In Butler City Council news, the Council feels it's time to update its agreement with United Telephone, seeing as how the present one is 45 years old, and has been charging the phone company only two dollars per pole for it to lease space here in town.
And besides, it's not even "United" anymore...the company is now "CenturyLink."
That company has indicated it's willing to go to eight dollars per pole, and feels all is necessary between them and Butler, would be an amendment. However, the Council feels a new agreement is in order, so City Administrator Mark Arbuthnot and the city attorney will be holding further discussions. It appears that this can be settled without much trouble.
Meanwhile, other work continues between meetings...the Neighborhood Advisory Commission is still working on improvements in its meetings...and the Parks and Recreation Commission has also met, already getting ready for the 2012 summer season.
And that Solar Farm project is still in the talking stage. Solar in general has hit a bit of a snag since the problems on the national scene, but several items are still being evaluated to determine if the project here in Butler will be able to move ahead.
One of the items is the value of the Solar Renewable Energy Credits, which can be sold to utilities on the open market. A year ago, these had a value of 250 dollars per energy credit. But today, their value is estimated at 50 to 100 dollars per energy credit, and the value of these is important to the financial feasibility of the project, our city administrator said.
The purchase of the Solar Farm by MoPEP after 6½ years is also important to the success of this project, Mark said. But all hands are still working on putting the project in Butler's Industrial Park.
There's no way around Butler having to buy catalytic convertors for our diesel generators at the City light plant. The EPA's regulations still hold, that we must comply by March of next year (2013), and it will cost Butler $300,000.
And Butler Memorial Airport's above-ground petroleum storage tank is going to have to be insured, and in case of a catastrophe, the deductible on the policy is $10,000, so the city has to show that it would have the ability to pay the deductible if a claim was ever made. The City Council approved that requirement. Remember, that 10-thousand is not the cost of the insurance...it's the deductible in case of a huge claim. Your car has the same type of deductibles.
And one more important item...Butler and the County is still working on the upgrade of the 9-1-1 system so that it can be countywide. The present equipment is outdated so that parts are hard to get, so work on this important aid to the entire county continues.
That's the word from the Butler City Council...we remind that you're welcome to attend any and all meetings...seven p.m. the first and third Tuesdays of each month, at City Hall.
-courtesy FM 92 the Bullet
