I PQ wins regional softball title
1 Pages
Hertford officials apply for loans, grants
Page 2
July 23, 2008
Vol. 76, No. 30 Hertford, North Carolina 27944
Locals
claim
money
CATHY WILSON
Staff Writer
Since August 2007, more
than $50,000 in unclaimed
property and 39 shares of
stock have been reclaimed
by local residents from the
North Carolina State Trea
surer’s office..
Heather J.'Franco, depu
ty director of communica
tions for the office, said 45
claims totalling $50,267.43
and 39 shares of stock have
been returned in the past 10
months to locals.
As of July 15, Franco
said 850 property owners
in the county still have ap
proximately $150,000 in un
claimed property and 3,200
shares of stock available to
be claimed in the state pro
gram.
The program defines
imclaimed property as
bank accounts, wages, util
ity deposits, insurance pol
icy proceeds, stocks, bonds,
and contents of safe deposit
boxes that typically have
been abandoned for one to
five years.
Funds become unclaimed
because the holder lost
track of the owner due to an
incorrect address or misin
formation in the claim.
The Perquimans Weekly
printed a story in August
2007, detailing the NC Cash
Unclaimed Property Pro
gram and noting that, at
that time, more than 1,000
county residents and busi
nesses had unclaimed prop
erty in the program. Some
property owners had more
than one claim.
The story also pointed
out that 25 property owners
had funds of over $1,000.
After the story ran,
Hertford resident Skip Mat
thews organized an effort
to help local residents get
their unclaimed property
through the combined ef
forts of the paper and Cath
olic Charities.
Beginning in April, The
Perquimans Weekly has
printed a portion of the
names of local property
owners who are listed as
unclaimed property own
ers in the state program as
of April 2, 2008.
Residents who do not
own a computer or who do
not know how to use a com
puter are encouraged to
contact Catholic Charities
CONTINUED on page 2
Perquimans Weekly photos by CATHY WILSON
WHEN TEMPERATURES RISE, ONE of the ^oolest places in
the area is on one of the county's beautiful waterways, in
cluding the Perquimans, Yeopim and Little rivers and Albe
marle Sound. Whether in a speed boat, fishing boat, wave
riding vehicle, kayak, canoe or party barge, there's lots of
fun riding on the river. Just make sure to follow boating
safety laws and guidelines for a safe outing.
Towns disagree on wastewater fees
yHuauBi
Thursday
High: 85 Low: 70
ScAHERED Storms
Friday
High: 90 Low: 71
Isolated Storms
Saturday
High: 89 Low: 73
Isolated Storms
6""89076”47143"' 5
CATHY WILSON
Staff Writer
and
SUSAN HARRIS
Editor
After examining and
recalculating wastewater
records between Hertford
and Winfall, Hertford says
WinfaU owes $15,554.55 in
past due charges for treat
ing Winfall’s sewage.
Hertford asked Winfall
to pay its bill by July 20. As
of July 21, it had not been
paid.
Last month, Hertford
tried to collect $7,975.99
in past due charges from
Winfall for wastewater
treatment during March
and April. Winfall officials
balked at paying, and in
stead said Hertford over
charged them around
$8,000 between May 2007
and February 2008, and
Winfall wanted that amount
applied to the town’s March
and April bills.
Winfall believes the tem
porary flow meters at Win-
fall’s lift station No. 6 that
have measured Winfall’s
wastewater usage for the
past seven years are inac
curate. Winfall has even
paid a consulting engineer
to verify the flow numbers
on two separate occasions.
May 2007 and again in May
2008.
Hertford admits using
the temporary meters for
so long was unfortunate but
necessary until Hertford’s
new system went on line
July 14.
l^en Hertford noted
fluctuations in flow num
bers from month to month
from numbers provided by
Winfall, Hertford officials
adjusted the numbers on
Winfall’s behalf.
Because of Winfall’s con
cern over flow inaccuracies
and the resulting charges,
Hertford officials exam
ined historical data on both
flow numbers and billing
over a period of one year.
They found several errors
in figures produced by both
towns. Winfall sends the
flow readings to Hertford
each month, from which
Hertford bills Winfall for
sewer treatment.
“Since theseerrorswould
affect our efforts to deliver
a fair billing result, we
went through every month
beginning in June 2007
and ending June 2008 cor
recting any errors,” wrote
Hertford’s Town Manager
John Christensen to Fred
Yates, mayor of Winfall, on
July 10.
Since Winfall believes
the town’s flow rate was
lower than Hertford’s me
ters indicated and since er
rors were found, Hertford
compromised and lowered
the flow rate for WinfaU for
six months. After recheck
ing and correcting the mis
takes found for both towns,
Hertford discovered Win
fall actually owes Hertford
$15,554.55 instead of the
$7,975.99 that was initially
bUled to WinfaU.
Yates asked for the two
councUs to meet “to resolve
the issue of monitoring
sewer discharge that has
been lingering in tempo
rary status for the past sev
en years.”
Christensen says
Hertford council members
considered WinfaU’s re
quest for a joint meeting,
but rather directed Chris
tensen to analyze WinfaU’s
dispute letter and respond
as the towns’ contract al
lows to seek an agreement.
“This also includes tak
ing the dispute to USDA-
RD for mediation if we fail
to reach an agreement,”
Christensen’s letter stated.
“In other words, I was di
rected to foUow the terms
of the contract in solving
this issue.”
