Letter to the Editor: "Vote 'No'--Decorah is not ready to be an MEU"

(The following Letter to the Editor has been submitted by Chris Evenson of Decorah):

"As American consumers, we have come to value and demand outstanding customer service, reliability, a quality product or service and dedication in delivering said product or service consistently as the gold standard for how we need to be treated as customers and  how a business needs to be run.   Oh yes,  AND all of this for a reasonable cost.  Alliant Energy has hit the mark on all of the above criteria on an ongoing basis and for a long long time.  Alliant customers, "When was your last outage?"

Despite Alliant's "5 Star" performance, a group of folk seem to think that they can do this work and provide this service cheaper and better.  This idea is based on the premise that becoming a municipal utility will make all operations local and that is better for us.

Wait a minute.  Alliant is local.  They are not a ghost presence in our lovely town.  The have an office and a warehouse facility in Decorah.  There is heavy equipment, trucks, transformers, poles, backup systems like a mobile substation housed locally.  All of this ready to deploy locally and in a timely fashion.  Alliant has local employees with extensive training and years of experience.  These employees have relationships with our local residents and businesses.  Local employees pay local property taxes, shop locally and raise their families here.  They are first responders, volunteer fire fighters, Nordic Fest volunteers, local church board members and nonprofit board members.  These employees are local and at your service.
 
Let's face it. Decorah has a good thing going with Alliant.  Peruse the Alliant Energy website at www.alliantenergy.com and see all of the community and stewardship programs they offer.  They are committed to our community with school programs, land and wildlife protection efforts, grants, and scholarships just to name a few.  They are committed to sustainability and local solar and wind energy.  Wow, they even pick up your old appliances and pay you to take them away.
 
At this point, I question whether the City of Decorah is ready to go to a municipal utility.  We have just been handed a large rate increase for sewer and water rates due to unforeseen costs and growth.  The Decorah Comprehensive Plan (posted on www.decorahia.org) regarding sanitary sewer service points out on page 40, "The City continues to review sewers due to the age of the original system and capacities related to growth."  On page 41, regarding the Wastewater Treatment Plant it cites, "Upcoming needed improvements include the replacement of many of the mechanical components of the plant as they reach the end of their useful life.  Advances in computerization or control systems may also prove advantageous in upgrade systems."  And finally, regarding stormwater, for which we now pay a separate fee on our local water bill, page 46 states, "The City does not have a comprehensive detention/retention storm water management policy."  Do we yet?    I point this out because Decorah does have a comprehensive plan in place yet local officials have been blind-sided by extra costs and growth.  What happened to the planning?   Where were the reserve funds for growth, maintenance and emergency trouble?  This points to lack of proper planning and management.  And now we find out just today that the City of Decorah's spending was $2.7 million over budget in 2017.  Where is the forethought, the planning, the management?  If this is the kind of management we will see with a municipal electrical utility…….no, thank you!!
 
Alliant is ready and willing to invest in Decorah's infrastructure maintenance and growth.  They are here to support local customers interested in going solar or turning to wind energy.  They lose revenue doing these things.  You can't expect a business to cannibalize itself by giving everything away.  It is worth it to have Alliant continue to take good care of us and to let them use their vast expertise to maintain and serve Decorah.  If this costs a couple of cents per KwH more, so be it.  It is well worth it.

Get out and vote NO to municipal power.  Decorah is not ready."