MINUTES of the 4,772 nd Meeting being a Regular Meeting of the Commission of Public Utility District No. 1 of Grays Harbor County

Transcription

1 Page 1 of 7 MINUTES of the 4,772 nd Meeting being a Regular Meeting of the Commission of Public Utility District No. 1 of Grays Harbor County Office located at 220 Myrtle Street, Hoquiam, Washington. Monday, May 1, 2017 at 4:30 p.m., Pacific Standard Time WORKSHOP The workshop was called to order at 3:30 p.m. by President Arie Callaghan. Those in attendance were Commissioners Arie Callaghan, Russ Skolrood and Dave Timmons. General Manager Dave Ward, General Counsel Rick Pitt, Chief Financial Officer Kathryn Skolrood, Human Resources Director Angela Roberts, Engineering Manager Schuyler Burkhart, Chief Information Officer Rob Hanny, System Operations Superintendent Vaughn Hamilton, Communications & Government Relations Director Ian Cope, Power Manager Melinda James- Saffron and one member of the public were also present. The workshop consisted of a compliance overview presentation by System Operations Superintendent Vaughn Hamilton. MEETING CALLED TO ORDER: BUSINESS MEETING The business meeting was called to order at 4:36 p.m. by President Arie Callaghan. Those in attendance were Commissioners Arie Callaghan, Russ Skolrood and Dave Timmons. General Manager Dave Ward, General Counsel Rick Pitt, Contract Administrator/Clerk to the Board Tiffanee Parson, Communications & Government Relations Director Ian Cope, Chief Information Officer Rob Hanny, Human Resources Director Angela Roberts, Engineering Manager Schuyler Burkhart, Power Manager Melinda James-Saffron and no members of the public were also present. Chief Financial Officer Kathryn Skolrood and Safety & Environmental Director Dale Benner are absent from tonight s meeting. Operations Manager Steve Easton and Line Superintendent Ron Russell are unavailable at the moment due to an incident that happened today where a contractor cut through the District s conduit. Discussion ensued. MINUTES: Commissioner Dave Timmons moved that the Minutes from the 4,771 st Commission Meeting held on Monday, April 17, 2017 be approved. Commissioner Russ Skolrood seconded the motion. Motion carried by unanimous vote.

2 Page 2 of 7 PETITIONS FROM THE PUBLIC/PUBLIC COMMENT: President Arie Callaghan called for petitions from the public/public comment. None received. OLD BUSINESS: General Manager Dave Ward stated that he and Communications and Government Relations Director Ian Cope met with a group out in Ocean Shores. Although they disagree with the District s rates, at least they understand why there was a need for an increase. He will be meeting with Doug Miller of Pacific County PUD soon. Discussion ensued. NEW BUSINESS: General Manager Dave Ward stated that he met with a couple in his office recently for about an hour. They had some misinformation regarding the District s rate increase. Discussion ensued. STAFF AND ATTORNEY REPORTS: Human Resources Director Angela Roberts reported: 1) Human Resources will be pulling down the journeyman wireman and lineman postings from the District s website. 2) A vacancy for a Transmission & Distribution Engineer was just posted recently. 3) Offers have been made to various summer help students and Engineering intern candidates pending results of their background screenings. Communications & Government Relations Director Ian Cope reported: 1) The annual service awards and retiree luncheon is being held on June 13, 2017 at 11:30 a.m. at the Rotary Log Pavilion. 2) He is working with multiple agencies on the charging station matter. 3) He is working with Customer Service Manager Katy Moore and Operations Manager Steve Easton on the planned outage in the Axford Prairie/Kalaloch area that is scheduled on June 20 th from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. 4) The PUD will have a booth at the fair again this year. The fair runs from August 9 th to 13 th. 5) Students from Grays Harbor Youth Works took a tour of the District s main facility recently. He thanked Customer Service Manager Katy Moore, Line Crew Coordinator Paul Schell, Interim System Engineering Supervisor Michael Prentice and Technical Support Specialist Corwin Grey for their presentations.

3 Page 3 of 7 Engineering Manager Schuyler Burkhart reported: 1) He thanked System Operations Superintendent Vaughn Hamilton for all of his hard work on compliance. 2) He stated that it is tough to see Transmission & Distribution Engineer Brian Cokeley leave the District. Brian is a wonderful person, has been a great employee, and will be hard to replace. 3) He traveled to WSU in Pullman with Interim System Engineering Supervisor Michael Prentice recently to help make suggestions to improve their Engineering program. 4) He and others have been working with Information Technology Supervisor Alice King on exploring how to move to GIS integrated with NISC's software. 5) He will be attending the District s Servicemen meeting on May 3 rd. Power Manager Melinda James-Saffron reported: 1) BPA oversupply management protocols will be in place through May. 2) The District s conservation potential assessment kicked off today. 3) She will be attending Slice, PPC and PNUCC meetings this week in Portland. 4) Prices are on-peak $ $22.00, off-peak $ $3.00 and gas is $2.50. Customer Service Manager Katy Moore reported: 1) Customer Service is busy dealing with the rate increase and senior discount. 2) Customer Service will be sending letters out to every budget billing customer explaining the $15.00 increase. 3) She toured the Northwest Cannabis Solutions facility in Tumwater recently. Chief Information Officer Rob Hanny reported: 1) The City of Aberdeen has made a request to have the District connect all of their sites now. 2) He attended the WPUDA Managers meetings last Thursday and Friday in Olympia on behalf of General Manager Dave Ward. 3) He participated in an Energy Northwest conference call last week. 4) He will be attending a meeting with the Fry Creek Advisory Committee on May 5 th. 5) Both the 50-foot and 65-foot Digger Derrick line trucks have been ordered. One will be here this year and the other will be here next year. 6) He will be participating in Garage Helper interviews this week. 7) He gave kudos to the warehouse staff for another excellent job with the District s annual inventory. Operations Manager Steve Easton reported: 1) The Operations Department is in the home stretch of completing various personnel changes. 2) Steve Button recently finished his apprenticeship.

