Published Tuesday, August 05, 2008

County water customers can pay bills at EMC Newnan office

By Sarah Fay Campbell

The Times-Herald

Customers of the Coweta County Water and Sewerage Authority can now pay their bills at the Newnan location of Coweta-Fayette EMC, and the new location is becoming quite a hit.

The service began July 7, Office Manager Melinda Garland told authority members Tuesday morning.

Since then, 147 payments totaling approximately $8,000 have been made at the old EMC office, located at the corner of U.S. 29 and the Hwy. 34 Bypass.

People are very excited, Garland said. She can hear customers in the drive-through at the water authority when they hear about the satellite payments. "They're saying, 'Oh, that's fantastic,'" Garland said.

Garland was asked what percentage of customers actually come in and make payments as opposed to paying through the mail or over the Internet. Garland said most of the people that live on the north and west side of the county -- the customers who will get the most benefit from the new location -- normally bring in their payments.

There has been a great relationship between the authority and the EMC, General Manager Ellis Cadenhead said.

"The staff has been very cordial, they came over here and trained," he said. "It's been very, very well received."

Internet payments are really picking up, too, Cadenhead said.

Authority Chairman Neal Shepard said he would love to see a chart laying out how customers prefer to pay, and asked Garland to gather that sort of information in the future.

Cadenhead said that one of the authority's goals is to survey customers to "see what their needs are, how they've been treated, how they like to pay."

In other meeting business:

* The authority is putting out a request for proposals for a new health insurance provider. Currently, authority employees are under Coweta's self-funded insurance system.

Premiums are low, but employees have to cover a $250 deductible before insurance picks up anything, including routine office visits. After the deductible is paid, the Co-pay is 10 percent of the contract cost of the service.

Cadenhead said he wants to be sure the authority's plan is competitive. Once the various proposals come in, then a decision will be made whether to switch or not. If there is a switch, no employees will be able to stay on the current plan.

Shepard, an insurance agent, said that a high front-end deductible is a disincentive for employees to use the service, especially young healthy employees.

"Insurance companies want you to stay healthy -- they want to give you co-pays to visit the doctor and stay healthy. It's a lot cheaper for them," Shepard said.

If a plan is too good, though, "you get people looking for jobs ... basically shopping for the best insurance plan they can get under."

Shepard said that, once an insurance company gets the request for proposals, an answer won't take more than a few days.

* The authority voted to join Georgia WARN, a mutual aid organization. When there is a disaster that impacts the water system, "it's real easy to pick up the phone and say I need some held, and have somebody start the coordination part and work through this," Cadenhead. The various entities in the network can provide manpower and equipment, if needed. The receiving agency has to pay the actual cost for the manpower.

Of course, the mutual aid agreement goes both ways. If a call comes in for help, individual employees can decide whether they want to go help or not. If the department is swamped and can't spare the people, that's OK, too.

The Georgia Association of Water Professionals got a call from Iowa authorities for help following the catastrophic floods earlier this summer. "Nobody from Georgia went, but it came close," Cadenhead said.

The approval is contingent upon review of the agreement by Authority Attorney Jerry Ann Conner.

* The authority voted to sell property on Brimer Road to the high bidder for $45,000.

The 4.36-acre property was acquired when Coweta County bought property for the Murphy Well. The well is in production, but the excess property is not needed. The house that sits on the property needs a lot of work. Plus, the well house and assorted outbuildings are right in the front yard and are somewhat of an eyesore. The high bidder was Kevin Chancey, "who lives next door," Cadenhead said.

The only other bid, from Tom Crimes, was for $35,200.

When the property was appraised several years ago, the value was $136,000, said Rusty Russell, assistant to the general manager. However, in the current real estate market, that appraisal is probably high. Additionally, Russell said, the site where the home is now is the only buildable site. Much of the property is wetlands.

"It's not like you've got five acres that you can really do something with," Russell said.

Cadenhead said that Chancy said he would be willing to negotiate to acquire the property.

This is the second time bids have been solicited on the property. The authority rejected the original bids in January. The top bid was $22,201.

Authority member Mary Ann Sullivan brought up Chancey's willingness to negotiate.

"There's also such a thing as good faith," said Authority member Bud Butcher. "To me, what that says is, if I'm not the high bidder, I'll negotiate further."

The sale of the property puts it back on the tax rolls.

"If that's the best we can do... I accept that," Sullivan said.

* The authority went into closed session to discuss real estate, personnel and litigation. No action was taken.