OBEC chosen by Campbell City Council to provide utilities

CAMPBELL, Mo. -- A decision was reached regarding the future provider of utility services for the City of Campbell during the City Council meeting on Monday night, with a unanimous vote for Ozark Border Electric Cooperative (OBEC), pending approval from the voter's in February.

According to Campbell Mayor Raymond Gunter, the council voted to go with OBEC because "Ozark Border had the better bid."

Gunter said the city will have the utility change on the ballot in February for the voter's to make the final decision.

"We will have a vote in February and as soon as that is over, OBEC has assured us that they can get us on a.s.a.p.," Gunter said, adding that the Campbell City Clerk filed the ordinances with Dunklin County earlier today.

The city had sought bids from both OBEC and Pemiscot-Dunklin Electric Cooperative (PDEC), and until recently, had plans to go with the latter for the city's future utility services.

"What Ozark Border put in the paper was not the final bid that the city had received," Gunter said, noting that the final bid the city had received from OBEC was for $1.683 million for the purchase of the city's electrical facilities.

Gunter said the city was planning to go with PDEC because of a higher bid of $2.5 million.

The mayor said the City of Campbell and OBEC recently held a lengthy meeting in which OBEC said its final bid would be $1.977 million plus four percent of the utility's annual revenue from the city for as long as it is the provider.

"Until that time, we had never seen anything on paper. The council looked at both bids," Gunter said.

"They not only looked at how fast we could get [service] on, they also looked at the... they took probably the history of Ozark Border having probably a cent per kilowatt hour cheaper than Pemiscot-Dunklin and what it would save the citizens over the long haul and made the decision for Ozark Border."

Gunter said the decision was unanimous and he was the one who made the recommendation that the city go with OBEC, following the newer final bid.

"I have to look at what is best for the city and the citizens," Gunter said. "That was the best bid. Everybody knows I carried Pemiscot-Dunklin's flag for months, but I have to worry about the citizens and the city and what it is going to be like years from now and Ozark Border had the better bid.

"[The new OBEC bid], along with our franchise fee, will allow the city to continue to operate on at least the levels we are able to operate now."

Gunter said he feels that had the city received the bid that OBEC released in the letter to the citizens and in the Daily Dunklin Democrat, the city would have went with OBEC initially.