The Frankfort Plant Board (FPB) News and Updates page provides customers detailed information on all pertinent happenings regarding FPB including, boil water advisories, network negotiations, outage reports and more.
In order to complete necessary maintenance on equipment, there will be scheduled cable/telecom outages in the following areas.
Tuesday, Dec. 19 - 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Streets affected are: Timothy, Grama, Alpha, Poe, Reed and Leawood
Thursday, Dec. 21 - 4 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Streets affected are: Holmes Street and all side streets from the 100 block through the 600 block
This Friday the big guy in the red suit is taking a break from his workshop to visit with folks at the Frankfort Plant Board. Santa will be at the FPB main office at 151 Flynn Ave. from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. All are invited for cookies and photos with Ole Saint Nick!
The FPB Cable Advisory Committee originally scheduled for 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 12 will now meet at 7 p.m, Dec.12. The meeting is open to the public and will be held in FPB’s community room at 151 Flynn Ave. in Frankfort.
WHO: FPB Cable Advisory Committee
WHAT: Quarterly Meeting
WHEN: Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2017
7 p.m.
WHERE: FPB Community Room
151 Flynn Ave.
Frankfort, KY
AGENDA:
1. Action Item: Consider recommendation of AMC Network migration
2. Action Item: Consider recommendation of Retransmission Consent
Agreements with: Morris Network; Gray Television Group; WLEX
Communications; LLC, Sinclair; TEGNA, Inc.; Hearst Properties,
Inc.; Raycom Media, Inc; and Block Communications
3. Old & New Business
4. Adjourn
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For news and updates, please go to http://fpb.cc or follow @fewpb and @fpbalerts on Twitter and like us on Facebook.
Kentucky Employers’ Mutual Insurance award recognizes safe workplaces.
FRANKFORT – The Frankfort Plant Board earned the 2017 Destiny Award from Kentucky Employers’ Mutual Insurance (KEMI). KEMI presents this award to policyholders who demonstrate commitment and success in maintaining a safe workplace. FPB Safety Director Kim Phillips made the announcement at the Board of Directors’ November meeting Tuesday night. FPB has won this award six out of the past seven years.
KEMI selected only 14 organizations out of its more than 23,000 workers’ compensation policyholders. According to KEMI, FPB was chosen because of its demonstrated ability to effectively manage a formal safety program, provide on-site training and regular safety meetings for employees. FPB also displays an ongoing commitment to safety from all levels of the organization.
Also at its November meeting, the FPB Board approved a resolution stating that the board has no intention of withdrawing from its contract with the Kentucky Municipal Energy Agency (KyMEA), of which FPB is a founding member. The resolution also states that if for some reason the board finds it necessary to withdraw, it will do so according to the mechanisms within the contract.
Board member Dawn Hale proposed removing language referring to “advising on available exit paths” from a $50,000 contract the board extended to Reed Smith, a law firm the board hired for legal counsel to review the KyMEA contracts. The motion did not pass.
The board also voted on a proposal to require KyMEA to provide a specific date by which it could provide formula information to set rates. That motion also failed.
In addition, the board selected Interim General Manager David Denton as FPB’s primary representative to the KyMEA board. Assistant General Manager Hance Price will continue to serve as the alternate.
As FPB’s former general manager, Herbbie Bannister, retired at the end of October, Board Chair Anna Marie Rosen proposed a committee of members Walt Baldwin and Dawn Hale to begin the process of selecting a new general manager. The committee will define the job description, review search firms and consider employment-listing websites.
In an effort to reduce the cost of customer billing, the board approved a one-time promotional credit of $5 to customers converting from paper to paperless electronic billing. Last year, FPB produced and mailed an average of 31,079 paper bills per month. FPB spent approximately $246,000 on paper, envelopes and postage related to paper billing in fiscal year 2016-2017, which equates to approximately $0.66 per paper bill produced and mailed.
In other business, the board approved stop loss coverage, plan changes and employee contributions for the 2018 FPB employee health plan. The board also awarded a bid to purchase two outdoor circuit breakers and approved a future budget allocation for board trainings.
