Letter to the Editor: "Five Reasons to vote 'Yes'"

(The following Letter to the Edtior has been submitted by Carol Bentley-Iverson of Decorah):

Here are five reasons I am voting 'yes" for a Decorah owned municipality.

1)   A call to Winter Park, Florida, a city that voted to establish its own power municipality in 2005 proved convincing. Like here, the corporate utility outspent the community in fighting it, hiring people to go door-to-door, make phone calls, put up yard signs, etc. with the same messages we are hearing in Decorah: that a city-owned power utility would be more expensive, unreliable, not meet demands, and have slow emergency response times. All these issues were proven wrong. The city was able to win municipality (costing over a million dollars), buy and improve infrastructure (they are currently 60 percent done burying power lines due to hurricane frequency), and pay off their bond in roughly ten years. By owning their own power system, they negotiate lower rates from multiple sources, then pass those savings on to their customers. Emergency response time is faster because all equipment and personnel are close by.
 
2)   It was attorney Sheila Tipton who recommended to Decorah Power that they hire NewGen Strategies and Solutions to conduct the feasibility study. Here is just a partial list of her credentials as listed on the BrownWinick website:
 
"Sheila K. Tipton is a member of BrownWinick and is Chair of the firm's Energy Practice Group. She primarily practices in the areas of administrative law and the law of essential infrastructure, representing energy, telecommunications and water public utilities, renewable energy developers and customers, as well as other business entities. Sheila's expertise includes certification, siting, ratemaking, rulemaking, merger, reorganization, compliance and other litigated and appellate proceedings before state and federal administrative agencies and in the state and federal courts."
 
She also served on the Iowa Utility Board for two years prior to BrownWinick. Attorney Tipton spoke to Decorah's city council on January 18, telling them "you can be very proud of what Decorah is and what it wants to become" in terms of leadership in renewable energy and efficiency, adding that Decorah was as good as an example for a potential MEU as she'd ever seen. Considering she has represented Alliant in another case to the IUB, hers is an exceptionally reliable and expert opinion.

3)   NewGen Strategies and Solution's website says their "expert witnesses deliver a unique, comprehensive perspective having developed testimony on behalf of utilities, customers, and commissions in both state and federal regulatory processes. In total, NewGen's experts deliver the experience and insight gained from contributing to more than 200 regulatory filings or cases." Impressive!

4)   Decorah Power members are smart people. They have 'run the numbers'. A 'yes' vote enables our city to stand on stronger ground in pursuing the facts for the case. It still doesn't guarantee we will go through with a municipality, but it does give us the power and all of the facts to make the right decision. Rather than helping Alliant pay its executives million dollar salaries, why not invest in Decorah?

5)   The Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wisconsin, Alliant Energy's home city, is an example of what investing in the community looks like. An impressive event center, it says a lot about keeping our dollars local. Extra revenues from a Decorah municipality stay in our community and benefit us all, in and out of city limits.
 
Please consider these findings and vote 'yes.'"