VILLAGE OF MORRISVILLE WATER AND LIGHT DEPARTMENT
August 3, 2009
MONDAY 6:00 PM
Water and Light Office
The meeting duly noticed and warned was called to order at 6:00 PM.
PRESENT:
Trustees: Tim Sargent, Ed DeBor, Peter Bourne, and Dana Wildes
Staff: Craig Myotte, Jim Fontaine, Penny Jones, Mary Ann Wilson, and Linda Osgood
GUEST: Wally Reeve, John Lavigne
9) DISCUSS HYDRO REPORT AND FUTURE POWER SUPPLY STRATEGIES:
John Lavigne of HL Turner Group joined by speaker phone to give a verbal overview of the hydro assessment study his Group recently finished for MW&L. They concentrated on the civil works, the mechanical works, and the operation & maintenance of our plants. They benchmarked our facilities against industry standards. They did not actually test any equipment but they did identify a number of deficiencies at each facility and built an energy model to test the results of correcting the deficiencies. He discussed recommendations and possible increased generation that may result. The final version of their report will be available by the end of next week.
6) APPROVE VILLAGE TAX RATE 2009:
Mary Ann Wilson recommends the same tax rate of 0.0079% for 2009. There was a brief discussion about possibly raising the tax rate next year by 1/2˘ to raise funds for either the Amy Wade fund or possibly lighting the gazebo. On a motion by Trustee DeBor, seconded by Trustee Wildes and approved by all present, the Board approved the Village tax rate for 2009 of 0.0079%.
1) PUBLIC MEETING:
Wally Reeve was in attendance to observe the meeting.
2) CURRENT PRIORITY PROJECTS:
The Board reviewed the status of the current priority
projects. The bid opening for the water
storage project is tomorrow. The Board
also feels that fixing/replacing/repairing the horizontal unit at Cady’s Falls
should be a priority before our FERC relicensing. We do not want FERC to decrease our capacity.
3) MANAGEMENT REPORT:
John Tilton did a lot of work on the wicket gates of the
1,200 kw unit so it is back on-line.
Several of the wicket gates were not closing properly. A recent test of the EAP for Green River
shows it needs work. The pagers just
don’t work well. July has been a good
month for generation. The flashboards at
Cady’s Falls and Morrisville were back in place for one day before being washed
downstream by high water. The Noyes
Museum is happy with the storage space in the Creamery Building.
The new WWTF is on-line and running very well. The chlorine contact tank has been
demolished. The slab for the new
centrifuge is being poured. The old
clarifiers have been drained. Both old
aeration tanks have been drained and the aerators are being disassembled.
The bid openings for the reservoir project is scheduled
for tomorrow. The Board asked to be
notified of the results. We have been
fielding a lot of questions about the blue markings on Maple Street. Those marks are for a sprinkler system being
installed at the corner of Maple Street and Copley Country Club Road. That contractor will actually bore under
Maple Street to connect.
Penny completed the SQRP filing for the 2nd
quarter. We had one billing error but
were within acceptable ranges. The
significant drop in accounts receivable is due to the payment of the lien on
Munchy’s however, electric AR is back up due to the back-billing issue brought
to the Board’s attention at a previous meeting.
Penny handed out a draft of the June financials and she is preparing for
the USDA/RDA loan closing on 9/1.
Craig is trying to wrap up transmission wheeling rates so
we will be ready to go when the new 115 KV line goes in service. If a utility needs to cancel an existing
transmission agreement in order to switch to us, they need to give CVPS a heads
up. Craig has also been working on power
supply.
David Ring filed a complaint with the State Water
Supply. Jim will meet the Water Supply
representative and we may end up digging up that service just to see exactly
what we are dealing with.
Stowe has had a series of outages, a few caused by
MW&L but most caused by VELCO. While
the 115 KV line is being built, Stowe is being single-fed through MW&L so
any blinks on our line dump the Stowe load.
The construction of that new line is only a little behind schedule.
4) APPROVE MINTUES OF MEETING HELD JULY 20, 2009:
The Chairman wanted to delete one sentence from Item #6.
On a motion by Trustee Bourne, seconded by Trustee Wildes and approved by majority, the Board approved the amended minutes of the July 20, 2009, regular meeting. Trustee DeBor abstained.
5) APPROVE MINUTES OF MEETING HELD JULY 15, 2009, WITH SELECTBOARD:
On a motion by Trustee DeBor, seconded by Trustee Wildes and approved by all present, the Board approved the minutes of the July 15, 2009, meeting with the Selectboard.
7) APPROVE LIEN ON PROPERTY LOCATED AT 1714 PUCKER STREET IN STOWE:
On a motion by Trustee Bourne, seconded by Trustee DeBor and approved by all present, the Board approved the Lien on 1714 Pucker Street, Stowe, Vermont, in the amount of $113.43.
8) UPDATE OF WWTF/WATER METER PROJECT:
Covered in Manager’s Report.
9) DISCUSS HYDRO REPORT AND FUTURE POWER SUPPLY STRATEGIES:
The Board needs further time to review the HL Turner study. They did review the format of the power supply variance report. Trustee Wildes, pointing out the anticipated completion of the 115 KV line of October, verified that the anticipated increased transmission costs were worked into the calculation for the recent rate increase.
The HQ negotiations are much more complex than any previous negotiations. Our IRP shows a below-market cost for HQ that it doesn’t look like we are going to get. With HQ and VY both expiring about the same time, the Trustees asked if there is anywhere you can hedge electricity. Craig will investigate.
10) RATE MITIGATION STRATEGIES:
Trustee Bourne doesn’t see any way to make our customer use more power so the best opportunity to mitigate our rates is to invest in our own hydro. Craig still needs to find out how much of the proposed work on our facilities will count towards our SPEED requirements.
The Board also feels it is past time to sell non-productive assets because any additional bonding could cripple the Electric Department. Penny pointed out that the PSB may be okay with MW&L having a pot of money in reserve as long as it is earmarked for something. Selling Zackwoods is the most workable but the Board wondered if they should try again to get voter permission to sell the 18 acres behind Bishop Marshall School. Trustee Bourne wanted to move ownership of the Gristmill and Creamery from MW&L to the Village so the Village has a say in their disposition. He then directed staff to ask Primmer & Piper for the legal, cheapest route to move those properties from MW&L to the Village.
11) OTHER BUSINESS:
The Vermont Municipal Bond Bank had a refunding certificate that it wished the Board to sign. Although MW&L is looking at a $100,000 refund, it is unknown in what format we will receive the money after the loan matures in 2014. The Board wanted to wait for that clarification before signing. The item was tabled until the next meeting.
Craig suggested that the next meeting start with a tour of the new Stowe substation then proceed to the Trout Club.
Lamoille Regional Solid Waste Management District wants to install a compactor on our Center Road property they use. Because of the cost of the compactor, they would also like a five-year lease instead of one year at a time. The Board agreed.
Trustee DeBor pointed out that Lamoille County Planning recently received a $30,000 grant for energy planning in Lamoille County. Although many options were discussed in their meeting, no one ever mentioned contacting the five electric municipals in Lamoille County for their input.
12) EXECUTIVE SESSION:
At 8:20 PM, on a motion by Chairman Sargent, seconded by Trustee Wildes and approved by all present, the Board went into Executive Session to discuss contracts.
At 8:30 PM, on a motion by Trustee Bourne, seconded by Trustee Wildes and approved by all present, the Board came out of Executive Session.
11) ADJOURNMENT:
At 8:30 PM, on a motion by Trustee Bourne, seconded by Trustee Wildes and approved by all present, the Board adjourned the meeting.
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Edward DeBor, Clerk