The interviews were held in a courtroom inside the St. Clair County Courthouse in Pell City.
“The interview process is over,” Mayor Bill Hereford said after officials from the final two private utility companies were interviewed. “It’s in our court now.”
The mayor and council interviewed ESG Operations Inc. of Georgia and SouthWest Water Company of Pelham Thursday night. The process took between 2-3 hours. Tuesday, the council and mayor interviewed ClearWater Solutions, Inc., of Opelika and Artesian Utilities Systems Management of Selma.
Hereford said he is considering holding a special work session, so the council can talk about the four different companies that applied to manage the city’s water system.
Councilmen Greg Gossett and James McGowan have voiced concerns about turning the city’s water department over to a private utility company, saying the council just needs to hire a professional manager to run the city’s water department.
Hereford said Thursday that no decision was made as to whether the city will move forward with hiring a private utility company to run a city department.
“The truth is we need to decide whether we do this at all and if we do, we have to pick a company,” he said.
Hereford said the council has so much time invested in the process of selecting a company to manage the water department that it would not hurt anything to discuss the mater further at a future work session.
He also stressed Thursday night that if the city council hires a private utility company to manage the water department, the city would still have control of water rates and water quality testing.
Hereford said the private utility company, if one were hired by the city, would basically be in charge of billing, collecting and water distribution.
The cost for that service, according to proposals submitted by the four utility companies, starts at about $600,000 a year and includes a manager.
The two private utility companies interviewed last night basically offered the same services as the other two companies interviewed Tuesday night by the council.
Company officials said they would provide monthly reports outlining all work completed, along with the parts used in the process.
Representatives from SouthWest Water Company and ESG Operations, Inc. said they would pay their employees about the same the city is currently paying its water department employees. Both companies also offered Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance for their employees.
Edward Becker with SouthWest Water Company said his company would hire about eight people from the pool of existing staff in the city’s water department.
SouthWest Water Company officials said they would do the billing from Pelham, but there would be a clerk at city hall to open new accounts, take complaints and collect payments.
Unlike the other three companies interviewed by the mayor and council, ESG Operations, Inc., of Georgia said their company would keep all water department employees on payroll.
ESG Operations Inc. representatives also said the employees’ pay would remain the same or exceed what they are currently making with the city.
(ex)..2nd Ave. North..by the funeral home..that stretch of street between the Baptist church and BB&T bank has been a mess for years..There have been 4 mayors in office that should have but didn't attend to that problem....But...
I expect the citizens will sit back,say nothing and watch their water resources go "down the drain"