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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLIGHTCOMM MIN12132010 Mansfield Municipal Electric Department Minutes of Light Commissioners Meeting December 13, 2010 '.J Present: Chairman Jess Aptowitz; Vice Chairman George Dentino; Clerk Olivier Kozlowski; Commissioner Douglas Annino; Commissioner Kevin Moran; Director Gary Babin; Staff Accountant Ken Thomson; Financial Assistant Jacqueline Lee and Town Manager Bill Ross Light Commissioners Meeting The meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. Chairman Aptowitz stated that this meeting was being taped to be televised by Mansfield Cable Access. Motion: To approve the minutes of the November 8, 2010 Light Commissioner's meeting (Annino/Moran) Passes 5/0 Vice Chairman Dentino questioned if Chairman Aptowitz had received'the AIR spreadsheet he had requested at the last Light Commissioners meeting. Chairman Aptowitz said he had received a summary. Town Manager Ross explained that he'd rather not give out a spreadsheet with names on it but would consider giving out an aging. Chairman Aptowitz suggested making a spreadsheet with all pertinent information on it then deleting the column of names. Vice Chairman Dentino said the Light Commissioners could agree not to discuss the information in public but felt that as Light Commissioners they were privy to all of the information. Financial Report for September 2010 - Director Babin presented the financial statements for October 2010. He stated that net operating income year-to-date through October was $1,197,300, which is on target. Director Babin explained that there was an overcollection on the Generation Charge in September. He said that MMED has nearly $8 million cash on hand and energy sales are strong, up 8.6% year-to-date. Staff Accountant Thomson said that on the profit and loss statement, "Other Expense (Discounts, Rebates)" is up 9.4% which means more residents are taking advantage of the energy rebates. He then pointed out that on the balance sheet, the "Misc. Current! Accrued Liabilities" was up 143% which was simply a bookkeeping issue due to a quarterly PILOT payment to the Town that had not yet been made. Staff Accountant Thomson also noted that the AIR balance was up only 2% despite a big increase in revenues. Commissioner Moran questioned the "Other Post-Employment Benefits Plan". Staff Accountant Thomson said that the $194,000 represents the FYI0 accrual for that expense which the Board approved. Clerk Kozlowski asked if Director Babin could elaborate on the MMWEC reserve trust. Director Babin said it is money that has been set aside at MMWEC in what was originally designed as a rate stabilization fund but is considered discretionary money to use as the Board sees fit. For example, it has previously been used as rate stabilization to lower rates. - - Vice Chairman Dentino questioned the year-to-date actual amount of the PILOT and the prior year actual. Staff Accountant Thomson explained that the year-to-date expense was the four month accrual representing the estimated expense for the first 1/3 of the year. Vice Chairman Dentino said he brings up the subject every year that MMED cannot make a donation to the Mansfield High School Robotics and stated that he intends to pursue it again this year. He said that a municipal light department cannot make a donation to a veterans organization or a baseball team, as had happened in the past. Mansfield High School Robotics - Director Babin said that each year for the past several years the Light Department has made a donation to the Mansfield High' School Robotics program. This year the request is for a donation of $5,000 and he noted that they have no money left over from last year's donation, which was for $2,000. Jim Carver-Brown, the supervising teacher, told the Board that the money is used for traveling to competitions. He said that traditionally the team alternates going to the competitions every other year. He said that there are 20 students currently involved, five of which are seniors. Thirty percent of the participating students are women. Mr. Carver-Brown said that this is the team's ninth year and they now have alumni coming back to work with them. Vice Chairman Dentino said that Mr. Carver-Brown does a great job and that he is a firm believer in the Robotics program. Vice Chairman Dentino then said that MMED had received an opinion from the DOR that was not favorable because it said that a utility cannot make a donation. Director Babin said that he got an opinion from the DTE but does not believe he ever saw one from the DOR. He will go back and check on that. Vice Chairman Dentino said he was not worried about the DTE and that he wanted to right a wrong as he believed this should be in the school budget. Town Manager Ross said he thought the DTE (now DPU) opinion was self explanatory for what was allowable. Chairman Aptowitz then asked if he could have a motion to open the public hearing on secondary facilities which had been posted for 7:30. Motion: To open the public hearing on secondary facilities on private property (Moran/Kozlowski) Passes 5/0 Motion: To postpone the continuation of the public hearing on secondary facilities on private property until the Light Commissioners finish their business regarding the Mansfield High School Robotics (Moran/Kozlowski) Passes 5/0 Commissioner Moran said that he sees Vice Chairman Dentino's point that this should be in the school's budget. Chairman Aptowitz asked Director Babin to go back and check for this DOR opinion. 