VILLAGE OF MORRISVILLE WATER AND LIGHT DEPARTMENT

April 6, 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 (Trustee Sargent was acting Chair), Peter Bourne, and Ed DeBor

                 Dana Wildes attended by speaker phone

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

 

ABSENT:  Trustee Thompson

 

1)         CURRENT PRIORITY PROJECTS:

 

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

 

2)         PUBLIC MEETING:

 

            No members of the public were in attendance.

 

3)         MANAGEMENT REPORT:

 

            Plant #2 is online with both units.  The 600 unit had a lot of debris inside it and had a burned out gate motor that needed replacing before going back online.  One unit could not draw down the pond enough to get the flashboards back in place.

 

            Elevations for the water storage project have been confirmed.  The tank size will be reduced from 500,000 gallons to 415,000.  Analysis shows that if the Maple Street main were upgraded to 12-inch pipe, the flows around Copley Hospital would substantially improve.  The access road to the construction site has been selected to minimize construction costs and environmental impact by avoiding wetlands and steep slopes.  The road will be approximately 1500’.  We already have an Act 250 write-off.  There will be a public zoning hearing on April 30th.

 

            Penny has begun meeting with insurance companies to put our coverage out to bid.

 

            February results for the CVPS loss settlement were off by at least 1/3.  Obviously this will need to be very carefully tracked for the year.

 

            Craig met with a representative from the Energy Efficiency Utility and used the opportunity to let Chris Ransom represent the community.  From a community standpoint, Chris did a good job by simply telling the EEU staff to give us back our EEU funds and we will invest it ourselves in energy efficient projects in our own community.

 

4)         APPROVE MINTUES OF MEETING HELD MARCH 16, 2009:

 

            On a motion by Trustee DeBor, seconded by Trustee Bourne and approved by all present, the Board approved the minutes of the March 16, 2009, regular meeting.

 

5)         APPROVE 2009 ELECTRIC RATE CASE FILING:

 

            The rate case started at 7% but the numbers are now coming in at 9%.  Craig would like authorization to file for an electric rate increase not to exceed 10%.  Trustee Bourne asked what was the size of increases other utilities were going for.  Most requests have been in the 8-9%, many were over 10%, including Johnson.  Trustee DeBor asked the implications of tabling this for one meeting so they can get more back up and have time to study it.  The only implication is a one-month delay in implementing rates. Trustee Bourne did not see a big difference in waiting a month and wanted the Chair in the room when they reviewed the data.  The Chair also wanted a couple of weeks to review the data.  Action Item tabled.

 

6)         APPROVE “RED FLAG RULES” (IDENTITY THEFT PREVENTION):

 

            The Federal Trade Commission wants this program in effect by May 1st.  It was drafted by VPPSA and slightly modified by MW&L after training by NEPPA.  We are already changing our office procedures to comply by asking for photo id’s when people sign up for an account.  This will be in effect for all electric, water and sewer accounts.  On a motion by Trustee Bourne, seconded by Trustee DeBor and approved by all present, the Board approved the Identity Theft Prevention Program.

 

7)         APPROVE SPECIAL MEETING WARNING FOR MAPLE STREET PROJECT:

 

            The article was revised by removing the last sentence “equal to at least fifty percent (50%) of the cost of such improvements”.  On a motion by Trustee DeBor, seconded by Trustee Bourne and approved by all present, the Board approved the Special Meeting Warning for the Maple Street Project.

 

8)         APPROVE LIENS:

 

            On a motion by Trustee Bourne, seconded by Trustee DeBor and approved by all present, the Board authorized a lien on the Domina property located at 1179 Stagecoach Road, Morrisville, in the amount of $229.05 and on the Valcich property located at 110 Portland Street, Morrisville, in the amount of $443.29.

 

9)         UPDATE ON WWTF/WATER METER PROJECT:

 

            A lot of equipment has arrived in the last few weeks.  Gravel is back doing site work.  Tatro has poured a couple of walkways.  We’re hoping to get the new electric service attached to the new 3-phase line in the next couple of weeks.  The framework for catwalks on the SBR tank have been installed.  Still looking at an early June start date for SBR #1.  Very little contingency funds have been used to date. The hope is to use them for the headworks upgrade.

