By Adam Studzinski
NORMAL – The Normal Town Council will vote Tuesday night on a new franchise agreement with Nicor Gas Company.
Deputy City Manager Pamela Reece said the agreement, which would be for 25 years, allows Nicor to use the town’s right of way.
“What it does is defines what Nicor can and cannot do in the right of way, how they’ll maintain their system and comply with municipal regulations,” said Reece. “It also defines what services the municipality, the town, will get from Nicor.”
Reece explained the town will receive a onetime $42,192 payment from NICOR as part of the deal.
“They also offer us what they call ‘free therms.’ So we have some sort of access to gas, the value of those terms, at some of our municipal facilities,” she said.
Reece said the old agreement with Nicor expired in 2007 and the town has been working in a consortium with other cities to finalize a new deal since 2009.
Adam Studzinski can be reached at adam.studzinski@cumulus.com.
