Author: joeward7

Crystal Thomas
The State-Journal Register

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In other action, aldermen voted 9-1 to approve a 28 percent reduction in wholesale water rates for the village of Rochester.

Rochester was prepared to leave CWLP and join a water co-op until CWLP offered to lower its rate. Ted Meckes, CWLP water division manager, said losing Rochester as a customer would have meant a 2 percent increase to all CWLP ratepayers. Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin voted against the change to Rochester’s CWLP contract, saying Rochester’s loss might be beneficial in the long run if it meant the city would not have to build secondary water source Hunter Lake.

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The State Journal-Register

Crystal Thomas
The State Journal-Register

Some Springfield aldermen don’t think Janet Kirby, Benedictine University’s Springfield campus director, is the right person to be the Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau acting director come June. So on Thursday, they requested an ordinance be drafted to defund the personnel line of the SCVB budget by $100,000, the equivalent of the acting director’s salary. The proposal will be considered Tuesday for emergency passage.

Kirby was offered the position Wednesday by Mayor Jim Langfelder after his permanent pick for the job, Scott Dahl, quit last week. Citing a “personal matter,” Dahl lasted two days as SCVB director before resigning. Langfelder cited the possible administration change after next spring’s election as one reason Kirby’s appointment was temporary. Department directors can serve in an acting role for up to a year without city council approval.

Though aldermen can’t hire or fire employees, they can control the level of the city’s spending. Four of the aldermen who support the ordinance include Ward 1 Ald. Chuck Redpath, Ward 6 Ald. Kristin DiCenso, Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin and Ward 10 Ald. Ralph Hanauer.

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Crystal Thomas
The State Journal-Register

For years, the city has talked about making a long-term plan for City Water, Light and Power, which would include studying when to retire its older coal-fired units and what other energy resources would take their place. The city is on the cusp of awarding the study to nonprofit corporation, The Energy Authority, but an alderman Tuesday said the contract should have gone out for bid and worried TEA presented a “conflict of interest,” since it is also the city’s agent in buying and selling electricity off the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, known as the transmission grid.

“I feel like we’ve pushed The Energy Authority from day one, and I just feel like it’s wrong,” Ward 10 Ald. Ralph Hanauer said.

TEA is financed by public power companies that generate energy through all different kinds of resources, including coal, like CWLP. If approved for the $210,000 contract, TEA would have six months to study CWLP and how the utility should move forward for the next 20 years. It would look at the utility’s economic forecast, while also weighing the cost of complying with environmental regulations and keeping up with renewable energy requirements.

The question of when CWLP’s power generators will be retired has been discussed for years. Dallman Power Station units 31, 32, and 33 are all older than 40 years and aldermen frequently pass ordinances to make emergency repairs. TEA’s integrated resource plan will include a recommendation to the mayor and the city council, which will decide which direction the city wants to go.

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Crystal Thomas
The State Journal-Register

Aldermen voted Tuesday to give $20,000 to the Springfield Sliders and $8,000 to the city’s two-day Juneteenth celebration from the Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau budget.

The SCVB is funded through a lodging tax paid by Springfield hotels and motels. Last week, city officials, along with the Springfield Hotel Lodging Association, expressed concerns the SCVB budget was being raided for items unrelated to tourism and attracting overnight visitors to Springfield, the primary reason for the grants.

Some of the concern about the grant process was assuaged when new SCVB director Scott Dahl said he would re-institute an advisory council made up of representatives from the community and the lodging and restaurant associations. Dahl, who was unanimously approved to be director Tuesday, said he would like

Springfield is considering offering a new type of economic incentive to lure a business to town, and we are eager to see it play out.

Springfield typically offers economic incentives by using funding from a tax increment finance district, which means a project has to be located within a TIF — and although it seems like there are many of them, not even 10 percent of the parcels of land in the city are in one. TIFs have their benefits, when used appropriately, but requiring projects to only be in TIF districts limits where and what type of projects the city can reasonably expect to attract.

Aldermen are expected to consider Tuesday a proposal that would

Crystal Thomas
The State Journal-Register

Three of City Water, Light and Power’s older coal-fired plants don’t meet the standards set in a recent report from Moody’s Investors Service on what’s considered “economical” for operation. That report is further evidence that CWLP ought to more more quickly to retire those plants, says the Sierra Club.

The city, however, says that keeping Dallman 31, 32 and 33 online gives it more flexibility that ultimately keeps its costs down. The debate over the plants’ efficiency comes as the city moves forward with a long-term study about the future of those units.

Moody’s Investors Service, which rates CWLP’s electric and water bonds, released a report this month in which it declared coal plants to be economical if they had a capacity factor, or the ratio of actual output over time, above 50 percent and a production cost lower than

I haven’t heard a peep from CWLP, the mayor, the council, or the media about the long-awaited study by Burns & McDonnell Engineering on CWLP’s compliance with effluent and combustion rules. The bottom line is that compliance is going to cost millions upon millions of dollars. Large investments will have to be made in CWLP’s ancient units 31, 32 and 33. If it wasn’t obvious before that those plants should be retired forthwith, it certainly is now.

A now 3-year-old study by Synapse Energy Economic showed CWLP loses more than they make with units 31 and 32, and they usually run the new plant (unit 4) at far less than two-thirds of its capacity

Crystal Thomas
The State Journal-Register

The Williamsville-Sherman Water Commission has reached out to ask for a water rate cut from City Water, Light and Power, according to Mayor Jim Langfelder and Williamsville village president Tom Yokley.

The news of negotiations comes on the heels of CWLP offering Rochester a 28 percent reduction in its rate. Rochester village officials were considering leaving CWLP and joining a seven-community co-op fronted by EJ Water. Instead on Tuesday, village trustees accepted an offer by CWLP to extend its contract for five more years and accepted a rate that was 28 percent less. The contract still needs approval from the Springfield City Council, some of whom were upset by the process.

Williamsville-Sherman has the same wholesale rate of $4.814 per unit (784 gallons) as Rochester. Rochester’s rate will be changed to $3.47 per unit, which is the same as CWLP’s Outside City rate, pending Springfield city council approval.

While Rochester uses about an average of 250,000 gallons per day, Williamsville-Sherman uses about 460,000 gallons per day on average, according to CWLP officials.

“CWLP has not started negotiations with Williamsville-Sherman on their water contract,” Doug Brown, CWLP chief utility engineer, said in a statement. “However, President Yokley reached out to Mayor Langfelder to inquire about Rochester’s offer.”

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.

Crystal Thomas
The State Journal-Register

Springfield aldermen voted 10-0 to allow the city to spend up to $22,000 to study an area along the 3400 block of Lumber Lane for a tax-increment financing district. The district would help incentivize LS Building Supplies, which is planning to open a lumberyard.

Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin spoke of a letter sent to aldermen Tuesday by a manager at Prairie Wholesale Supply Co., 2605 South Grand Ave. E., which is not within the city limits.

“Basically, he’s saying we already got wholesale suppliers in the city area, and are we going to subsidize the newcomer to come in, compete with the longtime businesses?” McMenamin said.

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As a separate incentive, city officials are negotiating a sales tax rebate mechanism with the company, which would kick back a percentage of the sales tax it generates to the company.

The next step would be for PGAV to study the proposed boundaries to see if the area would qualify for TIF district, which are tools often used to fight blight.

The State Journal-Register