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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLIGHTCOMM MIN12212009 Mansfield Municipal Electric Department Minutes of Light Commissioners Meeting December 21, 2009 .:r~;:: i 'V~ '~l LI JJ Present: Chairman Jess Aptowitz; Vice Chairman Kevin Moran; Clerk Ann Baldwin; Commissioner George Dentino; Commissioner Sandra Levine; Director Gary Babin; Engineer Chris Cox; Staff Accountant Ken Thomson; Line Foreman Gary D'Ambra and Financial Assistant Jacqueline Lee Light Commissioners Meeting The meeting was called to order at 7:02 PM followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Chairman Aptowitz noted that no one had signed up for Questions and Comments. Mansfield High School Robotics Program -Director Babin told the Board that James Carver-Brown, advisor to the Mansfield High School Robotics program, was in attendance to request that a contribution be made to the Robotics program in the amount of $2,500. Director Babin noted that MMED has made donations in the past to MHS for the program. Mr. Carver-Brown gave an overview of the current program to the Board. He said that 1/3 of the team are veterans and that 1/3 are women. He said that they are doing a lot of training with the novice underclassmen and that the team is getting strong parental support. Mr. Carver Brown then explained the goals of the Robotics team for 2009-2010. Their first goal is to formally enter one regional competition. Their second goal is to participate in some other competitions if they are prepared. Their third goal is to broaden their financial support systems. Mr. Carver-Brown did state that the team will not be going to the Nationals this year. Motion: That the Mansfield Municipal Electric Department make a Payment-in-Lieu- of-Taxes in the amount of $2,500 to the Town of Mansfield for the purpose of donating this money to the Mansfield High School Robotics Program. Such payment will be taken from unappropriated earned surplus and be recorded as a below-the-line expense. (Baldwin/Moran) Passes 5/0 Commissioner Dentino asked if there was any money left in the fund from last year. Mr. Carver Brown answered that there is $1,600 in the fund presently. Financial Report for October 2009 - Director Babin said that the net operating income year-to-date through October is $1,102,584. All major controllable operating expenses came in $217,000, or 19.5%, under budget through October. There is an Accounts Receivable of $347,052 for monies owed to MMED by its customers for undercollection of the Generation Charge. Energy sales for October 2009 are down 8.5%. MMED's depreciation fund balance stands at $4,180,744. Staff Accountant Thomson reported that a new balance sheet account has been established for the Other Post Employment Benefits Account. He reported that guaranteed deposits have ...~.. .,... ~...-.-. ---------- , ... increased by 58% since 2009 and AIR liens have also increased. He said that customer accounts receivable are in good shape. Staff Accountant Thomson noted that the rates for November and December reflect a return to ratepayers of $180,000 in Rate Stabilization money through the Generation Charge each month. Vice Chairman Moran asked how the loss of the ADM load impacts MMED's other customers. Director Babin said he was not sure of the impact but said that it will reduce MMED's net income. Northeast Power Coordinating Council Audit - Director Babin said that after the 1965 Northeast Blackout, the Northeast Power Coordinating Council (NPCC) was formed. After another blackout occurred in 2003, a more stringent set of standards went into effect in 2005. Director Babin said that on September 28, 2009 MMED was audited by NPCC. In the event of non-compliance, significant fines are possible for those deemed to be non-compliant with those standards. Engineer Cox told the Board that the audit was conducted off-site, meaning MMED spoke on the phone with the NPCC and received follow-up questions via email. The audit showed that MMED did have all the proper documents, polices and procedures in place so MMED passed the audit. He explained that the standard for compliance was having in place documents which showed that MMED followed all directives from ISO New England and NGRID, which required going back a couple of years into MMED's records. Substation maintenance and testing was also part of the audit so a substation maintenance manual, which MMED has maintained routinely, had to be submitted. Engineer Cox said that in the next month MMED will become designated as a "load serving entity" which means they will have to comply with even more standards. This additional classification means MMED will be audited within the next few years rather than in the usual six years between audits. Engineer Cox said there will also be "alerts" that MMED will be required to log into and acknowledge; an HINl alert would be an example. If you do not respond in a timely manner there is a potential violation. Commissioner Levine asked what a "load serving entity" is. Engineer Cox said he did not have the exact definition but that there are several different classifications, such as distribution provider and load serving entity, some of which apply