Wilmer City Council “entertainment” at the April 17 meeting

by Staff of Wilmer Public Citizen

Wilmer City Council meeting of April 17 began with much fanfare and went out with barely a whisper. Representatives from the Allen Group were unexpectedly present to hear the council presentation on the status of directly connecting Wilmer to the Dallas Water Utilities.

Prior to the formal agenda items, Police Chief Robert Wells presented Officer Moore with a plaque for saving a child who had fallen in a well on February 28. Officer Moore received a standing ovation from meeting attendees for his job "well done".

First order of business was the Open Invoice Report. Tiny Lange moved to "pay the bills" with the exception of nearly $600 in undocumented Office Depot charges, but the motion died without a second. Billy Wickliffe's motion to pay all the bills was seconded and approved with over Lange's solitary nay vote.

Councilman Wickliffe was up next to present his findings on negotiations with the Allen Group for connecting Wilmer to Dallas Water. Wickliffe's involvement in the negotiations had been ongoing since November 2007. Readers may remember that Wilmer Public Citizen reported on a meeting on November 17. While Wickliffe down played his role in the negotiations, claiming ill health, he apparently had forgotten his prior campaign claim to have already brought Dallas Water to Wilmer. Billy's display of verbal tap dancing and soft shoe without ever leaving his seat was largely unremarkable.

Leslie Jutzi of the Allen Group presented the almost three year timeline spent in negotiation with the City of Wilmer since 2005 that had yet to result in a "pre-annexation agreement" including water, sewer and road improvements. When asked directly, Jutzi declined to place blame for the delays in getting an agreement in place, but indicated that during the same period Dallas, Lancaster, and Hutchins had all completed infrastructure agreements with the Allen Group. Councilman Wickliffe at one point seemed somewhat defensive about the negotiations, implying that Allen Group had changed the terms of the agreement over time. Ms. Jutzi indicated that the current (February 2008) agreement was the result of "robust negotiations" by all parties, and outlined an aggressive eight to ten month timeline for completing the project once an agreement was finalized.

Tiny Lange handed out a comparison of commercial and residential water and sewer rates, as well as wholesale supply rates. It was revealed that Wilmer's current cost for water service ($3.10/1000 gallons) exceeds the billing rate charged to customers ($3.00/1000), resulting in the budgeted losses in the water department. Wilmer pays over 128% more for water supply than wholesale rates charged to Lancaster and Hutchins from Dallas Water Utilities. Wilmer charges residential customers about 20% less than Dallas or Hutchins, and about 70% more than Lancaster for water. Wilmer also makes no distinction between water and waste water (sewer) rates, while Dallas and Lancaster charge significantly more for waste water and Hutchins charges slightly less. Wilmer and Hutchins' commercial rates are "upside down" compared to Dallas and Lancaster in that they do not reflect volume discounts for industrial usage.

(ED NOTE: By comparison, Wilmer Water is a money-losing proposition all around.

Mayor Hudson proposed a five member panel of three citizens and two council members to finalize the "pre-annexation" agreement with the Allen Group and move forward to the next council meeting with an approval item on the agenda. Allen Group representatives stated a concern that the current terms and conditions reflected market conditions in late 2007 and may require additional negotiations to move forward. Hudson committed to discuss the matter with Allen Group CEO Richard Allen directly on Friday, April 18.

The final item on the agenda, an annexation proposal of 95+ acres at the owner's request, was unanimously approved without further discussion and the meeting was adjourned.