Council renews Otter Tail franchise agreement, gets clean audit report

By Jack Waters
Lancaster City Council met for its regular meeting Wednesday, June 10 with a packed agenda of new utility agreements and an audit review.
The meeting opened with a presentation from Jake Ellison, a manager for Otter Tail Power Company, about the city’s 20-year utility franchise agreement renewal, which formalizes Otter Tail’s authority to supply electrical services to the community and utilize municipal public rights-of-way for operational infrastructure. Ellison highlighted two updated clauses from the agreement of two decades prior: a full legal indemnification stating the city would be completely harmless from power company liabilities, and a provision showing the city’s statutory right to levy pass-through franchise utility fees on local customers if desired or needed.
The council then heard from Marit Martell, representing the city’s independent auditing firm Hoffman, Philipp, and Martell, who presented the comprehensive 2025 financial audit report.

To read the whole story, see the June 24, 2026, edition of the Kittson County Enterprise