A move of Municipal Utilities offices could be delayed until as late as Oct. 1, under a new amendment to a contract to purchase an existing bank building.
The change was approved Monday by the Poplar Bluff City Council, along with alterations to utility supplier contracts.
The city agreed in 2016 to buy First Missouri State Bank's location at 1902 Sunset Drive to serve as the new home of administration, billing and collection departments.
This sale is contingent on the completion of a new location for the bank on Barron Road.
Construction delays pushed the original closing date from July 2017 to May 2018. Additional construction delays have required a second extension through October, according to Municipal Utilities General Manager Bill Bach.
The utility will spend $800,000 on the 10,200-square-foot facility. The bank has agreed to donate about $1 million of the value of the building to the city, including $100,000 granted under the first extension.
The approximately 30-year-old building sits on 1.24 acres of property.
About a dozen utility staff members would move to the new location. There are nine customer service and billing staff working temporarily in a 28-by-64 foot modular building on Barron Road, following the sale of their previous offices with the city's cable division. An additional three administrative staff moved into the utility distribution office at that time and would relocate to Sunset Drive.
The council also approved an amendment to the city's energy management agreement with Westar Energy. The agreement gives Westar a 50 percent margin sharing of profits for performing optimization services. The utility is budgeted to spend about $100,000 with Westar in 2018 for purchased power.
In a separate agreement, the city named Bach as the designated official for the Southwest Power Pool network transmission service. The city saves approximately $700,000 a year by using this network, according to Bach. The savings are due to refunds just approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, he said. The city is budgeted to spend $1.25 million with SPP in 2018 for purchased power expenses.
Total purchase power expenses for the city will be just under $29 million this year. Power is purchased from a variety of locations, with the largest expense, $13 million, from the Grand River Dam Authority.
The council also approved a request to vacate a portion of a sewer easement at Cripple Creek to allow for construction of a new building.