Photo by Andy Stettler

By Emily Morris
Managing Editor

Three years ago, a group of Perkasie Borough residents upset about the cost of the new Menlo Aquatic Center and other issues in town gathered together under the name “Perkasie Pride.”

They put up a slate of four candidates, all of whom were elected and currently sit on council. Two years later, they repeated the process with a slate of five more candidates, all of whom were elected to council in the fall of 2009. At least four of the candidates, current Councilors Marty Gahman, Rich Hendricks, Jim Purcell and Maria Slowik, had been on council in the past for varying lengths of time and at various points in time.

Now, another group of residents appears to be equally disappointed with the current council’s governance, including its signing of an electric contract that brought the borough residents a 59 percent increase in electric rates over the past two years.

That group, which calls itself “Perkasie First,” has started a slow rumble in the town that has residents gathering on a biweekly basis for its meetings at Perkasie Pizza and Pasta, a restaurant in the center of the borough. The group last met May 10, according to a flyer handed out to area residents, and generally meets on the second and fourth Mondays of the month at 7:30 p.m. at the restaurant, the Mondays when borough council does not meet.

Timeline: A History of the Perkasie Borough Electric System

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Starting a movement

Former council members Harry McGonigal and Eadie Burke have both admitted helping the group out, but both say they’re just background players and not active members or leaders of the group.

“I was contacted by a resident who wanted to start a taxpayers group against the high electric rates,” Burke said in a Facebook message when asked about her link to the group. “I told him that I would help him and guide him but do not want to be in the forefront.”

“I support what they’re doing, but I’m twangin’ the guitar here,” said Harry McGonigal, who said he’s more focused on his post-political music career. McGonigal said he does attend the meetings, but that other residents have taken the lead.

Both Burke and McGonigal left council at the end of 2009 when their terms expired; neither had sought re-election at the time and both were absent regularly from meetings in the final months of their term. While on council, however, both voted against the current electric contract and the replacement of the borough electric consultant, saying they felt it was not in the best interests of the borough.

According to a flyer sent out by the Perkasie First group, its primary concern is electric rates, with the flyer claiming the borough planned to continue to increase electric rates for the next five years. Perkasie Borough Manager Dan Olpere said he’s unsure where those numbers are coming from.

“There’s no plans to raise that up,” Olpere said.

Borough Council President Marty Gahman emphasized that at council’s May 17 meeting.

“I had an e-mail suggesting the fact that council is going to raise electric rates every year between now and 2015, and that is not in our plans,” Gahman said.

Gahman said the controversial two-year extension of the borough’s current five-year electric contract with AMP-Ohio was designed to minimize future rate increases by stabilizing prices.

“We also took efforts last year in working with AMP of Ohio, and our electric consultant, to, in fact, level out the wholesale price so, in fact, we wouldn’t have to increase rates any further.”

Still, the group is unhappy with the 59 percent retail electric rate increase that came — 42 percent in late 2008 and another 17 percent in late 2009 — with the latest contract with AMP-Ohio.

Documents Concerning the Perkasie Borough’s Electric System

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Resident concerns

Wade Fulp, a borough resident who recently started attending both Perkasie First and borough council meetings, said he feels the residents are trapped by the current contract, which through a two-year extension on a five-year contract will now last through 2014.

“Well, watching my electric bill increase, a lot, certainly got me interested in the topic,” Fulp said in an e-mail to the News-Herald. “I’ve been cutting back on electric use the best I can, but my bill keeps going up due to the rate increases.”

Fulp said his current electric bill is generally between $240 to $300, but he’s heard that some residents’ and businesses’ bills have mounted as high as $500 to $800.

“Should people have to pay what is equivalent to a month’s rent, or a mortgage, for their electric?” Fulp said via e-mail. “It is out of control, and my fear is it will drive people out of Perkasie, either by choice, or due to foreclosures on their homes, leaving those who are left to pay even more to support the town.”

Andrew Rumbold, another resident of the borough, said he’s been to just one Perkasie First meeting after a neighbor told him about the group.

“I just started really looking back on some of what happened,” Rumbold said. “It just doesn’t make sense to sign a contract like they did.”

Rumbold said he questions why the borough would have signed a contract in mid-2008, when it had seven months left in the year, if it could have waited to see if rates dropped.

“Either the people that negotiated and signed that contract for the borough were completely inept or there was something exchanged under the table for that,” Rumbold said. “There’s no other reason why they would have signed a contract in the height of the season when the previous consultant [Bob Romancheck] had said ‘wait, we have seven months left.’”

Rumbold said he noticed his electric bill had increased to about $200 a couple months ago, despite the fact that most of his house is run on natural gas.

“Our whole house is gas, our heat, our hot water, our dryer, our cooking, all the major electric usages in our house are gas,” Rumbold said, noting he uses fluorescent bulbs and dimmers to keep costs down as well. “I’m just trying to figure out why it costs me $200 just to keep my lights and TV on.”

Justin Stottlar, who McGonigal referred to as a leader of the group, would not comment when asked about his involvement with the group, saying he did not want to speak with the News-Herald because he felt it was biased toward the borough council and did not report issues fairly.

“We’re looking to get our story and out and get the truth out,” Stottlar said.

However, Stottlar has voiced his concerns on the News-Herald’s facebook page.

“The question I would have for the borough and more importantly the council is why do they not take responsibility for this botched electric contract,” Stottlar wrote May 12. “I have heard excuses from they were looking for stability to the price of energy was high and our previous rates were artificial. None of these excuses are gonna work.”

Stottlar, too, said the five-year contract with a two-year extension was “poor management and budgeting and I believe someone in the borough is benefiting from this bad deal.”

Stottlar called for the borough to admit its mistake and cut spending, “starting with the wages some of our employees in the borough get paid.”

The Middletown Model

McGonigal said the Perkasie First group is similar to a movement that occurred in Middletown Borough, outside Harrisburg, where a similar group formed after that borough was faced with sharp electric increases under a new contract with AMP-Ohio, the same organization contracted with Perkasie, along with other spending that some residents felt was out of control.

John Patten, a former Middletown councilman who served as the president of Middletown Citizens for Responsible Government, said that group formed approximately 18 months ago and created a formal Political Action Committee.

That group’s primary concerns were the new rates under the contract with AMP-Ohio, and also the borough manager joining the Pennsylvania Municipal Power Authority, a relatively new organization designed to help its member municipalities that own electric systems with savings on wholesale electric purchase and exploring options for other savings such as alternative energy sources.

