GRIDLEY, CA (MPG) - A special meeting of the Gridley City Council held September 26th, 2023, caused the City of Biggs and its council to call for an emergency meeting regarding the proposed Electrical Services Maintenance Contract between the two cities.

The City of Gridley has historically provided electrical and maintenance services to the City of Biggs, who is also a member of the Northern California Power Agency.  Biggs’ service contract was up for renewal, with the current contract ending September 30th, 2023.

The previous electrical services maintenance agreement between the two cities in effect since 2020 and expiring October 1st of this year outlined that in the year 2022-2023, Biggs paid $39,385.000 per month to Gridley for services. The new contract with Gridley would be based on the previous rates with the application of a 3% increase each year to account for inflation, changing the rate to $40,566.00/month beginning October 1, 2023. Rates would increase to $41,783 for the year 2024-2025 and to $43,036 for the year 2025-2026.

Prior to the development of the new contract, both municipalities entered into studies with Utility Financial Solutions LLC (UFS) to determine the electrical distribution costs for each city. The results of the UFS study were made available to each city September 12, 2023.

The UFS study determined that distribution costs to supply electricity to Biggs ran $26,466/month. This is $12,919.00 less than their most recent monthly rate charged by the City of Gridley. It is believed that Biggs believed the information from the UFS study would be factored into future electrical services contracts between itself and the City of Gridley.

On Monday, September 25th, Biggs City Administrator Josh Cook was provided a copy of the new contract proposal from the City of Gridley. Rates reflected in the proposed contract remained consistent with previous rates.

At the Gridley City Council meeting on the 26th, Gridley council members were asked to review and vote on the contract.

City Administrator Cook and Biggs’ Mayor Brian Bassett attended the Gridley meeting to express disappointment with the proposed rates outlined in the new contract as they did not consider the findings from the UFS study, nor were they impacted by them. Remarks from Cook and Bassett both implied that they felt Biggs was being overcharged and should be paying less than the proposed $40,566/month. They both pled with the City of Gridley to negotiate a better rate.

Biggs officials expressed to Gridley councilmembers the sentiments that they felt they were being offered a “take it or leave it” deal and shared with the Herald they believed this to be because Gridley felt Biggs had “nowhere else to go” for services. The contract proposal being presented to them just days before the other’s expiration and no options for negotiations did not sit well with Biggs either.

Both Cook and Bassett requested that Gridley City Council allow for negotiations on the contract pricing before it went to a vote.

Gridley’s City Administrator Cliff Wagner responded to their concerns saying that there was never a “commitment” from Gridley to set Biggs’ rates to match the UFS study’s findings. It was also explained that the $26,466 price tag outlined in the UFS study did not include any financial responsibility for liability and risk that the City of Gridley assumes carrying the insurance and maintenance costs for equipment and crew.  The proposed contract cost of $40,566.00/month beginning Oct. 1st captured all of Gridley’s costs and liabilities.

Wagner reiterated that this was a “cost plus” contract and expressed to council and Biggs officials in attendance that no service provider would provide services at cost.

Urgency was expressed to the Gridley council over the quickly approaching deadline of the current contract and the need to have a new contract in place before the October 1, 2023 date.

In addition, Gridley’s City Attorney, Tony Galyean, confirmed that as of October 1, 2023, Gridley City Electric would not be dispatching crews or providing services to the City of Biggs unless Biggs adopted and signed the new contract. This gave Biggs officials the impression that their city was about to lose power if they did not take immediate action.

Despite Biggs’ requests, Gridley put the issue to vote. It passed 3-2 (Yes votes: James Roberts, Mayor Mike Farr, Vice Mayor Bruce Johnson. Abstain – Angel Calderon. No- Catalina Sanchez).

After the vote, a conversation ensued between City of Gridley officials and staff that caused Biggs City Council and staff concern.

With perceived distress and believing that Gridley would cut power to their city the coming weekend, Biggs called an emergency City Council Meeting Wednesday, September 27th at 7:00 pm to consider the contract proposal from Gridley regarding electrical distribution and maintenance and address the “potential loss of electrification” as stated in their agenda.

Gridley’s City Administrator Cliff Wagner attended the meeting, attempting to clarify some of the statements made at the Gridley City Council meeting and add context to additional charges to Biggs city council members. It was observed that some of Biggs officials in attendance were upset by the proceedings regarding the contract, with Mayor Bassett questioning Wagner’s comments saying, “that’s not what you said last night” in Gridley’s meeting. 

Biggs would put the issue to vote, eventually agreeing to the proposed contract rates with one council member abstaining (Bo Sheppard).

At the end of the meeting, a visibly upset Cook expressed his apologies to his council regarding the contract process, saying he was “appalled on a professional level” by the proceedings.

To view the Gridley City Council meeting please visit http://gridley.ca.us/government-and-departments/city-council/ For Biggs City Council meeting agendas and information, please visit https://www.biggs-ca.gov/Government/Agendas--Minutes/index.html