The Concerned Citizens of Clarksdale have had some of their issues with Clarksdale Public Utilities addressed, but other matters remain unsolved.
Ray Sykes is the organization’s president and George Fields is the vice president. They addressed several issues with utility rates during both CPU and town meetings in 2018.
Fields attended the most recent CPU meeting on Tuesday, April 9 strictly to observe.
“I just decided to stop in and catch it (meeting),” said Fields after the meeting.
Fields reported he would be attending the Tuesday, April 23 meeting where he would provide a progress report on the concerns that have been met and still need to be addressed.
“Some of them have been met, but not all of them,” Fields said. “I will be addressing that issue at the next meeting.”
One concern Fields said CPU met was the Pic-A-Due Date program where customers can choose when their utility bills are due.
The program assessed a one-time charge of $1 and a monthly fee of $10 in the past. Those charges no longer exist and anyone can now join the program at no cost. The other change is there will now be no service charge for an AMI meter re-read conducted online.
When the change was made, general manager Curtis Boschert said he heard what the concerned citizens and others had to say.
“I think they did a little something with the pick a date,” said Fields after the most recent CPU meeting. “I think they dropped the charges on that, the fees on that. I really don’t know all the ways they have made changes. That’s a start.”
Fields will elaborate on his issues April 23.
“I’ll be at the next meeting to discuss the concerns,” Fields said.
CPU board chair James Hicks acknowledged Fields’ presence during the meeting.
“Thank you for coming,” said Hicks to Fields.
The Concerned Citizens of Clarksdale is a separate group from the Better Clarksdale Foundation where Marvin Reddix is the chair. The Better Clarksdale Foundation has called for a citizens bill of rights.
Hicks also reported Michael Wade, a 28-year CPU employee, had a successful retirement party. Wade worked his way up through the ranks to become the L.L. Wilkins Power Plant manager for his final two years.
Hicks, board members George Miller and Donald Mitchell were at the party.
“Michael Wade had his retirement party,” Hicks said. “George, Don and myself came up. We had a good time.”
