Oct. 26-- Oct. 26--PITTSBURG -- As the City of Pittsburg continues looking into the possibility of ditching Evergy -- the power company formerly known as Westar -- disagreement over what information should be made available to residents about the potential creation of a public electric utility and how it should be presented seems to be escalating.
At an election candidate forum Thursday, sitting city commissioners who are running for re-election as well as candidates who aren't currently on the commission discussed the electric municipalization issue in response to a question from event moderator and Pittsburg Area Chamber of Commerce President Blake Benson.
Commissioner Sarah Chenoweth said the city should continue looking into the possibility of municipalization.
"Kansas has the highest electric rates of any of our neighbors despite the fact that wholesale power is amongst the cheapest in the nation. Evergy's rates have only recently stabilized and that is a result of a legal settlement reached with the Kansas Corporation Commission," Chenoweth said.
"So it seems to me that if a multimillion dollar corporate Evergy is allowed to have their freedom, the rich will continue to get richer, while when the five years of legally-mandated rate freezes are over, the rest of us will be left footing the bill. I think we deserve better and I think we can do better."
Commissioner Dan McNally said the city is getting closer to having the information it needs to make a decision, but it's not there yet.
"I personally need to have some boxes checked before I would support something like this: reduced rates, affordability of acquisition, regulation, comprehensive plan for outages, and reliability and safety," McNally said. "At the end of this, when we do have the information, I would sit down with both the city and Evergy, listen to the citizens, and ultimately even if this is something that I would support, I would only support it if I was able to send this to the public for a vote. The public should have a say on this and I would make sure that that would happen."
Cheryl Brooks, a candidate who is not currently on the commission, also weighed in on the issue.
"As a candidate for Pittsburg City Commission, I only support the taxpayers voting to acquire, to pay for the electric municipalization," she said. "I do not support the five commissioners deciding this issue for the people of Pittsburg. The taxpayers need all the information from both sides.
"It is not necessary in my opinion, and moving forward will cost the city more unnecessary costs. These expenditures absorb resources that could otherwise be dedicated to projects more in keeping with Imagine Pittsburg 2030. I am not running just to oppose the Evergy proposal, but to bring a positive vision for correcting and expanding projects like the wastewater treatment plant that restricts the ability of the city to attract businesses and expand existing ones."
Chad McCubbin, another candidate who is not a current commission member, also discussed municipalization.
"Whenever attempting to take on an endeavor of this magnitude, you must collect as much data as possible and consider as many potential outcomes as possible," McCubbin said. "Once we move forward there is no turning back on something like this. There is no feasible exit strategy if after it happens we decide we no longer want it. With that being said I think the right course of action once the study is complete is to allow the citizens to make the decision on whether or not we move forward with this, not just on the bond issue but this issue as a whole."
Larry Fields, the final candidate who is not currently on the commission out of the total of six candidates running, also weighed in.
"I think everyone here supports the citizens of Pittsburg having the final say in this. It is a large, large, large situation that's going to happen. You let the study go through, you get all the information, you be totally and completely honest and transparent," Fields said.
"So it's very important that the citizens stay involved, and be more involved, and the information needs to be put out there," he said.
"I respect and trust the citizens to make a decision, and if it goes through, then that's the way it is."
Commissioner Chuck Munsell, the third sitting commissioner who is running for re-election, along with Chenoweth and McNally, said he's been asking for the pros and cons of municipalization for the past two years.
"I've only been provided with the pros," Munsell said.
"The commission should hear both sides," he said, including information that Evergy has put together. "I want to hear from them. It should be a decision of the citizens. I've campaigned for that for two years. I've been attacked for that at a commission meeting, because I asked if we want this to go to a vote of the citizens."
Munsell said he's done his own research on municipalization.
"I've looked up different cities that tried this, that did this, and for whatever reason it wasn't in their best interest," he said.
Munsell referenced a feasibility study by GE Warren Associates -- a consultant that the City of Pittsburg has also contracted with for its municipalization study -- for Winter Park, Florida.
"Winter Park, Florida, did what we're thinking about doing," Munsell said. "In this study it says a lot of good things. But I want all the information that's out there. I looked up myself on Winter Park, Florida, on the internet. People need to look this up because there's a lot of information that it's not working out too good for Winter Park, Florida, for taking this on."
