Last year, many Bloomington-Normal residents saw their electric bills jump 40% in some cases, even after the two municipalities teamed together with other Illinois governments to negotiate a bulk rate for power.
In a nod to the price shock, the electric aggregation contract negotiated with Constellation NewEnergy was for a single year. The previous contract was a three-year deal.
Uncertainty remains this year, although the Town of Normal this week ratified an agreement to renew a contract with the Stone River Group, a firm that negotiates rates for some 40,000 households and businesses in 20-plus municipalities.
“It's all for the purpose of buying in bulk to see if we can get better pricing,” said Normal City Manager Pam Reece.
In a WGLT interview, Reece said this year’s pact with electricity suppliers may be another short one.
“I think we're looking at a 12- or 14-month contract. We'll see how that plays out,” she said.
The aggregation agreements often come back to city and town councils for action in April and take effect in June. Reece said there remains a lack of certainty in the marketplace.
“I do understand that prices for electricity are still somewhat volatile,” said Reece.
Ratepayers have usually benefited from the aggregation agreement, though they do not have to stay in it.
“Residents will have the opportunity to opt out if they want to explore a different service provider for electricity, but we're offering the opportunity for folks to take advantage of this pricing program,” said Reece, adding there is another complicating factor for some residents.
“In the last year or so, a number of properties have installed rooftop solar units. They would not be participating in this program. I think people need to make sure they read closely the materials that are sent to their homes from Stone River,” said Reece. The town also has information on its website.
Corn Belt Energy co-op customers also will not be part of the bundled rate agreement.
Urban solar farms
Illinois State University has proposed a solar electricity generating array at its new College of Engineering campus in east Bloomington. One option is something like a parking lot covered with solar panels under which vehicles could park. If that option moves forward, it would be a new zoning wrinkle for Bloomington.
Other municipalities have confronted the question of a large-scale carport acting as a solar farm.
“Covering parking areas with solar panels is not trend setting. I've seen it in other communities,” said Reece. “I think we should have conversations about what it would take to have appropriate regulations in place and zoning opportunities in place before we receive a request for that type of zoning. Honestly, I think we might be a little bit behind the eight ball.”
Strategic planning
Last week, the town council held a five-hour strategic visioning retreat. Northern Illinois University’s Center for Governmental Studies will help turn information gathered during the discussion by elected officials into actionable priorities for the town administration over the next 1-3 years and 4-8 years.
Reece called that exercise “productive.”
“We focused a lot on capital planning, capital needs, cultural quality of life and place making experiences,” she said.
The process included SWOT analysis [strengths, weakness, opportunities, threats or challenges] They also looked at demographic projections over a decade to help the council and staff decide on service level needs. For instance, one topic was helping people to age in place.
“That linked primarily to two areas, parks and recreation and cultural arts," said Reece. "What is an aging community going to want to do? How do they want to spend their time? How do we make it easy and accessible for them?
"The other thing is housing. We talked about what we can do in the next few years to cultivate additional housing that will meet needs. How can we make it appropriately affordable for residents and our future residents? Is it the type of housing that an aging community would like?”
She said it's is not dissimilar to what the Unit 5 school district is doing in its current long-range planning effort and the placement of schools.
Reece said the town expects NIU to deliver a draft report in a couple months, and a final report shortly thereafter.
“The challenge will be, once we decide, how we want to grow and how we want to accommodate needs, how can we find the right partners to help us achieve those goals,” she said.
Ethics
Resident and former McLean County Board member Barbara Findley Stuart has urged the City of Bloomington and Town of Normal to adopt an ethics code.
“I really appreciate Barb Stuart’s proactive nature and her persistence on this topic. She's an icon in this community. She has found this topic to be very impactful and important. She makes a good case that we should consider these sorts of codes, or standards before we have a problem,” said Reece.
She said town staff have professional ethics obligations laid out in training courses and in membership in professional associations such as the Illinois Municipal League, the Illinois City/County Management Association, and the Illinois Government Finance Officers Association.
Town leaders also have regular conversations about expectations, ethical conduct, and the personnel code with town employees.
“But from an elected official standpoint, we don't really have anything formal. We certainly have laws that we follow, and the like,” said Reece.
She thinks council members are giving the proposal serious consideration and are open to the conversation, though she has not had full feedback about their positions and desires on the question.
“I think it does drive productive, collaborative conversations with council in what we expect as an organization, what we expect from our leaders on how to behave and how to treat each other,” said Reece. “Anything we can all agree on and put in writing makes sense to me.”
