Dogtown Wire

The bad news is Electric Department Director Joe Gertsch resigned his position June 16 after 13 years at the department and will be leaving as of today.

The good news for us is Gertsch will be starting his new job Monday to use his law degree for Southwest Power Pool (SPP) that is a form of watchdog organization that ensures electric companies comply to rules crucial to keeping our electrical power flowing.

Gertsch also holds an engineering degree.

SPP’s website said, “SPP is mandated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to ensure reliable supplies of power, adequate transmission infrastructure, and competitive wholesale prices of electricity.”

Gertsch said he was asked by Mayor Pat Hays to not say anything about the resignation until last Friday to give him time to call people to inform them that Gertsch was leaving.

On the question of who would replace him at least as an interim director, Gertsch said he deferred this information be announced by Hays who will decide the next director. Hays is on vacation as of yesterday and since a call forwarded to him on unrelated stories went unanswered, no further call was made regarding this issue.

The good news is that Gertsch said he will be staying closely in touch with the Electric Department from the laptop computer he will keep on hand over the next month or so to make sure he can tie up loose ends.

“I’m sure there are a few things I forgot to do, or things that got by me to care of,” he said. “I’m doing everything I can do to make the transition as painless as possible.”

The bad news is that electricity hasn’t been flowing much from the units at the Murry hydroelectric plant since February because of the high water levels, Gertsch said of the original reason for the call to Gertsch.

Though Unit Two is now up and running, Unit One is down because the accumulation of the water-borne silt that clog its intake. When this happened the force of the ensuing vibration that was created in the intake gate bearings of Unit One sheared five bolts on the gate.

The debris is being cleared out, but until the bolts are repaired the unit cannot be run and no money can be generated, he said.

“Ultimately what we’re going to have to do is have some serious dredging and cleaning up of both units,” Gertsch added, the word “we’re” a telltale sign of what dedication we may be losing.

Hays said not too many months ago during the sales tax discussions at City Council that we were about $600,000 behind the projected money the hydro plant was hoping to make at this point.

City Council did approve the use of a $15 million loan program in the Jan. 14 meeting to be used for Electric Department. At this same meeting Hays was able to tell the council the good news that the plant revenue was up by $160,000, but this was before the rains swelled the river.

Gertsch said there is another option if need be if the financial problem continues or gets worse.

There is a contingence reserve fund process in place that can be used by the Electric Department to rectify a shortfall such as this, he explained.

“If we if we fell significantly below what the hydro [plant] would generate [in revenue], then we under the bond covenant have the ability to tap that reserve and contingency fund.”

Gertsch said he assumed the City Council and mayor would take this option adding, “I would hope that before we borrow money we would tap that reserve and contingency fund in order to make up that shortfall of hydro-generation.”

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