Cedar Rapids Today

The Belle Plaine City Council recently discussed entering into a utility agreement with Alliant Energy at a Jan. 18 meeting.

Mike Wagner, the community development director for Alliant, an energy supply company serving Iowa and Wisconsin communities, was at the meeting to speak to council members about the potential agreement. The city has an existing franchise fee with Alliant that will expire on May 1. The agreements are for 25 years, so the last time this was discussed was before 2000.

"And really what a franchise agreement is about, it's more or less a service fee," Wagner told the council.

The agreement also covers indemnity, Wagner said. It would detail who is responsible for what work in the city and how they might resolve any disagreements between them.

"If something goes wrong, who is legally responsible for what?" Wagner said. "A good chunk of it talks about how we work in the right of way. If we're going to trim a tree, what we promise to do to make things right if we make a mess, that kind of thing. And then the other thing is the franchise fee."

The city can use that fee to pay for expenses incurred in dealings with Alliant and then any leftover money that they have in that fund can be used for capital projects. This fee rate is determined by city officials.

The franchise agreement with Alliant would have to go through all the normal ordinance procedures. A formal agreement would be drawn up and presented to the public. There would be a public hearing on it, and then it would go through votes and readings by the council before it is made official legislation. 

The Alliant representatives displayed a couple different options for franchise fees and what it would look like for their residents. The council decided to approve a 3% franchise fee for a gas and electric agreement with Alliant and move forward with the process.