“In Pennsylvania, municipalities cannot invest in power generating plants,” Patten said.

“By creating this authority, it was basically circumventing that,” Patten said of resident concerns about the PMPA.

Perkasie Borough looked at joining the group, but opted to instead just monitor its progress over time because of a concern about any possible financial obligation to the agency for participating in projects.

There were other issues in town, Patten said, where residents were looking for cost savings too, including a $328,000 annual cost to run a communications center that was duplicating a service that could have been covered by the county there.

Additionally, Middletown had created an “electric operating fund,” Patten said, that put $1.3 million in profits in a fund each year, which was designed to help offset the tax increases in that borough.

“The rather interesting part of it is, since we’re not doing that anymore, we still haven’t raised taxes,” Patten said. “That’s not in operation anymore and yet we haven’t raised taxes. That issue is being looked into still while we do an audit trail on all of that.”

In the end, the Middletown PAC put a slate of six candidates up for borough council, five of whom were elected, Patten said, and one of whom was appointed council president. The town also got a new manager after the borough manager resigned. The PAC has since dissolved, but could be born anew for the next election, Patten said.

“I think we’ve accomplished a good deal, we were quite satisfied with the outcome of the election and the current direction the board is taking,” Patten said.

It also got up to about 125 people interested in their local government, Patten said, many of whom have stayed involved on some level.

Patten said two members of his group did meet with people in Perkasie when the group was active in the past, but that he was not a part of the meeting. Other than that, he said he’s unfamiliar with Perkasie’s situation.

No member of Perkasie First has indicated plans to run for office, but Burke did say in a Facebook message the group planned to file to become a Political Action Committee.

Borough Businesses

Another issue raised regularly by residents is the concern that the electric rates may cause businesses to leave the borough and result in increased rates for the businesses and residents remaining.

Scott Linaberry, whose wife owns Stardust Ceramics on Fourth Street in Perkasie, said he has found the rates not to be fair compared to other electric providers.

“We’re going to close if something doesn’t happen,” Linaberry said.

“The point is if businesses can’t afford their electric, they’re gonna leave,” said Rumbold, who said businesses were among those concerned at the one Perkasie First meeting he attended. “Where does it end? Is the borough trying to force businesses out?”

Linaberry said his wife’s business pays approximately 22 cents per kilowatt hour. While she operates a kiln to fire the ceramics, he said that using a device that measures electric watt usage, he found that the heat in his wife’s store is causing the biggest issue, not the kiln. In particular, it drives the demand price — an extra charge placed on commercial customers of the borough’s electric company — above the 3 kilowatts allowed before the demand charge goes into effect.

“I think it’s just running businesses out of town,” Linaberry said.

Linaberry also runs an auto shop in Chalfont, where he said he generally pays close to 12 cents per kilowatt hour to PECO.

Borough officials explained to Linaberry that the borough’s electric contract is not subject to the same rate caps and controls put in place by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, which put caps on electric rates for utilities it controlled after opening the generation of electric to competition and leaving the transmission and distribution component unregulated.

However, those rate caps have started to come off now, as they were only to last a set period of years depending upon utility. While the rate caps were never mandated in Perkasie because it is not controlled by the PUC, it ultimately affected the borough, which buys power in the same market as the other utlities.

“The same market forces that will lift the rates for PUC controlled utilities are already in effect in Perkasie,” states a section of the borough’s website dedicated to explaining the rate caps. “Experts in the field tell us this is due primarily to nationwide increased demand and no new generating capacity becoming available. In short, supply and demand is driving up costs.”

Linaberry said he talked to PECO to see what its expected rate increase might be after the rate caps come off for that company and was told the company expected it to increase between 11 percent and 15 percent.

Borough Manager Dan Olpere said only one business owner told him the business was closing because of high electric rates, and that he was aware of other financial issues in that instance.

Linaberry said he has spoken with business owners who were considering leaving due to the increase, however.

Olpere said the borough is constantly working to encourage business within the community, including, for electric concerns, the borough electric department offering a program to help businesses measure their electric use more carefully — monitoring demand very closely throughout the day over a 30-day period to see if the business can take steps to reduce demand and thus its overall bill.

Linaberry said he had requested the service at his wife’s business, but had not yet had the borough install the special load-profiling meter that allows it to track more detailed usage and prepare a report for the business owner.

Click here to read our story where we asked the Perkasie Borough manager several of the questions residents raise in this story.

Think we missed something? Comment below or e-mail our reporter at emorris@montgomerynews.com and we’ll continue to report on this issue over time.

By Erin DuBois
Staff Writer

Since the dawn of time, it’s been an embarrassing yet unavoidable problem.  Some claim the problem goes back as far as 400 B.C., when Athens established the world’s first municipal dump.

British Victorians enjoyed the convenience of dumping trash out the window, regardless of the heads of unsuspecting passersby, while early New Yorkers fretted not that visitors hailed the city as ‘“a nasal disaster, where some streets smell like bad eggs dissolved in ammonia,’” according to BFI’s trash timeline.

At the turn of the 21st century, refuse disposal is a more civilized but no less contentious prospect.  Like a modern day tale of two cities, Sellersville and Perkasie residents wage very different battles where trash is concerned.

Sellersville vs. Perkasie: A Day in the Life of Trash
For Sellersville resident Bruce Hall, disposing of trash is as easy as a walk in the park.  Coffee cup in hand, Hall strolls to the curb and drops off his bag, pausing to shoot the breeze with his neighbor.  Once the trash truck swoops in, Hall won’t need to give trash another thought until the next collection day.

Travel a few hundred yards across the line into Perkasie, however, and the scene changes dramatically.

It’s Mothers’ Day and Perkasie resident Paul Fort is looking forward to time with his family, a rare occurrence since he works second shift.  Coming home from grocery shopping together, the Forts discover that their freezer has died and all the frozen food has thawed. While a Sellersville resident would simply haul the spoiled food to the curb, Fort is victim to the Pay-As-You-Throw system, where residents must dispose of waste in bags purchased from the borough.

Click here to view a comparison of trash programs for Pennridge area towns

“Now we have many different sizes of regular trash bags in the house but keeping a surplus of borough bags on hand can be costly,” Fort said through e-mail correspondence. “So at 7:30 pm on Sunday night I had to go to one of the select stores that carry the special bags so I could clean up this mess.  At $3.25 a bag this cleanup cost us $16.25, adding insult to the situation.”

