Madison Utilities Board approves agreement with city

The Madison Utilities Board approved a new agreement that will clarify things not covered in its original franchise agreement with the city of Madison.

Madison Utilities general manager Ricky Pounders explained the agreement was a water and sewer relocation agreement.  

“What it’s basically defining is that any time there’s a city project where they may be wanting to upgrade the area, such as Hwy 72, to accommodate parking or something like that, then the city will pay for any relocation costs associated with water and sewer,” Pounders said. “And we would agree to set aside some funds to help assist in road repairs in the city that maybe after a period of time starts to fail, and it’s a road where our sewer main is in the center of the road.”

He said it’s a win-win for both sides, as Madison Utilities will help the city with certain road repairs and the city, in turn, will help cover relocation costs for Madison Utilities.

“When the franchise agreement was drafted back in the ‘80s, Madison was very different then than what it is today,” Pounders said. “So this was an attempt to kind of clear up some points that could be potential confusion points between the two sides.”

He said this can help them go forward and know how to budget.

It requires both the Madison Utilities Board approval and the City Council’s approval.

Now that it has been approved by the Board, the City Council will discuss it at their next meeting, which has been rescheduled for Tuesday, June 28.

“If the Council approves it Tuesday, then it will have an effective date of July 1,” Palmer explained.