VILLAGE OF MORRISVILLE WATER AND LIGHT DEPARTMENT

July 7, 2008

MONDAY 6:00 PM

Water and Light Office

The meeting duly noticed and warned was called to order at 6:00 PM.

PRESENT:

Trustees: Dana Wildes, Ed DeBor, Peter Bourne (6:15pm), Keith Thompson

Staff: Craig Myotte, Jim Fontaine, Linda Osgood

Guests: Ms. Rhonda Shippee (RDA), Mr. Brad Aldrich (FA&A) by telephone

ABSENT:

Trustee Sargent, Penny Jones

1) PUBLIC MEETING:

No members of the public were present.

2) OLD BUSINESS – ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND GREEN RESOURCE INVESTMENT:

Greg Cloutier has agreed to clarify his report. Bill Clewes has recommended MW&L treat generation as a separate business unit and the Chairman felt this might be a good idea but clarified that we would not become Morrisville Water, Light, Sewer and Generation. Craig replied he did not have a breakout of the numbers to check the feasibility of such a move and it may take the rest of 2008 to figure out a way to do it.

3) MANAGEMENT REPORT:

The bid openings for the head gate project at Plant #2 will be this week. The Chairman asked if the budget of $300,000 would be enough. Jim did not think so but we must wait and see. As the head gates do not seal shut anymore, we have to dump bags of bark mulch in to seal them every time we need to do work from a safety standpoint.

A transformer overheated near the intersection of Routes 15 and 100 knocking out electric and telephone service.

The project of isolating Elmore from the north end of Morrisville via Sub #5 is progressing and should be completed this year.

The Chairman asked if there had been any movement on the process of transferring the Grist Mill and Creamery buildings from MW&L to the Village. That work has not started yet.

Craig stated that Penny has met, or will meet, with our insurance agent. She is just talking with them at this point and is not renewing the policies yet. We are a little late in looking for a new insurance carrier as most of our policies renew July 1^st.

The Trustees reviewed the May 2008 financial reports. The Chairman noted that when sewer allocation (which is not really an operational item and shouldn’t be used to balance the budget) was removed from the financials that sewer was not doing very well.

Craig stated that Penny has been having discussions with Shaun Kuney (Munchy’s Snackbar). MW&L has a lien in place. Sean has offered a repayment plan of $100/month. Penny will document it and keep a pretty firm hand on it. The Chairman emphasized that we make sure any contract with Sean was very clear and that the lien would stay in place until paid in full. He also said that if Sean was going to lease the property and not sell it, the water and sewer bill should stay in his name.

1a) APPROVE RDA REQUEST FOR REFUND:

Rhonda Shippee from Rural Development arrived at this time and Brad Aldrich of Forcier, Aldrich & Associates was tied in via speaker phone. Ms. Shippee provided background information on the process that RD uses for pledging money and the Farm Bill. Ms. Shippee explained that FA&A had achieved $315,000 in value engineering savings and the RD needed to reduce the grant by this amount to provide to another project in Vermont. Ms. Shippee assured the Board that if anything catastrophic happens, RDA will help and they will not come back looking for more refunds of the grant money.

On a motion by Trustee DeBor, seconded by Trustee Bourne and approved by all present, the Board approved the resolution to reimburse RDA $315,000 from our Grant.

3) MANAGEMENT REPORT (cont.):

Craig felt the presentation to Hyde Park went very well and was well-received. Senator Bartlett had attended to support Stowe’s proposal. However, Hyde Park has since called and asked MW&L to represent them at VPPSA Board meetings. Craig needs to work out a billing format as he will already be attending the meetings on MW&L’s behalf.

Senator Bartlett wants to meet to discuss telecommunications. The impression is that Ed French and Ellen Burt are in cahoots with Senator Bartlett but no one is sure of what their agenda actually is. The Chairman believes that Mr. French must be behind Stowe’s push to form a new entity to serve the same purpose as VPPSA. Trustee Bourne asked Craig to make it clear that MW&L has no reason to leave VPPSA, which Craig already has done. The Chairman pointed out that when Stowe uses the excuse that the municipalities are too small separately to play on the national power level it makes no sense because even the entire State of Vermont is too small to play at that level.

A mediation session is planned for July 22^nd on the CVPS/Northern Loop loss dispute. The mediator is from California and has asked some good preliminary questions. Craig does not believe the mediator will be able to settle the argument unless they get CVPS to agree with us 100%.

We met the Carter’s deadline for their closing with the quitclaim deed that allowed more than one sewer connection. They were pleased.

We gave a partial release to Darrow Mansfield.

We have filed a Small Claims Court complaint for a pole accident with a stolen car. Owner of car says he is not responsible for an accident that happened after his car was stolen. This will test the waters to seek a settlement of at least the legal fees. The police report has some ambiguity about whether the car was actually stolen as the owner left the keys in the ignition.

Trustee DeBor stated the recent press releases have been excellent. Craig felt Amy Noyes of the News & Citizen was doing a good job. At least we show that MW&L is being proactive for our customers for a change.

The Chairman asked if we had heard anything from Allan Cusson. No but Jim has spoken to him about his moving into the Fairground Plaza. A $4,000 sewer allocation will be due from Manosh as Allan is planning on having some seating.

4) APPROVE MINUTES OF MEETINGS HELD JUNE 16, 2008:

On page one in the Manager’s Report, it should read Pike Industries instead of Salvas Construction.