Click here to view Perkasie Borough’s Trash and Recycling Schedule, Rules and Regulations

Fort is not alone in his trash woes.

With two children still in diapers, Kelli Frame and Alan Worman may fill up as many as four trash bags a week. One week, a bag containing soiled diapers was left on the curb in the summer heat because it weighed more than the 40 pounds allowable, Frame said. Frame also bemoaned the tower of boxes toppling in her living room. The boxes, which contained presents from her bridal shower, will remain until the once-per-month cardboard pickup rolls around.

Timeline: A History of the Perkasie Borough’s Trash System

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Worman’s biggest contention with the Pay-As-You-Throw system, however, is not the inconvenience but the lack of choice Perkasie residents have in the matter. PAYT might work well for some, but residents who are burdened by the system should have other options, according to Worman.

Working the “Pay-As-You-Throw” System
If necessity is indeed the mother of invention, some residents have developed creative ways of bucking the system, since borough officials estimate that10 to 15% of residents do not purchase borough bags.

The state of affairs is eerily similar to that observed by the 1893 Boston Sanitary Committee, which stated that “the means resorted to by a large number of citizens to get rid of their garbage and avoid paying for its collection would be very amusing were it not such a menace to public health. Some burn it, while others wrap it up in paper and carry it on their way to work and drop it when unobserved, or throw it into vacant lots or into the river.”

In the case of Perkasie, the menace is not to public health but to neighborly relations.

“Why should I have to pay to subsidize someone else’s trash?” Perkasie resident Andrew Rumbold said.

These are not the words of a die-hard PAYT critic; for while some creatively shirk the system by making work, or even church, their dumping ground, Rumbold has explored innovative ways to make the system work for him.

Rumbold and his wife Dorinda embrace PAYT as part of a larger scheme of environmentally-conscious living. Through adherence to a stringent recycling and composting regimen, the Rumbolds have reduced their trash output to one bag every two to three weeks.

The Rumbolds avoid buying foods in bulky packaging, and they feed leftover produce to their free-range chickens. Their thriving garden is a testament to the richness of their compost pile, which they share with neighbors who do not have ample yard space.

When it comes to trash service, the Rumbolds believe that what goes around comes around. They have been known to provide the trash haulers with cool drinks on hot days, and even offered them a tip one day, which the haulers refused.

The Rumbolds have never found a bag left sitting on their curb after collection day.

The Question of Cost
Whether one endorses a fight or a flight mentality toward the system, most acknowledge inevitable problems. Fort expressed concerns similar to Rumbold’s where cost-efficiency is concerned.

The intent of PAYT programs is to reduce costs by encouraging recycling, but Fort feels that the system is ultimately counterproductive, especially in light of the $35 annual fee which the borough will begin charging this June.

“What happens if residents don’t throw away the 1.7 bags per week the borough study claims is the current bag usage rate,” Fort said in a May 13 e-mail to the borough.  “I can tell you what happens. To recoup losses the borough faces due to borough residents following the PAYT philosophy, fees are added countering our very efforts.”

Fort also said that the system punishes larger families, since they produce more trash.

According to Perkasie Borough Assistant Manager Andrea Coaxum, the program is not intended to punish anyone, but to provide a cost incentive for recycling.

Borough bags are priced to cover all expenses associated with trash removal, including employee salaries, transportation, vehicles, landfill fees, leaf and bundled branch collection, and the recycling center.

The new $35 fee is intended to make the system more fair, since even residents who do not buy bags but take advantage of other free services – like curbside bulky waste and recyclable collection – will have to pay.

“The institution of an annual fee will help spread the cost of collecting all material to every household instead of just those residents who are abiding by the rules of the bag program,” Coaxum said in an e-mail response to Fort.  “All residents will now be investing in the system.”

The borough’s cost analysis of collection shows that an average household disposes of 1.7 bags per week or nearly 88 bags per year, for an annual cost of $286 for all trash and recycling services, minus the new $35 fee.

Services in other Bucks County communities range from $272 to $436 per year, and most of these programs do not encourage recycling, Coaxum said.

Toward a Greener Sellersville

And so the discussion returns full circle to Hall’s backyard in Sellersville, where despite the ease of his collection day, one thing is noticeably absent – curbside recycling bins.

“My gripe is lack of recycling pick up,” Hall said. “We can haul it to the town recycle dumpsters ourselves, however most residents do not bother. They throw recyclable thrash away with their normal trash. In today’s environmentally-conscious world, that is just wrong.”

Sellersville Borough Manager Alan Frick said that the there is some sentiment, although he is not sure how strong, for instituting curbside recycling pickup after the borough’s current three-year contract ends this year.

“If you bring the service to people they’ll probably use it, and if you make them drive 100 yards it’s a problem,” Frick said.

Sellersville is not mandated to provide curbside recycling, since the population is less than 5000, although the new census figures may drive that number higher. Frick said that the current system at the recycling center is very simple, since all recyclables go into one container, and warned that curbside collection will not necessarily bring in revenue for the borough.
“Do I think personally the cost will be cheaper? No. It’s cheaper to throw everything away, but it’s not popular.”

Councilperson Meg Bardar is exploring options through Blue Mountain / FCR Recycling to bring collection curbside while maintaining the ease of the single-stream system, which requires no sorting of recyclables.

Bardar hopes to invite a Blue Mountain / FCR representative to a future council meeting and to bring council on a tour of their processing facility in order to help them understand the process and benefits of recycling.

“This issue is very dear to my belief that we must begin to care for the environment,” Bardar said.
Recycling Perks in Perkasie

Perkasie residents enjoy an array of curbside services not available in Sellersville, yet some have expressed concern over the lack of recycling for yard waste.

With a population of 8828, according to data from the 2000 census posted on the borough’s website, Perkasie is mandated to recycle yard waste; however, the borough does not have a site large enough to accommodate this.

DEP regulations allow for a small percentage of yard waste in the regular trash stream as long as the borough is recycling aggressively in all other areas, according to Olpere. Perkasie offers fall leaf collection, a service many townships but most boroughs do not, along with chipping bundled branches curbside.

“We recycle more than anyone else around,” Olpere said. “If they’re enforcing regulations, they will have to start with someone else who’s not doing everything Perkasie is doing.”

Perkasie received a recycling performance grant of $20,450 in 2009. The borough has made very preliminary calls to West Rockhill about using a site behind their township building, Perkasie Borough Manager Dan Olpere said.  This could be a multi-year project, potentially involving becoming a customer of West Rockhill. Although borough officials could not act fast enough this year, they plan to discuss this possibility further in the next few months, Olpere said.

