Bath village trustees vote to abolish Public Utilities Commission
By ROB PRICE THE COURIER-ADVOCATE

BATH - Village trustees this week moved to abolish the 76-year-old Public Utilities Commission, which oversees the operations of Bath Electric Gas and Water Systems.

Dissolution of the Commission would place the village board itself in direct control of the public utility. A public hearing on the action has been scheduled for 6 p.m. April 21 in the village board room of the Liberty Street Municipal Building, after which the board's action may be finalized.

Village officials cited a need for closer supervision of the utility, which has announced plans for multi-million dollar upgrades of its electric and water systems.

"The board feels that, given the magnitude of the issues, the village board ought to be directly involved with these decisions, and not as indirectly involved as is the case," said Mayor David Wallace.

Since 1932, the village board has appointed local residents to sit on the board of directors of the Public Utility Commission, and Commission members answer to the village board while maintaining dayto day oversight of the utility's operations.

The relationship, however, can get bumpy. Village trustees late last year turned down a request from the utility to issue $9 million in municipal bonds to finance upgrades to the electrical infrastructure. Since then, BEGWS officials have been reviewing the project with its engineering firm PLM electric Power Engineering.

In the aftermath of their unanimous vote to abolish the Public Utilities Commission, village trustees say dissolving the Commission would close the distance between the elected members of he village board and the utility itself.

"We need to take a much more active role with the utilities in light of the proposed upgrades," said village Trustee Mike Skelly. "We really need to be involved in that process; we do need to have the direct input."

Barbara Scudder, chairperson of the Publish Utilities Commission, said she felt "blindsided" by the action of the village board.

"They've had a utilities commission for a long time," Scudder said, "because the work load is more than they can handle."

Scudder added the issues would be reviewed during the April 21 public hearing. "I guess we'll just have to wait for the public hearing and wait to see what the issues are," she said.

Skelly agreed abolishing the commission would create loads of additional work for village trustees. "There's going to be a lot of extra work," he said. "But we feel we need to do this."