Share: 

Lewes BPW candidates make case ahead of May 12 election

Three incumbents, two newcomers seek three seats on board
May 11, 2018

Dozens of customers met at Margaret H. Rollins Community Center May 7 to meet the candidates for the Lewes Board of Public Works ahead of the Saturday, May 12 election.

Five people are seeking three open seats on council, including incumbents C. Wendell Alfred, Robert Kennedy and Jack Lesher, and challengers John Mavromatis and Tom Panetta. Registered voters, who include Lewes residents and BPW customers outside the city, may cast their vote at the Lewes BPW office, 107 Franklin Ave., from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Election Day.

The reasons for seeking a seat on BPW vary by candidate, from providing customers with the lowest possible rates to improving the city's infrastructure to planning for future growth outside the city.

Alfred has been on the board for 18 years and serves as the president. He estimates he's attended about 2,000 meetings during his tenure.
"My interests started years ago when there was a terrific accident that created problems for the board and rate payers," he said.

He spent 40 years working for insurance companies in the loss-control field. Safety was a priority in his job, and that's something he said he believes to be very important for the BPW staff.

Kennedy worked for 21 years as executive director and senior regulatory officer at Delaware Public Service Commission. He said that experience is beneficial in his role on the board. He has a long list of priorities if re-elected, including replacing failing infrastructure.

"We have sections of water and wastewater mains and valves older than anyone in this room," he told the audience at the forum.

Kennedy, who's served on the BPW board since 2016, is also concerned about protecting the city's aquifer through a higher level of monitoring and is interested in expanding the BPW's water and wastewater system to reduce the number of private wells and septic systems in the surrounding area.

He sees the biggest challenge in the next five years as the increase of demand for service and dealing with growth around Lewes.

As a retired accountant, Lesher said his main focus on the board is to monitor the money. The BPW works from a five-year capital improvement budget of $16 million, manages reserves of about $15 million and operates with an annual budget of about $1.5 million.
"We aren't going to service anyone if we don't have the money to do it," Lesher said. "That's the role I play."

When he joined the board, the BPW had about $20 million in reserves. He said he's working on a plan to replenish the reserves.

One of the important factors of having so much in the bank, he said, is that the BPW has the money to pay for all of its projects without borrowing money.

"We need to replenish those accounts annually in order to have continuing funds available for meeting new capital budgets," he said.
"Our best projections today are to provide reserve funds to replace those funds that will be spent over the following five years."

Mavromatis said he jumped into the race because he did not want the existing board members to go unchallenged another year. He said it's been six years since the last BPW election. The election prior to that was six years earlier.

He spent a career in sales, and he said no matter what company he worked for, he always found himself in the position of problem solver. He said there are a lot of people in Lewes who don't know the difference between the BPW and the city, and their roles.

In talking with residents and customers during the campaign, he said, many are concerned about being charged a ready-to-serve fee and the amount of money the BPW receives from it.

The ready-to-serve fee is charged, whether or not electric, water or sewer is used by the resident, to cover maintenance of the systems supporting customers and fixed business costs associated with management of that utility. In 2010, the BPW determined that there was a need to charge its customers for facility maintenance in order to maintain quality customer service.

Panetta has been a full-time resident of Lewes for the last 10 years. Growing up on Long Island, he said, he saw firsthand the impact of urban sprawl and unbridled growth.

"One of my biggest fears in Sussex County is that we're not controlling that and not preparing," he said. "From a BPW perspective, we need to make sure infrastructure is in place to support annexation so Lewes can have control over development and density."

Panetta worked for General Electric for 25 years building and designing power plants, managing projects of about $50 million. In addition to managing growth, he also wants to plan for the impacts of sea-level rise, take a closer look at cost-effective solutions for projects the BPW is already undertaking, and increase public outreach.

"I believe I bring a wealth of experience and knowledge that would be beneficial to the board," he said. "I believe getting people's input into the decision-making process is critical. Otherwise, it's just five people on a board making a decision and people not understanding why [decisions] were made."

 

 

Subscribe to the CapeGazette.com Daily Newsletter