Council hears update on Synthica tank cleanup; Energy Alliances recommends 10.59¢/kWh cap for aggregation

Safety and Service Director Wendley updated the council on March 26 about cleanup work at the Synthica plant, an energy-aggregation recommendation and an IT migration.

Wendley said Pam Whitmer, vice president of governmental affairs for UGI Energy Services, reported the company continues to draw down and clean material from the bottoms of tanks at the Synthica site. Wendley said Clean Harbors is removing remaining material from one tank and Superior Environmental Services is handling material in the biological tanks; he said those processes "will take a few weeks to complete" and that Whitmer plans to attend a council meeting after tanks are drained and a comprehensive restart plan exists.

On energy procurement, Wendley summarized a memo from Energy Alliances reporting results of recent RFPs and recommending the village set a not-to-exceed price of 10.59 cents per kilowatt-hour with a supplier for a term not to exceed 24 months. The recommendation, he said, is intended to remain below projected Duke default rates, provide rate stability amid rising wholesale and capacity costs, and avoid a long-term lock-in while long-range pricing remains uncertain. Wendley said he has a phone conference scheduled with Energy Alliances to discuss next steps.

Wendley also said the village has engaged an IT vendor (KOL) to provide information-technology support and will migrate email and systems to a new domain, sternard-oh.gov; council members will receive new email addresses but old addresses will continue to function during the transition.

No formal council action was taken during the report; Wendley said staff would follow up with a conference with Energy Alliances and with further updates on the Synthica cleanup and any restart plan.