Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

LISBON - The local office of the Cooperative Extension Service is being relocated to the new Columbiana County Government Services Building to help pay off the project's debt.

County Auditor Nancy Milliken said that adding the CES as a rent-paying tenant will provide enough extra money to ensure commissioners have sufficient revenue left in the county's general debt service account to make the construction bond payments on the new government services building.

Milliken's comments came following a meeting last week with commissioners to update them on efforts to put in place a financial package to pay for the construction of the building, which opened in April.

The 76,000-square-foot, two-story building houses the county Department of Job and Family Services, the Board of Elections, One-Stop agency (county unemployment agency) and the Veterans Services Commission.

Rent from the JFS and One-Stop, plus the money commissioners were saving from no longer have to rent space for Veterans Services, was supposed to cover about 80 percent of the annual bond construction payments. The elections board does not pay rent since it is a county agency.

The remaining 20 percent was to be paid with money from the county's general debt service account, which comes from 0.2-mills in property taxes commissioners are allowed by law to collect. The debt service money is used to fund debt payments on construction projects.

The debt service account generates about $300,000 per year, according to Chief Deputy County Auditor John Goempel, and $160,000 of that is currently obligated to meet existing debt payments, leaving $140,000 to cover any new construction debts.

"Anything beyond that we would be in trouble," he said.

County officials determined late last year the county would have difficulty affording its share of the debt because of the way the financing package was structured. The two construction bonds obtained to provide the up-front money to start the project were front-loaded and for shorter terms, which required higher bond repayments over the first 12 years.

Goempel said this required a higher share of money from debt service account beyond the $140,000 that remained uncommitted. "This would have killed us because the general obligation debt was going to require we put up more than we cold afford," he said.

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Office relocating to help with debt

Sisters Keelin, Sarah and Brooke wash and dry their own clothes daily instead of using the dryer. Picture: Bianca De Marchi, Source: The Advertiser

HOUSEHOLDERS are switching power and gas providers at their highest rate in five years.

Figures provided by the state's energy regulator, the Essential Services Commission of South Australia, show at the current rate, almost one-in-five power and gas customers will change their retailer during the next year - the highest activity levels since October 2007.

Consumer advocate One Big Switch and The Advertiser have highlighted the dissatisfaction with the power companies by signing up about 92,000 Australians as part of its campaign for cheaper electricity before the carbon tax was introduced yesterday.

With average power bills rising 4.6 per cent because of the tax, and a total of 18 per cent because of power generation costs, welfare groups have heightened their concerns that cost of living pressures may be pushing the most vulnerable too far.

The majority of the 18 per cent hike in network prices is due to the increased payments made by ETSA for energy exported by rooftop generators, under the State Government's feed-in tariff scheme. It has led to a significant increase in the uptake of solar panels in SA and the cost of the scheme is effectively met by all electricity customers through higher network prices.

The scheme led to an increase in the average household energy bill of about $6 in 2011/12 compared to $110 in 2012/13.

Uniting Communities manager of advocacy Mark Henley said while the tax would add to cost burdens at least South Australians were receiving compensation for it. His main concern was the escalating hits to the hip pockets of low-income earners through other cost of living pressures.

Energy Ombudsman Sandy Canale said users should carefully check their accounts and if they have concerns contact their energy retailer for assistance.

Northgate mum-of-three Rachel Thamm said she had mixed feelings about the carbon tax. "It is concerning that prices are going up but we feel it is also important to be doing something to protect the environment for the future," she said.

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Big switch is on for cheaper power price

Raphael Talisman/ For The Gazette Parts the roof of the Park Tanglewood Apartments in Riverdale Park were blown away by the intense storm on Friday evening.

This story was updated at 1:50 p.m. July 1.

Submit your storm damage photos through our Clicked gallery.

Several thousand residents were still without power Sunday, as temperatures were forecast to reach close to 100 degrees, after a wide line of fast-moving, ferocious thunderstorms swept the region late Friday night.

The storms left one dead in Montgomery County, initially left more than a million without power and forced mandatory restrictions on water use.

However, water restrictions imposed by the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission after the storms knocked out power at two water treatment plants were lifted around noon on Sunday. The WSSC had issued a rare order that prohibited car washing, lawn watering and other non-essential uses.

