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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLight Comm. 04/25/2022Mansfield Municipal Electric Department Minutes of Light Commissioners Meeting Apra 25, 2022 OFCEI`dED I FRI! S OFFICE 2622 MY 19 A 10: 02 Present: Chair Frank Delvecchio, Vice Chair Jess Aptowitz, Clerk Neil Rl�iii�e�?T >T4 Commissioner Steve Schoonveld, Commissioner Mike Trowbridge, Business Manager'J6s6p Pereira, Mayhew Seavey of PLM, Ron DeCurzio of MMWEC (remote), Matt Ide of MMWEC (remote), and Light Department Manager Joseph Sollecito The meeting was held at the Mansfield Town Hall, room 3AB and was also virtual via GoToWebinar. It was called to order at 5:00 PM followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. A complete copy of the Board packet containing all documents that are referenced in the minutes is on file at the Mansfield Municipal Electric Department office. Motion: To approve the minutes from the March 21, 2022 Light Commissioners meeting (Trowbridge/Aptowitz) Passes 5/0 Roll call vote: Delvecchio-aye; Rhein -aye; Trowbridge -aye; Schoonveld-aye and Aptowitz-aye Motion: To enter into Executive Session for the following reasons and to return to open session a. Review and possible approval of minutes of March 21, 2022 Executive Session where Exemptions 2, 3 and 10 were declared b. Pursuant to M.G.L. Ch.164, Section 47D and M.G.L. Ch. 30, Section 21, Exemption 10, to discuss trade secrets or confidential, competitively -sensitive or other proprietary information provided, in the course of activities conducted by a governmental body as an energy supplier under a license granted by the department of public utilities pursuant to section 1F of chapter 164 and when such governmental body, municipal aggregator or cooperative determines that such disclosure will adversely affect its ability to conduct business in relation to other entities making, selling or distributing electric power and energy and the chair so declares (Trowbridge/Schoonveld) Passes 5/0 Roll call vote: Delvecchio-aye; Rhein -aye; Trowbridge -aye; Schoonveld-aye and Aptowitz-aye Return to open session at 5:45 pm Manager Sollecito said the Board would now be voting on the MMWEC offshore wind project, Special Project 2021A, that had just been discussed in executive session. He felt this was a very attractive opportunity for MMED. Motion: 1. that the Town of Mansfield, acting by and through the Municipal Light Board or Commission, in accordance with St. 1975, c. 775, § 1 hereby votes and agrees to participate in MMWEC's Special Project 2021A; and 2. that the Town of Mansfield, acting by and through the Municipal Light Board or Commission, in accordance with St. 1975, c. 775 § 1 hereby agrees to pay its pro rata share of the costs of carrying out Special Project 2021A, as established by the MMWEC Board of Directors in the Special Project Fund for such Special Project 2021A, which pro rata share shall be based on the City or Town's participation in Special Project 2021A; and 3. that the Manager is hereby authorized and directed to make payments to MMWEC calculated as set forth in the preceding paragraph 2; and 4. that the Manager is hereby authorized and directed to execute the Participation Acknowledgement, a copy of which has been presented at this meeting and is filed with the permanent records thereof, and 5. that any actions previously taken by the Manager, which are consistent with the purpose of this vote, are hereby ratified and confirmed. (Trowbridge/Schoonveld) Passes 5/0 Roll call vote: Delvecchio-aye; Rhein -aye; Trowbridge -aye; Schoonveld-aye and Aptowitz-aye Motion: To appoint Vice Chair Aptowitz the acting clerk for the 4/25/22 Light Commissioners meeting (Trowbridge/Schoonveld) Passes 5/0 Roll call vote: Delvecchio-aye; Rhein -aye; Trowbridge -aye; Schoonveld-aye and Aptowitz-aye Performance Review of General Manager Sollecito — In March, Chair Delvecchio distributed Manager Sollecito's evaluation sheets to the Board and has since collected and compiled them. He passed out the finished product to the Board members and Manager Sollecito for their review. There were 16 categories to be scored on a scale of 1 to 5 for a total average score of 4.03 from all of the Light Commissioners. Chair Delvecchio stated that in a month or so, they will discuss compensation. Manager Sollecito thanked the Board and