to MMED. Commissioner Levine asked if one was preferable over the other. Engineer Cox said no. East Mansfield Substation Update- Engineer Cox gave an update on the permitting process for the new substation. He said at the time of the last Light Commissioners meeting, MMED had just filed an environmental notification form (ENF). The outcome since then is that MMED will not have to file an environmental impact report. There is also permitting currently going on between NGRID and Natural Heritage, a division of the Massachusetts Department of Conservation Resources (DCR). Engineer Cox also reported that MMED is 2 ... still working to satisfy the Conservation Commission requirements for the Notice of Intent (NOl). Director Babin told the Board that a company called Swampwalkers was hired by the Conservation Commission to assess the endangered species on the site and that MMED paid the cost. A determination was made that there was "no take" required in the zone where the substation would be built but that there may be an issue in the National Grid right of way. He noted that MMED will be coordinating with NGRID on this and that MMED will need to have its NOI approved by the Conservation Commission before moving forward. He stated that MMED is working with the Town Engineer to resolve drainage issues to satisfy the NOI requirements. Director Babin also added that MMED is going to request an informal meeting with the Conservation Commission prior to the NOI filing to get their opinion on the design. Chairman Aptowitz asked if the May Town Meeting was realistic at this point. Director Babin said they could put a place holder onto the warrant in the event MMED gets Site Plan approval from the Planning Board. Commissioner Dentino questioned whether MMED hadn't already filed a NO!. Director Babin said they had but that due to some bad information MMED received, they withdrew the NO! in order to reassess the requirement. Also, not having a NO! in front of the Conservation Commission allowed the.MMED staff to conduct informal discussions with them, as opposed to the formality of a Public Hearing. Commissioner Dentino said he doesn't understand why the NO! was pulled. Commissioner Dentino then asked who is working on the permlttmg. Director Babin answered that he and Engineer Cox were. Commissioner Dentino then expressed dismay over consultants being used for permitting and engineering. He wondered why MMED can't do more in-house. Engineer Cox stated that he and Director Babin are not civil engineers. Director Babin said they don't have the necessary expertise to provide the information required for the filings, which is why PLM has been retained to perform the work. Retail Rate Comparison for October 2008 to September 2009 - Director Babin said a twelve month comparison of residential rates previously requested was contained in the Board package. It showed that MMED's residential rates for various sizes of customers are very favorable, as MMED rated between 6th and 16th lowest out of 43 utilities in each of the categories. Vice Chairman Moran wondered if the Board could see the commercial and industrial rates broken down as 12 month averages or if it would be too labor intensive. Director Babin said that they could ask MMWEC about it. Motion: To approve the minutes of the November 16, 2009 Light Commissioners meeting (Baldwin/Levine) Passes 5/0 Old and New Business - Vice Chairman Moran said he was doing some reading about Smartgrid and found that those getting involved aren't your typical companies. They are companies such as Microsoft. He pointed out that since the rates are averaged out across the 3 'II board everyone else is subsidizing the heavy energy users. He believes that going towards Smartgrid will allow you to use energy more effectively and thinks it's worth keeping an eye on. Director Babin noted that Ann Langille, whose Electrical Engineer position was not replaced by vote of the Board, had been working on Smartgrid meter technology but that MMED was unable to dedicate resources to it now. Commissioner Dentino questioned the energy audits that MMED pays ENE to perform when a customer complains about their bill. Director Babin explained that MMED must spend 'l4 of 1% ifit's operating revenue on residential energy conservation through the State's Residential Conservation Services (ReS) program. Commissioner Dentino suggested putting a stop to the audits once MMED reaches the 'l4 of 1 % cap. Commissioner Dentino then brought up the subject of the responsibility of low voltage wires (secondaries) which has been discussed at previous meetings. Motion: That the Board of Light Commissioners establish a policy that the termination point of commercial and industrial electric customers be the end of the primary side of the transformer and for the residential electric customer it would be the weatherhead on the home (Dentino/ Aptowitz) Director Babin said he had sent the Board a summary of MMED' s ownership of low voltage facilities (secondaries) on customer properties. There are approximately 22 locations where MMED owns underground low voltage facilities on customer property where MMED took the initiative to do the work themselves to address a particular problem, including