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Saturday, August 23, 2008, 3:00 AM
Dew urges Council to hold group accountable By Rochelle Moore | Daily Times Staff Writer A vocal critic and former candidate for mayor was again before the Wilson City Council Thursday asking whether city leaders would hold ElectriCities management accountable for recent electric rate increases. "What is it that the council is planning to do?" said Ricardo Dew, a Wilson resident who has been monitoring ElectriCities issues for several months. "There are some things we're asking the City Council to do, which is meet with the board of directors of ElectriCities, to understand what they're doing and to monitor what they're doing with their funding." ElectriCities staff recently recommended a 14 percent increase in the wholesale electric rate, which was approved by the N.C. Eastern Municipal Power Agency board. NCEMPA provides power to 32 member cities in eastern North Carolina, including Wilson. The city of Wilson passed on a 12.8 percent rate increase in August following the NCEMPA decision. The city also passed another 5 percent increase July 1. "ElectriCities is not making any cuts or not trying to take any of this burden that they are throwing on us," Dew said. "I ask the council and the mayor and everyone else to take a real hard look at what can be done and find all alternatives you can find to ease this burden." Dew has joined a group that's calling itself the "Citizens and Business Uniting for Leadership, Excellence and Responsibility," which has spent most of the year posting messages on newspaper forum sites, including ours at wilsontimes.com. The group is urging certain cuts at ElectriCities, including the pay of top executives and money spent on lobbyists and lawyers. Members also want to eliminate retreat locations for the annual ElectriCities conference. "The ElectriCities board is looking at every issue we can possibly look at at this time," said Mayor Bruce Rose, a member of ElectriCities board of directors. "The city is not going to do anything." "People place their trust in this council," Dew shot back. Councilman James Johnson III told Dew that he recently suggested that duplicate services, including marketing and economic development, be cut by ElectriCities, since Wilson already has those positions filled locally. "Yeah, I've been entrusted, but James Johnson is a part-time employee much like you are a part-time employee of this hobby or passion you have to make sure ElectriCities is running right -- and I commend that -- but I make a living selling life insurance," Johnson said. "We all have our own areas we're responsible for and we bring our recommendations back to the board. "Don't jump in my mess and tell me I'm not doing what I'm supposed to be doing." As the discussion started getting heated, Rose closed the meeting. "That's totally rude to do something like that," Dew said. Dew spoke during the public comment period, which was not televised Thursday night. Rose said that residents have expressed an interest in speaking at city meetings but did not want to be on television. "I think more people would come (and speak) but they didn't want to be on television," Rose said. The public comments section for both council meetings in June and July can be seen on the city's Web site. The council allows five minutes to each person speaking during the public comment period. Dew's appearance is one of several he has made during the past several months in relation to ElectriCities and the city's electric rates. In 2007, Dew lost to Rose in a three-candidate race for mayor. rochelle@wilsontimes.com | 265-7818
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