The mayor floated the idea less than two weeks ago and, at this point, that's really all it is -- an idea.
The proposal is to create a utilities commission, with citizens as members, to oversee water, gas, sanitary sewer and storm water systems and operations in Duluth. Its members would tackle everything from budgets to whether it makes sense to continue to fix aging pipes to setting -- and, yes, perhaps even increasing -- the utility rates we all pay for drinking water, to flush our toilets and for natural gas to heat our homes.
The idea could be genius. Like a planning commission or other unelected quasi-governmental body, a utilities commission could be loaded with experts in finance, infrastructure and other areas willing to spend the time necessary to weed through information and to reach informed, intelligent conclusions. As Mayor Don Ness said, decisions on rate hikes merit more than "a 30- or 60-minute committee of the whole meeting," which is about all that's being allotted now by the City Council.
But the idea is raising red flags, too, and for good reason. When Ness first talked publicly about the commission, one of the reasons he cited was a need to take politics out of the current system. Then Council President Jeff Anderson told News Tribune reporter Brandon Stahl he believed votes on utility rate increases should be given to a body like a citizen utilities commission that wouldn't have to bow to political pressure. Council members, he suggested, worry about voter backlash from raising rates or from unpopular votes to spend money on water or sewer pipes or other utilities needs.
Anderson has since backed off from his comments, claiming he was misrepresented and that he really has no opinion.
ADVERTISEMENT
In a statement published on today's page, Ness clearly -- and reassuringly -- states that, as he envisions the commission, the City Council would still "have final say" about rate increases and other public matters.
As council members should. Those sorts of hard decisions are why voters elected councilors to serve them -- and to answer to them. Unlike utilities commission members, councilors can be held accountable by the public and are trusted to do the right things.
A utilities commission could play a valuable role in reaching those hard decisions, however -- and would be welcomed by city workers, said Jim Benning, Duluth's director of public works and utilities.
"Right now the experts are the employees," Benning told the News Tribune Opinion page. "But there's a perception there's no oversight, that nobody is watching us. I believe we're doing a good job. We're doing the best we can with what we have.
"A public utilities commission would be welcomed," he said. "It could add some validation that what we're doing is correct."
No decisions have been made. Even if they choose to create a public utilities commission, councilors, the mayor and others in City Hall still would then have to decide who'd be on the commission, how those members would be picked, who'd do the picking, and how much authority the commission would have.
In hammering out such details, city officials can add guidance, advice and recommendations from an expert panel about how much we all pay -- and should pay -- for utilities. That would be an improvement over the current system -- as long as responsibility for making hard decisions remains where it belongs, with those chosen by the voting public to represent them.
