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Home My WebLink About2021-09-14 - Minutes - City Council Meeting Minutes September 14,2021 Page 1 of 3 Council Member Sonia Gutierrez A y E T r Council Member Sloan Scroggin Ward 1 Position I ti At — F Ward 3 Position I Council Member D'Andre Jones Council Member Sarah Bunch Ward I Position 2H _ :i Ward 3 Position 2 Council Member Mark Kinion ■... �/ ► Council Member Teresa Turk Ward 2 Position I Ward 4 Position I q k A N s i> Council Member Matthew Petty g S Council Member Holly Hertzberg Ward 2 Position 2 Ward 4 Position 2 Mayor Lioneld Jordan City Attorney Kit Williams City Clerk Kara Paxton City of Fayetteville Arkansas Special City Council Meeting September 14,2021 A Special meeting of the Fayetteville City Council was held on September 14, 2021 at 4:30 p.m. in Room 219 of the City Administration Building located at 113 West Mountain Street, Fayetteville,Arkansas. Mayor Jordan called the meeting to order. In order to create social distancing due to the Coronavirus, COVID-19 pandemic, Council Members D'Andre Jones, Mark Kinion, Matthew Petty, Sarah Bunch, Sloan Scroggin, Teresa Turk,Holly Hertzberg and City Clerk Treasurer Kara Paxton joined the meeting via online using a video conferencing service called Zoom. Mayor Lioneld Jordan, City Attorney Kit Williams, Chief of Staff Susan Norton, Chief Financial Officer Paul Becker,Chief of Police Mike Reynolds,Fire Chief Brad Hardin,staff members from the IT Department, and members of the press were present in City Council Chambers while demonstrating recommended social distancing. Council Member Jones,Kinion,Petty and Bunch were absent during Roll Call. Absent: Council Member Sonia Gutierrez Pledge of Allegiance Mayor's Announcements,Proclamations and Recognitions: None City Council Meeting Presentations, Reports and Discussion Items: None 113 West Mountain Fayetteville.AR 72701 (479)575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes September 14.2021 Page 2 of 3 Consent: None Unfinished Business: None New Business: Southwestern Electric Power Company To Increase Rates: A resolution to authorize the City Attorney to file a motion to intervene on behalf of the City of Fayetteville in Arkansas Public Service Commission proceeding 21-070-U and oppose the application of Southwestern Electric Power Company to increase its rates. Peter Nierengarten, Environmental Director:Normally, we try do a good job of keeping tabs on utility rate increases.We prefer to bring you this type of request at one of your normal City Council meetings. I apologize for allowing this one to slip through the cracks and requiring the Mayor to call a Special Council meeting. The deadline for the City Attorney's office to submit the city's petition to intervene in this rate case docket is next Tuesday at 4:30 pm. The goals of the city's first Energy Action Plan that was adopted in January 2018 has several goals associated with clean energy and greenhouse gas submission reduction that are likely to be impacted by this rate case. We have a community wide goal of reaching 100% clean energy for the entire city by 2050. We are currently at 30% clean for the entire City of Fayetteville. We have a community wide goal of reducing greenhouse gas submissions by 80%by 2050. Since 2010 we have reduced emission by almost 20%. We have a goal of achieving 100% clean energy for city government operations by 2030. Currently we are at 72% clean energy. That's in large part to our Wastewater Treatment Plant solar arrays. We have a goal of reducing city government greenhouse gas submissions by 40% by 2030 and we have already achieved that goal. In 2020 SWEPCO provided 795 million kilowatt hours of electricity to the entire City of Fayetteville for homes, businesses and governmental institutions. The total cost of the electricity was $98 million. SWEPCO supplied about 74%of the total electricity consumed in the City of Fayetteville. The balance was supplied by Ozarks Electric. On July 23rd SWEPCO submitted a request to the Arkansas Public Service Commission for an $85 million rate increase. The details of the rate case states they are seeking a cost recovery of ongoing operations, maintenance, capital costs for generating units associated with several distribution and generation upgrades, including connections to new wind farms in the State of Oklahoma,upgrades to the Flint Creek Coal Plant located in Benton County,transmission and distribution reliability improvements, and tariffs for electric vehicles, lighting and other measures. The Arkansas Public Service Commission which regulates utilities in Arkansas allows for any entity whose interest may be affected by a commission action to intervene as a party to a docket.A petition to intervene has to contain the nature of the petitioner's interest in the proceeding demonstration that the petitions interest is not adequately represented by any other party, specific objections to the applicant's proposal and any other reasonable information. Other intervening parties in this particular rate case and docket are the University of Arkansas System, Wal-Mart Inc. and the Sierra Club. The impact of the proposed rate changes that would go into effect by the middle of 2022 is $85 million total, but the specific impact of those rate changes is 17% increase on residential customers. SWEPCO's press release says that would equate to an overall bill increase of almost $19.00 per month. It would be an 8% increase on commercial, industrial and 113 West Mountain Fayetteville.AR 72701 (479)575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov City Council Meeting Minutes September 14,2021 Page 3 of 3 governmental customers. Those increases equate to over $10 million in additional cost for electricity being paid by Fayetteville residents and businesses. There would be an approximately $80,000 cost increase for electricity costs for our city government operations for the City of Fayetteville. In terms of the Energy Action Plan impact, I have significant concerns the rate change as proposed with$26 million of the$85 million worth of improvements to the coal plant in Benton County at Flint Creek, that those improvements would have the potential for extending the life of that coal plant indefinitely. That poses some challenges in terms of meeting our community clean energy goals and our community greenhouse gas submission goals. The Fayetteville City Attorney's Office did an outstanding job working with the Arkansas Public Service Commission on our solar projects that were approved a couple years ago for the Wastewater Treatment Plants. That filing with the Arkansas Public Service Commission was a lot of hard work, but it was executed efficiently and effectively by the City Attorney's office. I have no doubt that Kit and Blake will do a fantastic job representing the city's interest in this rate case with the Arkansas Public Service Commission. The City Council received two public comments regarding this resolution. Both spoke in support of the resolution. Council Member Turk thanked Peter, Kit and others in the city for bringing the resolution forward.She stated the city needs to intervene on behalf of the citizens and on behalf of the climate. She stated we need to shut down the dirty coal power plants and move to renewable energy. This is the first step in opposing the rate increase and opposing working on making Flint Creek a tiny bit cleaner, but not clean enough for the future. Mayor Jordan thanked Peter and Kit for putting the item together on short notice. He thanked the Council for their patience and willingness to look at the resolution. He stated this is a very good resolution. He stated he has never been a fan of the coal plants and it is time we took the initiative to clean those things up. He stated it is going to be better for the environment and that is important for the next generations. Council Member Turk moved to approve the resolution. Council Member Jones seconded the motion. Upon roll call the resolution passed 7-0. Council Members Jones, Kinion,Petty, Scroggin,Bunch,Turk and Hertzberg voting yes. Council Member Gutierrez was absent. Resolution 226-21 as recorded in the office of the City Clerk lnnouncements: None Ad'ourn ent: 4 PM ``G00oK/ T7��s'' `�„�•• GXSY Off.•.G:: Lbt&._ a FAYETT EVILLE ; ioneld : ,Mayor Kara Paxton,City Clerk Treasure, • 113 West Mountain Fayetteville.AR 72701 (479)575-8323 www.fayetteville-ar.gov r �a