Attached is the January Focus article on Riviera
John Cummings
Facility Board Member
Lake Catherine Waterworks and Sewer Facilities Board of Garland County
- Jim Hannon
- John Cummings
- Bill Milligan
- Don Oseroff
- Bob Mitchell
Is it true that Riviera Utilities sold to Diamondhead for 1.7 million dollars??? Don Oseroff and Jim Hannon are on the Utilities Board. Did the deal go through? How will this affect the members of DH?
Diane
____________
They did reach a deal. Diamondhead POA is not responsible for this. I think this is how it works: It is controlled thru Government of Arkansas. Garland County set up the Public Facility Board. The Facility Board will have control. The Riviera employees will stay on and they will basically work for this Public Facility Board. The POA will buy water from this Facility Board which is controlled by Garland County, which is controlled by the State Government. Diamondhead has no investment in this other than we would have to buy water and sewer from someone, and because this service is nearby it makes sense to buy from them. Now that the Public Facility Board controls the water, it is now private and is not in it for profit. Basically it is a non-profit organization. This whole thing is actually good news because you do not want a business guy coming in buying out Rivera. They could jack the prices up according to any upgrades they want to do. Of course, everything would have to be run thru the Public Service Commissions for approval, but the rates would go up drastically if owned by an outside person or some other agency. This is how I understand this to be. I stand to be corrected by the Public Facility Board if any of this is wrong. But, to my knowledge, this is a good thing for Diamondhead POA.
Rick Noffsinger, DPOA PresidentDiane
____________
They did reach a deal. Diamondhead POA is not responsible for this. I think this is how it works: It is controlled thru Government of Arkansas. Garland County set up the Public Facility Board. The Facility Board will have control. The Riviera employees will stay on and they will basically work for this Public Facility Board. The POA will buy water from this Facility Board which is controlled by Garland County, which is controlled by the State Government. Diamondhead has no investment in this other than we would have to buy water and sewer from someone, and because this service is nearby it makes sense to buy from them. Now that the Public Facility Board controls the water, it is now private and is not in it for profit. Basically it is a non-profit organization. This whole thing is actually good news because you do not want a business guy coming in buying out Rivera. They could jack the prices up according to any upgrades they want to do. Of course, everything would have to be run thru the Public Service Commissions for approval, but the rates would go up drastically if owned by an outside person or some other agency. This is how I understand this to be. I stand to be corrected by the Public Facility Board if any of this is wrong. But, to my knowledge, this is a good thing for Diamondhead POA.
