Lansing charter panel wants BWL non-city board members gone

Twelve years ago, a very powerful ice storm struck the Lansing area just before Christmas. Over 38,000 Lansing Board of Water & Light residential customers lost power, some for over a week. There was a public outcry.

Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero created a citizens’ panel to review BWL’s performance. Among its findings was that the BWL had failed to communicate properly with nearby governments representing outlying customer service areas. As a result, in 2014 the public utility’s Board of Commissioners, which is its governing body, created three new nonvoting positions to ensure representation for what was, at that time, over 35% of BWL’s customer base. Lansing voters approved the reform by 64.5% when it appeared on the ballot 11 years ago.

Now, the Lansing Charter Commission wants to get rid of those nonvoting members.

Two nonvoting members represent East Lansing and Delta Township. The third, a rotating position, represents the remaining municipalities with BWL service. Though they cannot vote on policy decisions, they are able to participate in discussions and provide feedback regarding the interests of their constituencies, including rate increases and infrastructure spending.

Michael McDaniel, an attorney who chaired the 2014 review panel, called such a step “shortsighted by the city.”

Non-Lansing BWL customers are “a regional resource that provides income to the city,” McDaniel said Tuesday. “There’s a need for representation.”

The Charter Commission, a nine-member body elected to review the city’s governing document, used a back-door method to call for ending nonvoting BWL board seats. It voted April 1 to standardize all city and boards to eight members. There was no discussion in its public sessions about the effect on the makeup of BWL board, which has eight voting members, all from Lansing, plus the three nonvoting members.

Despite how the Charter Commission arrived at its decision, the action was intentional.

Chair Brian Jeffries cited in an interview what he called recent efforts by the city of East Lansing to begin providing power delivery to their own residents and to service areas outside of East Lansing.

“East Lansing recently adopted 10 strategic goals,” he said. “One of them is to establish a regulatory authority that will purchase wholesale electrical power and then sell it to East Lansing residents, and possibly beyond,” he said.

“This would mean that the member of the board who represents East Lansing would have access to financial information and strategic plans,” he said.

“We are concerned by the possibility of competition,” he said. “Having those members on the Lansing board could provide sensitive information to a potential competitor. It creates a conflict of interest.”

Another committee member who spoke on background supported Jeffries’ explanation.

About three months ago, the news website East Lansing Info reported that the topic came up during a discussion-only East Lansing City Council session on March 11.

The story reported that Council member Mark Meadows, “whose experience on council goes all the way back to the 1990s, said creating an electric utility was discussed in the early 2000s. He said he can’t remember exactly why the idea stalled, but he thinks it may have been due to a state statute. 

“Meadows suggested Belleman look into the previous effort to create an electric utility to see if there may now be an opportunity to move forward with the idea, “the news site added, referring to City Manager Robert Belleman.

Eastlansinginfo.news also reported that another Council member, Erik Alt-mann, said at the same meeting that the cost of burying utility lines underground could be paid by establishing a regulatory authority to buy power wholesale and resell it to its own residents, and perhaps beyond.

However, Meadows and Altmann told City Pulse that Jeffries is misinformed.

“East Lansing has no plans to provide utility services independently of the Lansing Board of Power and Light,” Meadows said. “We would continue to buy power from Lansing.”

Altmann agreed with Meadows.

“It may have come up during a brainstorming session, but it never went anywhere. The city never followed up,” he said.

Moreover, the city’s website lists 10 new strategic goals, but none mention selling electrical power to new customers.

BWL general manager Dick Peffley said the public utility backs the proposed change.

“The Lansing Board of Water & Light is supportive of the Charter Commission’s proposed amendments thus far as related to the BWL,” he said in a written statement.

“As it relates to the proposal for removing the three nonvoting members and instead holding community meetings where the general manager or a designee would meet with officials and customers in the outlying townships, we have already started a version of these meetings.

“It’s important that our customers outside of the City of Lansing are heard, and we believe what’s been proposed will do that.”

Added David Price, who chairs the BWL’s board, “If the proposed charter amendments for the removal of nonvoting board members are approved by the Lansing voters, the Lansing Board of Water & Light’s commitment to open communication and transparency with our municipal partners will remain unchanged,” he said.

Tracy Miller, the Delhi Township manager, expressed little concern.

The BWL is “one of the utilities that provide service to Delhi Township residents,” she said in a written statement. “Because BWL owns and operates that system and communicates directly with its customers in the township, a change to its non-voting board is not expected to impact its service to customers here.”

Delta Township manager Brian Reed was noncommittal.

He said was aware of the changes and that the township board hasn’t taken a position.

“Delta Township and BWL officials have worked hard to maintain communication and partnerships on issues and projects that affect Delta residents, and our expectation is that to continue in the future,” he added.

Peffley said the exact process by which consumers from outlying areas will be able to provide feedback has yet to be determined. These might include open community meetings, or some other approach.

“We will respond to the governments of the affected areas regarding how they want us to address this issue,” he said.

Peffley conducted a community meeting June 4 in downtown Lansing. No one from any of the affected outlying service areas attended. In fact, only one person showed up to meet with Peffley.

The three nonvoting positions in question are currently held by Jean-Richard “J.R.” Beauboeuf of East Lansing, Stuart Goodrich of Delhi Township in the rotating seat and Robert Worthy of Delta Township.

Only Beaubouef responded to efforts to reach the three for comment. In an initial interview, he said he was unaware of the Charter Commission’s move. In a second interview, he said he thought the opposite was in the works — to give votes to the nonvoting members.

Lansing voters would decide whether to eliminate the BWL board’s nonvoting members. The Charter Commission set a goal last year of having all its recommendations on the November 2025 ballot. However, once it finishes its review, it must still get six of the nine members to agree to the package. Then it must be submitted to the governor to review. If it wins the governor’s support, then it can go before voters.