Sheldon, Iowa — During their regular meeting Wednesday, the Sheldon City Council held a third public hearing on the proposed franchise agreements with MidAmerican Energy.
Another spirited discussion of the topic led to the council changing the wording of the proposed franchise ordinances. City Manager Sam Kooiker explains.
We asked Kooiker if the removal of the franchise fee from the language of the proposed ordinance would require the city to begin again with a first reading of the ordinance.
Kooiker tells us how the removal of the franchise fees will affect the planned referendum measure on this fall’s ballot.
Before the mention of a franchise fee was removed from the proposed ordinance, the city had planned to use the revenue generated by a franchise fee to help pay for equipment and facilities upgrades for the city’s Emergency Services Departments. We asked Kooiker how the city would finance those items without the revenue from utilities franchise fees.
Kooiker says the franchise fee issue can be revisited down the road, but, he says, doing so would require the entire public hearing process to start all over again.
