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Canfield City Council adopts emergency ordinances to begin natural-gas aggregation program
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Summary
At a special meeting, the Canfield City Council adopted two emergency ordinances authorizing an agreement with Buckeye Energy Brokers Inc. for aggregation consulting services and an opt-out aggregation program with IGS Energy; council members voted to adopt both on first reading as emergency measures.
The Canfield City Council on Monday adopted two emergency ordinances to start a citywide natural-gas aggregation program, authorizing (1) an agreement with Buckeye Energy Brokers Inc. for aggregation consulting services and (2) an opt-out aggregation program with IGS Energy.
The measures were passed under the emergency provisions of the Charter of the City of Canfield, section 4.05, allowing the council to dispense with the usual two readings and adopt each ordinance on first reading. Council members recorded affirmative votes to adopt both ordinances at the special meeting.
Tom Belyshchuk, a broker identified in the meeting as representing the aggregation broker, described the proposed contract structure and how pricing would work. He said the program’s market index would be combined with a fixed adder and that the adder portion — described in the discussion as 0.256 — would be fixed for the 24-month contract term. “So it’s just a guaranteed savings,” Belyshchuk said, and he noted the contract would include a right to lock a fixed price later if market conditions become favorable.
Belyshchuk and council members discussed short-term price examples during the meeting. He said the market-derived component for October was about $0.55 per therm, that winter months were trading higher (around $0.70 per therm for some winter months), and that his team would provide fixed prices to city staff and recommend when to lock if levels reached council’s target. Council members asked that Buckeye provide monthly updates to the city manager whether or not staff recommended locking a price.
Procedurally, the council moved to dispense with the second reading of each proposed ordinance and to authorize adoption by title only under the charter’s emergency clause. A councilmember read the ordinance authorizing the agreement with Buckeye Energy Brokers Inc., and the council moved and seconded passage. Later, a councilmember read the ordinance authorizing the agreement with IGS Energy for an opt-out natural-gas aggregation program; that ordinance also was moved and seconded and adopted as an emergency measure on first reading.
Votes at a glance
- Ordinance authorizing agreement with Buckeye Energy Brokers Inc. for aggregation consulting services — Outcome: adopted as an emergency ordinance on first reading; vote tally recorded as all present voting yes (tally recorded in the minutes as yes: 4, no: 0, abstain: 0). Ordinance number: not specified in the transcript.
- Ordinance authorizing an agreement with IGS Energy for an opt-out natural-gas aggregation program — Outcome: adopted as an emergency ordinance on first reading; vote tally recorded as all present voting yes (tally recorded in the minutes as yes: 4, no: 0, abstain: 0). Ordinance number: not specified in the transcript.
The ordinances declare emergencies so the city may begin the procurement/aggregation work immediately; council members asked for continued price reporting from the broker. The record does not include detailed customer notice timelines or the exact program start date; the council directed staff and the broker to coordinate next steps and provide monthly updates to the city manager.