2 - Motion: That the Mansfield Municipal Electric Department make a Payment-in-Lieu- of-Taxes in the amount of $5,000 to the Town of Mansfield for the purpose of donating this money to the Mansfield High School Robotics Program. Such payment to be taken from unappropriated earned surplus and be recorded as a below-the-Iine expense. (An nino/Kozlowski) Passes 4/1 (Dentino against) Secondary Facilities on Private Property Policies - Director Babin said that after the October 27 public hearing, the MMED staff developed policy language to reflect the Board votes that were taken. The MMED staff also wrote some suggested language on the North Main St. issue for the Board's review even though it had not been directed to do so. T own Manager Ross disclosed that he now owns a house in a residential compound in Mansfield. He then said although the staff had some thoughts on the North Main St issue he did not expect any action to be taken on that item this evening. Town Manager Ross said that according to what MMED staff had written, the policy for residential compounds would be that MMED would own the primary line to the padmount transformer and any secondary wire in the travelled way but once the secondaries reached the handhole at the property line, the secondaries then become the property owner's responsibility. For properties with secondary extensions from the original transformer location to the new transformer location, ownership of those secondary facilities would be transferred to the owner. Town Manager Ross said he did expect action on these items tonight but not on the North Main Street issue. Director Babin said that the staff went through MMED's policies and tried to find any sections that may be affected by implementing these new policies. The summary of those proposed policy changes were included in the Board package. Chairman Aptowitz suggested that the Board start with a motion regarding the residential policy. Motion: To adopt the language in the Mansfield Municipal Electric Department Construction Requirements for New Developments Residential and CommerciallIndustrial policy for Article 200 - Underground Residential Subdivisions and Residential Compounds and the language in the Mansfield Municipal Electric Department Information and Requirements for Electric Service policy for Article 700 - Meters. (Annino/Moran) Passes 5/0 Chairman Aptowitz said he wanted to address the Quad 3 policy. Director Babin told the Board that the owner of 51 Francis Ave had provided MMED with a letter saying they will assume ownership ofthe secondary facilities on their property. Town Manager Ross told the Board that the easement in this case is being modified because of how it was written. Director Babin added that this one was very specific while others are more general. 3 ~ Motion: To act in accordance with the letter from the property owner of 51 Francis Ave which says they will accept ownership of the secondaries and that they are willing to modify the easement (Moran/Kozlowski) Chairman Aptowitz opened it up to the Board for discussion. Vice Chairman Dentino questioned amending an easement. He pointed out that this easement for 51 Francis Ave is entirely different from any other easement as Director Babin had said. Vice Chairman Dentino noted that no other easement goes into these specifics and questioned when this easement came to the Board. Director Babin answered that it was written by town counsel and said that easements have never been brought to the Board before. Vice Chairman Dentino asked if Director Babin had reviewed the easement or if the former Town Manager D'Agostino had reviewed it. Director Babin said he did not recall. Director Babin pointed out that the Board had approved the 2010 Town Meeting warrant which included this among a number of easements for Town Meeting approval. Vice Chairman Dentino said he thought it was very strange that this was written this way and believed it was unacceptable that a document like this could be produced. Commissioner Moran modified his motion. Motion: As per the letter from the property owner of 51 Francis Ave, to void the existing easement and develop a new easement within MMED guidelines for the installation (Moran/Kozlowski) Passes 4/0/1 (Dentino abstained) Motion: Transfer ownership of all secondary facilities on private property to the owners for Quad 3 installations or for those installations performed to address access problems for 9 residential properties. The line of demarcation in these cases will be the secondary conductors leaving the transformer enclosure. MMED would continue to own and maintain all primary facilities, including the transformer. For those locations with easements, MMED would maintain the easement for access to primary facilities but elect not to perform work on secondary facilities, and notify the customers of this change in procedure. Again, "prescriptive right" would prevail in situations without easements. (Moran/ Annino) Passes 5/0 Chairman Aptowitz asked that the proposed language for the issue of the North Main St secondaries be put onto the MMED website and said he would like to take care of that at the next meeting. It was decided to hold the next Light Commissioners meeting on Monday, January 24,2011. Motion: To postpone the secondary hearing until Monday, January 24, 2011 (Moran/An nino) Passes 5/0 4 III' Solar Energy Policy and Tariffs for MMED - Director Babin told the Board that under net metering