Pepco reported about 92,000 customers without power in Prince Georges County and about 188,500 customers in Montgomery County without power at about 1:30 p.m. Sunday. A spokeswoman said it could take days for service to be restored and emergency crews cautioned people to stay away from downed lines.

On Sunday morning, Pepco reported having restored power to all high-voltage transmission lines, substations and water pumping plants.

BG&E listed more than 5,200 customers without power in Montgomery and more than 43,000 in Prince Georges as of 1:30 p.m. Sunday. Potomac Edisons website lists more than 5,700 Montgomery customers and more than 4,600 Frederick customers without power as of about 10 a.m. Sunday.

WMATA spokeswoman Cathy Asato said Metro rail and bus service is running, but will be slow due to routes being blocked by debris.

Continued here:
Gazette.Net: Cleanup continues after powerful Friday storms

Sisters Keelin, Sarah and Brooke wash and dry their own clothes daily instead of using the dryer. Picture: Bianca De Marchi, Source: The Advertiser

HOUSEHOLDERS are switching power and gas providers at their highest rate in five years.

Figures provided by the state's energy regulator, the Essential Services Commission of South Australia, show at the current rate, almost one-in-five power and gas customers will change their retailer during the next year - the highest activity levels since October 2007.

Consumer advocate One Big Switch and The Advertiser have highlighted the dissatisfaction with the power companies by signing up about 92,000 Australians as part of its campaign for cheaper electricity before the carbon tax was introduced yesterday.

With average power bills rising 4.6 per cent because of the tax, and a total of 18 per cent because of power generation costs, welfare groups have heightened their concerns that cost of living pressures may be pushing the most vulnerable too far.

The majority of the 18 per cent hike in network prices is due to the increased payments made by ETSA for energy exported by rooftop generators, under the State Government's feed-in tariff scheme. It has led to a significant increase in the uptake of solar panels in SA and the cost of the scheme is effectively met by all electricity customers through higher network prices.

The scheme led to an increase in the average household energy bill of about $6 in 2011/12 compared to $110 in 2012/13.

Uniting Communities manager of advocacy Mark Henley said while the tax would add to cost burdens at least South Australians were receiving compensation for it. His main concern was the escalating hits to the hip pockets of low-income earners through other cost of living pressures.

Energy Ombudsman Sandy Canale said users should carefully check their accounts and if they have concerns contact their energy retailer for assistance.

Northgate mum-of-three Rachel Thamm said she had mixed feelings about the carbon tax. "It is concerning that prices are going up but we feel it is also important to be doing something to protect the environment for the future," she said.

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Big switch is on for cheaper power

Norton Co., acquired by Saint-Gobain in 1990, opened its research and development center in Northboro in 1985. Now some of its 360 professionals are contributing to innovation in 55 partnerships between Saint-Gobain and innovative materials startups around the world. Among those is Los Angeles-based Grenite Sustainable Solutions, a maker of so-called sustainable materials used to make countertops.

On June 20, I interviewed Erik Johnson, a managing partner of Grenite, which sprung up in 2005 from Greneker, the 75-year-old mannequin and retail display company where Mr. Johnson is the chief executive officer.

Greneker has an interesting history. Its founder was Lillian Greneker, a sculptress in New York City whose work found its way onto the Broadway stage. From there, various department stores decided she could do a great job designing and making mannequins. Ms. Greneker moved the company to Los Angeles in the 1950s, after which it passed through the hands of several owners before Mr. Johnson acquired it.

Mr. Johnson was not pleased that Greneker and its peers lagged in the adoption of sustainable materials. The industry continued to make mannequins and displays from fiberglass and other petroleum-based materials. And Mr. Johnson decided to do something about this problem.

To that end, one of his green colleagues introduced him to recyclable materials. Specifically, Grenekers R&D labs started testing so-called refractory ceramics, which were used to insulate steel mill furnaces and glass kilns. This resulted in Grenite sustainable, engineered stone counters made of 85 percent recycled materials with maintenance-free properties that customers found quite appealing. As a result, Mr. Johnson and his partners, Randy Riley and George Cox, introduced it to Wal-Mart, an existing customer, which asked GSS to manufacture enough for the big retailer to use as countertops in more than 100 stores. Orders soon followed from other big retailers interested in sustainable building practices.

