Century Henry Hawkins expressed concern in an email to council members about the council's disregard of recommendations made by Century Gas Superintendent Wally Kellett, which Hawkins believes would allow the town to discontinue its relationship with City Services, Inc. (CSI).
In a letter given to council members prior to Monday night's council meeting, Hawkins wrote 'A gas leak survey covering 100 percent of the system was recommended, however, the town chose to perform the minimum requirement for leak survey.' The recommendation came after CPA Robert Hudson told council members at an August budget workshop the town could not account for 58 percent of the natural gas it purchases for resale and faced a projected loss of $188,000 next fiscal year.
Hawkins stated the daily operations appeared to be in general compliance, as they are under the supervision of Kellet.
Hawkins alleged that the town pays CSI extra for services that should be included in the monthly fee, and by eliminating their services would be 'a move in the right direction', and that if CSI were allowed to do the leak survey, it would cost the town an additional fee as well as the employees accompanying CSI to show them areas in question.
Hawkins pointed out that Kellett has made numerous recommendations but that the council has not taken any of them. The mayor wrote in another letter to council members that he was informed that Councilwoman Ann Brooks had been providing information to Tom Geoffroy with the Florida Gas Utilities (FGU) concerning the town's gas issues.
“My concern again is who directed Ms. Brooks to provide any information to anyone without our staff being made aware of it. Please note that when I have been asked about the status of our negotiations between the town, city of Pensacola and Florida Gas Utilities, I have given you the best answer that I could….If the Council has not given Ms. Brooks the authorization to by pass me and take matters into her own hands without the knowledge of the town or our staff then I think that it's fair that we do not pay any unauthorized charges due, we hold the responsible person(s) responsible and that we do not act on the behalf of the town without consent from the town and the knowledge of the mayor.”
The mayor also alleged that Brooks has made numerous requests to the county attorney without Hawkins' knowledge, costing the town $720 and asked who gave Brooks the authorization to represent the town with council approval, referring to a television interview in August of Brooks by a television station in Pensacola.
One of the recommendations Kellett made was to install a gate station meter to determine if Century is receiving the amount of natural it pays for. Kellett and Joe Brown have been checking every gas meter to check the accuracy and age of each meter. Most are more than 25 years old, according to Kellett.
Kellett receives $500 a month to perform what CSI is contracted to perform.
“We find it more beneficial to have a qualified person on staff than in Georgia trying to monitor annually,” said Kellett. “It's a more efficient way to keep our gas system compliant.”