Prior to Thursday's candidate forum, on Tuesday, Munsell made a motion at the city commission meeting to allow Evergy representatives to come before the commission and present the findings of a study and a survey paid for by the company, and to answer questions from commissioners. The motion died for lack of a second.
Following the recent cancellation of a non-disclosure agreement between Evergy and the city regarding details of their negotiations, Evergy Chief Customer Officer Chuck Caisley said earlier this month that the company has "offered -- actually we've requested three times in writing -- to come before the city commission and present the study, as well as answer questions about both the study and the survey that we conducted of the residents of Pittsburg with respect to what they thought of our service quality and what they thought about municipalization."
Following Munsell's motion Tuesday, Commissioner Dawn McNay said Evergy should be allowed to address the commission, but not as soon as the commission's next meeting on Nov. 12 as Munsell had proposed.
"I would just like to say there will be a time for Evergy to come, I just think it's premature," McNay said. "We don't have all of our data, so I think there will be a time."
Later in Tuesday's meeting, following discussion of other topics, McNay returned to the subject of municipalization and Evergy's request to speak at a commission meeting.
"I know what the negative spin will be on the fact that no one seconded Chuck's motion and that will be that the rest of us, you know, are either trying to hide something or don't care," McNay said. "But I want to be very clear. Looking at electricity is a city-driven project. It's not a Westar project. It's our project. And we were walking down the path of good faith with Westar, and then they did their survey, and then they did their letter, and then they released their feasibility study, and they're trying to drive the narrative.
"I think [Deputy City Manager] Jay [Byers] has been very clear where we are in data collection. We need some key data before we would even have the knowledge to make a decision. I'm not interested in Westar coming without me knowing our information. I'm not interested in them telling us what their data is when we don't have our data. We need a meaningful, robust conversation and it's not going to happen on Nov. 12."
City Manager Daron Hall similarly said the company was welcome to send its representatives to speak during the public input period of any city commission period, but his office was not in favor of granting Evergy's request to give a special presentation.
"Our opinion was, in a negotiation we don't really have somebody we're negotiating with come before the commission and make their case," Hall said.
Mayor Patrick O'Bryan also weighed in on the idea of allowing Evergy to make a presentation at a commission meeting in the near future.
"You know exactly what they're going to say," O'Bryan said. "They're the best, they're this, they're that. That's their sales pitch. OK, I got it. We know what they're going to be saying. And they're going to tell us what a horrible job we're going to be able to do. I don't think it's time for them to come here and say that. They've already done their PR bit by sending their survey, by sending their letters, and the [Morning Sun] newspaper should be really happy about this because they're in the newspaper every day, practically, with a big ad. They're getting their word out there. They're not sitting in the back of the bus being quiet."
In response, Munsell said he didn't know what Evergy would say if given the chance to make a presentation, to which O'Bryan responded "baloney," which was "a little bit unprofessional," Munsell said.
"That's too bad," O'Bryan said.
Although the commission may not yet have all the information it needs to make a decision in support of or opposed to municipalization or to hear from Evergy representatives at a commission meeting, that has not stopped the city from beginning to spend some of the $30,000 of public money approved by the commission in August for "educational material" related to efforts to study municipalization. In the past week, the city has posted several videos on the subject to its website.
"Will the City have to purchase electricity from Westar?" one 30-second video asks.
"No. By becoming a public power utility we will have access to the open electricity market, that means we will be able to purchase electricity from any provider so we will get the best rates available on the market."
Another video asks if the city will be able to purchase power from renewable sources.
"Yes!" it replies. "We will certainly explore using alternative energy sources as well as providing good incentives for customers who want to start generating their own electricity."
The disembodied voice of the narrator of at least one video, however, seems more confident in its conclusions than any city official has yet been as they have repeatedly said they still need to gather more information on municipalization.
"With a public power utility, Pittsburg residents will pay less for their electricity," it states. "How can we do this? The electric industry has changed. The cost of natural gas and renewable energy is now competitive with coal and nuclear. This provides an opportunity for the City to choose the best-qualified power supplier with the best rates, and the flexibility to control power purchase agreements. The City saves when it bids out its contracts, and we pass those savings on to our community."
