By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

            Williston City Council members apparently gave final approval to a rate hike for natural gas customers at their June 7 meeting but it’s not clear how many members of the board or the public knew exactly what was happening.

            The question of whether the gas rates had ever been discussed, much less approved, was raised at Tuesday’s board meeting by resident Albert Fuller when he asked if the council was going to host a gas workshop as promised.

            Fuller attends every city council meeting and is an educated man who holds a master’s degree and served as Levy County Extension director for more than a decade.

            “We already had it,” responded City Manager Jackie Gorman.

            “You had the electric,” said Fuller, correcting Gorman. He was referring to an electric rate workshop held more than a month earlier.

            “Gas has been approved,” Gorman said.

            “Gas has been finalized?” Fuller asked.

            Council President Debra Jones weighed in, saying she didn’t think gas rates were final.

            “I don’t think the rates have been finalized. The rates haven’t been finalized,” said Jones, the most experienced member of the board who generally has a handle on what’s going on.

            Utilities Supervisor Donald Barber politely corrected the council president. He said the gas ordinance passed on June 7 contained the new rates on the back page of the gas ordinance packet.

            “The index, the last page, was the rate adjustment according to the rates that were discussed. That was approved in the ordinance packet for the first read and second read, so it was in the packet,” Barber said.

            Barber went on to say that the process of approving the rates wasn’t changed for the gas system. It wasn’t clear why he mentioned that issue. It muddied the water even more.

            “But the rates were attached to that packet and when the mayor decides what he wants to do regarding the ordinance, then we’re notified and we’ll notify the Public Service Commission, and Steven (Bloom) through finance will make the associated change,” Barber added. Bloom is the city’s finance director.

            Mayor Charles Goodman has the power to veto the ordinance.

            Jones thanked Barber for his explanation and asked Fuller if he wanted a copy of the ordinance including the rates quoted on the last page. Fuller said he wanted to see the full ordinance.

            “If you will make a note and send that to all of us, the whole ordinance with the appendix,” Jones said.

            “Send to who?” Gorman said.

            “Everybody, all of us, and Mr. Fuller,” Jones said. “Just so we can review it in case he has questions on the appendix and the ordinance. Good question Mr. Fuller.”

            All city agendas include a brief description of what is to be discussed by the council. Supporting documents are also provided in the agenda packet with more detailed information on the agenda item. However, the June 7 agenda made no mention of raising gas rates.

            In the supporting documents, the only mention of a rate hike was included in Gorman’s introductory written remarks.

            “The City of Williston has not updated the gas ordinance since 2012. In the past 10 years the gas utility has operated in the negative and has been supported solely by electric revenues,” Gorman said. “These rate changes still provide that the city’s rates are still close to the lowest of all municipal providers.”

            The appendix on the back page of the gas ordinance mentioned by Barber listed gas rates for residential and commercial customers, but there was no comparison of old rates to the new rates or the percentage of increase.

            Fuller didn’t recall a gas rate workshop because there was none.

            Cities and counties are required to post legal advertisements in newspapers to notify the public of proposals to adopt ordinances and certain other legal documents. The legal advertisements frequently consist of very small, barely readable print buried in a full page of similar advertisements.

            The legal advertisement published in connection with the gas ordinance made no mention of raising gas rates. The legal advertisement was identical to the gas ordinance agenda item for the June 7 meeting.

            Jones was asked about the fact that there was no mention of a rate hike in the legal advertisement for the gas ordinance or for the electric rate hike on the June 7 agenda. The electric rate changes were pulled from the June 7 agenda due to an error in the legal advertisement, according to Jones.

            When asked why the electric rate hike legal advertisement lacked any mention of raising electric rates, Jones said the advertisement used the words, “electric utility ratemaking,” which met legal requirements. The legal ad for the gas ordinance made no mention of ratemaking or raising rates. The city posted the legal advertisement for gas rates as the agenda item on June 7.

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City of Williston Regular Meeting June 21, 2022; Posted June 22, 2022