VILLAGE OF MORRISVILLE WATER AND LIGHT DEPARTMENT
November 2, 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, Wally Reeve, Peter Bourne and Dana Wildes
Staff: Craig Myotte, Jim Fontaine, Penny Jones and Linda Osgood
1) PUBLIC MEETING:
No members of the public were in attendance.
2) CURRENT PRIORITY PROJECTS:
The Board reviewed the status of the current priority
projects.
3) MANAGEMENT REPORT:
The 2400 volt circuit has been converted to 7200 volts up
to Bridge Street. The VELCO 115 KV line
is now connected and energized. Crews
replaced arrestors in the Pratt-Read sub.
Crews are done working for VEC for the year. Generation appears to be on budget for the
month of October but we need to get the divers to Cady’s Falls to seal the head
gates so debris can be removed from the turbines. The flashboards cannot be replaced until the
units can run better to draw down the pond.
Paving and fencing is complete at the WWTF. The concrete in the yard has been poured but
electrical and ventilation is still behind schedule. Keymont is not concerned and still feels they
will meet their completion date. The
existing unit is running very well.
There still remains approximately 15 water meters to
install. We remove a couple from the
to-do list only to find more customers that need meters. East National is
currently checking non-reading meters and checking the first plumber’s
work. The project is still under budget.
Of our 1,100 existing water customers, only approximately 200 already had
meters.
The reservoir project is going smoothly. All pipes have been installed on the upper
side of the road and the road has been finished. All valves are in place. They will move to Brigham Meadows, ditch
under Route 15A and the railroad, and shut down for the winter around 11/25. Although the road is finished, it will need
to be regraded once 80 trucks of gravel go up and down it.
The new development off
Cottage Street will be customers of the WWTF but not the Water Department. The Board questioned the feasibility of
private wells versus connecting to the water system. Jim informed the Board that the project would
probably require a hydrant, which would require an eight-inch main. The cost of the eight-inch made private wells
more feasible for them.
Penny has been spending most of her time on the water
meter project and financing issues. She
did hand out the SQRP filing for the Board’s review. Our lawyer has confirmed that we can lien
property in other towns for unpaid electric services. September financials are almost complete.
The Board reviewed a list of all active liens held by
this Department. On a motion by Trustee
Bourne, seconded by Trustee DeBor and unanimously approved, the Board voted to
send all properties MW&L has a lien on, except for 10 Railroad Street in Morrisville,
to tax sale to collect unpaid electric, water, and sewer bills.
Now that the 115 KV line went into service on 10/29, we
will need to watch the power flows carefully.
The first couple of days show we are still taking most of our power from
CVPS. We expected the power to come from the 115 KV line (VELCO). Hardwick and
Johnson have expressed an interest in wheeling services and joint line
ownership/lease. We should see the new transmission costs for the 115 KV line
in December and CVPS’s wheeling charges should drop correspondingly. Craig needs to update our transmission
summary. The B-22 loss settlement is
difficult to track and the 115 KV line changed all the formulas. We are using new calculations beginning
November 1st.
4) APPROVE MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING HELD OCTOBER 19, 2009:
The Trustees had several comments on the minutes. There
was a minor editing and language regarding Copley was not correct and needed to
be reworded.
On a motion by Trustee DeBor, seconded by Trustee Reeve
and approved by majority, the Board approved the minutes of the October 19,
2009, regular meeting as modified.
Trustee Bourne abstained.
6) APPROVE AND EXECUTE RESERVOIR SRF LOAN DOCUMENTS:
The loan for the reservoir project was approved at -3%
for 30 years which equates to a 77% discount on the project costs.
On a motion by Trustee Wildes, seconded by Trustee Bourne
and unanimously approved, the Board approved the reservoir SRF loan document
for $1.3 million at -3% for 30 years.
The Union Bank will open a line of credit at 2.2% for $625,000 for one year instead of arbitrage. We will pay the contractors from the line of credit, submit re-imbursement to the State, and pay down the loan when the funds are received.
On a motion by Trustee
Reeve, seconded by Trustee Bourne and unanimously approved, the Board approved
the Union Bank line of credit at 2.2% on $625,000 for one year.
7a) APPROVE BUILDING LOAN REFINANCING:
On a motion by Trustee Wildes, seconded by Trustee Reeve
and unanimously approved, the Board approved the Union Bank mortgage to
refinance the existing indebtedness on the office facility. Monthly payments will be $4100 instead of
$4500.
11) EXECUTIVE SESSION:
At 7:00 PM, on a motion by Trustee Debor, seconded by Trustee Bourne and unanimously approved, the Board went into Executive Session to discuss contracts.
At 7:35 PM, on a motion by Trustee Wildes, seconded by Trustee Bourne and unanimously approved, the Board came out of Executive Session.
6) APPROVE/SIGN IBEW AGREEMENT:
On a motion by Trustee Reeve, seconded by Trustee Wildes and approved by a majority, the Board approved and signed the IBEW Agreement. Trustee DeBor voted against the motion.
8) DISCUSS HYDRO REPORT AND FUTURE POWER SUPPLY STRATEGIES:
Not much to update other than Craig has contacted the
SPEED facilitator to see if the proposed upgrades would count towards our SPEED
requirements. The Board reviewed power
supply costs updated through September.
We are above budget by approximately $92,000 or 2.8%. Metered load is down 1.4% from budget. The variance drops by $45,000 if you remove
the VT Transco equity purchase. To
prepare for the upcoming budgets, Craig would like to work in SPEED
requirements, lost generation, and loss improvement. Trustee Bourne would like to see the opinion
of the SPEED facilitator in writing and then go ahead with replacing the 600 kW
unit at Cady’s Fall. Trustee Reeve wondered if we should tackle all of the
projects at one plant at one time then move to the next plant or tackle the
major projects at all three plants.
Trustee Bourne would like to see the feasibility of having a plant
operator again to coordinate the operations of the units to coincide with peak
market prices during peak loads. Trustee
DeBor wanted to clarify that the 600 kW unit at Cady’s Falls has not been
non-operational for seven years, only the last year and a half. It certainly has not run anywhere near
capacity for quite a long time but it was running.
9) RATE MITIGATION STRATEGIES:
Tabled until next meeting.
10) OTHER BUSINESS:
Craig has been meeting with the Land Trust to discuss the time schedule and other issues for them to purchase that property. Craig is holding off having them make a formal presentation to the Board until the Board decides if they want to publically advertise this parcel. The Land Trust is asking that we not actively advertise until the property is appraised. Craig hopes to have a “yellow book” value before year-end. Trustee Wildes is not in favor of signing anything that restricts us from advertising.
Craig needs to finalize the Patnoe property transaction now that the ROW issues are solved.
If the Board has any further thoughts or questions for the Energy Efficiency Utility, they are anxious to answer them. Trustee Wildes would rather see an auditor’s annual report on the EEU rather than the EEU’s annual report. He also questions why VPPSA is not an active participant with CVPS and GMP in acquiring EEU funds for municipalities.
Staff hopes to have a very rough draft of 2010 budgets by December 17th meeting.
Craig asked the Board to review the schedule of Board meetings for 2010 and compare that with their annual agenda schedule.
12) ADJOURNMENT:
At 8:35 PM, on a motion by Trustee Bourne, seconded by Trustee Wildes and unanimously approved, the Board adjourned the meeting.
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Edward DeBor, Clerk