HomeMy WebLinkAboutConstituent Letter - Mail Packet - 3/1/2022 - Letter From Mayor Jeni Arndt To Energy Board Re: Connexion Funding Needs
Mayor
City Hall
300 LaPorte Ave.
PO Box 580
Fort Collins, CO 80522
970.416.2154
970.224.6107 - fax
fcgov.com
February 24, 2022
Energy Board
c/o Marisa Olivas
PO Box 580
Fort Collins, CO 80522
Dear Board Members:
On behalf of City Council, thank you for providing us with the February 18, 2022 memorandum
regarding “Connexion Funding Needs” wherein the Board expressed concern about Connexion
borrowing funds from the Light & Power reserve funds.
Thank you for your dedicated work on the Energy Board and within our community.
Best Regards,
Jeni Arndt
Mayor
/sek
Cc: City Council Members
Kelly DiMartino, Interim City Manager
Utilities
electric • stormwater • wastewater • water
700 Wood Street
P.O Box 580
Fort Collins, CO 80522
970.221.6700
970.221.6619 -- fax
970.224.6003 -- TDD
utilities@fcgov.com
fcgov.com/utilities
MEMORANDUM
DATE: February 18, 2022
TO: Fort Collins City Council
THRU: Steve Tenbrink, Chairperson, Fort Collins Energy Board
FROM: Fort Collins Energy Board
RE: Connexion Funding Needs
On February 10th during the monthly Energy Board meeting, Connexion personnel presented
their reasons for requesting an additional $20M in funding from the Council in order to complete
the build-out of their fiber optic infrastructure to the remaining sections of the city. The vote to
affirm their request before they present it to the Council was 6-1-1 in favor with one opposed and
one abstention. However, even though the request passed, we have some concerns about the
source of this funding.
Even though the Energy Board fully supports the roll out of Connexion Internet services to the
community, we have mixed feelings about the source proposed to obtain these funds. Connexion
wants to borrow the funds from the Light and Power (L&P) Reserve fund and use their future
operating income to repay the loan. Several members of the board expressed serious concern
about the impact of borrowing funds from the L&P Reserve including the risk if reserves were
needed for critical L&P operations or if Connexion could not pay back the loan. The Energy
Board’s primary focus is energy policy supporting Our Climate Future plus L&P
operations/plans and not Connexion deployment and operation. Our focus is on decreasing our
carbon footprint and the success of L&P operations and projects, hence our concern about using
Reserve funds.
We all want to see Connexion be successful and trust that L&P financial managers know the
risks involved in using reserve funds for such purposes.
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