The Idaho Republican., 1917-07-20
THE SHELLEY LIGHT QUESTION
What Is the Best Interest to the
Town


iod of our development when there
should be greater thought than ever
before by our town board, it is easy
to do things that will require years
to put right, and I believe that every
citizen who has the welfare of the
town at heart, should do all In their
power to assist. and by so doing will
help relieve some of the responsible
ty off the shoulders of the officers.
At the present time we have a
matter before the board that Is caus-
ing them great concern, and several
of the business men have been asked
to express their opinion on it, there
fore l respond, l am going to be
frank in what l say as l am not
obligated to any one in the matter,
but I am going to give my thoughts
and ideas after careful consideration.
The question is, should the village
give the Shelley Light & Power COM
pany a franchise for so years?
| l say yes, the first time was ap-
preached on this matter was by a
member of the town board, l told
| him l was radical crank on such
matters, that was a strong munich
pal ownership man, after talking
with me for about one hour l told
him l would go into the matter and
give it some thought, l did, and will
give some of my reasons for coming
to the decision above. In the first
place l cannot see that it will hurt
the town in the least, by so doing
it is not giving away any of it's
rights. they cannot give an exclusive
franchise to any individual or corpor-
alton, they can give a franchise to
any number, which is plainly shown
from the record of the board, when
the Shelley Light & Power company
received their franchise for 20,
(which they now hold 13 years of
it, they granted two others the same
franchise, namely the Idaho Power
& Light and the Gem State Power
& Light or the Holm company, these
companies received the very same
consideration as the Shelley Light &
Power company did, and the board
had the right to grant them, and
could have granted as many as they
saw fit. In the next place the cry
is going up that if they give this
franchise, this will for ever more
keep us at the mercy of the COM
pany. In our last session Of the leg
islature law was passed taking out
of the hands Of the utilities commits
sion all power relative to municipal
ownership of power, light, water,
etc.. belonging TO cities, village or
towns. BY this law any town or
city can at any time buy or establish
any of the above utilities without
getting consent of the commission.
That means, no matter how many
franchises are given, and no matter
how many companies are operating
in the town or city, the town can
establish it's own, so if even the town
wants a plant 1t can get 1t without
regard to any one else, so you have
got to show me that we shall al
ways be at the mercy of the COM
pany. In talking with a member of
the board, he said that his main
reason for not giving this franchise
was that 1t would strengthen the
Shelley Light G Power-that with
getting this franchise they could
bond and get money to help them.
| asked if he could see anything
wrong in that. l said, Don't they
need strength? Won't it help the
town if they can make their plant
better?" l don't care how much
money the Shelley Light & Power
get on their bonds from this plant;
the more the merrier as long as the
town is not suffering by it; it is a
dead sure thing that if they can get
bunch of money, they will spend
the biggest part of it in Shelley, SO
who will get the benefit? They are
showing it now with the erection OF
one of the biggest Touring mills in
the state. This town has no right
to crush that enterprise. When they
started in, the people were very glad
to get their lights, and they furnish
ed it at big loss. 1t is true that
they have not given us the best OF
service, may be not as good as they
could but if it 'hads%Get been for
them, we might have gone without
lights for a long time. Let's not
burn the bridge that has carried us
over, until we get another. | think
I can hear some say that If they had
not been here we should have had
something better long ago. I don't
believe it. There has been nothing to
stop other companies coming in here
We have had lot of talk about it,
but that is all. I don't believe in
this dog-in-the- proposition.
There is nothing to stop this town
from having it's own plant, only the
nerve of getting out and getting 1t.
True, we don't want another winter
like last winter, and I don't believe
that we shall have. l think with
the arrangements we have now be-
tween the Shelley Light & Power
company and the Utah Light &
Power company that all will be well.
I have investigated that contract that
was forced onto those people and l
believe it to be all right; 1t looks
good to me.
Now let's see what it will mean to
the town to refuse this franchise.
It will mean that the Shelley Light
& Power will have to stop right
where they are now, because II they
cannot bond their plant they cannot
get the money to improve; therefore
conditions will not be much better
than they have been, and Will
be sure to get worse If they don't
keep up their plant, SO say 1t Is
a serious matter, and there VIII be
all to lose and nothing to gain by
the town turning down this fran