City of Bemidji v. Ervin

Holt, Justice.

Plaintiffs appeal from a judgment rendered against them in an action for a declaratory judgment.

The basis for the action is in short this: Bemidji is a city governed by a home rule charter. The defendant Interstate Power Company has had a franchise under which it furnished the city and its inhabitants electric energy for light, heat, and power over a distribution system constructed and owned by the company under a franchise from the city which expired June 21, 1936. In March, 1937, the city council decided to take steps to acquire a municipally owned plant for the manufacture…