Illinois Valley Electric Co-Operative, Inc. v. City of Princeton

594 N.E.2d 347, 229 Ill. App. 3d 631, 171 Ill. Dec. 495
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMay 19, 1992
Docket3-91-0624
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 594 N.E.2d 347 (Illinois Valley Electric Co-Operative, Inc. v. City of Princeton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Illinois Valley Electric Co-Operative, Inc. v. City of Princeton, 594 N.E.2d 347, 229 Ill. App. 3d 631, 171 Ill. Dec. 495 (Ill. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

JUSTICE SLATER

delivered the opinion of the court:

This case involves a dispute between plaintiff Illinois Valley Electric Co-Operative, Inc. (IVEC), and defendant City of Princeton (City) over which party is entitled to provide electricity to certain properties lying outside the corporate limits of the City. The trial court ruled in favor of the City. We affirm.

As a preliminary matter, we note that only count II of plaintiff’s original complaint is before this court. Four additional counts contained in plaintiff’s original and amended complaints were dismissed by the trial court prior to its decision on the merits of count II. Plaintiff’s attempt to appeal from the dismissal of those counts was dismissed by this court as untimely or because they had been abandoned.

The City operates a municipal utility pursuant to the Illinois Municipal Code (the Code) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 24, par. 1 — 1—1 et seq.), which allows the City to own and operate a public utility within its corporate limits (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 24, par. 11— 117 — 1). The Code also allows the City to own and operate power lines or substations outside the corporate limits, but effective October 1, 1972, “no new customer which an electric supplier is entitled to serve under the Electric Supplier Act [(Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 111⅔, par. 401 et seq.)] may be served from any line, lines or other facilities located without the corporate limits of a municipality unless waiver to serve such a customer is given in writing by the electric supplier” (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 24, par. 11 — 117—1).

The City provides electrical services to a subdivision, two trailer courts and a few other individual customers located outside the corporate limits. Count II of IVEC’s complaint sought declaratory and injunctive relief to prevent the City from continuing to service these customers. The parties submitted a stipulated statement of facts to the trial court, relevant portions of which are summarized below.

Max Coville started working for the City’s municipal utility in 1950. Coville became distribution superintendent in 1967 and held that position until he retired in 1986. Coville identified the following properties located outside the City as receiving electrical service from the municipal utility: the Old Brewery Lake subdivision, connected in 1963; the Brenda Fetzer property, connected after 1986; the George Byers property, located in the Old Brewery Lake subdivision, connected in 1984 or 1985; Elm City trailer park, connected between 1963 and 1965; Hillview trailer park, originally connected in the late 1950s or early 1960s with lines rebuilt and two new meter loops installed in the early 1970s; the Steven Schmidt property, connected in the middle 1970s, which was part of a larger property owned by Schmidt’s father which was connected in the middle or early 1960s or possibly as early as the 1950s; the Bob Fritz property, connected about 1978; Enstar cable television company, connected in approximately 1977; and the Vi Strunk property, connected since the early 1950s.

According to Coville, two IVEC officials, Milford Jontz and Roy Horton, met with City officials in 1963 to discuss extending electric service to the Old Brewery Lake property and the Elm City trailer park. IVEC did not want to service these areas because they were too far away. The City and IVEC agreed that the City would service Old Brewery Lake and Elm City and in exchange IVEC would be allowed to service its office building located within the City limits. To the best of Coville’s knowledge, no written document was prepared regarding this agreement, nor did he know whether the City had any record of the agreement, although the City did keep minutes of its meetings.

Milford Jontz began working for IVEC in 1940 and was manager from 1958 until he left the company in 1979. According to Jontz, IVEC agreed to let the City provide electrical service to the Old Brewery Lake subdivision and he thought that this agreement should be reflected in IVEC’s minutes. IVEC and the City reached a similar agreement with regard to Elm City trailer park after two or three meetings between IVEC’s president and vice-president and the City’s utility manager. Jontz initially stated that he believed IVEC provided service to Hillview trailer park, but later stated that IVEC told the owner of the trailer park to see the City about electric service. Although Jontz thought that IVEC serviced a couple of trailers in the park, he admitted that he was unsure. Jontz related that it was IVEC’s policy during the time that he was manager that if the City had a primary line closer to a location than IVEC, then the City was allowed to serve that property. IVEC was operating on a very limited budget and wanted to give its customers the cheapest rate that it possibly could. At that time IVEC was operating in eight counties and “it had about all it could handle, as far as building lines and so forth.” This policy, which was in effect from approximately 1955 to 1979, should have been reflected in IVEC’s minutes, although Jontz did not know if it was. IVEC kept minutes of meetings on a regular basis and these minutes accurately reflected what occurred at the meetings.

Sharon Mercer was manager of the City’s municipal utility from 1976 to 1989. She stated that the City had no written policy regarding extending power outside the City limits. Mercer was not aware of any written agreements in the City’s records which would allow the City to furnish power outside the City limits.

Jack Best has been IVEC’s assistant manager since 1977. Best conducted an exhaustive search of IVEC’s records in an attempt to locate any written minutes reflecting the policy referred to by Jontz of allowing the City to serve customers outside the City limits. No such minutes could be found, nor were there any written agreements or memoranda of oral agreements indicating that IVEC allowed the City to service the Old Brewery Lake subdivision, Elm City trailer park or other properties.

Timothy Christensen has been general manager of IVEC since 1983. Christensen testified that a thorough review of IVEC’s records failed to disclose any minutes, memoranda or written agreements which would substantiate Jontz’s recollection that IVEC allowed the City to serve customers located outside the City limits. The only agreement between IVEC and the City found by Christensen was one in which the City released the right to serve IVEC’s east warehouse in 1983 and another agreement in which IVEC released the right to serve the City’s landfill in 1986. Christensen acknowledged that IVEC provides electricity to its corporate headquarters which are located within the City limits, even though those headquarters are not included in the agreement allowing IVEC to serve its east warehouse.

The parties stipulated to certain meter set date records which showed the date on which various meters were set by the City in the Old Brewery Lake subdivision, Elm City trailer park, Hillview trailer park, and other properties. Many of the meters were set after the effective date of the Electric Supplier Act, which was July 2,1965.

In its order entering judgment for the City, the trial court found:

“1.

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Bluebook (online)
594 N.E.2d 347, 229 Ill. App. 3d 631, 171 Ill. Dec. 495, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/illinois-valley-electric-co-operative-inc-v-city-of-princeton-illappct-1992.