Opinion ID: 2647906
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Powers Essential to Corporation’s Declared

Text: Objects & Purposes Finally, the City’s extraterritorial power of eminent domain may be implied if having that power is “essential to the accomplishment of the declared objects and purposes of the [City].” Black, 834 P.2d at 310. The City argues that power to condemn easements outside of city limits is essential to accomplishing the statutory mandate to provide electrical power at the “lowest possible cost.” See § 50-1028. 16 ALLIANCE V. CITY OF IDAHO FALLS There is no basis for the City’s implicit argument that the legislature intended this “lowest possible cost” mandate to effect an expansion of municipal power. In fact, the opposite is true. Use of the term “possible” implies that the City should do all within the powers it has been granted elsewhere to accomplish the objective of providing low-cost power. See Webster’s Third New International Dictionary 1771 (1993) (defining “possible” as “falling or lying within the powers (as of performance, attainment, or conception) of an agent or activity expressed or implied”). It does not imply that the City may exceed its powers already granted in order to provide power at lower cost, or that new powers may be generated in pursuit of that objective. The City relies on Big Sky Paramedics, LLC v. Sagle Fire District, 95 P.3d 53 (Idaho 2004), to support its argument; Big Sky is distinguishable. In Big Sky, the court started with the premise that § 31-1401 “grants fire districts power for ‘[t]he protection of property against fire and the preservation of life . . . .’” Id. at 54. Relying on the trial court’s finding that the Sagle Fire Protection District (“SFPD”) provided a quicker ambulance response to emergencies than a private competitor, the court concluded that SFPD’s provision of its own ambulance services was “indispensable” to its purpose of providing for “the preservation of life.” See id. at 55. By contrast here, the district court did not find, as a matter of fact, that completion of the North Loop in its current configuration will enable IFP to provide power at the “lowest possible cost.” Furthermore, there is nothing in the record to support that proposition. Thus, unlike in Big Sky, there is no factual basis for concluding that the exercise of eminent domain is “essential” to accomplishing the City’s objective. ALLIANCE V. CITY OF IDAHO FALLS 17 Additionally, the City relies on § 50-1028’s broad mandate to provide electricity at the “lowest possible cost” to circumvent other statutory provisions that would deny the City the power it seeks. In Big Sky, granting the SFPD the power to operate an ambulance service did not create such tension with other statutes. Ultimately, we must reject the City’s attempt to find in this broad mandate additional powers the legislature has not granted it elsewhere.