The Cascade Locks City Council is six-strong once again.
Kevin Rutherford took the oath of office Monday night, stepping in to a vacancy left by Jeff Helfrich who resigned and moved to Hood River in June.
The greater council now consists of six councilors and Mayor Tom Cramblett.
Rutherford was appointed with a 4-2 vote on Aug. 10, edging candidates Ed del Val and Rob Brostoff. In favor of Rutherford were councilors Glenda Groves, Bruce Fitzpatrick, Bobby Walker and Mayor Tom Cramblett, and opposed were councilors Richard Randall and Deanna Busdieker, according to meeting records.
Rutherford is a Cascade Locks resident who hosts a truckers’ radio show, Let’s Truck.
“I’m excited to be on the council. I’m ready to dig in and get to work,” said Rutherford.
The first serious order of business for the newly whole city council was an electric rate increase, which councilors discussed but left untouched until next meeting.
City administrator Gordon Zimmerman and electric foreman Keith Terry explained that Bonneville Power Administration, which supplies the city’s electricity, has announced a rate increase effective to all users Oct. 1.
The current cost per kilowatt would creep up by 1.9 percent.
Zimmerman explained in a later interview that BPA boosts its rates to all customers every two years, and the city has simply “absorbed” the cost in the past. The last time the city upped its electric rates was in 2006.
Zimmerman said Monday that the cost of sticking with status quo is “relatively small” — about $37,100 over the next nine months of the remaining fiscal year — but it would still cut into revenue otherwise destined for the city’s general fund.
Terry said the goal of the increase is to match the new BPA cost, not turn over a profit.
“We’re not getting anything out of it … we’re not gaining one penny. All we’re doing is trying to pay the BPA bill as it comes,” Terry said.
The question Monday night zeroed in on industrial use, which remains relatively “constant” and “flat” year round, said Zimmerman.
The city has signed new companies in the industrial park over the last year, and Bear Mountain Forest Products is expanding, but new revenue won’t kick in until late 2016. Bear Mountain will be switching over from a propane dryer to an electric one, which could boost its electric intake by a full megawatt.
Councilor Bobby Walker felt that raising the rate could discourage new industrial users from siting their business in Cascade Locks. He referred to a data center that had expressed interest in coming to Cascade Locks.
“It’s true that the companies are gonna look,” said Rutherford, referring to city electric rates in comparison to competing municipalities.
Councilors agreed that they weren’t ready to raise the rate without more information. They charged staff with coming back with more information outlining industrial use.
Mayor Tom Cramblett said the issue could wait until November. In other city news, Zimmerman reported Cascade Locks’ water improvement project, made possible by a $3.7 million USDA water loan, has already commenced. The city is working with Union Pacific Railroad to gain access to an easement under a rail crossing where they will build a pipe that feeds the port’s Industrial Park.
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