VILLAGE OF MORRISVILLE WATER AND LIGHT DEPARTMENT

September 2, 2008                                               

 

TUESDAY                                                                                               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, Tim Sargent, Keith Thompson, Peter Bourne

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

Guests:   Ms. Mary Ann Wilson

 

ABSENT:       Trustee DeBor

 

1)         PUBLIC MEETING:

 

            Village Clerk, Mary Ann Wilson, was present to have the Board approved the Village tax rate for 2008.

 

            On a motion by Trustee Thompson, seconded by Trustee Bourne and approved by all present, the Board approved a Village tax rate of $00.79 for 2008.

 

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

 

            The Chairman would like to reword agendas from now on so that what was previously “old business” be called “tabled business” and moved to a separate page at the end of the memo to the Trustees to allow these items to be tracked and reviewed periodically. A new category called “Current Priority Projects” will be added to give the Trustees a quick picture of what the most important items are that are occupying staff’s time.

 

3)         MANAGEMENT REPORT:

 

            Jim updated the Board on project the crews are working on.

 

            August generation was excellent and we remain 38% above projections YTD.  Plant #2 headgates project will begin next week and CCS’ crane is in place for the sheathing.  The new governor at Green River will be installed next week.  We will be replacing the 1” water line on Goodell Avenue with an 8” water main with hydrants.

 

            Jim is participating in establishing minimum requirements for smart metering and is hoping to have a MOU by December.  CVPS has set aside $40 million for this project and the municipals need to band together to keep from getting caught up in their spending spree.  The new line extension tariff is awaiting DPS approval.  Rules for wireless antennae on utility poles have been finalized by DPS.

 

            As we move into the water meter project, we are finding a few instances of customers actually being double billed and a few that are not being billed at all.  Also having to convert billing that was in cubic feet (old meters) to gallons (new meters).

 

            Penny attended a presentation of financial software by Cogsdale/Great Plains.  She also found out it is too late for MW&L to go to the Bond Bank for funding of the VELCO equity which is why VPPSA will fund it for us.

 

            The energy loss settlement with CVPS is dragging because of vacations.  We will not see a refund but we will see a reduction in future bills.  Hardwick Electric will not be able to pay their half of the legal bills until 2009.  On a motion by Trustee Bourne, seconded by Trustee Sargent and approved by all present, the Board approved the use of up to $50,000 from the Green River funds to cover legal costs as long as we pay that fund back.

 

            Craig participated in the exit interview of James Gibbons from VPPSA.  He also had a good meeting with the new Town Administrator who has a lot of sewer and TSSA experience.  He prepared a draft response to a recent editorial in the News & Citizen to set straight blatant mis-information in the editorial in regards to zoning and the Trustees.

 

4)         APPROVE MINUTES OF MEETING HELD AUGUST 18, 2008:

 

            Date on minutes should read 2008, not 2007.  On a motion by Trustee Sargent, seconded by Trustee Bourne and approved by all present, the Board approved the minutes of the August 18, 2008, regular meeting as amended.

 

5)         UPDATE OF WWTF PROJECT:

 

            The concrete pour for the UV building is complete.  SRB tank #2 has been excavated and the base is down.  They expect to pour 360 yards of concrete next week.  There is a project meeting next week in which Keymont needs to clarify how they plan to get back on track.  The project is approximately one month behind.  Ideally, the concrete should be completed by end of November to allow work on the buildings during the winter.

 

6)         UPDATE OF WATER METER PROJECT:

 

            Installation of water meters began August 25th.  Although the plan was to have one master meter for each building, some buildings will require thousands of dollars of plumbing to make one meter work.  In these instances, we will have multiple meters to save costs.  We will need to determine how many “units” are in each multiple-unit building in order to develop a customer charge.

 

8)         EXECUTIVE SESSION:

 

            At 6:52 PM on a motion by Trustee Bourne, seconded by Trustee Sargent and approved by all present, the Board went into Executive Session to discuss contract issues.

 

                At 7:06 PM on a motion by Trustee Bourne, seconded by Trustee Thompson and approved by all present, the Board came out of Executive Session. No action was taken.

 

7)         CURRENT PRIORITY PROJECTS:

 

            MW&L took the lead on the transmission and distribution resources part of the integrated resource plan (IRP) that will be required by all utilities.  Jim hopes to use this as a template for the other municipals to build on.

 

            The FERC Form 12 (safety inspection report) is due by December 12th.  Although Kleinschmidt Associates is available to do the work, FERC has a new rule that you can only use the same consultant two years in a row.  MW&L secured an exemption for this year so that we can use KA one more time.  We need to begin the RFP process for the water storage tank.  The purchase of the GMP transmission line needs to be started again now that the 115 KV line to Stowe issue has been settled.

 

            Penny is still looking at redesigning our web site.  We’re still waiting for a rate case assessment from VPPSA.

 

            There will be a joint meeting of Selectboard, Zoning, Planning, and Trustees on Thursday.  Craig wants to keep the focus of the meeting on reaching an agreement on the SSMA line and the Act 250 permit conditions.  Trustee Thompson asked what was meant by “retail space” in the proposed business office park behind the old Union Carbide.  Planning doesn’t even know because they haven’t established any criteria.  Retail is not a sticking point so much as size of retail.  They did a good job of getting the three major land owners together to discuss what they did and did not want to see there.  The Trustees never took a position on zoning other that stating why the SSMA should be larger than the TSSA.  Zoning wants municipal infrastructure in place. 

 

            The Board suggested moving low income assistance to Tabled Business.  Trustee Bourne suggested contacting CVCAC for an insert for this month’s bills.  Formation of an energy committee has been moved to Tabled Business.  Stowe has left VPPSA and is not coming back

 

            We are having an exceptional hydro generation year, peak demand is down and retail sales are down.  The lost revenue that will result in the drop of the peak demand and drop in retail sales will need to be explored.  Purchased power is 1.3% over budget but not as bad as most other utilities.  The price continues to go up even though the market is going down.  The Board would like to spend GR funds for a professional assessment of our hydro facilities but the turbine in the GR bypass is a no-brainer because it runs all the time.  The Board instructed staff to begin the RFQ process, collect data and get back to them with some recommendations.

 

                Reunion Power  (Ludlow Woodchip project) says they are a private company and will not release their financial information.  MW&L might get that information if we sign a confidentiality agreement.  The Chairman stated that MW&L would not invest a dime without that information.  Apparently Ludlow is running into the same wall.  The Chairman pointed out that at some point Reunion would have to deal with PSB and then their financials would be available or there will be no deal.

 

            Stowe Electric wants to create a Lamoille Valley Region Authority to replace VPPSA and Senator Bartlett has set up a meeting to discuss telecommunications.

 

7)         OTHER BUSINESS:

 

            Susan Primo wants to come to the next meeting with a power point presentation on Zackwoods.  She has met with the State and they are extremely interested and would fast-track the funding to purchase the property.  Many details still need to be worked out such as how it would be managed.

 

            Trustee Thompson wanted thank Penny, Jim, and Craig for the great job they are doing.

 

9)         ADJOURNMENT:

 

            At 8:00 PM, on a motion by Trustee Bourne, seconded by Trustee Thompson and approved by all present, the Board adjourned the meeting.

 

 

                                                                        ___________________________________

                                                                        Tim Sargent, Clerk