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Show Kids lined up and stood in the 100 degree weather Monday Mon-day for a chance to get dunked in the tank at Mapleton's 24th of July celebration. It was good old hometown American kind of fun all day with lots of food, entertainment, enter-tainment, games and visiting with neighbors and family. Photo by Marcia Harris Volume Chie Hundred Five n by Aaron Huff In May when Springville City administrator Cameron Gunter and other city officials prepared the 20002001 budget, the city's power plant produced a substantial substan-tial amount of the city's power needs but the city has always bought power on the open market as cheaply as they could. Two months later, however, the city has spent more than $900,000 to buy electricity on the open marketan expense not included or considered in this year's budget. "Electricity is a commodity. It follows the market. Right now demand is high, supply is low," Gunter said at the city council meeting on July 18. Currently Springville cannot generate enough power to supple the demand. Market prices have School attendance has a direct impact on a student's academic achievement. Students do better when they are in school. Parents, teachers and the Utah State Legislature Leg-islature want students in school. The concern from parents, educators educa-tors and students has been heard and a new Attendance Policy has been adopted by the Nebo Board of Education. The new policy is in accordance with accountability and reporting procedures in Utah law. This new policy will encourage encour-age all students to be more accountable ac-countable for their attendance and School registration Registration for all Spring-villeMapleton Spring-villeMapleton area elementary schools will be held on Tuesday, Tues-day, August 1, from 8 a.m. .to 4 p.m. at the individual school sites. All parents with K-5 children who will be attending SpringvilleMapleton area schools during the upcoming school year need to attend registration. At registration you will be able to join PTA, get general information for the upcoming school year, make donations and pre-pay for lunches and other school specific activities. New-registering Kindergarten students need to bring a birth certificate and new-registering K-5 students need a copy of their current immunization records. FEE BIS il escalated to over 75 cents a Kwh resulting in the $900,000 expenditure. expen-diture. The city has been paying 3 to 5 cents per Kwh. As the weather became hot, so did the demand for electricity as people turned-on air conditions. condi-tions. Soon the city began running run-ning budget deficits as it began buying power in the open market. The city council is taking under consideration an ordinance to increase power rates to all taxpayers by approximately $0. 14 per kilowatt-hour. Gunter said the increase means most residents will pay about $10 extra on their monthly electric bill. The new ordinance has not been passed yet, but will be voted on at the next council meeting. The council will hold a public meeting tonight, to-night, Wednesday, at 5 p.m. in the Civic Center to answer questions ques-tions and hear public comment. punctuality in school. Parents, guardians and school officials share a responsibility to make real and persistent efforts to resolve attendance issues. Students are required to attend each class, on time, every school day, unless excused. Parents will have only two days to excuse an absence for their child under the new attendance policy for Nebo School District. Excusable absences, as defined de-fined by the Utah State Board of Education and Nebo School District, are (1) illness, (2) medicaldentalorthodontic medi-caldentalorthodontic appoint mew law revokes registration of all uninsured vehicles Enforcement of a new law that puts teeth into Utah's uninsured unin-sured motorist program has begun be-gun with the notification of thousands thou-sands of vehicle owners to either insure their vehicles or face registration revocation and a $100 reinstatement penalty. The first wave of notification letters were mailed July 20 under the authority of Senate Bill 40, passed by the 2000 Utah Legislature. Legisla-ture. The bill, sponsored by Sen. David Steele, R-Davis County, directs the Utah Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to revoke registrations of vehicles whose owners refuse to insure their vehicles as required by Utah law. The letters allow vehicle owners 15 days to provide proof of insurance to demonstrate they are exempt from insurance re i 0, XJ . 'A s.-. v-'fTrrs4' SPRINGVILLE, UTAH Springville Mayor Hal Wing said the city is "between a rock and a hard spot," and increasing electric charges is inevitable. The council agreed, but decided to give residents a final chance to respond. The power-rate increase is not a fixed amount, but will vary each month. The new month'v increase will represent the difference differ-ence between the city's cost to produce power per kilowatt-hour (the base cost) and the city's total cost of power, after figuring in the among of power the city must purchase. Electric bills will show any increases by a base cost adjustment, adjust-ment, Gunter said. Currently, Springville City is losing money for each kilowatt-hour kilowatt-hour of electricity used. The city has to buy between 5 million and rvn ments, (3) family emergencies, (4) death of a family member or close friend, (5) family activity (must be pre-approved if for more than two school days), and (6) student travel (must be pre-approved pre-approved if for more than two school days). All other absences will be unexcused and could affect the student's academic grade. At the