Crystal Thomas
The State Journal-Register
While Rochester village trustees were voting Tuesday on whether to stick with City Water, Light and Power for their water, Springfield aldermen were hearing of the details of the new deal CWLP had offered the village for the first time, they said.
“To inform the city council at a point no sooner than all the Rochester residents shows a lack of good faith with the city council,” Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin said.
Mayor Jim Langfelder said the city was reacting to deadlines set by Rochester and brought the aldermen up to speed as soon as possible.
Langfelder was referring to when Chatham chose to leave CWLP in 2012 and switched over to the South Sangamon Water Commission, which operates a plant near Rochester. Rochester trustees had considered joining seven other communities in using a regional water system proposed by EJ Water.
The counteroffer from CWLP included a 28 percent reduction in the village’s wholesale rate, along with the stipulation that any future rate increase can’t exceed the percentage increase applied to CWLP’s inside the city (Springfield) customers, and must be approved by the Springfield City Council. The agreement also calls for the village’s contract, which still has 11 years on it, to be extended five years for a total of 16 years.
Aldermen will need to give the change to Rochester’s contract final approval.
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DiCenso, Donelan, Hanauer, Theilen and Redpath said they were glad CWLP was able to keep Rochester as a customer.
McMenamin, however, said he believed letting Rochester go would be better for the utility’s finances in the long run. Springfield has been looking at having a secondary water source for it and surrounding towns. The Army Corps of Engineers is currently evaluating an application from CWLP to build a second lake, known as Hunter Lake, south of Lake Springfield.
“The mayor, by trying to hold on to Rochester, may be trying to justify the second lake,” McMenamin said.
McMenamin pointed to a recent report by Moody’s Investors Service, in which the credit rating agency, citing a long-term trend of declining water usage, changed the utility’s water bond rating from “stable” to “negative.”
“We have to protect the ratepayers of Springfield and avoid the cost of a second lake,” McMenamin said. “We have other major obligations involving coal ash pits, involving retiring the older coal plants, in the dredging of (Lake Springfield), in old leaking water mains and sewers that need repair. We should avoid taking on a major new obligation like a second lake if we could avoid it.”
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Joe McMenamin for Ward 7 