By Shannon McFarlin News Director
Paris, Tenn.–The Paris Board of Public Utilities (BPU) is investing in the Asian Carp removal business.
Upon recommendation of General Manager Terry Wimberley, the board Wednesday morning approved a $75,000 loan to the Paris-Henry County Industrial Committee from the BPU Revolving Loan Fund for the purchase of two fishing boats that will be leased to two commercial fishermen who are removing Asian Carp from Kentucky Lake.
Wimberley said he, Board Chairman David Flowers and Board Member Butch Powers serve on the advisory committee for the Revolving Loan Fund loans.
The Industrial Committee will purchase two fishing boats at $50,000 each which will be outfitted to handle the commercial removal of the Asian Carp from Kentucky Lake. The boats will be leased to the local commercial fishermen who have already been removing the carp from local waters.
Wimberley said the lease will be paid based on a portion of the per pound revenue from each daily catch. the Collateral will be the two fishing boats. Terms to be seven-year repayment at an interest rate of 2.4 percent.
Current balance of the BPU’s Revolving Loan Fund is $592,000 which can be used for economic development purposes, he said.
Removal of the Asian Carp is important to the local economy and important for keeping Kentucky Lake healthy, Wimberley said.
“The boats these fishermen are using were not built for that. The Asian Carp they’re catching are huge and they need a larger capacity for their boats,” he said.
For example, North American Caviar posted a photo this week of local fisherman Jeff Peach and the 75-pound Asian Carp he caught. North American Caviar in Paris
In other business:
–The board approved the low bid of $1,537,487 from Barsto Construction Co. in Huntingdon for the Jones Bend Creek Sewer Replacement project. Wimberley said, “I’m pleased to do businesses with Barsto. We’ve used them before and they’re familiar with us and with this project and they’re local.”
The scope of the work includes installation of just under 6,000 linear feet of mostly 24-inch diameter gravity sewer lines. The line will run from N. Poplar St. over to the old Waste Water Treatment Plant at the end of Glenhaven Rd. The installation will run north of Chickasaw Road and will increase the capacity of the sewer line from the current 21-inch line.
The construction estimate for the project was $1,568,000 and the project will be funded with the USDA Rural Development loan previously approved. The bid was thoroughly evaluated by Jacobs Engineering and BPU, Wimberley said.
–The board heard an audit report from Winston Truett of Alexander THompson Arnold for both the BPU and the BPU Trust (Roundup) funds.
Truett said the audit was a clean audit with no problems reported. “I don’t want us to take clean audits for granted,” Wimberley said. “We have a long history of good audits here and I want to commend our accounting team for the work they do throughout the year.”
The board also engaged ATA for next year’s audit at $31,455.
–The board also approved purchase of a 2020 Model Digger Derrick to replace the 2012 model at a cost of $293,573. The board is ordering the truck now for delivery in 11-12 months. The current truck has accumulated almost $50,000 in repairs in recent months.
Top photo: BPU General Manager Terry Wimberley (second from left) presents reports as Terry Wimberley, Michael Murphey and David Flowers listen. (Photo by Shannon McFarlin).
Bottom photo: Randy Peach with 75 pound Asian Carp recently caught in Kentucky Lake (North American Caviar photo).
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