BVU Spinoff Motivation Questioned

BRISTOL, Va. – Could the potential for change in the 2010 City Council election affect a Bristol Virginia Utilities effort to spin off as a separate governing authority?

Councilman Guy Odum suggested so Wednesday – less than 12 hours after voting against the plan.

But BVU officials flatly deny it.

“There seems to be an irrational fear – by some people at BVU – that city councils in the future will hinder the growth and success of BVU,” Odum said in a phone interview. “No city council, that is elected by the people, would do anything to stifle economic development or growth and the success of BVU. None has.”

BVU has succeeded because they are accountable to city officials and city residents, Odum said.

Under an authority, the city wouldn’t have financial oversight of the utility.

The council approved the BVU proposal Tuesday by a 3-2 vote, but the measure must undergo a second council vote and requires approval by the Virginia General Assembly.
In the upcoming May 2010 election, a three-vote majority of council seats is up for grabs, including the seats of Mayor Jim Rector, Vice Mayor Ernie Sprouse and Councilman Fred Bowman. All three voted Tuesday to approve the BVU change.

If the authority plan is eventually approved by the state, the independent body would be created July 1, 2010 – the same day the next council takes office.

Rector, Bowman and Sprouse all said individually they didn’t sense that the upcoming election was a factor.
“I’m sure there are people out there who are concerned with what might happen, but I don’t feel that played any part of it,” Sprouse said.

Councilman Jim Heaney disagrees.
“I do lean toward that, that somebody has put that in Wes’ [BVU CEO Rosenbalm] ear and he’s being scared and acting to protect his interests,” Heaney said.

Some speakers during Tuesday’s meeting also alluded to the election’s potential role in the timing of this change.
“I know that an underlying, but unsaid concern on the part of BVU is that a shift in power on the City Council will create an adversarial relationship between the council and the [BVU] board,” said former Councilman Frank Goodpasture III, who spoke against the change.

BVU leaders said that just isn’t the case.

“I can tell you I’ve been working on this for more than a year,” BVU General Counsel Walt Bressler said. “I started on this in July 2008 and it has nothing to do with what Mr. Odum may think is going to happen in May.”

Bressler said he has no idea what might or might not transpire in the 2010 election and that wasn’t a consideration.

“That [election outcome] is not a part of what we’ve been working on,” Bressler said.

Regardless, Sprouse said, he would prefer the whole process occur more slowly.

“If I’d had my way, I’d rather had more time,” Sprouse said Wednesday. “But my confidence now is a lot more than it was a couple of weeks ago. I had a lot of my questions answered during Tuesday’s meeting.”

Timing, regarding the way council members were informed of the plan, has been a stumbling block, Heaney said. Just before Tuesday’s vote, Heaney said some council members apparently knew much more about the plan, much sooner than he did.

BVU leaders initially broached the subject with city leaders in May 2009, Rosenbalm said.

“We started meeting individually with the council members on our [BVU] board in May,” Rosenbalm said, referring to Rector and Bowman.

Rector confirmed his first call came in late May, while Bowman said he couldn’t recall the exact date, but thought he first learned about the concept in July.

“We met with Mr. Odum, Mr. Heaney and Mr. Sprouse in July, gave them a draft of the proposed legislation and then started meeting again in August, because the act was still being vetted by attorneys,” Rosenbalm said.

Council members received the draft version of the act in September.

BVU officials held at least three conversations with Heaney and Odum, who both voted against the plan, Rosenbalm said.

Odum confirmed he met with Rosenbalm, BVU board Chairman Paul Hurley and board member Kurt Pomrenke in July.

“I received a white paper on July 28, of three-four sheets that outlined the plan, but didn’t have a lot of details,” Odum said. “It was Sept. 17 when I received the full document.”

Odum confirmed he’s also had subsequent conversations with Rosenbalm and other BVU officials.

Heaney said he also received the preliminary document July 28, but didn’t meet with Rosenbalm to review the complete plan until Sept. 24.

“I didn’t get the full briefing until a few weeks ago,” Heaney said. “It was just last Monday when I had my third meeting and we talked in-depth.”

Heaney said that less than three weeks wasn’t enough time to digest and ask questions about the 22-page document and consider its possible ramifications.
The council’s final vote is scheduled Oct. 27.

dmcgee@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2532