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County
elections
director
selected
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
A 20-year-old Perquimans
County native who has
never voted has been nomi
nated for the county’s first
new elections director in 20
years.
The local
three-mem
ber elec
tions board
made the
selection
of Sydni
Baker on
Thursday.
It must be
ratified by the State Board
of Elections. Baker will turn
21 years old in August and
could be the youngest elec
tions director ever in North
Carolina.
If approved, Baker will
replace Eula Mae Forbes.
Forbes is stepping down
from the position after 20
years.
Baker graduated among
the top of her high school
class in 2011 — 19th in her
class of 121 students at
Perquimans County High
School in 2011. She was
an honor student for all
four years and was active
in clubs, the community
and her church, Up River
Friends meeting.
But she’s never voted be
fore. She regrets that.
“I thought about that be
fore I went into the inter
view, but they (the elections
board) never asked. I think
now and it would have been
nice if I had,” Baker said.
Baker said she got en
couragement to apply for
the job from Reid’s part-
time assistant, Kelli Price.
Price ecently left for a job in
Pasquotank County and is
now the elections director
there. Price is 24.
“She told me ‘you took
my title’” Baker laughed.
“You took my title as the
See DIRECTOR, 2
Campers learn independence
CLIMBING
IP HIGH
IRETER WILLIAMS
Jessie Needham gets a
boost from supporters on
Sind and a lift from
t the top last week
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
or six days Camp
Cale visitors can
kayak, play games,
learn new skills and make
new friends.
One thing they can’t do
at is text their friends on
their smart phone. Same
goes for tweeting, posting
pictures and playing video
games.
As in the past, the
hundreds of teens that
attended the Baptist-spon
sored facility in near New
Hope are required to leave
their technology at home.
That doesn’t mean
the camp doesn’t have
Internet access. Last week
the teens viewed a live
Skype video session with
a missionary in India The
policy just means camp
ers have to learn to live
without it for the six days
they are at Cale.
For a generation that
thrives on texting, it can
be a challenge, admits
Matt Thomas, the director
of the camp.
“We’ve had some that
decided not to come be
cause of it,” he said.
Those that do cut the
cord — at least temporar
ily — learn to adjust he
said.
The teens aren’t the
only ones that have to
break free. Some parents
who are used to picking
up their phone and calling
their child day or night.
Thomas said it helps that
Cale posts photos on its
See CAMP CALE, 3
Duke
power
deal put
forth
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Hertford customers could
see a drop in their electric
rates based on an offer re
leased this week.
The boards of both Duke
Energy Progress and the
N.C. Eastern Municipal
Power Agency approved a
deal that would allow mu
nicipal utilities like Hertford
to sell back most their shares
in Duke power plants.
The debt on those shares
keeps utility rates higher
in the 32 members of the
NCEMPA than the rates in
other areas.
Hertford Town Manager
Brandon Shoaf said he is
still bound by a confidential
ity agreement because of his
role in the deal. He couldn’t
speak in detail about the of
fer.
He did say Hertford’s cur
rent wholesale rate is about
10.6 cents per kilowatt-hour
and the debt makes up close
to four cents of that. That
doesn’t mean Hertford cus
tomers can expect to see a
huge decrease in their bills
because selling the shares
in the power plants would
mean they’d have to buy
power to replace it.
Shoaf referred to a two-
page statement by Electrici
ties released on Monday.
“I can’t tell you how much
it could/would lower rates
in Hertford,” Shoaf said.
“As the release says, wq
don’t know what the pur
chase price of power going
forward is. Every member
is different because of de
mand, load (and) original
allocation.”
The deal announced
Monday allows NCEMPA
members to sell about $1.2
billion of their $1.9 billion
debt. Agency members
would still be required to
pay back $480 million.
“When we entered these
negotiations we knew it
See POWER DEAL, 2
Two of 5 solar power projects are moving forward
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
Two of the five solar
power projects approved
in Perquimans County ap
pear to be moving towards
construction this year and a
sixth one is moving through
the pipeline.
FLS, a company based in
Asheville has acquired the
rights for the two from So
lon Corp., the company that
sought the initial approval
from the county commis
sion.
The largest project is 97-
acre tract on the north side of
Highway 37 across from 949
Belvidere Road. The smaller
45-acre site is located on the
west side of Two Mile Desert
Road directly across for an
existing electrical substation
and about 1,100 feet north of
Main Street in Winfall.
Donna Godfrey, Perqui
mans County’s planning di
rector, confirmed that zoning
permits have been issued for
both FLS parcels. The next
step will be building permits
and the Town of Winfall will
also play a role because one
of the projects is in its extra-
territorial district.
Perquimans County Man
ager Frank Heath said last
week he thinks the two proj
ects will move forward.
“I think those will be
built,” Heath said of the two
FLS projects.
The solar projects are not
going to be a bonanza in
terms of property tax rev
enue and once they’re built,
they won’t employ a lot of
people. Heath has said in
the past the difference be
tween pure farmland and a
solar farm on the tax rolls
for a typical project is about
$2,000 or so. The only em
ployment once they’re built
.would be for someone to
maintain them and the prop
erty for the next 30 years.
Frank Marshall, a spokes
man for FLS, said the proj
ects should start construc
tion in the fourth quarter of
this year and run through
early 2015. Both are designed
to be under the 5 megawatt
threshold. The power pur
chase rates for projects larg
er than that must be negoti
ated with the utility that buys
the power. Smaller projects
. are paid for based on a rate
set by the state called the
“avoided cost rate.”
The rate is determined
once the utility, like Duke
Progress Energy, estimates
what it would cost to pro
duce a set amount of power.
Utilities and the state are in
discussions now about set
ting a new rate.
The power produced in
Perquimans County goes
into the grid network. Once
electricity is in the system it
goes anywhere in the pipe
line, not just Perquimans
County. Dominion has a sub
station nearby.
The 5 megawatt cap
means utilities like Domin
ion and Progress would not
face an undue burden in in
corporating them into then-
power plans. FLS Energy
has closed financing and
begun construction on 38
megawatts of utility-scale
solar farms across eight lo
cations in the state, based
on a company press release
in June.
The solar energy plants
will produce approximately
56 million kilowatt hours
See PROJECTS, 3
The story of Hertford, Columbia town bridges similar
BY PETER WILLIAMS
News Editor
In some ways Hertford
is going through what the
Town of Columbia went
through a dozen years ago.
Columbia once had a an
aging bridge.
Like Hertford, Columbia
has a historic district. With a
population of 891, Columbia
is less than half the size of
Hertford and Tyrrell County
is a third the size of Perqui
mans County.
But when it came time to
replace the U.S. 64 bridge
through Columbia, things
were done to make it more
attractive according to
Town Manager Rhett White.
White started work there 10
years ago as the bridge proj
ect was wrapping up.
The new U.S. 64 bridge
in Columbia is four lanes
wide and features a six-foot
raised sidewalk, a special
metal railing, lights and
places where the town can
mount flags. The one in
Hertford is two lanes.
“If you look at it is has a
metal railing, not the stan
dard concrete railing that
you see on most bridges,”
White said. “DOT also gave
us permission to mount
See BRIDGES, 2
PHOTO COURTESY THE
TOWN OF COLUMBIA
A photograph
shows the
four-lane U.S.
64 bridge as it
enters Columbia.
The proposed
bridge in Hertford
is two lane.