Vote on Public Utility Commission expected Monday
By ROB PRICE THE COURIER-ADVOCATE

FILE PHOTO Bath village residents gathered in the Morris Street fire station listen to village Trustee Tom Sears at last month's public hearing regarding the dissolution of the Public Utility Commission. Monday's village board meeting will return to the issue and will be held again at the fire station.

BATH - A long simmering conflict between the Bath village board and the Bath Public Utility Commission may come to a head Monday when village trustees vote on a resolution to dissolve the more than 70-year-old commission, which oversees operations of Bath Electric, Gas and Water Systems.

The vote is scheduled for the regular village board meeting, which will be held in the Bath fire department's new fire station because of expected crowds. Last month, nearly 200 residents attended the board's meeting in the same location, where village trustees voted to table the dissolution vote after hearing most speakers argue against dissolving the commission.

The meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m.

Bath Mayor David Wallace already has announced he plans to support the dissolution effort. In a guest column printed last week in The Courier, the mayor said he had "lost confidence in the judgement of the commission," and cited several issues including:

• Unresolved questions over how BEGWS would make payments on a proposed $9 million upgrade to its electric infrastructure. "Questions from the village board about the repayment of this amount were not adequately answered," Wallace wrote.

• Strained labor relations between the management of BEGWS and its labor force. Wallace alleges "a long standing and intesne conflict between labor and management" is hindering normal operations within the utility.

• An effort by commission members to have Matthew Benesh, director utilities, appointed to the board of directors of Corning Natural GAs, from which BEGWS purchase its natural gas supplies. Wallace charged the appointment would have created "a clear conflict of interest" for Benesh.

The drive to dissolve the commission comes as BEGWS works to assemble an engineering plan to upgrade its electrical infrastructure, which Benesh has warned may face future problems in meeting the growing demand for electricity in the village.

The public utility also is exploring a multimillion-dollar upgrade to its water distribution system in the village.