EMERALD PEOPLE S UTILITY DISTRICT BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING AGENDA

Transcription

1 EMERALD PEOPLE S UTILITY DISTRICT BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING AGENDA Seavey Loop Meeting Time: 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, January 9, 2018 Eugene OR CONVENE BUSINESS MEETING - CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL INTRODUCTIONS 2. ELECTION OF OFFICERS 3. AGENDA TIMELINE Requests for Additions or Deletions 4. DEFERRED ITEMS 5. PUBLIC COMMENT PLEASE NOTE: Statements from the public are limited to 5 minutes per speaker and are a comment period only on utility business, time permitting. The Board will not engage or respond to comments unless it is to correct inaccurate information or statements from the public. Interaction with the Board will be allowed if a member of the public has previously submitted a request to be added to the Agenda. PRESENTATIONS AND REPORTS AUDIT KICK-OFF - Keith Simovic, CPA, Business Assurance Senior Manager - Moss Adams 7. FINANCE/TREASURER REPORT 8. GENERAL MANAGER S REPORT ITEMS FOR ACTION Items placed on Consent Agenda are of a routine nature. Board will vote on the Consent Agenda without discussion. Items requested by any Board Member for discussion will be acted on separately. 9. CONSENT AGENDA Minutes of Board Meeting December 12, 2017 Approval of Claims 10. REVIEW OF MOTIONS INFORMATION AND PLANNING ITEMS 11. PUBLIC COMMENT Open Comment Period (if time permits) 12. SUGGESTED ITEMS FOR FUTURE MEETINGS M:\BOARD & POLICIES\Agendas\2018\01-18\ Board Meeting Agenda - Final.Doc

2 13. UPCOMING MEETINGS/EVENTS Tuesday, January 9 Veneta - Fern Ridge Chamber...Veneta-Fern Ridge Chamber of Commerce..3:00-5:00 pm Friday, January 19 OPUDA Board Meeting... Special Districts Bldg.... 8:30 am Thursday, January 18 Cottage Grove Business After-Hours... Bohemia Gold Mining Museum... 5:30-7:00 pm Wednesday, January 31 PPC Member s Forum... Sheraton Portland Airport.3:00 5:00 pm Thursday, February 1 PPC Executive Committee Meeting... Sheraton Portland Airport... 8:00 12:00 pm Friday, February 2 PNUCC... Sheraton Portland Airport... 8:30 am Tuesday, January 23 EPUD Work Session... EPUD... 5:30 pm Wednesday, January 24 Pacific Northwest Carbon Scenario Analysis.EWEB 5:00 pm 7:00 pm 14. DIRECTORS CONCLUDING COMMENTS 15. ADJOURN MEETING M:\BOARD & POLICIES\Agendas\2018\01-18\ Board Meeting Agenda - Final.Doc

3 EMERALD PEOPLE'S UTILITY DISTRICT Board of Directors' Meeting December 12, 2017 Minutes Convene President Parrish convened the meeting at 5:31 at the Emerald offices, Seavey Loop Road in Eugene. Attendance and Introductions Directors: Ron Davis, Brandon Jordan, Lee Kelley, Brian Parker, and Kevin Parrish. Staff: Alicia Burgess, Sara Cline, Scott Coe, Kyle Roadman, Alice Schroeder, Brian Sharr, and Wendi McKay (note taker) Guests: None. Agenda Timeline Public Comment Deferred Items Finance/ Treasurer s Report General Manager s Report There were no additions to or deletions from the agenda. None. None. The Accounts Payable Check Register for the period from November 1-30, 2017 was reviewed and discussed. Staff clarified several expenditures for the Board. Item 34, The Right of Way for Black Canyon, was discussed. Sharr said that we rent the ROW from the Bureau of Land Management. A question regarding item 48 for Airwatch, LLC was asked. Staff said that this payment is for the mobile device management we use and everyone that has a phone has the software on their device. Operations and Engineering Manager, Ron Dubbs, announced that his last day will be December 28. Coe said that we have three retirements this month. Beth Matthews retired last Thursday and Greg Demagalski left earlier this month. The employee overlaps due to succession planning has helped make the transitions run smoother. Coe mentioned that the new bucket truck was received and thanked the Board for their support with the fleet program this year. We have also received a new chip dump truck, a new service truck, and a new meterman van. An update was given on the Creswell Substation transformer progress. The supplier only sent two of the three regulators that were needed. We have since received the last regulator, so it should be online shortly. Coe said that Roadman will be giving a presentation on GMI following the GM Report, but mentioned that we received 4800 meters in the last couple of weeks. This is part of the $700,000 order that we placed for this year.

