CWLP has said that without the agreement, the Sierra Club will appeal a permit issued by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and delay the plant's construction by a year. It has estimated that cost at $137 million.
CWLP has said that without the agreement, the Sierra Club will appeal a permit issued by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and delay the plant's construction by a year. It has estimated that cost at $137 million.
Mayor Tim Davlin said Friday he'll call Tuesday for a city council vote on City Water, Light and Power's agreement with the Sierra Club, regardless of whether the votes are there for approval.
Trying to box in the Republican aldermen who have indicated they may not approve a wind-power deal negotiated without their input, the Democratic mayor said it comes down to whether the city will end up spending $100 million more to get a half-billion-dollar power plant built.
CWLP has said that without the agreement, the Sierra Club will appeal a permit issued by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and delay the plant's construction by a year. It has estimated that cost at $137 million.
The cost of the agreement with the Sierra Club, …
Mayor Tim Davlin said Friday he'll call Tuesday for a city council vote on City Water, Light and Power's agreement with the Sierra Club, regardless of whether the votes are there for approval.
Trying to box in the Republican aldermen who have indicated they may not approve a wind-power deal negotiated without their input, the Democratic mayor said it comes down to whether the city will end up spending $100 million more to get a half-billion-dollar power plant built.
CWLP has said that without the agreement, the Sierra Club will appeal a permit issued by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and delay the plant's construction by a year. It has estimated that cost at $137 million.
The cost of the agreement with the Sierra Club, which calls for the city to buy wind power, bolster conservation programs and further reduce power plant emissions is $37 million, the utility says.
All five Republican aldermen on the officially nonpartisan 10-member council have expressed doubts about the deal - be it the way it was implemented, the Sierra Club's role or the costs. But none has said outright that he or she will vote against it.
Some have called for the agreement to be renegotiated so that CWLP's financial exposure is capped, an idea the Sierra Club has rejected.
Aldermen on both sides have criticized the administration for not filling in the aldermen or the public before the deal was made.
Ward 6 Ald. Mark Mahoney, a Democrat, has told CWLP general manager Todd Renfrow he will be absent for Tuesday's vote, Davlin said. Mahoney has not stated his position publicly.
The other four Democrats have indicated they will probably vote "yes."
If every Republican votes against the deal, it will fail. Davlin votes only when there is a tie or when there are five "yes" votes for an ordinance but fewer than 10 members present. For example, if a vote were 5-4, Davlin could cast a sixth vote approving the ordinance.
Ward 7 Ald. Judy Yeager, a Republican, said Friday she's still undecided. The fact that the city was negotiating with constituents who are members of the local Sierra Club without informing aldermen was particularly galling, she said.
"If the relationship was so good and it was going to be so good for the customers of CWLP, then why the heck was it not out in the open?" Yeager asked, adding that she was on board until she began to understand how the agreement was crafted.
"The more I thought about what the city had done, the whole thing started unraveling," she said. "I think it was disastrous how the mayor thought about us and our position to keep that kind of a secret. ... That says to me that there's a runaway executive."
Davlin views such concerns as semantics getting in the way of the greater good.
"Do you know how many hundreds and hundreds of contracts I've negotiated and they've signed on the consent agenda?" he said of the aldermen. "Given all the rhetoric we hear about how we got here, you know, who wants to pay the extra one hundred million bucks? If you do, vote no.
"If this is a vote against the administration, shame on them, and hopefully the citizens of Springfield begin to lobby their aldermen to say, 'Look, partisan politics aside, do what's best for the citizens of Springfield.' ... It's decision time."
Chris Wetterich can be reached at 788-1523 or chris.wetterich@sj-r.com.