City on track to renew Black Hills Energy agreement

Black Hills Energy will likely maintain its status as the city’s gas utility provider formany years to come. The city council on July 5 approved the first reading of an ordinance granting the company and its successors a nonexclusive 25-year franchise to construct, operate and maintain a natural gas system in Newton.

Some of the key points of the natural gas franchise agreement include: limited rights of cancellation added at the eight- (2030) and 16-year (2038) anniversaries of the franchise approval and defining the responsibilities for the relocation of Black Hills Energy infrastructure due to public and private improvement projects.

Also included in the franchise is the construction and restoration standards in the public right-of-way. According to the agreement, if the city requests Black Hills Energy to relocate facilities for the benefit of a commercial or private project, then the utility company should receive payment from the municipality.

Nicole Breitbach, senior community affairs manager at Black Hills Energy, attended the city council meeting and thanked the City of Newton for its partnership. It is a great relationship, she said, and the utility company appreciates everything the city does, especially with the agreement.

“We have had several discussions with a lot of city staff and we did make some revisions, some recommendations that the city wanted to see,” Breitbach said. “We feel really strongly — “we” being Black Hills Energy — about the agreement and really great about the partnership.”

Newton Community Services Director Brian Laube confirmed the city has been working with Black Hills Energy over the past six months to get the agreement finalized. Laube said it is a standard agreement. Upon approving the ordinance, it will replace the ordinance approved on Aug. 18, 1997.

Newton City Council is scheduled to review the second reading at the July 18 meeting and the third reading at the Aug. 1 meeting.

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext 6560 or cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com