City refreshes franchise agreement for natural gas

Refreshing a franchise agreement with the City of Sundance does not necessarily mean that Black Hills Energy will bring natural gas to town, but it will leave the door open for that to happen.

The city council passed a first reading of an ordinance that grants a non-exclusive franchise agreement to the company for the next 20 years, but Mayor Paul Brooks noted that somewhere in the region of $5 million would still need to be found in order to install the necessary infrastructure.

The council has the option to renew or end this franchise agreement every ten years.

This time around, City Attorne...