Century needs to address its utilities

“A municipal corporation that is losing money is in the same position of a business that is losing money,” said Edwin “Buzz” Eddy, retired Gulf Breeze city manager to the Century Council at last Monday's special meeting. “It can't be around long and provide excellent service to itss citizens if you're losing money constantly. What I would work on first is the gas, water, sewer and sanitation.” “Services can be measured, charged for and the money brought in for those enterprise services should be equal to or greater than the cost for providing those services,” said Eddy. “At that point, they pay for themselves, and revenue generated can be used for street maintenance, other services and whatever capital improvement plan your city has in place.”

Eddy said the very first issue is to get all hands on deck by removing personality conflicts from the equation and work on the utilities where they are paying for themselves, and work on a budget for 2020 for the town.

He recommended council members do the footwork to find out what Century citizens think is needed in the community, bring it back to the council table and make plans to make that happen in order to deliver services to the citizens.

“I like to start at the things that I think I can have the most impact on, the quickest,” said Eddy. “The things that I think will benefit the city and will be relatively easy to implement.”

Eddy said that he agrees the problems the town is facing were not created overnight, and therefore, cannot be solved overnight. He noted that the personalities and their differences must be put aside

“Gas, water and sewer are being subsidized by the General Fund, which should be the other way around,” he said. “Generally, gas is easier to pull a margin, or profit, for the city that can be used to plug right back into the city.”

He pointed out that 509 gas customers out of the total 816 customers for all utilities, are being subsidized, which means that 62 percent is being subsidized by the remaining 38 percent.

Eddy said that he would be glad to help find someone for the town who can assist the town and he would be glad to work with them until that person is found.

When the low amount of ad valorem taxes in Century were mentioned, council members quickly dispelled any thoughts of raising them.

“I don't want to have to tax,” said Councilman Benjamin Boutwell. “We have lot of people in this community who are on a fixed income, I don't think the citizens of the community need to correct what should have been taken care by the town itself.”

Council president Ann Brooks agreed.

“They would just feel we're putting our inefficiencies on them,” said Brooks.

Councilman Luis Gomez asked Eddy how long he thought they should try to get on top with the utilities before they decide to sell or contract the services out.

Eddy said he thought gas was the easiest issue, and that in the last year, the town has not made any big changes and seen improvement. He suggested hiring someone to check the meters, but Gomez assured him that there are meters in boxes that have yet to be installed.

Gomez said he thinks some people are not performing their jobs like they should to help the town get back in the black financially.

“If there are meters sitting somewhere in a warehouse waiting to be put in, those new meters are the answer,” said Eddy. “They need to be put in immediately. You hire a contractor to put them in, and they will pay for themselves. Put them in right now, you cant wait.”

Eddy noted that the 50 percent gas loss is way out of the norm, and recommended the town check how much the town is paying per decatherm and compare it to nearby cities.

Discussion about how few gas meters have been installed prompted Eddy to recommend that the council instruct the gas meters for the largest users be installed first, even if the town had to hire contractors to install them.

Eddy said when he was Gulf Breeze's city manager, all the water meters were replaced in one year using a contractor, not their city staff. He said the cost of replacing them was about 10 percent of all their water sales, which turned into 15 percent additional revenue with the newer, more accurate water meters, which paid for the contractors to install them.

Eddy said since Century's city workers work on everything evenly and there are no departments, it might be financially efficient to hire an outside contractor or company that can evaluate all the utility services provided by the town.

When Brooks asked Eddy if he had a recommendation, he recommended a company Energy Services Group (ESG) that will evaluate everything, such as the lighting, the lift stations, etc. to determine which is the most efficient and which should be replaced or upgraded to save the town money.

Eddy said that these companies will estimate what the cost of making improvements and if the city cannot afford it, they company can loan the money. He said the revenue generated by the savings will pay the company, and if it doesn't the town is not responsible.

“The state passed a rule that said when these companies come in and propose these savings, they can be a risky proposition,” said Eddy. “So the state legislature passed a law that says that if a company comes in and promises that, and fails to deliver, and there is an efficient contract, they have to pay the difference. You're protected by the state legislature.”

Eddy said the savings in Gulf Breeze for the replaced water meters way exceeded the 10 percent promise the company made.

Eddy said a good water meter can last 20 years, and Mayor Henry Hawkins said Century's had been replaced about 15 years ago. Eddy suggested letting a company like ESG come in and evaluate and provide a quote, citing the difference it made in Gulf Breeze.

When Brooks asked about Century having a city manager, Eddy said a city administrator would work with the mayor, supervise employees and report to the council. Eddy said the city administrator's main focus would be to work with others to remove obstacles and pave the way for employees to do their job and get the issues of the town resolved.

Eddy said he would work with County Attorney Matt Dannheiser on a resolution or ordinance to put in place providing guidelines to align the roles, duties and responsibilities of the city administrator with the roles, duties and responsibilities of the mayor.

“I think to have a city administrator work with the auditors and the work with Mayor Hawkins put together a budget makes sense,” said Eddy. “To get away from some of the issues that created the comments on the grand jury report about money so you can follow a dollar, about the gas revenues where and how that gets evaluated, so the mayor and city administrator can get back to you, I think that makes a lot of sense.”

Eddy recommended having a city administrator or hired contractor develop a budget, be able to provide monthly reports on how the town is doing relative to budget which goes through the mayor and to the council, but said that the utilities is the most important and it should be a priority. He said the council should have an idea of how all the utilities are doing at all times and be provided a report.

Brooks read a letter from Florida League of Cities consultant Bob Inser, who recommended Pensacola's Alice Bennet, the former finance director for the city of Calaway and former resident of Century. Brooks said Bennett was aware of Century's situation and that she was open to helping the town, which Eddy agreed was a great beginning.

“We need to do something differently regarding our budget and finances,” said Brooks.

Mayor Hawkins suggested presenting Eddy's recommendations at the council meeting at 7 p.m., Monday, July 22 at Century Town Hall.

The council discussed scheduling a meeting with Alice Bennett the week after Century's next council meeting to move forward.

Councilman Gomez said he would like to contact ESG and council members agreed.