 

            MW&L is doing a lot of work for the water meter project by helping scheduling, uncovering curb-stops and inspecting existing meter pits.  We have a list of 117 property owners that have not responded to contact either by mail, phone, or door hangers at the premises.  Somehow we have to get the message out that having a water meter installed does not necessarily mean your rates will go up and that the meters are absolutely needed.  Original completion date of May 24th will not be met.  Trustee Bourne suggested using a bill insert or newspaper notice to notify those 117 customers that if your water meter has not been installed by x-date then your flat rate water charge will triple.  The Chair agreed.  Jim stated that cemeteries would need meter pits ($2,400 each).  Do we want to incur that additional expense or just create a flat rate for cemeteries.  The Board wants to consider a flat rate for cemeteries as they are very low users.

 

10)       SMART GRID/SMART METERING OVERVIEW:

 

            Deferred to a later meeting.

 

11)       DISCUSS ANNUAL MEETING MATERIALS:

 

            The Trustees discussed several subjects that they felt might come up at the annual meeting. Penny reminded the Trustees that the Annual Village Meeting will take place at the Tegu Building and not at the school.

 

12)       OTHER BUSINESS:

 

            There have been a series of meetings with all Vermont utilities (municipals, investor-owned, and VELCO) on Vermont-wide projects that could be funded by the Economic Stimulus package.  When Trustee Bourne asked the goal of the meetings, Craig informed him it was to help compete for stimulus funding for Smart Grid, fiber optics and other projects.  The Chair pointed out that his major concern for Smart Grid was there is absolutely no security from hackers.

 

            Craig gave the Board a timeline for the relicensing of our hydro projects.  Craig stated that no consultant will give a set price for the entire relicenses process due to too many possible variables.

 

            Craig received a draft of his meeting with Jeff Meyers of the Vermont River Conservancy on Zack Woods.  They are wondering if MWL would like to also sell the land around the dike.  Trustees DeBor and Bourne both wanted to make sure there would be no future access issues.  Trustee DeBor also feels that the Board’s fiduciary responsibility requires them to NOT deal exclusively with VRC, that they should try to get the most for this property and not just conserve it.  Craig stated that he has made it clear in discussions with VRC that the Trustees are obligated to get the most value from the transaction for the Village.  Trustee Bourne asked Craig to put in writing to VRC that we can’t take too little for the land just for the sake of conservation.

 

            Discussion on Patnoe property was delayed for Executive Session.

 

            The first negotiations meeting with IBEW is this Thursday.  Further discussion on IBEW negotiations delayed for Executive Session.

 

            To date, there is a $34,000 variance in power supply costs, $10,000 of which is just transmission.  The Chair stated that it appears that the wholesalers are using unregulated transmission rates to offset their regulated power costs.  Buying VELCO equity does help offset these costs.

 

            Staff prepared a draft response to David Ring’s 31 March 19, 2009 letter.  Craig passed out a letter received today (April 6th) from Mr. Ring that the Board had not seen yet. Jim disagrees with Mr. Ring’s premise that customers can’t own pipes under the street.  They would need a town permit to work in the road right of way. The Trustees had a lengthy discussion on the matter and concluded that MWL cannot set a precedent that poses significant financial risks to MWL. The Trustees directed staff to respond to Mr. Ring’s questions and deny the claim.

 

13)       EXECUTIVE SESSION:

 

            At 7:53 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 8:25 PM, on a motion by Bourne, seconded by DeBor and approved by all present, the Board came out of Executive Session.

 

14)       ADJOURNMENT:

 

            At 8:25 PM, on a motion by Trustee Bourne, seconded by Trustee DeBor and approved by all present, the Board adjourned the meeting.

 

 

                                                                        ___________________________________

                                                                        Ed DeBor, Acting Clerk