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Local presenters urge Lincoln to put public-power cooperative on November ballot
Summary
A local committee presented a plan to form a member-owned electric cooperative that it says could lower retail electricity rates and reinvest revenue locally; presenters asked the town to place a referendum on the November ballot and outlined USDA financing and a tight filing timeline.
Will Hernandez, chair of the East Milan planning board, introduced a proposal to Lincoln Town Council from a multi-town committee seeking to create a member-owned electric cooperative.
"We finally came to a conclusion that the only way to solve this problem is to take control of it ourselves," said Sam Smith, who described the committee’s plan to form a generation-and-transmission cooperative that would sell retail power to members. Smith told the council the co-op could deliver what he characterized as 30%–50% savings compared with current private retailers, invest revenue back into infrastructure and avoid investor profit margins that raise rates.
Smith described a multi-step path: (1) towns vote to place a referendum question on the November ballot; (2) if voters sign a mandate, the group would incorporate under state law and seek USDA financing; (3) the co-op would operate as a nonprofit with locally elected trustees and pursue generation projects over time. He said some towns have already scheduled informational meetings and urged Lincoln to move quickly to meet ballot-filing deadlines.
As part of the talk, Smith said the group would use the threat of eminent domain only as a last resort if private utilities decline to negotiate asset transfers. "That just puts the question out there that will give us the mandate to incorporate under the state," he said, adding the co-op would be the member-owned nonprofit that assumes fiscal responsibility for its assets.
Councilors asked about timeline and process. Smith told the council September filings for the normal November ballot are the absolute latest and urged an earlier decision so informational meetings could be scheduled that would allow voters adequate time to consider the referendum.
The presenters offered additional materials by request, including background on statutes they cited, union consultations and examples of existing cooperatives. No formal council action to place a question on the ballot was recorded during the meeting; presenters said they would return with materials and schedule informational sessions if the town indicates interest.