The borough will also get bids from private collectors this fall. Most of council is not interested in pursuing this avenue, but are willing to explore it as an option, Olpere said.  The future of yard waste recycling, however, hinges on the ultimate fate of trash in the borough.

“Why invest in a site to compost if we’re handing it over to a private hauler and getting out of the trash business?” Olpere said.

Perhaps in the end, the moral of the tale comes down to Coaxum’s conclusion: “There are hundreds of different ways for a municipality to structure the collection of trash and recycling.  And there are pros and cons to each method, including allowing residents to select their own hauler.”

But for residents and borough officials alike, the question of whether the pros of Pay-As-You-Throw outweigh the cons is still open for debate.

Want to weigh in on the issue? Contact your local borough council member or administrative officials:
Sellersville Borough, 140 E. Church St., Sellersville; 215-257-5075; www.sellersvilleboro.org
Perkasie Borough, 620 W. Chestnut St., Perkasie; 215-257-5065; www.perkasieborough.org

Photo by Andy Stettler

This story and the accompanying information was compiled as part of the News-Herald’s Ben Franklin Project, which is designed to open up the news process and get the community involved in generating story ideas, asking questions and supplying information about life in the area to create a more interactive newspaper in print and online that reflects the community it serves. Most of the questions, besides preliminary background, answered in this story were generated by residents and shared with the News-Herald via our Facebook and Twitter accounts or via e-mail over the past several weeks. The answers are the result of a three-hour interview between News-Herald Editor Emily Morris, Perkasie Borough Manager Dan Olpere and Assistant Borough Manager Andrea Coaxum held Thursday, May 13.

Why does Perkasie Borough operate its own electric department?

Perkasie Borough has operated its own electric company since about the beginning of the 20th century, when it was created to supply electricity to the populated borough when no other electric suppliers existed. The borough built its electric department, including a coal-fired generator just along the train tracks, according to Perkasie Borough Manager Dan Olpere. At the time, there was no alternative. This is the same reason Quakertown and Lansdale boroughs created their own electric departments and continue to operate them to this day.

Gradually, over time, electric began to move in throughout the neighboring towns, but stopped at the borough line. Perkasie Borough maintains ownership and maintenance of its power lines and poles, along with the staff and equipment and vehicles necessary to run the electric department, Olpere said.

Would the borough be better off not running its own electric company?

Olpere says no. The borough uses the profit made from its electric company to transfer into its general fund budget. From there, that money is used to offset almost 100 percent of the capital improvements made in the borough, Olpere said, including road paving, vehicles like police cars and trash trucks and costs to maintain the parks.

Due to lower electric rates outside the borough currently in some areas, Olpere said many residents assume costs would be lower elsewhere. While that may be true right now, Olpere feels it is only “in the short run,” given the fact that some area utility providers like PPL and PECO will or have shown increases as the rate caps come off in the coming years.

“But when you look at the long-term picture, we offer such a better deal that it would be foolish, in my opinion, to give up the electric department,” Olpere said.

However, Assistant Borough Manager Andrea Coaxum noted that profits made on investor-owned electric companies go in large part to those investors, the profits on the borough electric are largely used to offset tax rates and provide services in the borough.

The borough electric program also covers the borough’s debt service for the most part on its three facilities it continues to hold debt for — borough hall on Chestnut Street, the police station on Ninth Street and the Menlo Aquatic Center on Arthur Avenue. The total for that debt service is approximately $601,500 annually, according to Shannon Drosnock, finance director for the borough.

The only exception to that, Olpere said, is the pool. The aquatic center has its own enterprise fund, which allows the borough to track profits and losses — not standard in a government budget — to try to run the pool economically like a business. The pool earns about $80,000 a year (although it varies) above its operating expenses, but that does not cover the full $280,000 debt service the borough pays annually on the pool. That $80,000 is transferred from the pool fund to cover a portion of the borough’s total debt service, Olpere said, while the remaining debt service is paid for with electric profits.

The other option, Olpere said, to cover those capital projects and debt service is to raise taxes or eliminate some services or offerings.

“The borough could not supply the service and the amenities that it does without raising taxes tremendously,” Olpere said, noting to pull in the same amount of money, it would likely result in a tax increase of “hundreds of percent.”

The borough’s current tax rate is 5.75 mills – a mill is a tax of $1 for every $1,000 of a property’s assessed value. Currently, for every mill the borough charges on all of the properties in the borough, it levies $82,905, Drosnock said.

The borough’s wholesale rate — the rate at which it purchases electric from suppliers — went up 82 percent, Olpere said. A 42 percent rate increase for residents and businesses — the “retail rate” — was approved in November 2008, effective for the December 2008 bill. Another 17 percent hike was approved at the same time that went into effect with the December 2009 bill.

A history of wholesale electric rates versus retail rates is available by clicking here.

Why did the borough lock in to the contract rate when it did in 2008?

Olpere’s history of the situation went back to the fall of 2007, when he returned to work after nearly a year off due to medical leave. During Olpere’s time out, Bob Romancheck, the borough’s then-electric consultant was serving as the interim borough manager three days per week.

Olpere said he approached Romancheck in December 2007 first.

“I said, ‘We need to get started putting a quote document together,’” Olpere said.

Olpere said he followed up with Romancheck in January, February and March of 2008. Around that time, another municipality had locked in to a rate that made the borough concerned, and Olpere said council was getting concerned.

“‘We’re getting nervous about not getting started with the process,’” Olpere explained was the sentiment he passed on to Romancheck.

Romancheck has said he was working with another borough’s contract in western Pennsylvania at the time and could not respond immediately to Perkasie’s request.

However, the borough council voted to terminate its relationship with Romancheck and hire a new consultant, Quad3 Group of Wilkes-Barre.

“We had to start over with a brand new electric consultant who knew nothing about the borough,” Olpere said.

Olpere said council had watched electric rates climb throughout 2008, along with gas prices, which had neared $4 per gallon. When the borough sent out its request and received rates, it locked in, Olpere said, he thinks because council felt they would only climb further.

The vote on the wholesale contract was split 5-4, with then council members Eadie Burke, Bill Delaney, Harry McGonigal and Chris Nicolosi voting against the contract. Nicolosi still serves on council.

“There is no doubt, and if we had a crystal ball … the rates did come down,” Olpere said.

