Council weighs in on demand charges

MINSTER — During Monday’s Minster council meeting, councilors weighed in on demand charges for commercial and industrial properties.

Vincent Cartwright rents out a home on Main Street through the vacation-rental site Airbnb. He told councilors that he’s noticed his electric bill was “about as much as our mortgage” when reviewing it recently.

He asked council about the extra demand charges that were applied to the bill, wondering if there was any way he could get the charges reduced.

“We’re really just a rental, much like the other Airbnb in town and the other rentals in town,” he said. “I don’t believe they paid the surcharges as well and wondered if it there was any leniency there? I know I’m asking a lot, but for our small business, it would mean a lot.”

Village Administrator Don Harrod replied that demand charges are set up for commercial and industrial properties and they do not apply to residential properties.

He said that commercial-type establishments are charged a kilowatt-hour (kWh) and a kilowatt (kW) charge. The difference between the two is that kWh reflects the total amount of electricity used and kW reflects the rate of electricity usage.

“Based on fact that the Airbnb is considered a commercial use, you got a conditionaluse permit for it, that’s the way we look at it,” said Harrod.

He added that motels and bed and breakfasts pay the same demand as well.

The demand is based on the peak amount of energy that’s being used in a 15-minute interval.

Harrod guessed that when guests arrive, they turn on the lights, the air conditioning and the TV, which sets that 15-minute peak of energy usage.

Cartwright said that he’s tried to lower the peak by installing LED lights as well as keeping the thermostat set at a proper level.

Cartwright was asked if he would be able to pass along the costs to renters and he replied that he’s competing against another Airbnb in town, which charges $60 per night.

Harrod replied that that property should also be paying the demand charge and that he would look into it.

Cartwright said that his furnace is electric and Harrod told him that he would look to see if he can switch to natural gas to maybe lower the cost.

Also Monday, council accepted Brumbaugh Construction’s bid of $1,231,760 for the Seventh Street reconstruction project.

Harrod said that Choice One Engineering’s original estimate was around $1.5 million.

He added that six other firms submitted bids as well and council approved the ordinance to go with Brumbaugh.

In other business:

• Council passed a

resolution to accept the plan of distribution of local government funds for Auglaize County to the sum of $78,439.50 which is $13,000 more than the village received last year.

• Councilors passed

a resolution authorizing Harrod to prepare and submit an application to participate in the Ohio Public Works Commission Sate Capital Improvement programs. Harrod plans on submitting a grant application to get funds to finish the second phase of the Seventh Street reconstruction. The village will submit a grant for $499,000 and there would have to be a 50% match to that. Harrod said the village’s contributions would be at least $250,000. He added that the village would stand a better chance to receive the grant if the village borrows money which would be a zero-interest loan for 20 years.

• The village recently purchased a new backhoe for the electric department and moved the old one to the water/wastewater department.

Harrod informed councilors that the old backhoe from the water/wastewater department was sold on GovDeals.com for a total of $28,300. Harrod said that it was about $4,500 more than they thought they could get for it.

• Harrod told councilors that American Municipal Power and the Prairie State participants continue to monitor the legislative process in the state of Illinois as it relates to an energy bill being proposed in the Illinois legislature. Harrod said there is a new proposed bill that would mandate that fossil fuel generating facilities capture 100% of the carbon released from the facility within the next 20 years or face being shut down.

• Harrod said that the Ohio Department of Transportation will be paving state Route 119, east of Minster Corporation to the county line. ODOT informed Harrod that work will begin within the next week.

• Because of a shortage of street paint, Harrod said the village has placed an order through Sherwin Williams and the public works department will begin painting cross walks and other street markings within the village once the products are delivered.

• Harrod said that

county personnel assisted the village with Durapatching the trenches on east Seventh Street. He said that they were originally going to look at asphalting over the trenches and patches but were concerned of problems with adhesion.

• Harrod said that

Choice One Engineering continues to work on the engineering plans for the Due Ditch project.

Choice One is working on the design of a retention pond that would go up at the corner by the compost area.

• The pool’s last

day of seasonal operation was on Aug. 24. Harrod said that they wished they could have stayed open until Labor Day but due to shortage of lifeguards they were unable to do so.

The parks department will now begin preparing the pool for the winter.