4 Page 4 of 7 3) There is an upcoming scheduled outage in the Axford Prairie area. 4) A private communications company (not working for the District) cut through some of the District s conduit with a sawsall today. Discussion ensued. 5) There was a car versus pole accident on Point Brown Avenue in Ocean Shores today. General Counsel Rick Pitt reported: 1) The District was denied its Motion for Summary Judgment in the Brown case and will be going to trial. Trial is scheduled for June 13 th in Grays Harbor County Superior Court. 2) Trial in the Pauley matter will be scheduled for approximately September. 3) He is working on the Relight Washington project. 4) There is no WPAG meeting scheduled for this month. General Manager Dave Ward reported: 1) He toured the Northwest Cannabis Solutions facility in Tumwater last week. He was very impressed. 2) He will be attending a BPA forum at Cowlitz PUD this week. 3) He will be attending PPC and PNUCC meetings in Portland later this week. 4) He will be meeting with the City of Aberdeen regarding the Relight Washington project. 5) He will be attending a ribbon cutting at Overstock.com on May 10 th at 2:00 p.m. COMMUNICATIONS: Contract Administrator/Clerk to the Board Tiffanee Parson read a thank you card into the record from U.S. Representative Derek Kilmer. CONSENT CALENDAR: a) 187 Claim Vouchers for the Weeks of April 17 and 24, 2017 (No through No ) in the Total Amount of $808, b) 17 Wire Transfers in the Total Amount of $6,693, c) Payroll for the Pay Period Ending April 14, 2017 in the Total Amount of $653, d) Travel Applications: For Substation Engineer Taylor McGrew to Attend SEL s PROT 401: Protecting Power Systems for Engineers Course from June 12 16, 2017 in Pullman, Washington for a Total Estimated Cost of $3, Commissioner Russ Skolrood moved that the Consent Calendar be approved. Commissioner Dave Timmons seconded the motion. Motion carried by unanimous vote.

5 Page 5 of 7 RESOLUTIONS: RESOLUTION NO A RESOLUTION DELEGATING ADMINISTRATIVE AND SIGNING AUTHORITY IN THE ABSENCE OR TEMPORARY DISABILITY OF THE GENERAL MANAGER, AND SUPERSEDING ALL PRIOR RESOLUTIONS General Manager Dave Ward explained that he would like to add Customer Service Manager Katy Moore as an authorized signer on his behalf. Discussion ensued. Commissioner Dave Timmons moved that Resolution #4936 be approved. Commissioner Russ Skolrood seconded the motion. Motion carried by unanimous vote. The full text of Resolution #4932 is available at District offices during regular business hours. RESOLUTION NO A RESOLUTION APPROVING AN AMENDED ADMINISTRATIVE SALARY SCHEDULE AND SUPERSEDING RESOLUTION NO General Manager Dave Ward stated that the revisions include removing the Assistant Power Manager from the schedule, since that position has not been filled since 2006, as well as added a new Energy Services position. Mr. Ward also stated that he is in the process of updating the entire salary schedule. The salary schedule has not been updated since He explained some of the proposed revisions. Discussion ensued. Commissioner Dave Timmons moved that Resolution #4937 be approved. Commissioner Skolrood seconded the motion. Motion carried by unanimous vote. The full text of Resolution #4937 is available at District offices during regular business hours. RESOLUTION NO A RESOLUTION RECOGNIZING THE VALUE OF THE RELIABLE AND CARBON FREE POWER PROVIDED BY THE COLUMBIA AND SNAKE RIVER HYDROELECTRIC SYSTEM AND THE COLUMBIA GENERATING STATION Community & Government Relations Director Ian Cope explained Resolution #4938. Discussion ensued. Commissioner Russ Skolrood moved that Resolution #4938 be approved. Commissioner Dave Timmons seconded the motion. Motion carried by unanimous vote. The full text of Resolution #4938 is available at District offices during regular business hours.

6 Page 6 of 7 ACTION ITEMS: Discussion ensued about May being a five-week month and there being two weeks in a row without a Commission Meeting. FORWARD PLANNING: Communications & Government Relations Director Ian Cope went over the current workshop schedule. COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC: President Arie Callaghan called for comments from the public. None were received. COMMISSIONER REPORTS: Commissioner Dave Timmons reported: 1) He will be attending the BPA forum with General Manager Dave Ward at Cowlitz PUD this week. Commissioner Russ Skolrood reported: 1) He attended a COG meeting last week. Commissioner Arie Callaghan reported: 1) He attended the Electrify the Rail seminar last week. 2) He will be attending a ribbon cutting at Overstock.com on May 10 th at 2:00 p.m. 3) He attended Energy Northwest meetings last week. ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business to bring before the Board, President Arie Callaghan declared the meeting adjourned at 5:21 p.m. ATTEST: President Secretary

7 Page 7 of 7 COMMISSION MEETING SCHEDULE DATES The following lists the Commission Meeting Schedule for the next three (3) meetings, with workshop sessions to begin at 3:30 pm prior to each meeting, unless otherwise noted. The business portion of each meeting begins at the hour of 4:30 p.m. Monday, May 15, 2017 Canceled Monday, May 22, :30 p.m. Monday, June 5, :30 p.m. Monday, June 19, :30 p.m.