But unlike many, like Burke and McGonigal, who at the time said council should have waited longer to lock in, Olpere thinks council should have started the process earlier.

“We should’ve started earlier and we didn’t,” Olpere said.

Why would council lock in to a five-year contract knowing rates were high?

“They’ve always gone five-year contracts,” Olpere said.

Coaxum said the five-year contracts help the borough in budgeting.

“By going out five years, the borough has some stability,” Coaxum said.

In the future, knowing what he knows now, Olpere said he would recommend council not lock in long contracts when the old one is near expiration, but monitor the rates a couple years in advance of the expiration and decide how to proceed.

Why did the borough lock in a two-year extension for the years 2014-15 on the contract?

Olpere said the decision to approve the two-year extension came after the borough council set out to look at the rates in mid-2009 in the future and found that they had come down 10 cents a megawatt.

“Morgan Stanley presented them [borough council] with the opportunity to smooth the rates,” Olpere said.

While the borough contracts for electric with AMP-Ohio, financial firm Morgan Stanley is who actually deals with the power purchased. Because of this, Morgan Stanley offered the borough the chance to restructure its rates a bit as part of locking in another two years.

The borough had several options when it restructured, Olpere said, as to how to incorporate the costs over time, including choosing whether to let the rate drop over time, leave it flat or raise it up a bit at the end. In the end, the borough locked in to what puts them at about $95.50 per megawatt hour over the next six years, Olpere said.

“They didn’t feel it was going to go any lower than the mid-80s,” Olpere said of why the borough council extended it when it did. “We signed when they were high, so we wanted to take advantage of the fact that there was a drop in price.”

“Is there a little bit of guesswork? Yes, there is,” Olpere said.

What is different about the borough’s current contract?

The borough’s previous contracts for electric, most recently with DTE and prior to that with PPL, were fundamentally different from its current contract with AMP-Ohio, Olpere said.

“It’s a completely different way to buy your electricity,” Olpere said, noting the previous way is no longer an option and the new way is much more complicated.

The previous contracts, like the last one with DTE, were “Full Requirement Supply Contracts,” Olpere said. The borough purchased electric at one rate, one number.

“It didn’t really matter what we used or not, that’s what we paid,” Olpere said.

The industry no longer offers that contract. Now, the borough has to work on purchasing power in advance, which means it is buying blocks of power in a complicated system that requires it to estimate its power usage for blocks of time.

To show what he means, Olpere draws a curve on a graph that represents the borough’s electric use. Underneath, he places a long rectangular block at the bottom — a “7 x 24” — seven days a week, 24 hours a day. That block of power costs $80.25 per megawatt hour. The borough will buy a set amount of those blocks anticipating it will use that much at that price over a seven-day, 24-hour period. It will then supplement with other sizes of blocks — there are some 2 x 24 blocks that represent weekend use, some 5 x 24 that represent the five-day work week and others. All of these blocks must be estimated based on current use or expected use and carefully fitted under the curve. This estimate varies by month — some months like August will see a lot of use to account for air conditioning, and some winter months will see spikes relating to heat use and shorter days requiring more lights on.

Those charges do not account for all that the borough is paying, however. The borough has several charges on top of that $80.25 that it pays for a 7 x 24 block for example, Olpere said.

First, there is a demand charge paid to PJM, the “traffic cops of the electric world” that monitor the electric traveling through lines in the region constantly over time, Olpere said. The borough pays $90,000 to $100,000 per month just in demand charges. The borough always paid these demand charges, Olpere said, but “it’s broken down differently in the new contract.”

Then, the borough pays a transmission charge, which basically accounts to pay the company that owns the wire to get the power across Pennsylvania or wherever it might be originating to Perkasie. These prices don’t fluctuate, but there are variables that the borough “is getting smarter and smarter about,” Olpere said.

The borough also pays a “congestion charge” on the system, and it has to cover overhead costs for the borough electric system like the maintenance of the substation, the wires, the crews and the billing.

Why is the borough selling electric back at a loss?

Because the borough is buying blocks and the use is a curve and because it is trying to foresee future electric use, it will occasionally end up with more or less electric than it needed, Olpere said.

“If we buy too much, we wind up having to sell this much back,” Olpere said pointing to a section above the curve. “If we don’t buy enough, we have to buy it on the spot market.”

When the borough buys too much power, it has to sell it back at a loss, Olpere said. Although, in some instances, its membership in AMP-Ohio has allowed it to sell the power back at cost because AMP can get it to other members that may need extra power in that same period. AMP-Ohio is a nonprofit, “a member-driven organization,” Olpere said, making it different from investor-owned organizations like DTE or PPL.

“Now we’re heavily involved with constantly monitoring and analyzing the quantities,” Olpere said.

This became an issue shortly after the borough signed the contract because 2009 offered up a very mild winter and cooler summer, so the borough had expected to purchase much more power than it used.

“The use curve dropped,” Olpere said of that curve he drew. “That caused us to have to sell some electric back, and you don’t sell it at the cost you buy it.”

Additionally, due to the rate hike, residents and businesses began conserving electric, which also dropped the use curve.

If the residents and businesses conserve electric, won’t the rate go up if the borough is already contracted to purchase a set amount of electric in the future?

“To some degree, that is true,” Olpere said.

Because residential rates are set, if the borough’s rate is fluctuating or increasing because it is selling power back at a loss, it cannot simply pass those costs on to residents even though its effective rate goes up.

It can also cut into the profit the borough makes on the electric department, which it uses for the capital projects in the borough, but there, Olpere said, the borough has the choice to simply not profit as much and cut costs where it might have used those profits.

Olpere said there is also some ability to adjust the curve over time so it better reflects the borough’s use and can reduce the shortage or overage of electric purchase.

So are the borough’s electric rates too high?

“Are our rates too high? No doubt,” Olpere said. “But given where we came from, I don’t know how anyone would have done any differently.”

Olpere said the borough can budget based on the stability of having six years ahead of it with known electric rates. He said it is also getting better at estimating the use and understanding the system. Its current electric consultant, Jim Havrilla of Utility Engineers, also is familiar with the nuances and difficulties of the new electric contract style like the borough has with AMP-Ohio.

Still have questions? Reach out on our Facebook or Twitter pages, or contact us via e-mail at perkasienewsherald@gmail.com or emorris@montgomerynews.com.

We also asked questions from residents pertaining to the borough public works and electric department staffers’ vote to join a union last year and the question raised by some residents as to whether someone may have benefitted from the electric contract as negotiated. This is the next story we will begin to research, so please contact us if you have questions or concerns regarding that so we can gather as much information as possible and share it with the community.