And this success left GSS at a strategic crossroad to decide whether it should go out and raise the capital needed to invest in manufacturing, distribution, R&D and service, or find a partner. Mr. Johnson decided that Greneker lacked the capabilities to manage Grenites growth internally, so he started looking for partners.

Among those considered initially were some of the traditional counter-top companies. These included Formica and Wilsonart, who were introduced to Mr. Johnson through a mutual colleague. After meeting with them, however, Mr. Johnson concluded that despite their burgeoning efforts in the field of sustainability, their infrastructures did not fit with Grenites long-range vision.

However, when Mr. Johnson met with Saint-Gobain, he realized that it was the perfect fit. From Saint-Gobain, Grenite would get a deep corporate commitment to the development of sustainable materials, along with the ability to convert his artisanal manufacturing process into a mass-production one housed at a new Saint-Gobain plant in Ravenna, Ohio. Moreover, Mr. Johnson saw an opportunity to benefit from Saint-Gobains global presence and its extensive R&D capabilities.

For its part, the 350-year-old Saint-Gobain was getting an innovative product that was consistent with the mission of one of its corporate groups. That group, called NOVA External Venturing, is an international group of Saint-Gobain analysts (founded in 2006) that identifies and evaluates startup companies for partnerships with the company. As Michael Mahoney, North American manager of Saint-Gobain External Venturing, explained in a June 20 interview, Saint-Gobain has a large annual budget for R&D and is looking for ways to commercialize it. Specifically, the company has 15 R&D centers, including the 360-person R&D center in Northboro, where Mr. Mahoney is based.

NOVA tries several different approaches to finding innovative companies that fit with Saint-Gobains vision of becoming the global reference in sustainable habitat in construction products, advanced materials, energy efficiency and environmental sustainability (including recycling materials such as wood, using green materials and improving indoor air quality).

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Saint-Gobain forms innovative partnerships

Cebu Daily News

CEBUS BEST architects will once again see the court as the United Architects Basketball Club-Mini Cup 2012 gets underway today with a triple-header at the Cebu Eastern College gym.

The entire roster of members have been divided into six teams in this tournament that is being backed by Boysen Paint and Eastman Industrial Supply Inc.

Players were drafted to six teams, which are being led by Vincent Sesbreno, Oliver Tan, Michael Cinco, Jodl Dabon, Rhyan Pepito and Jay-R Decatoria.

The tournament will be a single round-robin affair with the top two teams earning a twice-to-beat advantage in the semifinals. The winners there will battle for the crown while the losers tangle for the third place trophy.

This competition is done in preparation for the more prestigious Corporate Cup slated next month. /Correspondent Jonas Panerio

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Tags: Basketball , United Architects Basketball Club-Mini Cup 2012

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UABC Mini Cup begins

Sunday, July 1, 2012

SENATOR Loren Legarda enjoined Filipinos, particularly concerned government agencies, community stakeholders, and the people of Ifugao, to support efforts in bringing back the magnificence of the Ifugao Rice Terraces.

I am glad to receive the news that the Ifugao Rice Terraces are no longer in the list of World Heritage in danger. This should inspire everyone to exert more effort in the full restoration of the beauty and cultural integrity of the terraces, said Legarda, who chairs the Senate committees on climate change and cultural communities.

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The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) recently announced the removal of the Ifugao Rice Terraces from the World Heritage in Danger List during the 36th session of the World Heritage Committee in St. Petersburg, Russia, citing improvements in their conservation.

The terraces were included in the danger list in 2001 due to the absence of the necessary monitoring mechanism and management plan to preserve the national landmark.

In welcoming the good news, Legarda said there remains more work to be done in order to ensure sustainability of the world-renowned terraces.

Earlier in the year, the senator visited the Bangaan cluster, one of the five rice terrace clusters inscribed in the World Heritage List, and conducted an onsite consultative meeting, during which various concerns were raised including reported smallscale mining activities in barangays which host the clusters.