many locations on North Main Street when that area was placed underground. He said the property owners didn't want to take responsibility for the facilities and because MMED initiated the work, they had to assume the responsibility. Director Babin pointed out that in areas where there is overhead service, there are wires going from the street to the building so MMED's wires are also technically on customer property when you consider air rights. For overhead residential customer services, the service is, in fact, owned by the customer starting at the weatherhead as proposed by Commissioner Dentino. Director Babin also pointed out that for many installations on commercial customer property, MMED owns all of the high voltage cable and transformers. The low voltage connection from the side of the building going into the building is where it becomes the customer's responsibility. Director Babin told the Board that MMED staff did do a fair amount of research on this and had some suggested wording if the Board decided to move forward with this. The suggested wording is as follows: Section 408 - Ownership of Underground Low Voltage Equipment on Private Property - The Department will not assume ownership of underground low voltage wires, conduit or related equipment installed on customer property. All such installations currently in place as of (insert date) shall be grandfathered from this requirement and MMED shall retain ownership of and maintenance responsibility for these facilities. 4 '-'-""-"'-"--'''----''-'._--~'''--''--- T '11 Director Babin said that there are some issues associated with this. The staff recommends that any existing MMED ownership be grand fathered because MMED elected to do the work. MMED would also accept the existing residential compounds as part of that. Lastly, the policy should specifically exclude MMED overhead facilities over private property. At this time Chairman Aptowitz seconded Commissioner Dentino's motion for discussion purposes. Commissioner Dentino thinks there is no reason for MMED to have this expense as no other community does. He believes if you ask the customer to take responsibility for the secondaries and they won't, MMED should just remove it. He once again asked the other commissioners to form a policy. Director Babin reiterated that the policy should grandfather the existing cases because MMED initiated the work and should take the responsibility. Then, going forward treat each installation on a case by case basis and have them come to the Board. Commissioner Baldwin suggested an amendment to Commissioner Dentino's motion to grandfather in the existing cases but he was not agreeable to that. Commissioner Dentino said he wanted to withdraw his motion in order to pursue the previous policy and look at all the instances that have occurred since that policy went into effect. Chairman Aptowitz asked Director Babin to put this on the next agenda. He then suggested January 25 as the date for the next Light Commissioners meeting. Commissioner Dentino stated that uniform and clothing allowances have become a big problem in this town and wondered if the Light Department has them. Director Babin answered that they are included in the collective bargaining agreements. Commissioner Dentino said that he would like to see copies of each of the three Light Department bargaining unit contracts. Commissioner Dentino then asked how anyone would know whether an employee uses 10, 8 or 2 pair of jeans during the course of a year. He feels there needs to be better control over this. Line Foreman D' Ambra joined Director Babin and explained that an operations employee will easily go through 10 pair of jeans in 1 year due to perspiration and the possibilities of rips and tears because of the nature of the work. He also explained that the jeans are required to be fire retardant and the FR will not hold up after frequent washings. Chairman Aptowitz told Director Babin that the Selectmen will be discussing the vehicle policy at the January 6 Selectmen's meeting and invited him to attend ifhe had any comments on the policy. He then said the Board would be adjourning directly into a Selectmen's meeting and wished everyone a happy holiday. 5 l """'<1.- ... Commissioner Levine inquired about the Hathaway Patterson site as to whether there is a possibility of having solar panels installed there. She wondered if there have been any studies done and asked if MMED could get that information. She wants to know the feasibility of using the property. Commissioner Levine then said that she had read a letter in Sunday's newspaper about the possibility of the head of the Light Department wearing a police monitoring bracelet that Chairman Aptowitz would be in charge of monitoring. She asked if anyone else on the Board knew anything about this because she did not and felt that as a Light Commissioner she wanted to know if something was going on. No one commented that they knew anything about this letter. Chairman Aptowitz said he would read the letter. At 9: 1 0 PM the Light Commissioners business ended and the Selectmen business began. Respectfully submitted: Jacqueline Lee 3/1/10 (1 rf) rEel ~ ~- ; 'Co(;ll..1.0 y) ((~~) Signature of Cle ~ Date of Approval 6 .