Xcel franchise drama: Xcel turns up heat on City Council before franchise decision

July 30, 2010 · Posted by in Energy 

UPDATE: Boulder staff to council: Do not put Xcel franchise renewal on the ballot

 

The cost of Xcel Energy's SmarGridCity project in Boulder far exceeds original projections.

Xcel Energy's Colorado chief is making the rounds in Boulder.

Well, there’s not a much more boring phrase than “franchise agreement” out there, but now would be a good time to educate yourself on Boulder’s Xcel franchise agreement options (and those laid out by the City Council) and what’s going on, because a lot of energy and tax dollars are in the mix and that affects everyone — for the next 20 years. On Tuesday, City Council will decide whether or not to put the franchise agreement renewal on the ballot this year, but not before they hear a lot from the president of Xcel in Colorado:

David Eves, president and CEO of Xcel’s Public Service Co. of Colorado, is making private house calls to the nine members of the Boulder City Council, just days before the elected officials decide whether to ask voters to renew a franchise agreement with the utility.

Eves was in Boulder on Thursday for the series of meetings, which were not published as part of the city’s official calendar and were not open to the public or the media. The city is not required to give public notice of meetings that have fewer than three council members in attendance.

“I usually like to make sure these meetings are open to the public, but in this case he (Eves) requested a meeting with council members” privately, said Councilwoman Crystal Gray.

In the meetings, some Council members have questions, but from the sounds of it, they’re not getting very far with them:

Mayor Susan Osborne, Councilman George Karakehian and City Manager Jane Brautigam met as a group with Eves on Tuesday, also behind closed doors.

Brautigam said the group asked the Xcel official to reconsider a temporary extension of the existing franchise agreement.

Eves rejected the idea.

The meetings come a couple of months after City Manager Jane Brautigam went to Denver to meet with Xcel — and City Council Members Lisa Morzel and Matt Applebaum expressed some discomfort over that:

Councilwoman Lisa Morzel said she was “very uncomfortable” that the community was kept out of the “secret” discussions. There also was no public notice that Brautigam would discuss the matter Tuesday night at the council meeting.

Councilman Matt Appelbaum also said he was concerned.

“Any council member can talk to anybody, and that’s fine. … This is a little different because it’s a franchise agreement and we have a negotiating team,” he said.

The Camera reported that a recent survey indicated most Boulder voters would oppose the Xcel franchise agreement renewal and a utility excise tax on Xcel that would recoup money Boulder would lose from not renewing. So it’s not surprising that Xcel would be taking some kind of action to reverse that — or that City Council would be open to suggestions to keep itself out of a $3.9 million hole.

Tags: , , , , , ,

Tip Jar

Like what we're doing? Got a spare sawbuck? Help us pay for site maintenance and reporting and we'll think happy thoughts about you sometimes. $100 gets you a personal, paperless thank-you video from Dave and Laura! $500 gets you... five personal, paperless thank-you videos from Dave and Laura and a tote bag!

One Response to “Xcel franchise drama: Xcel turns up heat on City Council before franchise decision”

  1. Xcel’s David Eves asks Council to give decision to voters | BigGreenBoulder Boulder, CO : BigGreenBoulder on August 3rd, 2010 10:21 am

    [...] Colorado chief, David Eves, has been in the middle of the city’s decision on renewing the Xcel franchise [...]