On a motion by Trustee Bourne, seconded by Trustee Thompson and approved by all present, the Board accepted the amended minutes of the June 16, 2008, regular meeting.

5) APPROVE REIMBURSEMENT RESOLUTION:

As we have used $300,000 of MW&L’s money for various costs of the WWTF upgrade, Penny wanted to be reimbursed from the RDA Grant.

On a motion by Trustee Thompson, seconded by Trustee Bourne and approved by all present, the Board signed the Reimbursement Resolution.

6) APPROVE GENERAL LEGAL SERVICES AGREEMENT WITH STEVEN’S LAW OFFICE FOR 2008:

Rate was reduced 25% to $150/hour.

The Board has already approved this agreement once a rate was secured. The Clerk now has permission to sign the Agreement on the Board’s behalf.

6a) AMEND ORIGINAL WATER METER BID:

Staff recommended that the Trustees amend a motion made at a previous meeting. Trustee Thompson moved to modify the water meter bid to approve expending up to $59,450 to upgrade the proposed water meter devices to smart meters at management’s discretion.

On a motion by Trustee Bourne, seconded by Trustee Thompson and approved by all present, the Board amended the original water meter bid proposal to spend up to $59,450.

7) UPDATE OF WWTF PROJECT:

Preconstruction meetings have taken place with Ti-Sales, Keymont and VTrans and all agreements have been signed.

Ed Stanek has been asked what we need to do to clean up the Act 250 permit. Mr. Stanak stated that he needs to see work product (zoning bylaw changes and a statement regarding mitigation of the impact on prime agricultural soils.

Received a letter from Steve Rae. It looks like the zoning bylaws will have to be amended to deal with prime agricultural soils which is needed to release our Act 250 permit. Chairman Wildes suspects Steve is looking for language under prime agricultural soils where a developer must mitigate use of prime agricultural soils with money to go to the Morristown Conservation Trust.

8) DISCUSS FUTURE POWER SUPPLY OPTIONS:

The engineering for Project #10 (Swanton peaking unit) is wrapping up. The 248 Permit is on schedule and should be issued in either September or October of this year. The completion window is 2009-2010.

The schedule on the Ludlow woodchip plant slipped behind one month. VPPSA will be looking for MW&L’s commitment in August or September of this year.

VPPSA has signed an agreement with the landowner for the East Mountain Wind Project.

The McNeil NOX Project is scheduled for completion on October 1, 2008.

The Stonybrook unit capacity may be increased. MW&L would have an option to purchase into the additional capacity. VPPSA is looking at the economics.

Trustee Thompson questioned possibility/feasibility of putting money into a project. Craig clarified that we are not. We own a piece of the project. Trustee Thompson then asked why Ludlow would want the project. They have enough wood supply. The wood supply of Vermont is broken up into three districts: Northern, Central, and Southern. The Rygate plant uses most of the central state timber available and McNeil uses most of the northern state timber available. Ludlow will use the southern state timber available.

The Trustees had a long discussion on power supply. Trustee DeBor commented that we need a long-term plan for power supply. The Trustees questioned if VPPSA was doing enough for us or if we should be negotiating our own contracts and building our own projects. Trustee Thompson commented that it would be nice if we could think outside the box, if for nothing more than image. Cheaper power will create growth. Can we set goals to produce more ourselves? Can we build local projects? Can we collaborate with customers on co-generation? Trustee Bourne asked if we could install a microturbine in the main line coming out of the proposed new reservoir. Craig stated that power supply represents a significant portion of our costs and he plans to allocate more of his time to developing a long-term plan for MW&L.

9) OTHER BUSINESS:

Received a letter from Tracy & Ernie Patnoe asking MW&L to purchase the development rights on their land inside the wellhead protection area. Craig has requested additional information from them (dollar figure). The Chairman stated he was still trying to understand the first part of their letter.

Received request to trap in Zackwoods from Scott Johnson, who needs landowner permission to trap in-season. The Chairman is concerned about the safety of others using the property. Jim promised to get more details on what he will be trapping, when, etc.

Received request for the Village for reimbursement for damage to their 4^th of July banner. Mary Ann Wilson felt the air holes we cut in the banner were sloppy and done in poor places. The Board feels that we’ve done enough public services for the Town (flags, banners, wreaths, etc.) over the years. MW&L is also trying to get out of the banner business. Trustee Bourne suggested creating a release for banner owners to sign for damages and to also install a policy that we will not accept a banner unless the air holes are already cut.

On a motion by Trustee Bourne, seconded by Chairman Wildes and approved by all present, the Board declined to reimburse the Town for the 4^th of July banner.

The Mahoney summons still lists Village of Morrisville as defendant in the Bradley lawsuit instead of Morrisville Water & Light.

Trustee Thompson asked if MW&L could establish a fund for low-income customers to help with power bills this winter. Trustee Bourne pointed out that CVCAC already has warmth funds but maybe we could include inserts in our bills for them. The United Way still hasn’t set up the wood-from-right-of-ways project. Trustee Thompson suggested that MW&L put up $5,000 and get another business to match it.

10) EXECUTIVE SESSION:

Not required.

11) ADJOURNMENT:

At 7:58 PM, on a motion by Trustee Bourne, seconded by Trustee Thompson and approved by all present, the Board adjourned the meeting.

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Ed DeBor, Acting Clerk