The FPB Board of Directors’ next monthly meeting will be Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2017 at 5 p.m. at the FPB administration building at 151 Flynn Ave in Frankfort.
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The FPB Cable/Telecom Department reports that it will be necessary to have an emergency scheduled outage Thursday morning, Nov. 16, between 4 a.m. and 7 a.m. in the Berry Hill area. All cable/telecom services will be affected by this outage.
It will also be necessary to have a scheduled maintenance window Friday morning, Nov. 17, from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. All cable/telecom services in the Leawood and Deepwood Drive areas will be affected by this outage.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
Frankfort Plant Board Assistant General Manager John Higginbotham retires effective Nov. 1. During his 23-year career at FPB, he has ascended through the ranks, worn many hats and has been a part of many positive changes that have affected the community.
Higginbotham joined FPB in 1994 as a Program Director for Cable 10 Community TV, then a Director from 1995 to 1998. Since then, he has served as Director of Marketing, Community TV & Special Projects, Director of Advertising and Programming, Director of Media Services, Superintendent of Cable/Telecom, and has been in his current position since 2014.
“When John leaves today, he takes with him a vast knowledge of this company and the experience of updating our cable and telecom systems through the technological advances of the past two decades,” said FPB Finance Director David Denton. “Not only has he been a valuable asset to FPB, but he has also contributed greatly to this community. We wish him and Jan the best!”
During his career, Higginbotham helped take Cable 10 from a one-camera Standard Definition set-up to a three-camera full High Definition studio. He initiated the multi-camera “Game of the Week” high school sports productions, initiated the first production trailer and subsequent trailer upgrades to a full HD multi-camera production trailer, and conceived and oversaw the startup of the Cable Advertising Department.
“From the beginning of my career at FPB – and it holds true to this day – my supervisors encouraged me to learn new things, test innovative ideas, think big and take big risks,” Higginbotham said. “My goal has been to instill that same opportunity and trust in the cable-telecom staff, and in my opinion, our subscribers have benefitted from this management style.”
Under Higginbotham’s leadership, FPB launched many new services that are now considered necessities to operate in today’s society including Internet access, digital cable, security systems, local telephone service, HD service, DVR service, and Video On Demand services. He also conceived and helped execute the Digital Terminal Adaptor project so that all customers would have access to digital programming.
In addition to his day-to-day work, Higginbotham also contributed to professional and community service organizations. He was on the Board of Directors of the National Cable Television Cooperative, a member of the American Cable Association and served as chair of the Telecommunications Committee for the Kentucky Municipal Utilities Association. He also served on the boards of the American Red Cross, the Frankfort Area Chamber of Commerce and is a past president of the United Way of Franklin County.
Higginbotham retires as FPB is exploring future upgrades to the cable/telecom infrastructure.
“Our infrastructure is aging as the telecom industry is going through a revolution in access to information,” Higginbotham said. “The board and staff have important decisions to make in the coming 12 to 18 months while being mindful of additional debt to the ratepayers. My experience says there is more than one way to solve a problem, and with the extensive training and experience of the FPB staff, there is no doubt in my mind the right solution to our customers’ needs will be met for years to come.”
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The Frankfort Plant Board appointed Finance Director David Denton as Interim General Manager effective November 1. Denton will serve in this role until the board appoints a permanent general manager. The vacancy comes as current General Manager Herbbie Bannister is retiring at the end of this month.
Denton joined FPB in June 2012 as Finance Director. He earned his bachelor’s degrees in accounting and finance from Western Kentucky University and has more than 14 years of work experience as a Certified Public Accountant.
“David Denton is uniquely qualified to step in as Interim GM,” said board member John Cubine. “As Finance Director, he is involved with all aspects of the company, has an excellent working relationship with staff, is well respected and has an excellent team to cover his current duties during this interim assignment.”
The board also welcomed its newest member, Dawn Hale, who was recently appointed by Mayor Bill May to serve a 4-year term. Hale brings leadership experience to the board, having previously served on Frankfort’s City Commission. She also is a former president of the South Frankfort Neighborhood Association and former executive director of the Sunshine Center.
