Up-to-date Pikeville electrical customers to get deposit refund
By Sam Atkins
Published in News on October 5, 2004 2:01 PM
PIKEVILLE -- Town residents who have paid their electrical bills on time and had no returned checks for the past 24 consecutive months will receive a refund of their electrical deposit.
The town board voted Monday to refund the deposits quarterly beginning in January.
All applicants for new electrical service or re-establishment of service are required to pay a $200 deposit guaranteeing payment of charges for the service.
Mayor Herb Sieger said the reason the board held on to the deposits in the past was because the town had been $5,000 to $6,000 behind in its electric bills. A large percentage of that has been eliminated, he said.
Residents who receive their deposit back and then are late or delinquent in paying will have to pay a new $200 deposit and a $25 reconnect fee for electricity, said Sieger.
Personnel chart
The board accepted a new town organization chart proposed by Commissioner Johnnie Weaver.
Weaver presented the chart to the board and said its purpose is to help the town run more like a business.
He said Fremont and most other towns with a town administrator are set up the same way. The town's current chart has the administrator, Lonnie Graves, ahead of only the public works employees. The new chart has Graves ahead of the public works employees, police chief, police sergeant, other police officers and the town clerk.
Graves will have a lot more responsibility under the new chart and will be in charge of developing employee evaluations, job descriptions and determining if an employee deserves a pay increases based on their performance.
Weaver said now that the chart has been approved, the next step will be to work on employee evaluations and then determine who has the hiring and firing powers.
Old school
The old school building should be demolished and removed around mid-November.
The board accepted a bid last month of $64,450 from Best Sand & Gravel in Goldsboro for the demolition of the school building. The town had budgeted $80,000 for the school demolition and $114,000 for parks and recreation improvements. It received a matching grant from the state for $97,087.
The board decided that its top priorities are demolishing the abandoned school, improving playground equipment and having more activities for senior citizens.
Halloween schedule
Children in the town are encouraged to trick-or-treat this year on Friday, Oct. 29, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
The town board decided that Friday would be better than Sunday, Oct. 31.