Oliver outlines plans for 2018

By Staff, 01/4/18 1:44 PM

12-30TERRY OLIVER 001

PRESCOTT – A new year has dawned and with it comes plans for improvements in the City of Prescott.

Prescott Mayor Terry Oliver said his top priority for this year is to solve the pancaking issues with the city’s electric rates. The ongoing pancaked transmission charges that began in Dec. 2014 with the integration of Entergy Arkansas, Inc., into MISO and the advent of the SPP Integrated Marketplace in March 2015 led to this pancaking problem.

In Feb. 2016, he said, Prescott initiated a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Dispute Resolution division mediation to try and address this situation with the pancaking charges as the city’s utility customers are being charged with fees from both companies. “Hopefully,” Oliver said, “the City of Prescott can solve this problem in 2018. The discussions and proposals have taken a while because the city can’t ask its citizens to accept a solution our lawyers have concluded may be just as costly, if not more so than our present situation for the first 12-15 years of the arrangement.” Oliver said there is a “light at the end of the tunnel” the problem can be solved this year.

The utility situation isn’t the only thing Oliver will be working on this year. He said the city park will see improvements with the addition of a splash pad, which will be installed early this spring. “With several above ground water features, a pavilion, some shade shelters, benches and tables,” he said, “this splash pad will be something for our citizens to be very proud of.”

There will also be field improvements to the Prescott High School baseball field at the Johnson Sports Complex, he said, as well as the PHS softball field. Renovation work will also be done to Bemis Field at the Nevada County Fairgrounds as well.

The year, he continued, will also see the Water and Sewer Department continue working on several replacement and improvement projects needed to update the infrastructure.

In addition, he said, the city will continue marketing the Potlatch property and the Industrial Park to prospects to bring more jobs to the area.

Oliver added the Electric Department will continue working on its LED light project, along with updating the storage capacity for the electric supplies, wiring and transformers at the shop.

Plans are to continue removing old condemned houses this year as well, he said. Since 2011, 81 locations have been removed. The Sanitation Department, Oliver added, will keep improving cleanliness and the trash hauls, working to put pride back in neighborhoods.

As 2018 comes to a close, he said, plans are to continue adding to the Christmas decoration and light displays.

“This year the city will definitely support and put an emphasis on the importance of our Prescott Police and City Fire Departments,” he said. “Thanks to being awarded grants, the Prescott Police Department will have two new police vehicles in 2018.”

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