PHOTO BY JOHN FRYMAN / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
REIMBURSEMENT … Bryan Board of Public Affairs board members Karen Ford (left) and Annette Schreiner (right) discuss a proposal to reimburse Ohio Art Company for overbilling water services at its meeting on Monday, July 27.
By: John Fryman
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
john@thevillagereporter.com
The Bryan Board of Public Affairs approved a resolution for reimbursement for billing overage charges involving Ohio Art Company at its regular board meeting on Monday, July 27.
In 2023, Ohio Art Company was overbilled $32,486 for water services, with the court finding no negligence on behalf of Bryan Municipal Utilities.
BMU acknowledged it, and according to the Water Department Rules and Regulations, reimbursement is allowed for up to 12 months from the date the overcharge was discovered.
Therefore, a request for additional appropriation to be allocated to the 2026 502 Water Budget, to cover 12 months of reimbursement to Ohio Art Company for bills from May 2022 to April 2023, was approved.
Board member Brian Davis made the motion to approve the resolution, with Board Co-Chairman Karen Ford seconding it.
Director of Utilities Derek Schultz said the BPA hereby authorizes and respectfully requested approval from Bryan City Council for an additional appropriation in the 2026 502 Water Budget for reimbursement to Ohio Art Company.
In other action, the board approved a resolution authorizing Schultz to accept a proposal from All Service Contracting Corp. for the rehabilitation project at an estimated cost of $76,766. The contractor previously performed work with BMU, most recently in 2024.
It involves the rehabilitation of the North high-pressure filter at the water treatment plant under normal operating conditions, thus waiving the formal bidding process.
Schultz pointed out that a recent inspection of the high-pressure filters by BMU staff identified compromising media damage and displacement in the North high-pressure filter indicating internal corrosion.
The damage involves limited filtration, a potential secondary maximum contaminant level exceedance, and reduced water production, necessitating emergency procurement to restore full system functionality.
In consultation with All Service Contracting Corp., the damage identified will require rehabilitation of the compromised cell, involving removal of the sand and gravel media, inspection of the underdrain components and necessary repairs and installation of new sand and gravel media.
“With the anticipated project schedule, we’re starting next Monday (August 3) through Wednesday (August 5) removing the filter media and allowing it to dry so those repairs can be made by the end of next week,” Schultz said.
“The welding and structural repairs could be done the following week of rebuilding the filter after testing and returning into service.”
Davis made the motion to approve the resolution with board member Annette Schreiner seconding it.
Schultz updated the board saying everything is on schedule regarding the solar field project, which is expected to be completed in December 2026.
He said that 82% of the racking has been installed and will begin installing modules and panels this week. Some of the underground work has been completed, but there is still some underground work to go.
Ford shared an email update she recently received from the American Public Power Association regarding signing The White House Ratepayer Protection Pledge document, which stated that large companies wanting to build data centers will not affect the consumers’ rates, meaning that separate rates will be set for these data centers.
They will be assigned certain usage based on what they need and will come out of their (large companies’) pocket even if they need to build a structure that is going to supply energy to them and will be fully responsible for all of those costs and will not affect the consumer.
Ford also noted that some of the large companies like Amazon, Google, and Meta have already signed the pledge saying they would not affect any customer rates.
“I do understand some communities have already developed a separate rate for data centers,” Ford commented.
“We have our residential, commercial, and industrial rates, then there is another one called data center rates that is being developed.
“A lot of communities have done this, and there is much going into it. This is just new stuff because a few years ago we never heard of data centers.”
The meeting adjourned at 5:19 p.m.