Related Articles:

“Perkasie First” group concerned with rise in electric rates

By Jennifer Mohan
Staff Writer

Lately, it seems as if everyone is looking for new ways to become more “green.” What better way to start than by examining the green in your wallet and how you choose to spend it.

At first glance, shopping locally can sometimes appear to be more costly. Many items purchased at smaller, locally-owned businesses can often carry a larger price tag. However, in many ways spending your money at local businesses can be one of the most economically savvy things you can do. Not to mention the added benefits to the environment.

What exactly is “Shopping Local”?

Defining shopping local can be a tricky, if not downright confusing, process. Not every store located in your community can be considered a “local” business. There are the obvious exclusions, such as the “big box” and the chain stores, but what about the franchise owned by the dad of one of the kids on your son’s little league team?

Local business owner Ryman Maxwell said you have to think beyond location when trying to shop local.

“You can go three miles to a Target and technically that is local because it is within the town you live in. But you aren’t supporting a business that is local,” said Maxwell. He added that most of the proceeds from your purchase usually head out of state to where the corporation is headquartered.

Maxwell is the co-owner of the Down to Earth Café in Perkasie. The café is a member of The 3/50 Project, a movement to support local businesses that was the brainchild of author and motivational speaker Cinda Baxter.

The 3/50 Project came about when Baxter issued a challenge on her blog.  “Ask consumers to frequent three local brick and mortar businesses they don’t want to see disappear, and to spend a very affordable $50 per month doing it.”

Baxter lists the criteria for a local business, or “independent” as follows:

• The majority of the business’ ownership is private, by employees, the community, or an area cooperative, and is resident to the community in which it’s based

• The business operates out of a physical storefront or similar and is the only business residing at that specific doorway’s address (not a kiosk, home based business, etc.)

• The business relies solely on its unique name and reputation (ie, does not “wear” a nationally recognized brand name)

• The business is registered only in its home state, and has no affiliation with an out of state headquarters or corporate office

• Full decision making function for the business is held by the local owner(s), including the name, signage, brand, appearance, purchasing, etc.

• The business is solely responsible for paying its own rent, marketing, and other expenses

• It has no more than six outlets, all of which are located in a single state, with a central base of operations in that state

• It is not a vendor (ie, does not sell wholesale).

Credit: (http://www.the350project.net )

Some of the benefits of shopping local

Maxwell said he actually loses sleep when he disappoints a customer. He says he takes it so personally because he is actually crafting the item the customer has purchased.

Another local business owner said that she likes being able to drive her business decisions through intimate knowledge of her customer’s needs and desires.

“Local shopping is a personal experience,” said Jill Strickland, owner of Frox, an upscale women’s boutique in Perkasie. “I get to know my customers, and when I am out selecting merchandise for the store I keep them in mind.”

Strickland is one of the members of Perkasie Olde Towne Association, a business association that aims to support its members in the Perkasie area. One effort it is making, coming June 12, is a new event called “Saturday Mornings in Perkasie.” That program, expected to occur on the second and fourth Saturdays of every month from 8 a.m. to noon, will offer events, specials and more at local businesses, including a passport system that encourages residents to visit five local businesses to enter to win a prize with the goal of highlighting more businesses residents may be unaware exist locally.

Customer service is often touted as one of the main benefits of shopping local, the GreenUPGRADER web site listed it as number six as well as number 10 on their list of top ten reasons for shopping local.

The GreenUPGRADER also nicely breaks down how much of you shopping dollars stay within the community when you make local purchases.

For the community at large the benefits are numerous. Mainly, the added revenue from the local taxes collected goes back into the community versus heading out of town. This directly benefits schools and other community programs.

Local businesses also create local jobs, which in turn adds employees to the area who need to eat lunch, buy gas, run errands and therefore spend additional money in the community.

As far as the benefits to the environment, local businesses in general tend to generate less of a carbon footprint. The reason is two-fold. First, local patrons are traveling less to reach their shopping destinations and secondly local businesses often don’t hold the large inventories of their “big-box” counterparts. This means their products can often be shipped utilizing more environmentally friendly vehicles.

Some tools to help think about shopping differently:

It may seem daunting to change your shopping habits all at once, but what about taking small steps?

A new web site http://www.10percentshift.org offers some tools and advice to help you get the process started.

The web site is built on the premise that if every household in a local community shifted a mere 10 percent of there existing purchases to local, independent businesses there would be a great economic stimulus, with “thousands of new jobs created and millions of dollars of new economic activity.”

10percentshift.org offers a simple local calculator tool that can help you track your current spending and then shift ten percent of it to local, independent businesses.

Help us continue our coverage - what do you want to know about shopping local? What do you buy locally that people are often surprised is available? What do you think is lacking in local shopping? Visit our website at www.perkasienewsherald.com to weigh in on our survey and see what others are saying.

LANSDALE – Making the scary transition into high school was nothing compared to what North Penn freshman Bryce Mengel dealt with on Monday. With the defending state champs’ playoffs and league title hopes on the line against the defending league champs in Pennridge, the young righty pitched like a senior leader and quieted the Rams.

Coach Bob McCreary and Kevin Manero have been impressed with what the freshman has added to the Knights this season, whose one glaring question entering the season was replacing the two starters that helped them win a state title.

Mengel has been everything they could have asked for and more and he scattered seven hits, allowing only one unearned run, in his complete game over the Rams to improve his record to 4-0 and drop his earned run average below one run.

“Bryce does the three things we look for in a pitcher,” McCreary said. “He works quick, throws strikes and changes speeds. Coach Manero talks about letting them put the ball in play and he pitches to contact. We are real lucky we did not give them extra at-bats.”

McCreary did not think twice about handing the ball to the freshman, but Mengel thought about it all day. He knew exactly what was on the line for the Knights. After being staked to a 3-0 lead from his offense in the first inning he let his defense do the rest.

“I was really nervous,” Mengel said. “The coaches did not say much to me, but the team kept telling me not to blow it. After I got the first batter everything went my way. This boosts my self-esteem.”

The Rams’ Jared Schaffer coughed up RBI knocks to Jim Smith and John Romano in the first inning, which was plenty of run support for the Knights. Romano went 3-for-3 and Smith scored two of the four runs.

