VILLAGE OF MORRISVILLE WATER AND LIGHT DEPARTMENT

October 19, 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, and Dana Wildes

Staff: Craig Myotte, Jim Fontaine, Penny Jones and Linda Osgood

ABSENT: Trustee Bourne

GUEST: Rite Angeone and Isaac Graham

1) PUBLIC MEETING:

Rite Angeone and Isaac Graham of the Morristown Skatepark Committee were in attendance. They provided the Trustees with information regarding a community skatepark and asked the Trustees for assistance in finding property for the skatepark. Trustee Wildes suggested the land at the end of Melbens which is out of the flood zone and has parking access. The Chairman pointed out that the school has 55 acres and the committee may want to approach the School Board.

2) CURRENT PRIORITY PROJECTS:

Craig reviewed the status of the current priority projects with the Trustees.

3) MANAGEMENT REPORT:

Crews are converting voltage on Brooklyn Street and installed a warning light at the graded school. Work was done at Zackwoods to close off some accesses and for erosion control.

Fences are being installed at the WWTF this week and paving is next week. Most of the landscaping is completed now that the pipes are in the ground. The centrifuge building is almost complete with the exception of the roof.

Water meter project still is open because we keep finding missed installations and are still having issues of readers not reading the radio signals. We will not close the contract until the reading issues are resolved.

The water storage project is progressing. They tapped in to the main on Friday and installed valves. They have installed pipe down from the reservoir site to the top of the steep slope and are now working up from the field to the bottom of the steep slope. They will boar under Route 15A and the rail bed this year and then shut down for the winter. We hope to have the access road completed this year.

Portland Street water project is going on now and we are hoping to pave on Wednesday. We got a sleeve installed in the new bridge abutments for a future water line across the Lamoille on Bridge Street.

Penny reported that the loan for the reservoir project was approved at -3% for 30 years which equates to 77% funding of the project. Penny needs a final opinion from Guilliani and is setting up a CD at the Union Bank for the loan funds. The Board appointed Penny Jones as an Alternate Authorized Representative to be able to correspond with the State regarding this loan. She is stilling working on the building loan.

Penny presented an updated list of current liens held by MW&L. The Board asked that an Agenda Item be scheduled for the next regular meeting to decide on which properties should be sent to tax sale. Penny needs to determine if we can send to tax sale properties located in other towns.

The Trustees discussed new water and sewer rates. Trustee DeBor is not in favor of setting new water and sewer rates until the TSSA is resolved. Trustee Wildes pointed out we may need a rate increase to carry over until TSSA negotiations are done and a new rate is designed. Penny stated if we implement a rate increase on these flat rates that we promised wouldn’t change, our customers will be extremely upset. The Trustees discussed TSSA schedule, difference between Village and Town rates, allocation and connection fees. Jim pointed out that right now no one is being billed for their actual usage. He suggests starting out with one rate for all because usage will go down once we start billing according to usage. Trustee Wildes agreed that it seems easiest to start the rates based on current usage and expenses.

Penny has begun meeting with Dave Mullett in regards to our extra charges tariff and Craig has met with DPS regarding retail wheeling. DPS seems supportive.

4) APPROVE MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING HELD OCTOBER 5, 2009:

On a motion by Trustee Wildes, seconded by Trustee DeBor and approved by all present, the Board approved the minutes of the October 5, 2009, regular meeting.

4a) APPROVE MINUTES OF SPECIAL MEETING HELD OCTOBER 5, 2009:

On a motion by Trustee Wildes, seconded by Trustee DeBor and approved by all present, the Board approved the minutes of the October 5, 2009, special meeting.

5) APPROVE LIENS:

On a motion by Trustee DeBor, seconded by Trustee Reeve and approved by all present, the Board authorized a lien in the amount of $373.05 on the 899 Fitzgerald Road property owned by Brian Wells and a lien in the amount of $120.62 on the 105 Moss Glen Road, Stowe, property owned by Jeffrey Lancaster.

6) APPROVE/SIGN IBEW AGREEMENT:

Craig summarized the changes to the contract. On a motion by Trustee DeBor, seconded by Trustee Wildes and approved by all present, the Board tabled this item until the next regular meeting. The Trustees requested a complete red-line copy of the contract emailed to them for their review.

7) DISCUSS HYDRO REPORT AND FUTURE POWER SUPPLY STRATEGIES:

The first draft of a cost/benefit analysis shows four projects that are pretty attractive but we need the information on SPEED requirements from VEPPI to work into the calculations. If the projects still look attractive, do we want to tackle them all at once or spread them out over five years? Jim pointed out that if we do all four projects at once we lose all generation except Green River. Craig stated the final analysis needs to factor in SPEED, lost generation, reduced energy losses and reduced transmission expenses. Trustee Reeve pointed out that there are probably economic stimulus funds available for these projects. Trustee Wildes pointed out the SPEED requirements were an act of Legislature and any changes would have to be through the Legislature.

The Board reviewed our resource entitlement information. VPPSA’s model still shows load growth and Craig needs to add load forecasts to the capacity summary. Trustee DeBor asked if our load represented the trend throughout the State. Craig stated it does except for the greater Burlington area which tends to have a higher growth rate than the rest of the State.

8) RATE MITIGATION STRATEGIES:

Craig wants to stay focused on retail wheeling. A TSSA holds the most opportunity for the Sewer Department but Hyde Park is still a possibility. Trustee Wildes stated the best opportunity for the Electric Dept. is to invest in our own hydro.

9) OTHER BUSINESS:

Trustee Wildes met with VEC recently at an LEDC Board meeting. There is a Green Energy Grant available for Lamoille County. Copley hospital is installing a new boiler system and this would be a perfect location for a biomass/cogeneration facility. The local utilities would own the plant and Copley would use the excess heat. Anything 2 megawatts or below qualifies. MW&L needs to work on redundancy issues to Copley anyways with a dedicated circuit. Copley already has the plans and it could be done by 2010. Trustee DeBor agreed that a biomass project on a county scale is worth pursuing. Trustee Wildes reminded the Board that Copley does not want to operate a biomass plant, but if the utilities own it, Copley may be interested in collaborating in the project with the utilities. Biomass is only feasible if you have someone that can use the heat.

Heather Sargent would like permission for MACC to keep $1,200 unspent Amy Wade funds until next year. The Board would like MACC to return the unused funds per policy and reapply next year.

We dug up the sewer service for David Ring. His service line is “Orangeburg” pipe. In the mid-1990’s MW&L installed a new water line and had to patch his sewer line with PVC pipe. This splice caused a low spot in his sewer line where liquids collected and would freeze during low flow periods. We corrected the splice but Mr. Ring will have to replace his entire service line as it is collapsing. He is aware of the problem and stated he plans on doing the work next year. All work stayed within the ROW.

The Planning Commission had a meeting on 10/6 with nothing noteworthy to mention. The next meeting is tomorrow.

Craig forwarded a long Powerpoint presentation from NEPPA and urged the Board to review it.

10) EXECUTIVE SESSION:

Not required.

10) ADJOURNMENT:

At 8:11 PM, on a motion by Trustee Reeve, seconded by Trustee Wildes and approved by all present, the Board adjourned the meeting.

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Edward DeBor, Clerk