City’s Power Outage Changed To June 23
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Binnie Turnage (right) and Bobby Turnage (left) were among Water Valley business owners who asked city aldermen to consider moving the scheduled power outage in the city from Saturday, June 22, to Sunday, June 23.
WATER VALLEY – In a rare split decision, city aldermen voted 3-2 to change the date of the scheduled power outage for the City of Water Valley Electric Department from Saturday, June 22, to Sunday, June 23. The vote during the monthly city meeting on June 4 followed a plea from Main Street business owners to shift the outage from their busiest day. A petition was also presented to city hall signed by almost two dozen people requesting the date change. The petition stated the Saturday outage would negatively affect over 20 businesses in the community, resulting in significant financial losses.
Alderpersons Herbie Rogers, Nicole Folson and Bonnie Cox voted in favor of shifting the outage to Sunday, June 23, starting at 1 p.m. Aldermen Ron Hart and Freddie Folson voted against changing the date of the outage and voiced favor of the initial Saturday date for the outage, starting at 6 a.m.
The planned outage is expected to last an estimated six hours and is essential for performing critical infrastructure repairs on the grid including pole replacements and other maintenance that cannot be safely done with the lines energized, according to Mayor Tommy Reynolds. In case of inclement weather on June 23, the alternate date will be on Sunday, June 30, at the same time.
The outage will affect customers north of the city substation located on Gore Circle.
Five business owners addressed the board before the vote, with Binnie Turnage speaking first.
“We know it has to be done,” Binnie Turnage said. “We were just wondering if there is a more advantageous date to do this. On Saturdays there are a lot of things going on that make a difference in our town.”
Bobby Turnage was the next to address the board, explaining that Main Street has become a tourist destination.
“We are getting people not just from Oxford, even from Memphis, Alabama and Arkansas that come to our store or other stores in town,” Bobby Turnage said. “If we could do it on a different day, it would hopefully prevent someone from driving all that way and the town be shut down.”
Bobby Turnage next suggested the shutdown be moved to Sunday afternoon, adding that some of the business owners on Main Street would like to provide gift certificates to the city workers who work the outage.
“I think that it is in the best interest of the town that it is not done on Saturday. But if that is what the board decides, we will go along with it,” Bobby Turnage added.
Other business owners addressing board members were Caitlin Magnuson, owner of The Magnolia Coffee Co.; Katelynn Dillard, owner of the Mulberry Lane Resale Shop; and Alexe Van Beuren, owner of the B.T.C. Old Fashion Grocery.
Magnuson told aldermen that the loss of revenue if her shop was closed on Saturday would be significant.
“The loss in revenue for us and our employees paychecks and tips would be much greater on Saturday, just because of the traffic flow,” Magnuson. “A business that really depends on those tips for the employees, it makes a huge difference. Saturday morning are bustling, Sunday afternoons are sleepy in Water Valley. We would be incredibly grateful for the consideration to change that.”
Dillard told aldermen that Saturdays are by far the biggest day for her business, often providing income that helps pay the bills for the entire month.
Van Beuren acknowledged that asking for city workers to work on Sunday is a lot to ask.
“I don’t expect it, but I would sure appreciate it. There would be some sizable thank-yous involved for the city workers doing that work,” Van Beuren said.
Both Bobby Turnage and Magnuson also said out-of-town shoppers would likely not see notices about the Saturday outage.
Following the plea from business owners, Alderman-at-Large Herbie Rogers asked for Water Valley Electric Department business manager Crystal Floyd for input.
“I think the main thing right now is the temperature,” Floyd said. “On Sunday afternoon it is going to be hot. If we move it to the afternoon, we have to think about our elderly residents in the heat. We were trying to avoid that, once you get into Sunday afternoon it is going to be 90 degrees.”
Alderman Hart said his concern was if the city workers experienced a problem, it could push them to working in the dark with the start time changing from 6 a.m. on a Saturday to 1 p.m. on a Sunday.
“I know they run into problems all the time and if it pushes them into the dark, they didn’t want to do that,” Hart said.
“That is what we are trying to avoid,” Floyd agreed. “We have had times when we had outages at midnight because we didn’t want to disrupt customers. But this is not in a place where they can work it in the dark, this is dangerous.”
The board members opted to wait until the end of the meeting for the final decision.
“I know the heat is a factor for our city workers and I hate that,” Rogers said after all other business on the agenda was completed. “But in nearly every (city) meeting we talk about how important our businesses are to Water Valley.”
Rogers added that as a former business owner, he also understands the struggles to make payroll. Rogers then moved to change the outage to Sunday afternoon, prompting the 3-2 vote.
Other business discussed during the meeting included:
• Mayor Tommy Reynolds reported a group of citizens are working together to purchase the Pocket Park located on the corner of Wagner and Main Street.
“Some of us citizens are putting our resources together. There will be an effort to come up with the purchase money and I believe that will be done,” the mayor said. “This will ensure the Pocket Park, which is such a wonderful thing, will be available for generations to come and will be in the public domain.”
The property is owned by Dick Marchbanks and has been utilized as a park with a public access for several years.
“The use of the pocket park has been given to us freely, and we appreciate that,” Reynolds added.
The mayor also said that if the deal is finalized, it will be the site of a new splash pad also in the works.
“I am really pleased with that,” Reynolds added.
Aldermen previously approved City Park as the location for the splash pad during an April meeting. After push-back, a search had been underway for an another location. Funding for the splash pad, an estimated $90,000-plus will also come from local donors. Lindsey Faust, a volunteer, has been coordinating the fundraising efforts.
• Approved a request from Street Department superintendent Michael Scroggins to pave a section of Central Street and sections of other streets in the city before the August Watermelon Carnival.
“Our contractors said they will work with us when we get ready, I want to get this lined up,” Scoggins said.
• Approved the report from the Water Valley Historical Planning Commission. The report noted that a Certificate of Appropriateness for work on the North Mississippi Herald at 416 North Main Street. Commissioners approved plans to replace the rear wall on the building, seal the side wall, make minor repairs on the facade and installation of a new roof.