discretion of each teacher, attendance and punctuality punctuali-ty can affect up to 20 percent of the academic grade. Students in -v X J' ANC quirements. Those who do not respond will receive a second letter in August cautioning that their registrations will be revoked in 15 days if they do not comply. If a vehicle's registration is revoked, the vehicle may not be legally driven and could be impounded im-pounded if operated or parked on a public street. The owner would have to pay a $100 fee (up from $50) to reinstate the registration. Under the old law, few citations cita-tions were issued unless an uninsured unin-sured vehicle was stopped for a separate traffic violation. But once an uninsured vehicle's registration is revoked under the new law, police can pull the vehicle over and possibly impound im-pound it. If the vehicle owner is Cited, additional fines or penalties may apply. Six years ago, the Legislature . v A I V -J ... ... v.- ... lf A . 1 1 .1 iH;,- -AW' ii . 0 ( J if - 84663 - July 26, 2000 9lM OBI 8 million kilowatt-hours of electricity elec-tricity each month or about 25 of its power, said Cal Baxter, the manager of the Whitehead Power Plant. Because the city relies, in part, on outside suppliers, the city must buy energy at current market prices. Recently, state governments, including California, Califor-nia, have deregulated their power companies, hoping to promote competition. However, other factors are now stifling competition competi-tion that would decrease market prices. The Environmental Protection Agency limits competition by establishing strict wildlife and geological guidelines, Gunter said. Hydro-electric power is especially limited, since rivers and lakes must be dammed to produce power. Band, Choir, Dance, Orchestra and Physical Education type classes will earn an academic grade based on a higher percentage percent-age for attendance and punctuality-Parents and students may appeal any decision made by the school to the School Community Council at each school. Students can make-up the negative grade impact of an unexcused absence by attending Saturday School or Detention. The unexcused absence ab-sence will remain on the student's created the Uninsured Motorists Identification Database on a monthly basis. If a vehicle is not matched with an insurance policy each month, the owner is notified and faces possible fines and criminal charges if proof of insurance is not provided. Due to the program's effectiveness, effec-tiveness, the Legislature designated designat-ed this database as the ultimate authority for Utah automobile insurance verification and has reauthorized this program for an additional 10 years. The Uninsured Motorist Identification Iden-tification Database program is administered by the Department of Public Safety and the Division of Motor Vehicles in conjunction with Insure-Rite, Inc., a private contractor. For more information, informa-tion, visit www.insure-rite.com. ebo Me m Price 50t With few suppliers, buying power on the market is an expensive expen-sive commodity. With rising gas prices, the cost of producing electricity from the city's power plant has increased over the year. Baxter said the city can generate power cheaper than what it costs in the open market.but gas prices have erased some of the profit margins. Not long ago, "gas prices have been half of what they are, and we were able to make money from generating power," he said. If the council passes the new ordinance, they intend the increase in-crease in electricity revenues to at least cover the city's costs in producing and buying electricity. In the near future, however, Springville could once again turn the Whitehead Power Plant into a profitable business and not de mimm record. The school will call home using a computerized calling system when a student misses any class. Guidelines are in place for dealing with multiple unexcused absences and can eventually result in a truancy citation, a referral to Juvenile Court, alternative alter-native placement, or removal i . j - . nvwm ill Mill . .him A piano trio featuring cellist and long time Springville "-esident Hans Twitchell, pianist Adriana Jarvis and violinist Annie Trepanier will perform a free public concert at the Springville An Museum Sunday, July 30, at 4:30 p.m. Since Hans and Adriana's last performance here in 1997, they have played chamber music extensively in New England, including an appearance with the Emerson Quartet last season. Sunday's program will feature a brilliant and virtually unknown trio by the Palestinian composer Paul Ben-Haim. They will also present Felix Mendelssohn's trio in C minor. All are welcome. Number Thirty pend on power suppliers. The city council approved a resolution last week confirming the sale of $2.5 million Electric Revenue Bonds. The money from the sale of the bonds will be used to convert the city's electric generators over to natural gas and to get all generators online and operational. Baxter said that if all the city's generators were online and operational, the city could supply power year-round for ail its 232.000 residents. Gunter said he hopes the energy-rate increase will only be temporary. The improvements to the Whitehead Power Plant should enable the plant to produce pro-duce enough electricity to supply the city. Currently the city is reducing other budgetsnot take on debt- to pay for the increase in electric costs, he said. from school. Truancy citations are part of a new state law that has been designed to improve attendance. The full attendance policy will be mailed to every home with registration and beginning of school information. The complete policy can also be read at www.-nebo.edu. PiUDCT |