AUGUST 2013
Proposal to Create Municipal Utility Raises Serious Concerns By Kevin Lewis, BOMA Executive Director
July 24, 2013 – The Minneapolis City Council is in the preliminary stages of considering the creation of a municipal utility. In other words, the City of Minneapolis would replace 100 year+ partnerships with Xcel Energy and CenterPoint Energy and become a city-owned and operated electric and natural gas utility. The current 20-year agreements that give Xcel and CenterPoint exclusive rights of way in exchange for franchise fees to the city expire at the end of 2014. As of this writing, the Minneapolis City Council is scheduled to hold a public hearing on August 1 to take testimony on whether to move forward to authorize the creation of a municipal utility. On August 16, the council will likely vote on whether to call for a public referendum on this issue in November. I attended the June 27 City Council meeting where a split vote authorized the city to allocate $250,000 for a study to research the ramifications of a public utility.
The crux of the issue is that the results from this study will not be available until well after the November elections. We are urging the City Council to wait until after the study report is presented to determine whether or not to put the decision on a public ballot. Other business organizations join us in this recommendation. This just makes common sense. BOMA’s concerns focus on the following: Costly Investment The City of Minneapolis would have to purchase Xcel Energy assets to provide the infrastructure for electrical service. Although the exact amount is undetermined, it could reach billions of dollars. Oversight Municipalization would eliminate much of the independent and thorough oversight from the State agencies, regulators and the public that guarantees fair and adequate services. Utilities like Xcel Energy are regulated by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission. The PUC assures
that actions and plans comply with state law regarding rates, renewable energy, conservation, long term resource planning and other issues. A municipal utility is not subject to this same rigorous, independent review of its rates, service standards, etc. Fixing a Problem?? Minneapolis has enjoyed successful partnerships with Xcel Energy and CenterPoint for decades. It has been a mutually beneficial relationship. Service Simply put, is the City of Minneapolis experienced enough and better positioned to offer superior utility services to residents and businesses of Minneapolis? Following our recent storms, our utility companies were able to pull emergency service crews from all over the country.
We urge the City to wait until the study is completed and then evaluate the information before placing this very crucial issue on the November ballot as a public referendum. BOMA Greater Minneapolis intercedes daily on behalf of our members on a variety of legislative, regulatory and policy issues at the state and local level.
BOMA admires the City’s desire to provide affordable energy from renewable sources. However, we feel there has been a well-established and BOMA International recently relayed productive relationship that according to the latest Cornell/ with our current SelectLeaders Job Barmometer report, energy providers. the commercial real estate job market has
Employment
positive momentum. (More on page 4.)
This confirms the observations of our local BOMA staff. This month our Communications Committee picks up on the theme, Employment in Real Estate. Watch the September edition for additional articles on Employment.
President’s Message .......................................2 Professional Development Opportunities ........3 Who Employers Are Hiring ..............................4
Strategies to Land Your Dream Job .......5 Profile of Ted Zwieg ...............................6-7 Notes from the BOMA Conference.........8-9
Capella Tower Award ................................ 10 Engineers Social ....................................... 11 Engineers Association Meeting ................. 12