4 Emerald PUD Minutes December 12, 2017 Page 2 A fraudulent check for $29,000 attempted to pass through our bank account. Cline caught the check the day prior to Thanksgiving, as she was the only staff in her department on that day. Cline was able to catch the check due to a process of checks and balances. Coe said that the last time we caught a fraudulent check was in 2013, so it is not something that occurs often. Schroeder stated that she had been working with our insurance brokerage company on shopping around for our health care coverage. Out of the 7 companies that were asked to bid, 5 declined. Moda Health and United Healthcare submitted bids, but were unable to match what we currently have with EBMS. Coe said that an error was discovered in the Q3 power cost data. That information was not updated with some August and September power purchases and we understated by about $700,000. We have since worked on our data process to ensure we correctly state power purchases going forward. He said the bottom line is still projected to be stronger than what the Q3 review showed due to the check from FEMA arriving after we completed the review with the Board. We also expect the recent cold weather to add to the EOY bottom line. Recently a customer with high usage contacted us regarding his bill. Although the customer said that nothing could be done and he believed his rate increase was due to the tiered rate system, Tyler Boehringer completed a free audit at the residence. During the audit, Tyler found that the customer s ground-source heat pump was in Furnace mode. Upon correcting this, we have cut the customer s kwh usage by about 42%, saving them around $180 per month. Coe mentioned that if anyone hears from customers about high bills, to please encourage them to call us for a free energy audit. Coe discussed an upcoming meeting on January 24 at EWEB. Arne Olson will present the E3 carbon study called Pacific Northwest Carbon Scenario Analysis at a community forum. Coe said the meeting would be good for the Board to attend if they re available. Coe noted that we would not have a December Work Session. For our upcoming Board meetings in January we will look forward at our 2018 initiatives as well as lighting rate schedule, storm pay examples, and a discussion on electric vehicles. Coe also gave an update on the ESA lawsuit. The ODOE is appealing the 2016 loss where the attorney fees were awarded to us, and they are moving forward with the 2017 lawsuit. Executive Session Parrish adjourned the Board meeting at 6:05pm to convene an Executive Session pursuant to ORS (2) (e) Regarding Transaction(s) Involving Real Property. Present: Directors - Ron Davis, Brandon Jordan, Lee Kelley, Brian Parker, and Kevin Parrish; Staff - Alicia Burgess, Sara Cline, Scott Coe, Kyle Roadman, Alice Schroeder, Brian Sharr, and Wendi McKay (note taker)

5 Emerald PUD Minutes December 12, 2017 Page 3 The Executive Session was adjourned at 6:12 pm and the Board meeting was reconvened. GMI Update Roadman gave an update on the GMI project. He said that currently the budget estimate for the entire project is just under $11,000,000. Roadman explained that the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) is the replacement of all customer meters with new advanced models that allow two-way and wireless communications to customer meters and will enable all our other programs that we want to run through this project. Some purchases to date include different types of meters for residential and commercial customers as well as some communications equipment. Our current meters cost about the same amount to replace individually, around $140 a meter, however we can no longer purchase our current meters due to their outdated technology. Roadman discussed the next step which will be the initial deployment. Meter installations will be begin in Coburg by Emerald s staff in January. The remaining meter installations will be performed by a contractor, beginning in May The reason for starting in Coburg is due to the city s customer diversity along with the geography so we can test how the equipment will work. We have a RFP ready to go out this week asking contractors for bids for this second phase of meter installations. We are estimating the installation cost at around $400,000 to $600,000, along with a system survey which will need to be approved by the Board in early Parker asked if the new meters will work immediately once they are installed. Roadman answered that the meters will be ready and can be used exactly how they are currently being read, however the plan is to have all of the communication done so that once the new meters are installed they will be able to use the new system. Next, Roadman discussed some of the pre-installation communications to our customers. We plan to send out postcards in the weeks prior to the meter switch out, and then follow up with a door hanger the day before. If the contractors are ahead of schedule, they may ask the customers directly if they can switch out their meters that day. Roadman discussed some talking points for the Board, should customers inquire about GMI. Roadman said that our current metering technology is reaching the end of its life. Currently, they do not notify us of outages and our existing equipment requires a lot of overhead to maintain. He said that this project should not have an impact on rates and customers will get more value from the new meters. Customers will see a lot of benefits from the new system. Improved customer service, account flexibility, and tools to reduce their energy usage are just a few examples of what customers will experience. Parker mentioned an incident from a storm last winter where a facility that housed elderly residents didn t regain power and we were unaware. The new equipment would have notified us and we d be able to restore their power. There will also be an option for customers to be notified on their mobile devices if their power is out at their home. Davis asked if the system will help with underground wire breaks. Roadman answered that it will not detect breaks but we will have a better ability to pinpoint problems within the system.

6 Emerald PUD Minutes December 12, 2017 Page OPUDA Voting Delegates Currently Parrish is the only OPUDA delegate for the Board. Parrish said we should have two delegates as well as an alternate. Jordan volunteered to be a delegate and will attend the OPUDA meetings in Kelley volunteered to be an alternate should Parrish or Jordan be unable to attend. Consent Agenda Motion Vote Motion Vote Review of Motions Public Comment Suggested Items for Future Meetings Upcoming Meetings/Events Directors Concluding Comments Adjournment Director Parker/Director Jordan moved to approve the Consent Agenda Unanimously approved. Director Parrish motioned to decline the sale of a portion of our property surrounding the Marcola Substation. Unanimously approved. The motions made during the meeting were reviewed for accuracy. None. None, other than those discussed during the meeting. The list of upcoming meetings and events were listed on the agenda. Parrish and Parker are planning on attending the next OPUDA meeting on Friday. Davis discussed the International Auto Show in San Francisco that was held in November. The show featured the latest in eco-friendly automotive innovation and offered manufacturer test drives. Davis said a three-wheeled vehicle was also featured. Parrish discussed the articles that he ed out to the Board members titled What They Don t Tell You About Climate Change and Sucking Up Carbon Greenhouse Gases Must Be Scrubbed From The Air, both from the November edition of the Economist. President Parrish adjourned the Board meeting at 6:52 pm. Minutes prepared by Wendi McKay, Executive Assistant.