The City of Minden’s power supply contract with SWEPCO will top Monday’s agenda as Mayor Tommy Davis will be asking the council for authorization to negotiate the terms, including retaining legal counsel if needed.
In recent budget workshops, Davis has told council members the city is paying too much on its energy costs, and he wants to negotiate the terms of the contract to decrease how much they are paying.
“We want to take steps to see what we can do to either modify our contract and reduce our costs and be able to negotiate with SWEPCO, or in the long-term, maybe get out of our contract,” he said, following a workshop in November.
The city pays in the millions of dollars each year for electricity, and he says October’s bill was over $1 million.
Figures from the city show that in 2014, revenue from the sale of electricity was $17,376,115.31. Payments to SWEPCO for that year totaled $11,523,870.39. The year 2013’s revenue was $16,959,172.20 with payments to SWEPCO totaling $10,529,878.47. In 2012, revenue totaled $15,862,588.44 with payments to SWEPCO totaling $9,747,406.24.
The city is in year six of a 20-year contract with SWEPCO to provide electricity.
In other news, the council will also consider the removal and replacement of storage tanks on property owned by Waller Petroleum. Mike and Jesse Waller want to completely renovate the property, building a new convenience store and install state-of-the-art underground storage tanks that will replace the old single-wall tanks currently in the ground.
Other items on the agenda for consideration include:
- Economic Development director’s report by James Graham
- Personnel – the council will consider the hiring of Antonio Mims to the Minden Police Department.
- Minden Downtown/Residential Historic Commission reappointments – the council will consider the reappointments of Kent Gibson and Charlotte Jones, whose terms expire Dec. 31, 2019.
- Minden Housing Authority appointments – the council will consider the appointment of Ron Anderson, who will replace the unexpired term of Larry Johnson, and the appointment of Latasha Dent to replace Angela Wills, whose term expired June 30.
- Property annexation request from Anthony Garner and Andreka Garner on Weston Street.
- The amendment and re-enactment of Ordinance No. 1063, Streets, Sidewalks and Other Public Places
- Adopt Ordinance No. 1064 Governing the Sale of Adjudicated Property
- Adopt Ordinance No. 1065 Accepting Dedication of Water Main
- Adopt Ordinance No. 1066 Abandonment of Right-of-Way
- Adopt Ordinance No. 1067 Abandonment of Servitude
- Request to rescind re-subdivision of property – The Minden Planning Commission approved the preliminary plans for a re-subdivision of property owned by Benjamin Wood, located at Ferguson Street, but he has asked that council rescind that approval.
- Approval of final plat for re-subdivision of property – The Minden Planning Commission approved the preliminary plans for a re-subdivision of property owned by Larry Brown at Third Street.
- Award bids for the Minden Airport obstruction removal for the fuel facility and the terminal.
- The council will also hear the annual fire and police report.
The Minden City Council will meet at 7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 7.