Local Opinion: Starting the conversation about prop 412

The dust is gradually settling in the aftermath of Proposition 412 failing. So, what now? The short answer is that your power will not go off, TEP will continue to operate as our primary electric utility, and we will go back to the drawing board to craft a new franchise agreement that will eventually go back to the voters for approval. Ultimately it is the community that will need to agree to the extension of the current franchise agreement. The community needs to be at the table as we work out the details of that new proposal.

As soon as it was clear Prop 412 was going to fail, I reached out to my primary contact at TEP and offered to help facilitate a meeting between TEP administration and “the community” to restart the conversation and hammer out a deal that would have buy-in from the majority of the people who actively opposed 412. I was the only member of the mayor and city council to openly oppose Prop 412 so I believe I owe it to you to make a significant effort. The reply was they’re waiting for the dust to settle and reassessing their approach.

In making the offer to facilitate I made a few things clear. First, the mayor or a representative from the mayor’s office and one other council member will need to be included. In addition the people who comprise “the community” for the purpose of these discussions would include groups who may have been on opposite sides of the 412 vote. There were far too many silos in place in the runup to 412. We need to be in the same room listening — and hearing — one another.

Secondly, my approach to a renewed franchise agreement proposal will be to sanitize what goes to the voters and put together a separate agreement that addresses climate and undergrounding commitments. A franchise agreement should simply be giving approval to the utility to work in the public right of way. I agree with Kevin Dahl when he says we tried to do too much with what went into 412. But those other elements are not unimportant — they need to be addressed simultaneously with taking another franchise agreement to the voters. Without those who opposed 412 seeing real climate commitments articulated, a renewed franchise agreement is likely to fail once again.

One example of silos being created prior to the vote took place on the issue of undergrounding utilities. There are scenic and gateway corridors surrounding and running through all parts of the city. At some point the requirement for undergrounding is going to re-emerge on a scenic corridor other than Campbell-Kino. The ordinance requiring undergrounding new utilities on scenic and gateway corridors has been in place since before even the current franchise agreement was put into effect.

Maintaining the integrity of our ordinances is important because if we give a pass now that precedent could vitiate the integrity of our ordinance later on. Undergrounding is a necessary component of whatever side agreement evolves. Let’s avoid pitting one part of Tucson against another and instead all agree that we all benefit from preserving the beauty of our entire community — now and going forward.

The mayor and council put into effect a Special Exception process for TEP to use when they want to go above ground on one of our scenic or gateway corridors. That is a very public process which remains in place, despite the 412 vote.

Climate concerns are real. TEP engages in long range planning through what’s called their Integrated Resource Plan. You can find it on their website. That is a plan — not a commitment. It is a statement of intent, not a binding statement that the public can point to and be confident certain articulated climate investments will be made throughout the course of the franchise agreement. Those certain and articulated commitments will need to be in writing if even a “sanitized” franchise agreement is to be successful. Decades ago that was not the case. That was then. This is now and our climate realities have changed.

We have until 2026 to finalize a franchise agreement. But TEP has signaled that they have immediate needs for upgrading some of their capital investments. That means the conversations — plural and in tandem — should start sooner rather than later. Putting together a bare bones, right of way permission franchise agreement is easy. Getting the parties together to create a separate binding set of agreements is going to be the challenging part. Without it the next iteration of 412 will face the same opposition. That’s the “community conversation” we need to get to work on. I stand ready as soon as TEP feels the dust has sufficiently settled to get back to work — together.