(See related story below.)

Following two city councilmen’s assertions of poor service by OMI, a committee of the Live Oak City Council voted Tuesday to recommend non-renewal of the company’s contract. However, the measure failed by a 2-2 vote of the full council.

OMI is the private company the city has contracted with since 2006 to perform public works operations. Its contract expires Oct. 1, 2009.

Council President John Hale and Councilman Bennie Thomas voted not to renew the pact when it expires. Councilmen Mark Stewart and Ed Rewis voted against the motion. Councilman Ken Duce was absent due to illness.

Hale and Thomas said OMI workers weren’t doing their job.

“Every time I asked them something they tell me they’re a private corporation and they do what they want to,” said Hale.

Hale said it took two weeks, and the help of City Administrator Bob Farley, to get OMI workers to remove debris blocking handicapped parking spaces at the courthouse.

At the same time, Hale said, workers promptly removed a tree limb that fell in Stewart’s neighborhood. It is not clear whether the debris was on city property, Hale said. The city has violated its own policy by performing work on private property on a number of occasions in recent years.

“Everybody in the city was over there working on it and down there at the courthouse where there’s trash stacked up in a handicap parking spot, it takes me two weeks to get somebody to come down there and I have to finally call (Farley) to get it done,” Hale said. “I’m fed up with their service.”

Stewart said he did not call OMI to clean up the tree limb that fell across Copeland Street in Maynor Manor.

“I didn’t know they were over there doing that until my neighbor called me,” Stewart said.

Meter reading was another issue that arose.

Thomas said he has gotten at least 10 calls from citizens complaining about high water bills. He suggested OMI workers have not been reading meters regularly.

“I make a motion that we notify OMI and cancel their contract in October (2009),” Thomas said. “All I’ve been hearing all this money that OMI is saving the city, but they’re not getting the job done. I don’t see where we’re getting the service we deserve.”

“I hesitate on making any rash decisions as far as OMI is concerned. I do think we need to look at it,” Rewis said, adding he was concerned that the public works director would need help running the department.

Stewart said he wasn’t completely satisfied with OMI’s performance but expressed concern that the city council would interfere with the operation of the public works department.

“I don’t think it will get any better if the city takes it back over,” he said. “I don’t think the city council will allow the city manager and public works director to do their job without interference.”

Hale said the issue may be brought up again at a later date.



What about the water meters?



By Vanessa Fultz

During a Live Oak City Council committee meeting Tuesday night, Council President John Hale and Councilman Bennie Thomas cited poor service from OMI, the firm that performs public works operations for the city, as reason not to renew the company’s contract. Questions arose as to whether OMI workers were reading residential water meters every month or merely estimating usage. Thomas said at least 10 residents in his district had called to complain about unusually high water bills.

“I got on the phone and I called Mrs. Parkhurst (city Finance Director Jan) and she told me the reason we are having these high costs is because somebody is not doing their job, which falls back to the meter readers,” Thomas said at the meeting.

“I had conversations with you and Mrs. Parkhurst asking if it was true that they were estimating meters and I was told, ‘No,’ by both of you,” Hale said to City Administrator Bob Farley.

“We were told that every meter in the city of Live Oak was being read,” Farley said.

“So you weren’t told the truth?” Hale asked.

“That’s correct,” Farley responded.

Hale explained Wednesday that he thought meter readers had been estimating monthly usage at a minimal rate, then “catching up” sometime later, resulting in spikes in customers’ bills.

However, OMI Project Manager Todd Hunt, who oversees OMI workers, told the council Tuesday that meters were being read every month. He added that the reason one particular resident’s bill had risen was due to the installation of a new meter.

Farley said Wednesday that the woman’s bill was high because paperwork on the new meter wasn’t processed in time for the previous month’s bill and the new reading went on the following month’s bill.

Parkhurst said Wednesday the hand-held devices used to read the meters are not initially compatible with new meters. In the cases of meters newly installed, the city bills the customer for minimum water usage and any usage over that amount rolls into the bill once the new meter is electronically synchronized with the reader, she said. Farley said there have been seven new meters installed in the last several months.

“Since then we have had meetings with the appropriate personnel to identify the issues involved to avoid these problems in the future,” Parkhurst said.

She noted that customers whose bills rose due to city error would be able to pay the difference in small increments.