must post those transactions to the books.

Council also authorized the safety service director to enter a limited-agency agreement with Trey Bell LLC to act as the city’s aggregation consultant. Safety Service Director Delco said the amendment would allow Trey Bell to lock in energy prices quickly with 24 hours’ notice, while residents would be notified by mailed opt-out letters and would not be forced into the program. “They will give us 24 give me us 24 hours, to say yes or no,” Delco said, describing the proposed practice; he added that locking in a rate does not obligate the city.

Other adopted items included a one-year liability insurance contract with Littman Thomas Insurance Agency (an emergency clause was included) and a resolution authorizing the safety service director to submit an OPWC application for paving funding. The council also passed a transfer ordinance to cover a pool refund and a transit-policy resolution.

Votes at a glance: the motions to suspend rules and adopt most ordinances passed on roll call with recorded yes votes; one suspension for the insurance resolution recorded an abstention by the member listed as “North” and a “No” vote by the member listed as “White.” Several other items passed unanimously on recorded roll calls shown in the minutes.

The council’s actions mainly formalize bookkeeping for the wastewater project and give staff tools to proceed quickly on energy aggregation and grant applications. Next procedural steps include contract execution by the auditor or safety service director as authorized and, for the OPWC application, awaiting a grant decision.