I received an email correspondence from Bruce Heywood, a citizen of Heber City and Heber City Councilman Jeff Bradshaw. The thread was concerning the Heber Light & Power board member increases. I thought you might like to know how others feel about this issue...
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Email from Bruce Heywood to Jeff Bradshaw:
Dear Councilman Bradshaw:
I was impressed that you attended the meeting last night for Heber City Power and Light. At least you had the courage to hear the city’s feelings about the Board of Directors’ compensation increase.
Realizing you had nothing to do with the changes that were made in December/November, please provide me with the following information:
- Do you support the compensation change as passed in November?
- Will you vote to rescind the decision by the previous board if brought to a vote? Will you make a motion that the issue be voted upon?
- Will you vote to have the Directors’ fees returned that were paid as a result of that change? If the fees are impossible to be repaid, will you support a vote to suspend all future Directors’ fees until the value of what was paid in December is recouped by HCPL?
- Do you believe that HCPL Board Members should be paid a director fee for any month they fail to attend (or participate by phone) their monthly meetings?
Your candid response to these questions is sincerely appreciated.
Regards,
Bruce Heywood
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Email from Jeff Bradshaw to Bruce Heywood:
From: Jeffery M Bradshaw [mailto:jeffbcpa@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 26, 2012 4:48 PM
To: Bruce Heywood
Subject: Re: Heber City Power and Light Directors' Fees
Mr Heywood,
I have to admit that I came into this situation at a very inopportune time. I'm afraid that I'm not totally up to speed on all of the issues relating to this increase in board members' compensation. I will say that, thru sad experience, I have learned that I have to look at all the facts before I can make an informed decision. There are always two sides to every story. I have certainly heard from the public in the meeting yesterday. I have read all of the comments on the e-petition as of an hour before the meeting. I think there were 382 signees at that time. I have not, however, heard all of the explanations from the board members about what went into the decision. I owe it to the board to get all of the information they had in making the decision they did. I admit that when I heard of the board's decision, I thought that the amount of the benefit seemed high. At the present moment, I cannot tell you all of the answers that you seek. It's my understanding that the committee that made the recommendation will be meeting the week after next to review their previous decision and make recommendations to the board. I will find out for myself from individual board members what their take is on all of this. I promise you that I will make an informed decision regarding this. If a change is warranted, I will certainly vote for any changes. As far as returning the funds paid to board members, I will also have to give that some consideration. Things are complicated with the way Heber City Council handles board payments. Right now, all Council members receive a pro-rata share of board payments. I believe that any payments made would have gone to all five Council members last year. Two of those members are no longer on the Council. One of the key issues concerning splitting board fees among all of the council relates to attendance to board meetings. I know that at least one member was on a board that paid for his service for a whole year when he only attended three of twelve meetings for the year. In short, he didn't feel a necessity to attend the meetings if he was going to get paid anyway. Here are some of my insights relating to extending insurance coverage to board members:
1. The Wasatch County School District has paid for insurance for it's board members and has done so for quite a long time. I don't know if they pay a payment in lieu if they chose not to take the insurance. My wife was on the school board for twenty years and we were covered under their plan for quite a few of those years because getting insurance as a self employed person is sometimes difficult.
2. I know that the School District, Heber Light and Power and other employers offer payment in lieu to employees if they have other coverage from a spouse (or other circumstances), so the idea certainly is not a new one.
3. I served on the Heber Light and Power in 2008 and 2009. Unlike what's been said about the length of meetings, etc, meetings were seldom less than an hour and a half. During my two previous years, I probably attended six to ten additional meetings regarding legal issues and other matters of board business. I also spent one to three hours per month reading over my packets for the meetings and doing research so that I was prepared for meeting. The payments were for each month, not for each meeting.
I will get back to you when I know more. I don't intend to shirk my duty as a Council member. I hope that you can appreciate what I have told you. You expect an answer and I will always respond. However, I trust that I will not be quoted out of context and make headlines in the paper or on the radio because of things I have said.
With warm regards,
Jeff Bradshaw
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Email from Bruce Heywood to Jeff Bradshaw:
Dear Councilman Bradshaw:
Thanks for your response. Thank you for the time and effort that you have taken to address my concerns. That goes a long way with me.
