Alliant Energy officials will meet with some City of Decorah officials Tuesday morning to make their case for having Alliant's Decorah franchise renewed

Alliant Energy's 25-year franchise agreement to provide electricity to Decorah will expire in 2018.  Alliant officials have been working to get that agreement renewed, but a Decorah citizens group has also been studying whether it makes sense to establish a municipal electric utility.

Sources tell decorahnews.com that high-ranking Alliant Energy officials will be meeting Tuesday morning with City of Decorah officials to make their pitch for having the agreement renewed.  No public notice has been posted yet for the meeting, but decorahnews.com has learned a few members of the city's Utilities Committee may attend.  Members of Decorah Power, the Decorah citizens group studying a municipal utility, have also been invited.

Alliant Energy has been stressing its clean energy projects, including wind, solar and natural gas, as a way to persuade city officials to renew the franchise agreement.  It has also stressed that it has 18 employees in Decorah and paid $161,000 in property taxes in 2015-2016.

Several city council members, however, want more time to see the results of a feasibility study of a municipal electric utility being carried out by Decorah Power.