Dover officials hope changes at power plant lead to cost savings

DOVER (WJER) (February 2, 2022) – City Council members Monday sounded optimistic about the future at the city-owned power plant.

They voiced support for new Plant Superintendent Jason Hall’s request to seek bids for some welding work that needs done in the new year. The city is asking potential contractors to provide periodic updates and show the hourly cost for labor instead of just one lump sum.

“Because what we ran into in the past is they would do all this welding and we’d get a big invoice at the end of it,” Hall said. “This year in the bid spec we put in that we’re going to be invoiced every two weeks.”

Hall has budgeted $100,000 for the work compared to $200,000 for the same work last year. Council President Shane Gunnoe sees potential for significant savings for taxpayers.

“The first change we made was over $100,000 and this change … hypothetically if they stay in the budget that’s another $100,000 you’re saving taxpayers,” Gunnoe said.

The city still has bills to pay for maintenance work in 2021. Council members say former plant superintendent Dave Filippi, who retired last month, approved work without authorization, leaving the city with hundreds of thousands of dollars in unexpected bills to pay.

Councilman Kevin Korns thanked Hall for being more open.

“I see you’re trying to work with us and trying to get a better control of things,” he said. “I appreciate your openness to change and willingness to look at things a different way instead of saying, ‘This is how we’ve always done this.’”

Council meets again Monday when they could consider this proposal and other issues related to work at the power plant last year and anticipated for the coming year.

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