Regarding the letter
from Christensen, Yates
said July 21, “We don’t have
such a letter. There are seri
ous implications from this
and we don’t want to play it
out in the media.”
Hertford hand-delivered
a copy of the letter to Win
faU on July 21.
Hertford and WinfaU
entered into an agreement
in May 1999 detailing Hert
ford’s treatment of waste-
water for WinfaU’s sewage
customers. The towns’ con
tract states in the event of a
dispute, WinfaU stUl has to
pay the undisputed portion
of the charge, as weU as
send written notice within
45 days of receiving a ques
tionable charge. If the dis
pute can’t be resolved with
in 30 days, then the United
States Department of Agri
culture-Rural Development
can be called upon to assist
in resolving the dispute. If
stUl no resolution occurs, it
can be settled in court.
Yates said Monday he
has contacted Christensen
by phone to discuss the
issue, and that WinfaU’s
councU wants to sit down
and discuss the issue with
Hertford officials. ■
“This doesn’t need to
be confrontational,” Yates
said. “We want to be fair to
everybody. We want both
councUs to sit down to
gether with the engineer
and discuss this. It can be
resolved.”
Yates said WinfaU has
shown good faith in deal
ing with Hertford over the
past 10 years. WinfaU had
secured grants and loans
to put in its own stand
alone sewer system when
officials there saw that the
amount they would have
to charge customers each
month to operate a sewer
collection and treatment
system would be too costly
for many of WinfaU’s resi
dents.
In the meantime,
Hertford was in the pro
cess of putting together a
grant/loan package to up
grade and expand its sewer
system. Both towns were
working with USDA-RD,
and those officials and of
ficials from both towns saw
an opportunity tp meet both
towns’ needs with a cooper
ative plan that would have
WinfaU instaU a sewer col
lection system, pipe the raw
sewage to Hertford via an
under-river pipe, and have
Hertford treat the sewage.
The towns signed a con
tract in May 1999. In August
2001, Yates sent Hertford
a letter per the contract
saying they were ready
to open the pipeline and
have Hertford treat Win
faU’s sewage. WinfaU also
paid Hertford $455,000, an
amount equal to about 17
percent of the estimated
construction costs of Hert
ford’s system, which was
considered WinfaU’s share.
Yates said WinfaU has
received no information
from Hertford on the actual
construction costs, or if
Hertford wiU expect more
construction money from
WinfaU since the project
was delayed for so many
years.
The contract calls for
Hertford to instaU and oper
ate a permanent flow meter,
with WinfaU’s pump No. 6
to serve as a temporary
meter. Yates said the pump
was not meant to function
as a meter, especially over
sugh a long period of time.
Using that equipment may
have resiUted in erroneous
flow numbers, Yates said.
Engineer Bill Diehl per
formed the flow tests on
WinfaU’s pump, but Yates
said those tests stiU may
not have provided an accu
rate measure of the solid
waste flowing from Win
faU to Hertford. Because
the towns have worked
together with no problem
untU the past few months,
and because the situation
involves complexities and
questions, Yates said he
and his councU feel that a
face-to-face meeting with of
ficials from both towns and
the engineer is a reasonable
step to take to iron out the
differences the towns now
have.
35 cents
increase
CATHY WILSON
Staff Writer
Despite Hertford having
to pay a higher cost of sup
plying electricity, an effort
to increase electric rates
never made it to vote dur
ing the town council meet
ing July 14.
Electricities, which
supplies electricity to the
town of Hertford, is set to
increase the cost of power
to the town 14 percent effec
tive Aug. 1.
Some Hertford leaders
want to pass that increase
on to town electric custom
ers, but the motion to do so
failed last Monday night be
cause of a lack of a second
to the motion.
Town Manager John
Christensen presented a
rate hike increase of 9.8
percent for residential cus
tomers and 11.7 percent for
commercial customers be
ginning with the next biU-
ing cycle.
Mayor Sid Eley suggest
ed splitting the increase
throughout the year in an
effort to soften the blow
to customers who have al
ready seen an increase in
water and sewer rates this
year. Eley suggested impos
ing half of the increase in
September and the remain
ing half in January.
Councilman Carlton Dav
enport moved that the town
adopt the split rate increase
but the motion died from
lack of a second. Neither
Councilmen Ann White nor
Horace Reid would act on
the motion, and CouncU-
man JoAnn Morris was not
present at the meeting.
Wholesale power for the
town wUl cost an additional
$280,000 per year that, if not
passed on to the customers
who use the electricity, will
drain the utility reserve
fund, Christensen said.
That reserve fund, he point
ed out, is needed to handle
unexpected costs in the
event of emergency break
downs, equipment failure,
and/or weather damage to
lines and poles.
“Basically, without the
rate increase, the rate pay
ers won’t be paying what’s
needed to support the fund,
and it would eventually go
bankrupt,” he explained.
“And, the Local Govern
ment Commission won’t al
low that.”
Christensen said he
will present the proposed
rate increase to council for
consideration again next
month.
“We’re fortunate we’re
only seeing a single digit
increase,” he said.
Other Electricities mem
bers are also facing rate in
creases in their localities..
Elizabeth City is propos
ing a 14 percent increase,
while the town staff in
Edenton is still reviewing to
determine what exact retail
rate will be recommended
to town council at the end of
July. Edenton’s town man
ager, however, indicated the
rate will range between 12.5
and 13 percent.
Albemarle Electric Mem
bership Corporation raised
its residential rate 6.6 per
cent May 1. The utility is
not part of Electricities.