To me, the big issue here is the Heber Light & Power Board’s attempt to push a “huge” benefit through for themselves and trying to keep it below the radar screen. That was disingenuous and unethical in my view. In addition, the question isn’t whether or not a health care benefit should be the same as the School Board’s, the question now presents itself, should the school board get a health benefit???? Have you ever heard any candidate disclose in their candidacy for any office (including the school board) that one of the reasons they were running for office was to secure for themselves healthcare benefits? I haven’t. Time spent at every elected office varies and quite honestly I have no idea how much the school board members get paid, nor how much the City Councilmen get paid, and I have no idea how much the other municipal boards in the county and water districts get paid. However, from now on that will be something that we will find out and disclose. Compensation packages for elected officials should be openly and fully disclosed on each entity’s website and any attempts to increase compensation should be fully disclosed to the public, included in a meeting with the topic being fully discussed, and the public should be able to weigh in on any votes to increase that compensation. Then, the entire compensation package, including fees from sitting on any other boards or committees, should be disclosed on the page that identifies the elected officials. If we want a transparent and ethical government, that is the way to produce it. Not attempting to get paid below the table so to speak and keep issues from others so they might never find out. You have heard more from this constituent than you ever wanted to so I’ll quit. Just know that this action has caused the watchdogs to come out of their caves.
Sincerely,
Bruce Heywood
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Email from Jeff Bradshaw to Bruce Heywood:
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Saturday, February 18, 2012 2:55 PM
To: Bruce Heywood
Subject: Heber Light & Power
Mr Heywood,
As you no doubt have heard, the Heber Light & Power Personnel Committee has
met and revisited the increase that that they recommended and was passed
last November. They will be recommending to the full Board of the Heber
Light & Power Company that the insurance benefit for Board members be
discontinued. As a member of the Board, I will vote for their
recommendation. I believe that is the right decision. After having
discussed the issue with the board members, I don't honestly think that the
rate increase put into place earlier in the year had anything to do with the
benefit. I also don't think that an increase would be necessary to fund the
benefit. That is the way the board felt when then passed the issue in
November. My other thoughts about Heber Light & Power are:
1. Heber City owns 75% of the power company. Midway owns 12.5% and
Charleston owns 12.5%. The power company is a separate entity from the
cities. It is governed by their board of directors. The by-laws clearly
spell out that the mayors of Heber, Midway, and Charleston serve on the
board along with two Heber City council members.
2. Board members have been compensated for their service on the board for a
very long time. Although I don't know when the compensation started, I'm
sure that it was over 40 years ago.
3. Most cities that have power companies, such as Provo, provide power for
their citizens and own the company 100%. As such, the power companies
operate as a department of the city, such as our water and sewer dpartments.
I believe that you would find that utility companies that provide services
to multiple entities pay their board members some sort of renumeration.
4. Heber Light & Power has regularly paid dividends to its owners and has,
in fact, increased its dividends amount to the cities fairly recently.
5. I feel that repayment of monies for the above-mentioned benefit by board
members is an issue that each board member (and council member in the case
of Heber City) has to decide upon.
Jeff Bradshaw
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Email Reply From Bruce Heywood to Jeff Bradshaw:
Sent: Tuesday, February 21, 2012 1:32 AM
To: 'Jeffery M Bradshaw'
Subject: RE: Heber Light & Power
Dear Councilman Bradshaw:
Thanks for your reply to my email. The issue at hand isn't compensation,
it's how the compensation is determined and paid. There was no open public
discussion about the HPL Board member increases, no notification to members
of the public about the intentions of the Board, no analysis of "total"
public official compensation from all Boards served on, etc. This entire
ordeal felt like it was a documentary of cronyism from New York City or
Bell, California rather than from little Heber City, UT.
I think it would be good for the City Council to post somewhere on its
website all forms of compensation that council members receive from all
sources resulting from their service to the city and any related boards.
None of the Councilmembers nor the Mayor should have anything to hide. The
Heber Power and Light ordeal demonstrates why full disclosure is so
important in government. If the members of HPL spend significant time in
their service and they receive just compensation, there is nothing to hide
and the community should understand fair compensation for time served. So,
justify the compensation, disclose it, and then vote on any increases in an
open, well advertised public meeting.
Hopefully you understand where the citizens are coming from on this issue.
Sincerely,
Bruce Heywood
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END OF EMAIL THREAD
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I hope this was informative. I'm excited to see a councilman from Heber City respond to a concerned citizen in such a manner. It's this type of dialogue between the public and elected officials that will move things forward and always be in the best interest of our city.
I welcome your comments and emails and I look forward to seeing you at the next Heber City Council Meeting!
Thanks again,
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"Simply Put… Quality, Value, Service Since 1972" tm
"MAKE EVERYDAY LIKE FRIDAY AND EVERY FRIDAY LIKE CHRISTMAS