Without a doubt, the Ifugao Rice Terraces are among our remarkable treasures as a nation. Visitors will be captivated by the enchanting and picturesque landscapes and will be enthralled by the magnificence of these terrace clusters, which is why it is important that we immediately carry out programs that would restore the terraces original state of grandeur, she said.

Furthermore, we have to preserve the rice terraces not only for tourism purposes but more importantly for sustenance and sustainable development, especially that traditional farming is still being practiced in the area, she said. (Rubyloida Bitog)

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Senator pushes for more Terraces restoration works

HUNTINGTON -- People across the South Side of Huntington were finding out Friday night and Saturday morning that their front porches can be a cool place.

High winds and a thunderstorm Friday evening knocked out power to thousands of homes in the Tri-State, leaving people without air conditioning on days when the temperatures reached the triple digits and heat advisories were issued.

"Before the thunderstorm hit, the power went out," said Nam Phan of 9261/2 9th St. "It was miserable."

He and a neighbor, Stephanie Walker of 925 9th Ave., were cooling their heels on their shaded front porch Saturday morning wondering when the power would be restored.

"I'm going to have to empty out my freezer and grill out," Walker said. "We opened the windows. There was a breeze coming through. We got the candles and the flashlights."

She and her 4-year-old son, Willie, took a cool bath Friday night. "It got us through. I would have been in a panic if we didn't have water."

"I took a bath," Willie Walker said. "We had three flashlights and two candles."

Earlier he saw a tree crush a car.

His mom was planning to get the sprinkler out to keep Willie cool later in the day.

Trees, large limbs and downed power lines were a common sight around Huntington Saturday.

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Powerless residents improvise to get cool

One event can change the course of one person's plans for life. Sometimes it can even change the plans of a church community.

Thats what happened when Joe Jeffreys visited Chelsea last winter to meet a local need.

The minute I walked in the building, it was an aha moment, said pastor Jeffreys, the new minister at the First Congregational Church (United Church of Christ), 121 E. Middle St. in Chelsea.

Jeffreys was still in his final year at the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago when he heard that the church was in need of someone to fill the pulpit on a substitute basis until they could find a new pastor.

Since there is an agreement between Evangelical Lutherans and the United Church of Christ, he volunteered to speak several times over the winter. Not only did he immediately fall in love with the church and its congregation, but they sensed that Jeffreys might be the pastor they were looking for.

Jeffreys received a call from the churchs search committee in March. After three interviews, including a meeting with his wife, Lisa, the church's committee asked him to be its pastor following his graduation.

Jeffreys said that the church went out on a limb to call him, since he doesnt fit the stereotypical minister for a church with a long history.

At the age of 51 and as a new seminary graduate, he lacks the years of experience as a head pastor that would be expected for a well-established congregation.

But even though he is beginning his first pastorate, Jeffreys is no stranger to church leadership. He began attending St. Georges Lutheran Church in Brighton about three decades ago when his two sons, Jacob and Joshua, were young.

Once I developed the relationship with Christ, my life changed, Jeffreys said. Continued...

Originally posted here:
CHELSEA: Joe Jeffreys leads First Congregational Church as new pastor

Posted on July 1, 2012, Sunday

SERIAN: Construction of the new St Elizabeth Church at Kampung Ampungan near here is in need of more funding.

Although the project started in 2005, only half of the construction has been completed. The building committee still needs to raise RM620,000 for the project.

The new church is required to accommodate the growing congregation. The old church, said to be among the earliest in Serian, is also in poor condition.

A statement released here said the building committee is still short of funds although several elected representatives and well-wishers have contributed to the project.

A fundraising dinner and concert will be held at the village this Saturday (July 7).

The committee appealed to the public for contributions.

Tickets are priced at RM10 per adult and RM5 for children.

For enquiries contact fundraising chairman Samuel Kona (019-8260425 or 082-255425), village church committee chairman Gilbert Guan Matolo (013-8187261), or committee members Freddy Jeab (013-8269485), Paul Joseph (013-8067420) and Relly Tesap (019-8475953).

More information about the projects progress is available at http://www.work4lord.org.

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Church project still short of funds