The board kicked off its October meeting Tuesday night with a public hearing to receive comments about a one-time $5 credit for customers converting to paperless, electronic billing. The goal of this promotion is to reduce the cost of customer billing, but will also reduce the amount of paper used for bills and will encourage customers to use features included in the FPB customer portal encouraging more operating efficiencies. There were no public comments. The proposal will be brought to the board in November for a vote.
Every three years FPB must sign Retransmission Consent Agreements for the right to carry local broadcast channels. FPB currently provides access to local stations in both Lexington and Louisville. As these fees have skyrocketed in recent years, FPB is exploring the possibility of keeping that fee increase to a minimum for customers. This would mean not carrying duplicate channels.
Earlier this year, FPB hired The Matrix Group, a market research consulting firm out of Lexington, to conduct a survey to garner customer feedback on broadcast channels. A sample of 554 cable customers completed surveys including 150 telephone interviews and 404 online surveys in late July and August of 2017.
Martha DeReamer, a consultant with Matrix, presented the findings, which showed that only 22 percent of cable customers would prefer to keep all channels and have a larger rate increase. While 60 percent of customers surveyed feel that having access to local stations in both Lexington and Louisville is important, half indicated that they would prefer dropping duplicate channels in order to have a smaller rate increase. Twenty-eight percent of respondents indicated interest in a proposed skinny bundle offering, while 48 percent of those indicated an interest in the option of adding 12 more channels for an additional $10.
The board accepted the results of the survey and asked staff to make recommendations at the December meeting.
Consultants from Crowe Horwath, a public accounting firm, presented FPB’s annual audit report for the year ended June 30, 2017. Consultant Scott Nickerson CPA, reported that FPB has a clean unqualified audit opinion.
John Painter with nFront Consulting gave an update on the evaluation status of proposals related to Combined Cycle Natural Gas generation and renewables for the Kentucky Municipal Energy Agency (KyMEA) power supply portfolio.
The board voted to revise the FPB Ethics Code policy dealing with post-employment restrictions. The new policy states that if any FPB employee or board member who is required to execute a financial disclosure accepts employment with any person or business that contracts with or does business with FPB shall personally refrain from working on any matter in which he or she was directly involved during the last 36 months of his or her tenure with FPB for a period of one year after the employee or director leaves FPB.
In other business, the board approved a Master Service Agreement with Jones/NCTI Inc. for online customer care and technician courses, awarded a contract to Irby for underground faulted circuit indicators, approved a contract with VASS Solutions for AMI consulting services, awarded a contract to Reed Smith for legal counsel regarding FPB participation in KyMEA, and made revisions to the Community Room rental agreement.
Every two years, the board elects new officers. At its October meeting, the board elected Anna Marie Rosen as chair, Walt Baldwin as vice-chair, and Dawn Hale as secretary/treasurer.
The FPB Board of Directors’ next monthly meeting will be Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017 at 5 p.m. at the FPB administration building at 151 Flynn Ave in Frankfort.
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For news and updates, please go to http://fpb.cc or follow @fewpb and @fpbalerts on Twitter and like us on Facebook.
On Wednesday (10/18/17) there will be an interruption of water service from 10 a.m. 3 p.m. in the following areas:
· 713 Fairview Ave. to Schenkel Ln.
· 98 and 99 Aspen Ave.
· 102 to 107 Maple Ave.
· 676 and 670 E. Main St.
· 114 to 124 Schenkel Ln.
Immediately following there will be a Boil Water Advisory.
A vigorous boil for at least two minutes is recommended. This Boil Water Advisory is a precautionary measure due to a loss of pressure in the water main caused by Plant Board crews installing three new main line valves.
This Advisory will remain in effect until lab analysis of water samples taken confirms that the potable water supply in the affected area is safe to drink. You will receive a notice when the advisory is lifted.
If you have any questions concerning the Boil Water Advisory, please call 352-4372.
Repairs have been made and all power has been restored.
A crew is working to repair two lines of spacer cable that burned up on Shelby Street. Power will be restored a soon as repairs are complete.
