Hoping for more reliable power, Amherst looks to CIC to negotiate sale of substation

AMHERST — An $11 million plan to provide a second source of electricity to the city may now involve the sale or lease of a Milan Avenue substation to a private company. American Municipal Power Transmission is interested in taking over and expanding the substation that sits adjacent to the railroad tracks behind Amherst Eagles Aerie 1442. City Council is interested in a deal. On Tuesday, the Building and Lands Committee voted 5-1 to allow the Amherst Community Improvement Corp. to negotiate on its behalf. City Council will have to cast at least one more emergency vote in regular session to give the CIC the go-ahead to start talks with AMPT. The move is aimed at reducing citywide blackouts that result when Amherst's sole Ohio Edison power feed goes down. "Right now, every time the transmission lines to the east of us go out, the entire city is without electric," Mayor Mark Costilow said. In 2019, City Council signed a deal to sell its 69-kilovolt transmission lines to AMPT in exchange for construction of a second main power feed, this one servicing Amherst from the west. The two city-owned parcels where the Milan Avenue substation sits were part of the original contract for the sale of those lines, according to Councilman Brian Dembinski, D-1st Ward. They were removed from the document before Council signed on the dotted line. "So I will be interested to hear what's changed, why this is necessary now," he said. Dembinski, who represents City Council on the CIC, said he favors leasing the land to AMPT over selling it outright. Costilow said the CIC can be tapped to negotiate the sale of land on the city's behalf, but Councilman Chuck Winiarski, R-at large, took issue with the arrangement and voted against authorizing the arrangement. He questioned why only AMPT was allowed at the bargaining table, and why the city is not using a bidding process. Winiarski also asked whether negotiations would happen behind closed doors, which was a sticking point during talks for the sale of the 69-kilovolt lines. Costilow said the bulk of negotiations — concerning the use of the property and the price — will happen in open session, in accordance with the Ohio Open Meetings Act. However, he warned that discussions of proprietary technology could happen in an executive session: "The type of transformers, the size, the design, things like that that might not be public," he said. Costilow said he wants the feed to be up and running by the end of 2023. That depends on a number of factors falling in place, though. At the top of the list is wrapping up negotiations with property owners along the path of the transmission lines that will provide power to the city from the west. AMPT is still trying to persuade three homeowners to sign off on lease agreements providing right-of-way access for transmission lines, Costilow said. Those parties have hired attorneys. The city is not involved in those negotiations, he said. It could get involved if the matter progresses to an eminent domain case, though Costilow said he does not think that will happen — at least not yet. Reporter Jason Hawk can be reached at (440) 329-7122 or news@lcnewspapers.com.