There is very little to report from the meeting. It was basically the Rockwood Water,Gas and Sewer GM King telling the Board Members present, Mr. McCuiston, Mr. Nuckols,(Mr. Foust was ill,) and Chairman Ishman how much the employees do for the City (raising money to donate to the Ministeral Association) by having their "Haunted House" and making a donation to Rockwood 2000's " Christmas Tour of Homes." It was also pointed out that the employees donate to the "Warm Thoughts" program. The remainder of the meeting was GM King informing the Board Members how the workers needed a raise and that the budget was cut very much. He said a rate increase was needed and had two suggestions for this..One was a "Flat Fee", increasing all residentual customers three dollars a month, the other suggestion was a tier system which would increase all but the minimal users. That is it in a nutshell. The RCN MIGHT cover some of this, their reporter was there.

Thanks Ray for the information.

Sadly, I've seen employees strike for a whole lot less than a $3 rate increase...let's hope it doesn't come to that because at the end of the day we NEED those employees doing there jobs providing the products and services that are essential to our lives.

Just as absurd proposing a strike is, so is not supporting a $3 or even tierred rate increase. Where my folks live they have one option for garbage collection - a private diposal company. They were given a month's notice that their bill would go up 35%. Sure they were shocked by it, but at the end of the day when it piles up ya need someone to take out the trash. They weren't given a vote, a public voice or any other forum to express their questions and concerns - they had to just eat it. At least here, the information has been provided in a very forthcoming manor by both sides of the discussion where we can each express our thoughts on the subject.

Knowing my viewpint, has everyone forgotten the spikes in gas prices just a few years ago? We saw gas jump $1.50 to over $3 in less than a month's time - it was steaper in other parts of the country, too. Were people upset about it? YES - I was! I was driving back & forth from here to Mississippi every week - That more than doubled my travel costs. Ya know what I did? I adjusted my budget and spending habbits so I could afford to continue and finish my assignment - keep in mind I was NOT being reimbersed by the company I worked for at the time for that travel. NOw that the $3 and $4 gallons have subside, we as a collective group are tickled pink to pay $2.45 per gallon. I personally think that is STILL outrageous considering the fact companies like BP who is spending $16-million per day to clean up the Gulf still profitted nearly $6-BILLION in the 1st quarter alone!

$3 buck is nothing for our community's water and sewer requirements.

U.N.T.

"Son, I taught ya how to fix a lot of things, but ya just can't fix stupid." - Dad

There is very little to report from the meeting. It was basically the Rockwood Water,Gas and Sewer GM King telling the Board Members present, Mr. McCuiston, Mr. Nuckols,(Mr. Foust was ill,) and Chairman Ishman how much the employees do for the City (raising money to donate to the Ministeral Association) by having their "Haunted House" and making a donation to Rockwood 2000's " Christmas Tour of Homes." It was also pointed out that the employees donate to the "Warm Thoughts" program.
I do remember this at the work shop..

The remainder of the meeting was GM King informing the Board Members how the workers needed a raise
I do not remember this at the work shop:

Didn't GM King say the employees were not given a raise in the past three years and that we (RWSG) do not need to make any cuts on the employees benefits.. This I do remember!!!!

If you look at the budget there isn't a proposed raise for salaries in it..
The only other discussion on salaries was when Mr. McCuiston thought there was a increase in them.

Mr. King explained to him there hasn't been an increase and what he was seeing is over time pay. Something we have no control of..
Mr. King also told him that there was a 3% drop from last year.

Mr Collett the way you word your statements makes it sound like the reason for the work shop was raises. Which is not true.

I actually thought the work shop went well. There is a called meeting Tuesday September 7th. At this time the water board can make a motion to pass a rate increase proposal. If this happens it will then be passed to City Council for voting.

Farmer Leaf you stated on the other fourm (before it was deleted)

Two workers come out in a truck to trim grass and weeds around an above ground water pipe. One does the weed eating, the other leans on the truck and watches.

One worker spends 40 minutes bitching about working conditions with the mail carrier at the end of our road during working hours. Who is paying his salary and what services did he render for that 40 minutes?

Two workers come out in a Chevy Suburban (biggest vehicle possible) to paint a couple of blue arrows at water meters.

You want to save money? How about one guy on a moped with a cargo rack?

The 2 employees out weed eaten are part time employees that are in college and we do not send 1 student out by thier self I'd say 1 weed eats an area then switch at the next area.
The employee you said was there for 40 minutes is our water quality person. His job is to keep the water quality up in the system.
He has 200 blow offs he has to maintain every month plus water pumps, the tanks and all customer water quality complaints.
His job is mandated by the state. Some blow offs take 15 to 20 minutes some take 45 minutes to an hour. He has to document how long it takes and the quality of the water.
The location your speaking of takes 45 minutes to an hour because Rodger Ln is toward the end of the line.
The man in the Chevy Suburban was me. My truck is a chevy 1500 4x4 with a camper. The gas supervisor and I went to look at a job in Eagle Furnace. Instead of coming back to town and driving back out to Rodger Ln we just went by and located the line while were there.
It is a state law that we locate our utility. The phone company called in a Tennessee one call at your house. I have to locate it when it is due.
I get 10 to 20 a day to locate all around the county.
I'm sorry you fill like we don't work. It would be nice if people would ask about something before hitting the employees with jabs.. I would love for people to follow us one day just to see what our jobs consist of!

What was the depreciation # and where was it listed?

I'm not going to post it because the tickets have personal info on them.
I'm off work if I have time before going to knoxville I will bring it by and show it to you.