Cheney OKs long-term contract with BPA

CHENEY—The city of Cheney entered into a contract with the Bonneville Power Administration that won’t expire until 2028 Tuesday night at the regular city council meeting.

The current contract with BPA expires Sept. 30, 2011. The new longer contract will go into effect the following day.

Joe Noland of the Cheney Light Department said the benefits of the new contract include long-term stability and the ability to find other power resources in the coming years.

“As Cheney grows, we’ll need more power,” Noland said. He estimated that could be in the years 2015 or 2016.

By the year 2028, the city is expected to spend $70 million on purchasing power from BPA. Noland said BPA is the cheapest and most reliable source of power and 22 other public utilities in the area have also signed this contract. The city can look at changing rates every two years and can also change the products it receives in 2019 if a two-year notice is given.

The contract was more than 54 pages and Stan Schwartz, the city attorney, said he thinks it was written by 20-30 lawyers.

“I think this is the best power option for anybody in the Northwest,” Schwartz said.

The council agreed and voted unanimously to sign the contract.

In other news, the council held the second of four public hearings required by law before it could approve the city budget for 2009.

Judge Gregory J. Tripp walked the council through the revenues and expenditures of the municipal court, plus highlighted the accomplishments the court made in 2008, including youth court, traffic school, an in-house urinalysis program that is self-sustaining (it costs the city $12,000 to run the program, but brings the city $15,000 a year), electronic home monitoring, increased training for the clerk and probation officer and a remodel of the court’s offices.

Brian Jennings, director of the community development said his department is divided into the building side of development and the planning side.