If you voted in recent elections, you may be one of the 7,000 "randomly selected" people that recently got a flyer from a local polling website.
The flyer directs you to a poll labeled "LP&L Survey." It asks some pretty specific questions regarding the City's control over the utility.
This past year, the Lubbock Power and Light Board asked for some revisions to its charter document; one of those revisions concerned the authority over LP&L's budget.
Glen Robertson has been on the LP&L board for about two months. He said he started receiving phone calls from people who got the flyer in the mail. Most of them assumed LP&L or the board had something to do with it, he said.
"I don't know if it's a grab for money, I don't know if it's a grab for power. I don't think anybody knows, but I think those are the questions we have to start asking now," Robertson said.
City Councilwoman Karen Gibson said whoever is responsible must have an agenda.
"Reading over it the first time, it's definitely biased toward LP&L. I do not know who generated it, I don't know where it came from, but it's very obvious it's to get the answers they want," Gibson said.
Most of the questions on the survey are prefaced with background information such as the city's recent reinstatement of street light fees to LP&L.
The first question on the survey asks "Should the City Charter be amended to dictate that LP&L should ONLY pay fees that are charged to other utilities at the same rate?"
The answer choices listed are "Yes, LP&L should only pay the same as other utilities," or "No, the City Council has the authority to dictate other payments."
"The way they ask the questions, the background information, the way it is slanted, I think they're trying to sway public opinion," Robertson said. "Somebody wants control of LP&L. They don't want the city, they do not want the our elected officials to have any say so. That's what bothers me and has me asking this question...who and why? And I think why is a lot more important than who," Robertson said.
Gibson said whoever is responsible for the poll is probably pulling for another stab at a city charter review.
Gibson has other plans, she said because LP&L is a city entity, she's currently drafting a resolution to make it more financially transparent.
"If the citizens of this city want this to happen, and they want it to be completely separate, and they want the board to be completely separate, that's fine," Gibson said. "I was elected to protect the citizens of this city, and to protect the tax payers interest of this city, mainly this district. And so until that changes, I will do so."
Robertson said the completion of this survey could end up costing tens of thousands of dollars. He said the director of the power company has assured him that no LP&L funds were used.