“Jared was a little unlucky, but they got to him early,” Rams’ coach Tom Nuneviller said. “That is the name of the game and they are an aggressive team. “

The Rams have been in the mix to earn their second straight league title all year, but with the loss it remains to be seen if they will even make the playoffs. They need Central Bucks East or Hatboro-Horsham to beat Central Bucks South or Central Bucks West if the Rams want to grab one of the two automatic bids for districts.

“You play to win, not for second place,” Nuneviller said. “We had an opportunity and we let it slip away. It will make it a lot easier if East beats South or Hatboro beats West.”

The Rams’ best chance to break through came in the fourth inning, but the Knights’ defense was up to the challenge and bailed out its young ace. After three consecutive hits, leftfielder Ryan King came up throwing and nailed Tim Eversole at the plate and then doubled off Peter Leatherman taking third in two bang-bang plays that went in the favor of the Knights.

“We hit the ball right at them and they turned a few double plays,” Nuneviller said. “Tim came around with the kid lying on his belly. He went hard and thought he got his hand in there. We lost a little bit of momentum, but we took a gamble and it did not work out.”

Mengel wasn’t sure what to expect in his first year in high school and he definitely did not think he’d be a starter for the Knights. He credits his coaches, catcher and defense to his stellar season to this point.

“I expected maybe to go in there when pitchers get in trouble this year,” Mengel said. “I never thought I’d be a starter. This is the best defense I ever pitched with. My curveball was my out-pitch today and they hit it into the ground and the defense took over.”

The Knights were one loss away from missing the postseason, but Mengel’s masterpiece gives the Knights, who are starting to hit the ball, a new life. Both the Rams and Knights end the regular season with a 9-5 conference record and will now sit and wait to see if they will grace the district playoffs.

“We are playing the best baseball we have played all year right now,” McCreary said. “Our hitters are starting to swing it and Mengel, Mark Grassie, Austin Tarpey, and Dean Keniff are all doing well in the mound. Hopefully we an automatic bid. “

Pennridge ab r h bi N.Penn ab r h bi

Tice ss 4 0 0 0 King lf 3 1 1 0

Sheffer dh 3 0 1 0 Grassie 2b 3 0 0 0

Puskar 3b 2 0 0 0 Smith c 4 2 1 1

Wolfe c 3 0 0 0 Lepre dh 2 1 1 0

Eversole cf 3 0 1 0 Romano 1b 3 0 3 1

Leatherman rf 3 0 1 0 Edgar ss 3 0 0 1

Metzler lf 3 0 1 0 Fuse cf 3 0 0 0

Kessler 2b 3 1 1 0 Costa 3b 3 0 1 0

Peters 1b 3 0 2 0 Martinez rf 2 0 0 0

Totals 27 1 7 0 Totals 26 4 7 3

2B – Smith

Pennridge 000 000 1 – 1

North Penn 301 000 X – 4

Ip h r er bb so

Schaffer (L) 5 1/3 7 4 3 1 3

Trauger 2/3 0 0 0 0 0

Mengel (W) 7 7 1 0 2 2

Photo by Ken Zepp

By Erin DuBois
Staff Writer

Perkasie’s wind turbine, placed proudly in Lenape Park in 2006, has become more of an eyesore than a landmark in recent years, according to Perkasie Borough Councilman Matt Aigeldinger.

“It doesn’t move even on the windiest of days,” Councilman Matthew Aigeldinger said at the May 17 council meeting. “It’s a bit of a joke.”

Aigeldinger suggested the borough look into ways to donate the wind turbine to a school in the borough or find some way to make it educational, and several on council agreed.

Perkasie was awarded the 35-foot, 1.8 kW turbine through the Small-Scale Community Wind Project, which Gov. Rendell revived after a lengthy dormant period.

The project, overseen by the Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority, awarded turbines to 15 municipalities, public authorities and school districts. A $193,000 grant allowed Southwest Windpower to place the turbines in highly-visible locations, covering the cost both of the turbine and basic installation.

The turbine is valued at $10,000 and is capable of generating 1.8 kilowatts of electricity. The Lenape Park site was chosen because it is the most visible, if not the windiest, location. Although any energy produced goes back into the borough’s grid, the turbine’s primary purpose is educational.

Borough Manager Daniel Olpere called the turbine a “demonstration project,” since it is intended as a tool to teach students and the community at large about the potential of wind as an alternate energy source.

Perkasie is not the only grant-recipient disappointed with a malfunctioning turbine.

“The state is looking into a problem with the entire grant,” Andrea Coaxum, assistant borough manager, said. “The installation company may not have done as good a job as the governor hoped.”

In the meantime, the borough is investigating ways to fix the turbine and to increase its educational value, Coaxum said.

Councilman Christopher Nicolosi has volunteered to coordinate the construction of a storyboard explaining the significance of the turbine and providing information on wind energy. No other grant recipient has made a storyboard, and the state is eager to see Perkasie’s, Coaxum said.

Coaxum is exploring grants to assist with completing the storyboard.

“I don’t want [the turbine] sitting there without some explanation of what it is,” Olpere said.

Aigeldinger suggested donating the turbine to a local elementary school.

If a student learns about wind energy or is inspired to become an engineer, then council will have done something very positive with the turbine, Aigeldinger said.

The turbine could also be donated to the Upper Bucks Vo-Tech so that the students could maintain it, Councilman James Purcell said.

While council members were open to Aigeldinger and Purcell’s suggestions, Councilwoman Maria Slowik requested more info on the terms and conditions of the grant to see if it would allow moving it.

In other matters at the May 17 Perkasie Borough Council meeting:

· Council President Martin Gahman clarified that the new $35 flat rate for trash removal is an annual, not a monthly, fee. The fee is effective June 1, 2010. Borough officials will continue to address concerns with the trash program, exploring other options for 2011.

Gahman also said that electric rates will not increase every year through 2015, as some residents fear. When rates were established in 2008, some increases were inevitable because of the wholesale increase in electric costs.

“That’s done now, and there’s an effort to level out the wholesale price so rates don’t have to increase,” Gahman said.

The borough realizes that residents are very unhappy with the increased rates and will do whatever necessary to trim costs, Olpere said in a phone interview after the meeting.

As people conserve electricity, costs go up, but there is no basis for anyone to assume that costs will automatically increase every year, Olpere said.

· Council approved low-bidder J.P. Mascaro for one year of yard waste removal with four optional one-year extensions. The contract includes dumpster rental at $120 per month, a haul charge of $175 per trip, and a tonnage charge of $50 per ton.