requirements, MMED would be required to buy back energy exported from solar energy facilities. The question involved is how much MMED pays for that energy. He said that MMED would have to develop a tariff to comply with the laws. He explained that MMED would also have to have a public hearing and the tariff would have to be approved by the Board and filed with the DPU. He noted that the reimbursement for residential solar installations is very simple as it is at the full rate but that reimbursement for commercial installations is more complicated. He felt that this issue had to be resolved before MMED moved on to potential development of a solar energy farm on the Town's landfill. Director Babin then said that depending on how the tariff is structured, MMED will either lose net income or socialize the cost of the lost revenue across all customer classes. He said his hope for tonight was for the Board to vote on a general net metering policy, as opposed to adopting a reimbursement tariff, and this would let people know that MMED has a policy in place that can be distributed to interested parties and that they're working on a tariff. Vice Chairman Dentino pointed out that these are tough times and he does not see this working financially. Director Babin said that some people have a philosophical commitment to green energy and developing solar facilities but that there are also significant financial incentives now for these developments to move forward. Motion: To adopt a net metering policy as proposed by the MMED staff (Annino/Moran) Passes 5/0 East Mansfield Substation Update- Director Babin provided the Board with the latest project schedule developed by PLM. He said they are now going through National Grid transmission line filings with the DPU and that the hearings will be conducted January 20-21, 2011. He hopes the new substation will be energized by summer 2012 in accordance with the schedule. Town Manager Ross told the Board that Director Babin has been working on the financial plan and it appears that little to no borrowing will be needed. Chairman Aptowitz questioned the $50,000 amount paid to Rubin and Rudman and whether it was for this as he thought it was rather expensive. Director Babin said that it was for the substation but it was important to have someone working on the legal documents required with National Grid who was familiar with the key people and processes involved there as it was a big company. Old and New Business - Vice Chairman Dentino thanked the MMED staff for fixing the streetlight which is located on the bridge near his house. Vice Chairman Dentino brought up the subject of the MMED office hours. He feels there are safety problems because of the amount of money being collected there and he also believes there needs to be better managerial control of the staff. He also thinks the hours should be the 5 - same as the Town Hall and doesn't understand why people's hours change. He sees no reason why everyone's hours should not be 8:00 to 4:00. He asked the department to reconsider this. Town Manager Ross said that he has been talking about this with Director Babin and that Director Babin has already worked this out with his staff and was working on moving the hours from 8:00 to 4:00. Vice Chairman Dentino then asked the definition of a salaried employee. Director Babin answered that he is the only salaried employee in the Light Department. . Vice Chairman Dentino questioned what that meant in terms of hours and whether that meant a guaranteed weekly dollar amount. Director Babin explained that his salary required that 40 hours be accounted for on his time card by working, or by the use of vacation time, sick time, etc. Chairman Aptowitz stated that he would prefer that the conversation be kept in general terms. Town Manager Ross cautioned that you need to be careful of what you require from a salaried employee in terms of a salaried employee becoming an hourly employee. Chairman Aptowitz said that there was a list of North Main Street streetlights that were out and the list was given to Line Foreman D' Ambra. Some people are saying some of the lights are still going on and off. He said that he would get another list to Line Foreman D' Ambra. Chairman Aptowiz also requested that the next Light Commissioners meeting be held back in the 3rd floor meeting room and not in the 2nd floor meeting room as it was tonight. Chairman Aptowitz asked that "Questions & Comments" be added to the meeting agenda for all Light Commissioner meetings. Hugh Boyd, 70 Tracy Circle, the IBEW business representative for the MMED Financial Assistants bargaining unit and the Professional bargaining unit was at the meeting on their behalf. He told the Board that he was working with Town Manager Ross on the new contracts and that the issue of the working hours of the office is an issue that should be brought up in negotiations. He said that Director Babin had brought each of the employees into his office individually, without benefit of having him or their steward there, to discuss this matter. He stated that this is something that should be addressed at the bargaining table. Chairman Aptowitz said he was going to defer Mr. Boyd's comment to the Town Manager as he said the Board has nothing to do with negotiations and is not privy to what goes on in them. Motion: To adjourn the Light Commissioners meeting at 9:28 (Annino) Respectfully submitted: Ja.cqueline Lee 1/24/11 "".----:-:> ,e ('/ ..-- '-.~-----.,---- I-Z4-f{ Date of Approval Sig;ature of Clerk 6 -