Agenda - Council - 11/12/2013 - Laserfiche WebLink

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CC Regular Session 7. 1. Meeting Date: 11/12/2013 By: Bruce Westby, Engineering/Public Works Information Title: Consideration of Adoption of Ordinances #13-19 and #13-20; Franchise Ordinances with Anoka Municipal Utility and Connexus Energy. Purpose/Background: The purpose of this case is to complete second readings of both draft franchise ordinances; Ordinance #13-19 with Anoka Municipal Utility, and Ordinance #13-20 with Connexus Energy. If Council supports both draft franchise ordinances as written, these ordinances can be adopted immediately. However, if Council wants to request that minor revisions be made to one or both of the draft ordinances, this item should be tabled until November 26th at which time a second reading of the revised ordinances can be held. Alternatively, if Council requests major revisions to one or both draft ordinances, a Public Hearing should be called for November 26th to reintroduce the ordinances. Anoka Municipal Utility and Connexus Energy were previously granted franchise rights through Ordinance #92-13 allowing them to install, operate and maintain their utilities within city right-of-ways. However, Ordinance #92-13 expired at the beginning of 2013 so both utilities have since been installing, operating and/or maintaining their utility's within city right-of-ways without a current franchise ordinance Adopting both franchise ordinances will grant both utilities the right to continue to install, operate and maintain their utilities within city right-of-ways for another 20 years. On October 22nd, both draft franchise ordinances were introduced, after which Council called for a second reading of the draft ordinances this evening. At that time it was noted that a provision is included in both draft franchise ordinances that would allow the City to impose franchise fees on the utilities under separate ordinance This provision was also included in expired Ordinance #92-13 (attached), and is included in existing Ordinance #03-16 with CenterPoint Energy. However, the draft franchise ordinances in and of themselves do not allow the city to charge franchise fees without separately adopted franchise fee ordinances. If minor revisions are requested by Council to either or both draft ordinances, the second reading of the revised ordinance(s) can be tabled until November 26th to allow staff the necessary time to make the requested revisions. However, if major modifications are requested to either or both draft ordinances, staff recommends calling for another Public Hearing where the revised ordinances can be reintroduced, after which a second reading would again be required prior to adopting the revised ordinances. Notification: None required. Observations/Alternatives: Both utilities have expressed approval with the draft franchise ordinances so no objections from the utility companies are anticipated. CenterPoint Energy is currently operating under existing Ordinance #03-16 (attached). Staff has therefore attempted to keep the provisions of all three franchise agreements consistent with one another so all utilities will operate under similar rules.