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The City’s vacation of a public street shall not deprive the Company of its right to operate and maintain existing facilities and their replacements on, below, above, or beneath the vacated property. Prior to the City abandoning or vacating any public street where the Company has facilities, the City shall grant the Company a utility easement for said facilities.
The City shall provide the Company with not less than thirty (30) days advance notice of the City’s proposed action and, upon request, retain a public easement covering existing and future facilities and activities. The City shall not be obligated to provide a utility easement if the Company is properly noticed and the Company does not make a timely request.
If the City orders or requests the Company to relocate its existing facilities or equipment in order to directly facilitate the private portion of a project of a commercial or private developer or other non-public entity, the City shall require the developer or non-public entity to reimburse the Company for the cost of such relocation as a precondition to relocation. The Company shall not be required to relocate its facilities or equipment in order to facilitate such a private project at its expense.
Nothing in this ordinance may be deemed to create civil liability on the part of the City for actions, omissions, or negligence of the Company, or of the Company’s agents, contractors, employees, licensees, or invitees. Further, nothing in this ordinance may be deemed to create civil liability on the part of the Company for actions, omissions, or negligence of the City, or of the City’s agents, contractors, employees, licensees, or invitees. This ordinance may not be interpreted or construed to provide any third parties (including, but not limited to, the Company’s customers) with any remedy, claim, liability, reimbursement, cause of action, or any other right as against the Company or the City. The Company and the City shall bear responsibility for their own actions, omissions, and negligence. The Company shall defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the City from any and all claims, suits, losses, damages, costs, reasonable attorneys’ fees, or other expenses, on account of (i) any personal injury, death, or damage to property arising from the Company’s negligent performance of its rights or obligations pursuant to its franchise and this ordinance; or (ii) any negligent act or omission of the Company, its agents, contractors, employees, licensees, or invitees in, on, or around public streets. Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions, the Company shall not be obligated to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the City for any costs or damages arising from the sole negligence of the City, its officers, employees, or agents.
The pruning and removal of trees/vegetation shall be done in accordance with current nationally accepted safety and utility industry standards and federal, state, and local laws, rules, and regulations. The Company is authorized and empowered to prune or remove, at the Company’s expense, any tree extending into any public street to maintain electric reliability, safety, to restore utility service, and to prevent limbs, branches, or trunks from interfering with the wires and facilities of the Company. The pruning and removal of trees/vegetation shall be completed in accordance with nationally accepted safety and utility standards, NSI Z133.1-2012, American National Standard for Arboricultural Operations-Safety Requirements, and ANSI A300(part 1) – 2008 Pruning, (Revision of ANSI A300 part 1-2001) American National Standard for Tree, Shrub, and other Woody Plant Management – Standard of Practices (Pruning) or subsequent revisions to these standards, and City ordinances regarding the pruning of trees that incorporate by reference that standard.
Upon request, the Company shall provide the City, on a project specific basis, information indicating the horizontal location, relative to boundaries of the public streets, of all equipment which it owns or over which it has control that is located in public streets, including documents, maps, and other information in paper or electronic or other forms (“Information”). The Company and the City recognize the Information may in whole or part be considered a confidential record under state or federal law or both. Therefore, the City shall not release the Information without prior consent of the Company and shall return the Information to the Company upon request. The City recognizes that the Company claims the Information may constitute a trade secret or is otherwise protected from public disclosure by state or federal law on other grounds, and agrees to retain the Information in its non-public files. Furthermore, the City agrees that no documents, maps, or other Information provided to the City by the Company shall be made available to the public or other entities if such documents or Information are exempt from disclosure under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Critical Energy Infrastructure requirements pursuant to 18 CFR 388.112 and 388.113, or Chapter 22 of the Code of Iowa, as such statutes and regulations may be amended from time to time. In the event any action at law, in equity, or administrative is brought against the City regarding disclosure of any document which the Company has designated as a trade secret or as otherwise protected from disclosure, the Company shall assume, upon request of the City, the defense of said action and reimburse the City any and all costs, including attorney fees and penalties to the extent allowed by law.
The Company shall construct, operate, and maintain its facilities in accordance with the applicable regulations of the Iowa Utilities Board or its successors and Iowa law. During the term of this franchise, the Company shall furnish electric energy in the quantity and quality consistent with and in accordance with the applicable regulations of the Iowa Utilities Board, the Company’s tariff made effective by the Iowa Utilities Board or its successors, and Iowa law.
There is hereby imposed a franchise fee of one percent (1%) upon the gross revenue generated from the sale of electricity by the Company within the corporate limits of the City. The franchise fee shall be remitted by the Company to the City on or before the last business day of the calendar quarter following the close of the calendar quarter in which the franchise fee is charged.
1. The Company will commence collecting franchise fees on or before the first Company billing cycle of the first calendar month following ninety (90) days of receipt of information required of the City to implement the franchise fee, including the City’s documentation of customer classes subject to or exempted from City-imposed franchise fee.
2. The City shall be solely responsible for identifying customer classes subject to or exempt from paying the City imposed franchise fee. The Company shall have no obligation to collect franchise fees from customers in annexed areas until and unless notice of such annexation has been provided to the Company by certified mail. The Company shall commence collecting franchise fees in the annexed areas no sooner than sixty (60) days after receiving notice from the City.
3. The Company shall not, under any circumstances, be required to return or refund any franchise fees that have been collected from customers and remitted to the City. In the event the Company is required to provide data or information in defense of the City’s imposition of franchise fees or the Company is required to assist the City in identifying customers or calculating any franchise fee refunds for groups of or individual customers, the City shall reimburse the Company for the reasonable expenses incurred by the Company to provide such data or information.
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