VILLAGE OF MORRISVILLE WATER AND LIGHT DEPARTMENT

May 4, 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: Jim Fontaine, Penny Jones, Linda Osgood

ABSENT: Craig Myotte

1) PUBLIC MEETING:

No members of the public were present for either the informational meeting on the proposed Maple Street project or the regular meeting.

8) REVIEW MW&L FUTURE POWER SUPPLY:

Patty Richards of VPPSA was present to discuss with the Board where we currently stand on our power portfolio to where we want to be. She assured the Board that cost was not the only criteria that VPPSA was looking at with regards to power contracts or power projects. The Chair asked the rest of the Board to review the information that Patty provided and to e-mail any questions directly to her. Trustee DeBor does question VPPSA’s forecasted load growth.

7) REVIEW CONSULTANT STUDY PROPOSAL REGARDING CONNECTING HP TO WWTF:

Jack Anderson and David DiDomenico (Hyde Park Village Trustees) were in attendance. Hyde Park’s sewer system is at capacity. No further growth is allowed in the Village of Hyde Park until more capacity or on-site septic can be arranged. Hyde Park’s leach field was built in 1979 with a 20-year life span. Many homes on the north side of Route 15 cannot currently connect to the system. Once MW&L’s new facility is completely on line, we will have capacity to spare. Jim updated them as to the status of our construction project. A look at maps show two possible routes: along the Route 15 corridor or along the old LVRR line with both routes being approximately 1.8 miles. Hyde Park’s storm water is on a separate system. A connection looks possible from the maps. MW&L provided Hyde Park with a copy of a proposal received from Forcier Aldrich & Associates to prepare a feasibility study of the interconnection. Currently Hyde Park would need capacity for 35,000 gpd plus a growth factor. It would require a forced sewer main that Hyde Park would own and maintain. The Boards also briefly discussed functional consolidation on other fronts.

2) CURRENT PRIORITY PROJECTS:

Craig was not present to update the Board on the status of the current priority projects. However, Jim informed them we received the hydro study from Cloutier. We may need a new energy model created as the old one from Kleinschmidt doesn’t seem to work. In essence, we received a list of recommendations but no cost/benefit.

3) MANAGEMENT REPORT:

We did have a brief interruption of the entire system last week. Everything came back after a few seconds except for one circuit out of Substation #2. This took down non-3-phase power on the north side of town. We will need a planned outage of two hours for Sub #5 to repair a leaking transformer that will affect approximately 1200 customers. Although the transformer is not under warranty, T&R Electric has agreed to fix the problem at no charge.

The sheathing for the bearings on the 1200 unit at Plant #2 is falling apart. If Bornemann and Greene cannot fashion a new one, the unit will have to be completely dismantled which hasn’t been done since 1947. Jim would like to schedule a complete tear-down of each hydro unit on a 15-20 year basis. The new gates are holding and the 600 unit is running hard. Green river is not back up to full pond yet.

Most of the Trustees took a tour of the new WWTF. Trustee DeBor would like to know why the sewer plant has better windows than our conference room. Craig did recently meet with VEC about providing assistance on line work they need to schedule in the islands. We will probably be able to schedule three linemen at a time but not two separate line crews.

Penny has been spending a lot of time working on the water meter project. The electric rate case is on track. She has many more questions to answer for the insurance bid process. IBEW negotiations are also taking a lot of time.

Dave Halquist is our newest net metering customer with solar of .166 MW. The Board questioned who ECNE (Electric Council of New England) was and why we were dropping our membership. We had joined for discounts on meter training. We can not justify continuing to pay the dues at this time.

4) APPROVE MINTUES OF MEETING HELD APRIL 20, 2009:

On a motion by Trustee DeBor, seconded by Trustee Wildes and approved by all present, the Board approved the minutes of the April 20, 2009, regular meeting.

5) APPROVE SPECIAL MEETING ARTICLE FOR WELLHEAD PROTECTION PROPERTY PURCHASE:

Trustee DeBor amended the article to read “Special” meeting, not “Annual”.

On a motion by Trustee DeBor, seconded by Trustee Wildes and approved by all present, the Board approved the amended special meeting article for wellhead protection property purchase.

6) UPDATE OF WWTF/WATER METER PROJECT:

The WWTF project is proceeding smoothly. Site work is still progressing. Next update meeting is May 12^th.

Approximately 600 water meters have been installed to date. Jim and Penny met with Chuck to work on a game plan for the 200 non-responsive customers. One plumber was out for a week with pneumonia and the other plumber was out for a week with the flu. Our customers were not happy to have to reschedule. We received the waiver from RDA on exempting mobile homes from needing meters because of the additional cost of the necessary meter pit ($2300 each). Any new mobile homes will have to have a meter pit and meter.

9) OTHER BUSINESS:

MW&L staff greened up Zack Woods and our Green River property. We removed 26 tires and five pick-up loads of trash. The Board asked that the newspaper be given this information.

Sue Premo is proposing to write a grant request on MW&L’s behalf to install an information kiosk at Zack Woods and to fix the first access road to the pond. This would be a Fish and Wildlife grant and she is willing to do all of the work if MW&L signs off on it. The Board was very interested and wants her to proceed.

The Amy Wade Fund has received three requests for funding in 2009. MACC has requested $1500 for new plants, shrubs, and trees. They have also requested an additional $1000 for new soil and replacement pots. The Town has asked for $200 for trees. Trustee Wildes asked if it would make sense to save some Amy Wade Funds to put towards the Creamery and Gristmill. Trustee DeBor asked why those properties had not already been transferred to the Village as previously discussed and suggested that for $1500 to transfer those assets from MW&L to the Village within 60 days and be done with them.

On a motion by Trustee DeBor, seconded by Trustee Bourne and approved by all present, the Board approved the requested funding of $1500 for MACC, $1000 for MACC, and $200 for the Town.

On a motion by Trustee Bourne, seconded by Trustee Wildes and approved by all present, the Board agreed that any granted Amy Wade Funds not used by the end of the calendar year should be returned to the principal and any proceeds from the Amy Wade Golf Tournament and any interest earned be held for dispersal the following year.

Nothing to report on key response indicators.

10) EXECUTIVE SESSION:

At 7:47 PM, on a motion by Trustee Bourne, seconded by Trustee DeBor and approved by all present, the Board went into Executive Session to discuss contracts.

At 8:16 PM, on a motion by Trustee Bourne, seconded by Trustee DeBor and approved by all present, the Board came out of Executive Session.

11) ADJOURNMENT:

At 8:17 PM, on a motion by Trustee DeBor, seconded by Trustee Bourne and approved by all present, the Board adjourned the meeting.

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Ed DeBor, Clerk