VILLAGE OF MORRISVILLE WATER AND LIGHT DEPARTMENT

April 20, 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:        Craig Myotte, Jim Fontaine, Penny Jones, Linda Osgood

 

ABSENT:  Trustee Thompson

 

1a)       ELECT NEW CHAIRMAN:

 

            On a motion by Chairman Wildes, seconded by Trustee Bourne and approved by all present, the Board elected Timothy Sargent to the position of Chairman.

 

            On a motion by Trustee Bourne, seconded by Trustee Wildes and approved by all present, the Board elected Edward DeBor to the position of Clerk.

 

1)         PUBLIC MEETING:        

 

            No members of the public were present.

 

2)         CURRENT PRIORITY PROJECTS:

 

            Craig briefly updated the Board on the status of the current priority projects.

 

3)         MANAGEMENT REPORT:

 

            Penny is awaiting further information from PURMA and our worker’s comp company before she can review new insurance proposals.

 

            We lost the 1200 KW unit at Plant #2 on Friday for unknown reasons.  Crews will begin dismantling the unit this week.  We lost the 600 KW at Plant #1 this weekend but were able to get back online after replacing a burned out coil and exciter.

 

            The Army Corps of Engineers has asked for additional data before signing off on wetland impact for the new water reservoir project.  If wetlands do become a problem, we may be able to extend a driveway that is being built on Covetta’s property to access the site as a fall back plan.  Jim walked the site with Mrs. Covetta and she is comfortable with the proposed location.  She will grant MW&L a new ROW for the access road in exchange for the existing ROW’s on her property to be released.

 

            Manosh began replacing the water main on Goodell Avenue today.  The Maple Street project fell below the Economic Stimulus funding level but is not totally out of the running yet.  Gravel Construction removed the Ford building today.  We will keep the existing footprint of the building.  Trustee Bourne questioned the cost of replacing sewer on Congress Street and Harrison Avenue.  Cost is approximately $325,000 of which Economic Stimulus would pay for ˝ as long as it was spent by July 10, 2010.

 

            Penny reported that the Annual PSB report has been finished.  The VLCT has not updated the water and sewer rates for other communities on their web site so we have not been able to compare our rates with other communities yet.  Disconnects last week and this week are requiring quite a bit of Penny’s time.

 

            Craig is still trying to work with Johnson on some type of practical consolidation and transmission wheeling services for Johnson.  VEC has $1 million in unplanned work in the islands and is soliciting bids for outside contractors.  They have also touched on possible service territory swaps where some of our territory might be easier and more cheaply served by VEC and visa versa.  The CVPS loss settlement for March was off between 1/2 and 1/3.  CVPS will over-adjust April’s settlement to offset March’s difference.  Craig met with representative of EEU to review benefits to MW&L’s customers.  They did loan us three power cost monitors and appliance testers.  No response on our request for their financials.  Economic Stimulus funds for Vermont’s electric projects is taking on a life of its own.  Craig would like to break up the projects between himself, Eric Werner, and George Lague.  Also had a presentation from Elster on smart metering.  Smart meters provide a lot of opportunity but the system is very expensive.

 

4)         APPROVE MINTUES OF MEETING HELD APRIL 6, 2009:

 

            On a motion by Trustee Bourne, seconded by Trustee DeBor and approved by all present, the Board approved the amended minutes of the April 6, 2009, regular meeting.

 

5)         APPROVE 2009 ELECTRIC RATE CASE FILING:

 

            On a motion by Trustee Wildes, seconded by Trustee Bourne and approved by all present, the Board approved the 2009 electric rate case filing up to 7.81%.

 

6)         APPROVE LIENS:

 

            The Board asked staff to explore the process for tax sales.

 

            On a motion by Trustee Bourne, seconded by Trustee DeBor and approved by all present, the Board approved a lien of $89.12 on the Donald Sawyer property located at 115 Paine Avenue, a lien of $173.51 on the Valcich Enterprises’ property located at 110 Portland Street, a lien of $235.36 on the Petros Georgiadis property located at 540 Jersey Heights, a lien of $120.47 on the Randall Towns property located at 130 Winter Street, and a lien of $175.06 on the Steven Steward property located at 38 East Olive Street.

 

7)         UPDATE OF WWTF/WATER METER PROJECT:

 

            The UV building is almost complete.  Site work has restarted.  Catwalks are almost all installed.  Electrical controls are still an issue.  We are still looking at early June startup.  We will run river water to test everything because river water can be dumped and raw sewage cannot.

 

            Approximately 540 water meters have been installed to date.  Two plumbers are installing approximately six meters per day each.  Bob Flagg still thinks they will be close to the May 24th end date.  We put an insert in the bills to customers who have refused to contact either East National or MW&L to schedule a meter installation threatening a high surcharge is a meter is not installed.  FA& A has provided the rate structure for several other towns for comparison while developing our new rates.

 

8)         REVIEW POWER SUPPLY PLANNING:

 

            Craig passed out a Power Point presentation from VPPSA.  VPPSA is looking for Board approval of a Project Development Agreement at the May Board meeting for the East Mountain Wind Project (EMWP).  The site is a former radar station. Some of the benefits include an existing road and existing ROW for electricity that can be upgraded for transmission and can connect at Lyndonville.  The Trustee had several questions regarding EMWP project costs, MW&L power supply forecast, and where we stand on meeting our SPEED targets.

 

9)         OTHER BUSINESS:

 

            Friends of Zackwoods (FZW) gave Craig a presentation of how to “manage” the property better.  Craig recommended that MW&L work with them.  Public access to the site could pose a liability to MW&L so we need a legal opinion on that.  We also received a letter from the Vermont River Conservancy (VRC) asking MW&L to NOT market the property for 120 days. 

Trustee Wildes feels we should market the property but give VRC the right of first refusal.  Trustee Bourne was for conserving the property as long as MW&L does not lose too much money.  The Chairman feels there is a very real, non-monetary value to this property.  Trustee DeBor recommended they change the clause “we ask you to not market or sell to another buyer in an adequate amount of time” to “we ask you to not sell to another buyer for 120 days”.  FZW wants to bar motorized vehicles from the access roads on MW&L’s property, not the Class 4 town roads.  The Chairman thought that was a great idea.  They also want to install culverts to

April 20, 2009 Trustee Meeting Minutes

Page 4

 

cut down on erosion and signage.  The Chairman is concerned about FZW acting as agents for MW&L.  Jim feels they could help cut down on illegal campfires as one last year had burned down into the humis and could have developed into a major forest fire.

 

            Hyde Park has indicated they might be interested in hooking their existing sewer collection system into our new WWTF.  We have asked FA&A for a quote to do a feasibility study to determine the costs of the interconnection. Once we have the cost estimate we’ll have to talk with Hyde Park about covering the cost of the study.

 

            Craig reported on several key result indicators. Power supply costs are $34,000 over budget for January and February while energy sales are flat through the first quarter.  Hydro generation is approximately 35% below the 10-year average.

 

            The Board felt the Annual Village Meeting went very well but the Chairman Sargent was disheartened by the small voter turn-out.

 

10)       EXECUTIVE SESSION:

 

            At 7:48 PM, on a motion by Trustee Bourne, seconded by Trustee Wildes 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 Bourne 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.

 

 

                                                                        ___________________________________

                                                                        Ed DeBor, Clerk