Haul rates increase $5 the second year and subsequent years up to $195, while the tonnage charge increases up to $60.

Since the borough has not collected yard waste through a hauler previously, tonnages were based on East Rockhill’s for the purpose of obtaining bids, Coaxum said.

· Council approved a bid from Fordian Packaging for its smaller, 20-pound size trash bags. Fordian offers 100 cases, for a total of 30,000 bags, at $2,690, or 8.966 cents per bag.

All American Poly bid the same number of bags at $5,700, or 19 cents per bag; Centry bid $4,500, or 15 cents per bag; and Interboro bid $3,348, or 11.16 cents per bag.

· The borough will be offering small trash bags from a 2008 bid for sale at a special price. The bags were made incorrectly with a gusset, so that they hold 20 percent more when tied than the 20-pound size and 2 percent less than the 40-pound size, Coaxum said. The bags are available for $2.50 at the borough office.

· Councilwoman Florence Frei presented concerns from a Perkasie resident living on Second Street. The resident is worried about forfeiting her parking space to dog owners once the proposed dog park is established.

Gahman asked the police chief to assess the parking situation from Market Street to the dead end of Second Street. The borough will consider allocating as private parking the spaces where residents would normally park.

Council approved a resolution to designate a dog park earlier this year, but specific plans have not been finalized, Olpere said in a phone interview after the meeting.

Council endorsed the Perkasie Dog Owner’s Group business plan and approved the consideration of Kulp Park as the site for the park. The borough is willing to enter into a lease agreement for use of the park and will assist the group in finding grants, but it is not committing any funds.

“We are not driving this project,” Olpere said. “We are cooperating, but we are not pushing it.”

· Perkasie Police Officers Association recognized Nancy Keenan for her 10 years of volunteer service to the department. Keenan, a former councilwoman, volunteers every Tuesday, finding resources for seniors in need, persons with mental challenges, and victims of crime.

Keenan received a standing ovation as she accepted her plaque and the association’s offer of landscaping services at her home.

A council member when many of the officers were hired, Keenan said, “What I’m really proud of there is that I never made a mistake hiring any one of you.”

Keenan said that she is overwhelmed at being accepted as part of the police department, and she looks forward to many more years of service. Perkasie council wants to stop spinning its wheels on wind turbine

Photo by Ken Zepp

By Erin DuBois
Staff Writer

Three families received the keys to their new homes at a Habitat for Humanity dedication ceremony on May 15. The Stitchery, at 815 West Chestnut St, Perkasie, was formerly home to the Hubbert baseball factory andfh the Pennridge Senior Center.

The Women Build Program, GMAC, and First Savings Bank of Perkasie, major donors to the project, presented the families with their keys.

A special guest at the ceremony was the oldest living relative of the Hubbert factory’s founder.

“She was thrilled with what we’re doing with the building,” Linda Andrews, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Bucks County, said.

Attendees at the ceremony were invited to “pound” the new families by bringing them a pound of non-perishable goods, such as food or a cleaning product.

The Stitchery consists of six condos on three floors. Two of the condos are handicapped accessible, one of which is currently in use. Two single mothers live in the other inhabited units. The remaining three condos are currently available, although families have expressed interest in them, Andrews said.

The Stitchery is Habitat of Bucks County’s first adaptive reuse project.

“Adaptive reuse is adapting a building into a new purpose, from commercial to residential, instead of taking raw grounds,” Andrews said. “We’re not taking new space.”

Habitat considered the environmental impact throughout the project.

The Stichery has blown-in, soy-based insulation, which is not only healthier for the environment, but seals better as well, reducing energy consumption. Builders used low VOC paints and removed the original, carcinogen-emitting flooring.

Constance Lezenby, a Certified Sustainable Building Advisor, assisted with the final design and code review.

Habitat aims to reach Energy Star standards and to receive a NAHB National Green Building program rating at the Stitchery.

Senior Cent, the Stitchery

There have been recent reports of residents getting calls from a person claiming to be a family member and asking that the person send money to the caller in Canada, police Chief Mark Ofner said at the May 12 Bedminster Township Board of Supervisors meeting.

Others have been told they won a lottery and will receive the money after first sending in a payment.

“People need to be mindful not to respond to those scams,” Ofner said.

With the coming of spring, there are also scams by people claiming to be driveway pavers or to do other unsolicited work around the home.

Board Chairman Eric Schaffhausen said residents should also be careful of identity theft, which he knows about from personal experience.

“We have had our own credit card misused twice in the last nine months, and it’s never left our hands,” Schaffhausen said.

Schaffhausen and Ofner also reminded residents to be careful of giving out their social security number.

If the caller is from your bank, they already have your social security number and will not ask for the full number, Ofner said.

“They’ll verify with four numbers, but not the entire number,” Ofner said.

In other matters at the May 12 meeting:

● Planning work continues for a new traffic light at the Route 611/413 intersection.

The plans have been pushed back a few weeks to add required handicap-accessibility ramps at the intersection, but the plans should soon be completed, Tom Fountain, township engineer, said.

● Two properties, totaling more than 165 acres, are being added to the preserved farmland in Bedminster. The township has one of the most aggressive land preservation programs in the area.

“These last two are big chunks of ground. It’s a big deal,” Schaffhausen said.

Conservation easements, in which further development of the site is restricted, are being purchased on both properties. The present owners continue to own the land and can use it or sell it.

About 72.96 acres of the Theodore Harrison property on Deep Run Road is being preserved, with a purchase price of $729,600, John Rice, township solicitor, said.

“A little bit less than half of this is coming from the Bucks County open space program,” Rice said. Township open space money pays for the remainder.

The other property is about 95.89 acres of the Mary and Jeffrey Miller property on Bedminster Road, with a purchase price of $767,128.

The county money will pay $317,434 in each of the two purchases, board member Glenn Wismer said.

● Five new police policies were put on the books.

The policies are required by the department’s insurance company. The department was already meeting the requirements, but this puts it in writing, Ofner said.

“It’s clear written policies of how things will be dealt with, how prisoners will be handled,” Ofner sad. “We have standard policies, but this is much more in-depth.”

The policies deal with things such as prisoner transportation, handling mentally ill people in custody, emergency medical services for prisoners, interrogation and interviews, he said.

Examples of the prisoner transportation policies include that prisoners will be handcuffed behind the back and will be seatbelted while being transported in a police car, Ofner said.

The written policies are based on standardized ones used in other towns, he said.

“We tweaked those a little to fit us,” Ofner said.