Opposition builds to village disbanding Public Utility Commission
By ROB PRICE THE COURIER-ADVOCATE

BATH - The Bath village board's move to dissolve the 76- year-old Public Utility Commission is apt to encounter stiff resistance when the village government holds a public hearing on the matter Monday.

Barbara Scudder, chairman of the Commission, has signaled her own opposition to the plan with a letter to the editor that appears on page 4 of this week's Courier. Additional Commission members may weigh in when the hearing opens at 6 p.m. in the Bath Volunteer Fire Department's station on East Morris Street.

Village board members voted earlier this month to disband the Commission and place the municipal government in direct control of Bath Electric Gas and Water Systems. Mayor David Wallace said the board wants closer supervision of the public utility due to the magnitude of upcoming capital projects.

Those include a multimilliondollar plan to upgrade the utility's electric infrastructure. Village trustees late last year balked at the utility's request for a $9 million bond issue that would have financed the project. BEGWS said it planned to repay the bonds through rate increases, a program village trustees questioned as either too expensive for village residents or undependable given the need for rate hike approval from New York state.

Since 1932, the village board has appointed local residents to sit on the board of directors of the Public Utility Commission. Commission directors oversee the operations of the utility, but also answer to the municipal board.

Current Commission members include Scudder, Harold Rodbourne, Larry Crossett, Ken Ward, and Barney Bonicave.

Scudder's letter noted Commission members bring extensive experience to their work. She also warned the utility's operating funds should be kept separate from the village government's own operating funds. BEGWS, she said, comprises "four separate companies, overseen by at least as many regulatory bodies, and each with a separate budget."

In the aftermath of the village board's vote to disband the Commission, village Trustee Mike Skelly said overseeing BEGWS would be "a lot of extra work," although he insisted the village board needs to be closer to the daily operations of the utility.

"We need to take a much more active role with the utility in light of the proposed upgrades," Skelly told The Courier.