The Nome Joint Utility has received a “report card” of sorts on its current operations.
The report comes in the wake of financial difficulties that plagued the utility throughout the fall and spring, resulting in a $2.2 million line of credit extended by the city of Nome.
In January, the utility and city of Nome jointly requested an evaluation from Alaska’s Rural Utility Business Advisor (RUBA) program to take stock of the utility’s current operations — and propose potential improvements.
At a meeting of the Nome Joint Utility board last week, utility manager John Handeland presented RUBA’s findings.
“This [service] was an effort to help identify areas that were very high on the list of things that needed to be addressed, as well as the overall operation of the utility and…how we can make improvements,” he said.
The assessment was broken into two categories: “essential” indicators necessary for continued operation, and “sustainable” indicators for long-term survival. And while the Nome utility demonstrated many “essential” indicators — the report suggested there is plenty of room for improvement before the utility achieves complete sustainability.
In particular, the report pointed to utility finance, operations and personnel as areas in need of improvement — making specific recommendations in each area. Discussion of those recommendations, however, was cut short by another topic of debate: Whether or not the board needs RUBA’s input in the first place.
“Everybody seems to think they can do it better than the board does it,” said board member Fred Moody. “City council tells us how much we need to raise the rates. And here comes the state now saying we need to do this, we need to do that — everybody seems to think they know more about it than the board does.”
Moody said he’s wary to accept outside recommendations when it comes to utility operations.
“Why, all of a sudden, do we need this help?” he asked.
Handeland said the RUBA report, in conjunction with an independent rate study released earlier this year, could serve as a road map to improved financial health for the utility.
The board voted to table further discussion of the report — and its findings — until a joint meeting with Nome City Council, which will take place on Wednesday night.
