Paris, Tenn.–At its Tuesday meeting, the Paris Utility Authority Board approved a $150,000 loan to Columbiad Fabrication & Aviation which will be used for Columbiad to purchase the Apple Fasteners building on Hwy. 641N.
Columbiad’s plan is to relocated all its operations to this site, which will add some 75 new jobs. Columbiad presently is located on Hwy. 69N.
Paris BPU President & CEO Terry Wimberley, Board Chair David Flowers and Board Member Butch Powers serve as the advisory committee for the Paris BPU Revolving Loan Fund and brought the request to the board.
In other business:
–Upon recommendation of Wimberley, the Board approved a resolution to issue electric revenue bonds with a principal of $2,560,000 for their consideration. Part of this amount is the $2.5M capital expenditure for the Eagle Creek project that was included in the long-term plan presented to the Board in June.
Wimberley reminded Board members, “No rate increase will be needed to finish the Eagle Creek Project.”
The remaining $60,000 is the approximate cost of bond issuance. The public sale of the Series 2021 bonds is scheduled for November 15 and set to close early December. This schedule allows funds to be on hand by the expected delivery time for the $900,000 transformer for Eagle Creek. The board voted to adopt the resolution.
–Bids have been received for the Puryear Substation interconnection and upgrades. There were six bids placed for the project ranging from $1,462,000 to $2,245,220. The bids were thoroughly evaluated by Allen & Hoshall, the engineering consultant on the project and Paris BPU. The Board approved Allen & Hoshall’s recommendation to accept the low bid of $1,462,000 from Power Grid Company. Approximately $750,000 of this work is included in the $1.4M payment to Paris BPU for interconnecting the 6.75 MV solar installation to the Puryear substation. The remaining amount is for planned upgrades to the 1940 model Puryear substation.
The final item of regular business was the vote by the Board to reappoint Clint Davis to the Round Up trust Board.
In his President’s report, Wimberley introduced his employee guest, DeAndre Phelps. DeAndre joined Paris BPU in September 2015 as a Right of Way Laborer. After two years, he transitioned to the role of pre-apprentice lineman and then in 2018, he became an apprentice lineman. He is now in year three of the apprenticeship program and will promote to journeyman lineman after his four-year apprenticeship program.