said MMED has a great staff and he is glad to be a part of it. Operating Budget FY2023 — Business Manager Pereira reviewed the highlights of the FY2023 operating budget. He stated that there will be an increase of the PPCA by $0.0163 per kWh across all rate classes as well as an increase in the distribution charge of $0.001 per kWh. There will also be increases in the monthly customer charges. The residential charge will increase by $2; the small commercial by $2.60; the medium commercial by $5; the industrial by $10 and the municipal by $3. He noted that they have done their best in regards to economic inflation and open market fuel prices when making key assumptions for this budget. Chair Delvecchio said he would like Mr. Seavey to review his rate analysis before the Board votes on this budget. Chair Delvecchio commented on the rate projections and budget projections and said if conditions get better in the world that these projections could change by 2 their next meeting on May 16. He also requested that once the budget is approved, that it be posted on the MMED website. Commissioner Trowbridge asked what the bottom line amount of this budget is that they are approving. Business Manager Pereira answered $28,915,965.00 is the amount they need to approve. Proposed Rate Changes — Mayhew Seavey of PLM said that at last month's meeting, they discussed what is going on with energy prices. With the rate changes he is proposing, he has been looking at two things. One is increasing distribution revenue and the other is adjusting the purchased power charges to reflect projected expenses. He said that no one knows when things will level off and if prices stay they way they are now, there will have to be another increase in the rates. He believes every utility will be doing the same thing but with different timing. Clerk Rhein who had joined tonight's meeting remotely was no longer in attendance Motion: To approve the proposed rate increase (Aptowitz/Schoonveld) Passes 4/0 Roll call vote: Delvecchio-aye; Trowbridge -aye; Schoonveld-aye and Aptowitz-aye Motion: To approve the FY23 Operating Budget (Aptowitz/Trowbridge) Passes 4/0 Roll call vote: Delvecchio-aye; Trowbridge -aye; Schoonveld-aye and Aptowitz-aye Commissioner Schoonveld left the meeting and then joined remotely. Capital Budget FY2023 - Manager Sollecito reviewed the "Identified Projects" table for the FY2023 Capital Budget he had distributed to the Board. They included one-time; recurring; billable and general plant projects. Motion: To approve the MMED FY23 Capital Budget (Trowbridge/Aptowitz) Passes 4/0 Roll call vote: Delvecchio-aye; Trowbridge -aye; Schoonveld-aye and Aptowitz-aye Motion: To approve the 2021 DPU report (Aptowitz/Trowbridge) Passes 4/0 Roll call vote: Delvecchio-aye; Trowbridge -aye; Schoonveld-aye and Aptowitz-aye Xfinity Fiber Project - This project was approved with the understanding that Xfinity would take the responsibility of bringing the fiber from the property line to their emergency response center. Manager Sollecito said that a lot of discussions have taken place over the last couple of months. He said it has been a very frustrating process dealing with many different entities. Xfinity was willing to pay MMED to do the work but was unwilling to sign the liability agreement. Manager Sollecito said that utilizing Verizon's help was considered but it is not going to work out. Xfinity (Live Nation) is currently looking into using a private contractor. Key Accounts Breakfast — Manager Sollecito hopes to have another Key Accounts Breakfast in the fall. One topic to be discussed is HVAC design. He said it would be helpful with energy savings for large industrial customers. The other topic he would like to bring up at the breakfast is "behind the meter battery storage investment' which he feels could be very valuable to large industrial customers. Citizen Comments — none Commissioner Comments — none Motion: To enter into Executive Session for the following reasons and to not return to open session a. Pursuant to M.G.L. Ch. 164, Section 47D and M.G.L. Ch. 30, Section 21, Exemption 3, to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the public body and the chair so declares (Aptowitz/Trowbridge) Passes 310 Roll call vote: Delvecchio-aye; Trowbridge -aye and Aptowitz-aye Respectfully Submitted: Jacqueline Lee Signat re of Clerk Date or Approval 11