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Home > Blogs > Hamilton News and Issues > Archives > 2008 > April > 10 > Entry
The Mohawk spat
“It was a tough meeting last night,” Mayor Don Ryan admitted this morning, April 10.
Wednesday night, city council received an earful from a heated Kevin Richard, the Chief Operating Officer for Mohawk Fine Paper. Richard spent about 20 minutes ripping council for the electric rate hike that took effect at the beginning of March. He questioned the city’s math and said its sources for the hike were “not supported or documented.”
Ryan said Thursday morning that he calmed Richard down following City Council’s meeting and Deputy City Manager Charles Young was meeting with him again this morning. Ryan said Richard had legitimate concerns and the city would work to address them. Mohawk is the city’s largest electric customer and employs about 180 people.
“It’ll be interesting to see how this unfolds over the next couple weeks,” Ryan said.
Ryan said that Hamilton is still the lowest cost provider of energy in the region and Mohawk understands that. However, he said the company just wanted to make sure rate hike was justified and the onus was on the city to convince the company.
“We have to now prove that the increases that our consultants have given us is for the right reasons,” Ryan said.
Permalink | Comments (4) | Post your comment | Categories: City Council
Comments
By ken
April 10, 2008 11:40 AM | Link to this
This city is at it again in trying to drive out Industry.The Mayor wants more houses instead of more good paying jobs. Perhaps he wants more Walmarts. Its time this city has real leadership that has vision and wants Industry not K-marts and housing.By whatever
April 10, 2008 12:41 PM | Link to this
Rate hikes are a part of life whether an individual or a business. The city is no more trying to “drive” out businesses by raising utility rates than they are residents. I agree that the increase would be an increased expense to Mohawk but it would also be an increased expense to all of the residents, some of who can ill-afford any type of increase. Perhaps “Ken” would like to take on some of the expense passed on to Mohawk. If concessions are made to Mohawk then we are all going to have to share.By BLou
April 10, 2008 1:08 PM | Link to this
And from whom do we citizens get reassurances that these ‘consultants’ are truly unbiased, qualified, and not part of the good-old-boy system that seems to pervade ALL branches of government in Hamilton/Butler County? Why not publish the name of the consulting firm so concerned citizens can do background checks? Why don’t we hear from the consultants themselves instead of being spoon-fed the info from Mayor Ryan’s lips? Why not publish the report and recommendation from the consultants?By Captain Karl
April 15, 2008 10:47 AM | Link to this
I agree with Ken. It looks like Hamilton is back to their old ways running more of the few existing businesses away! Mohawk was not given proper notice to plan for this increase and it cost them a grat deal of money they did not budget for. My wife Evonne tried to pull something like this on me one time and thats why we are divorced now. Thanks The Captain