Sherwood voters will begin early voting Tuesday for a May 14 special election to see if the City Council will need a do-over for awarding a power-provider contract to North Little Rock Electric.
The question on the ballot is either for or against city Ordinance 1953, passed bythe Sherwood City Council in November, that approved a franchise agreement with the North Little Rock utility to continue providing electricity service to a portion of Sherwood.
Other areas of Sherwood receive electricity either from Entergy Arkansas Inc., or First Electric Cooperative. Even though the election outcome won’t affect either of those utilities’ customers in Sherwood, registered voters in those areas can participate in the election.
Early voting will be 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday at the Jack Evans Senior Center, 2301 Thornhill Drive in Sherwood. Early voters also can cast ballots at the Pulaski County Regional Building, 501 W. Markham St., in Little Rock, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and again on May 13.
Polls on May 14 will be open 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. at regular Sherwood voting sites.
If the ballot question is voted down, the immediate impact would only be for the City Council to reopen negotiations with all three utilities to choose a power provider for the southwestern part of the city - about a 9.6-mile radius mostly south of Kiehl Avenue - where North Little Rock Electric currently serves about 7,000 customers.
The council took more than six months last year before deciding in a 5-3 vote onNov. 26 to extend its agreement with North Little Rock Electric from July 1, 2015, through the next 20 years.
Sherwood Mayor Virginia Hillman said that if the ordinance is overturned, the City Council “could go back to a selection process with the chance that they are going to make the same choice again.”
North Little Rock Electric began providing power to part of the city years before Sherwood incorporated in 1948. The city began in 2010 paying $470,000 into Sherwood’s general fund to return a portion of the electric revenue paid by its Sherwood customers, a payment now included in the new contract.
The ordinance is going before voters because a group opposing the council’s decision gathered enough signatures during a petition drive to call for a referendum.
Don Berry, chairman of Citizens of Sherwood Together, said recently that the opposition group formed because of what he said is dissatisfaction with North Little Rock Electric’s rates and because enough residents questioned the council’s process in deciding to stick with North Little Rock Electric.
Berry said his group believes the selection process should be reopened and the city should hire an independent consultant to make a recommendation to the City Council.
“We believe there should be more of an effort to look at it,” Berry said. “From our perspective, it’s never been about choosing one power company or the other. Our argument was about the process the city used to come to the decision they did.
“This very well may turn out at the end of the day that North Little Rock is the best option over the others,” said Berry, whose home is withinFirst Electric Cooperative’s service area. “But it’s the process that wins as opposed to the utility winning on suspect grounds.”
A different group more recently formed in support of Ordinance 1953, Facts About Customers Electric Services, that is made up of residents who live in the part of Sherwood that receives its electricity from North Little Rock Electric.
“We actually live in that part of the community affected,” said Beverly Williams, the group’s chairman. “We think there have been too many rumors.”
Williams has been at the forefront of public meetings that the group has sponsored to answer questions about the contract with North Little Rock Electric and about the election’s purpose. A former math teacher, Williams spent about 40 minutes using a dry erase board at a public meeting to break down figures for the three utilities on rate structure, service reliability and average length of power failures.
“I don’t think we’re being emotional. I think we’re trying to be factual,” Williams said. “We believe our City Council did their due diligence. They spent six to eight months on this and had a special committee study it. Exactly what [voting yes] means is that the contract for North Little Rock Electric customers will be renewed.”
North Little Rock also has a stake in its neighbor’s election. Losing Sherwood would mean having about 17 percent fewer customers, which would reduce the volume discount the city-owned utility receives when purchasing power in the open market. One result could be North Little Rock residents paying higher rates in the future, said North Little Rock Mayor Joe Smith.
North Little Rock will spend money from its utility funds between now and the election to distribute campaign literature in support of Sherwood retaining its contract, Smith said.
“Our goal in this particular campaign is just to give the facts,” Smith said. “We think we’ve given Sherwood great service. We treat them no differently than we treat our own citizens. We hope they realize that and hope that they want to stay with us.”
Arkansas, Pages 13 on 05/05/2013