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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLight Comm Minutes 5/12/1999Light Commissioners Minutes May 12,1999 Present: Chairman Robhrson, Commissioners Amoruso, McCarter, R6yle and Wills John D'Agostino, Town Manager Jack Beliveau, Director, Light Department Kimberly Stoyle, Accounting Officer, Light Department James F. Goulet, CPA, James F. Goulet & Associates, P.C. 1. The meeting was called to order at 7:32PM followed by the pledge of allegiance. Review Minutes of March 31, 1999 Motion: To approve the minutes of March 31, 1999. (Amoruso — Royle) All in favor. Passes 2. Questions and Comments -None 3. March Financial Results Kim Stoyle presented the Light Department's March Financial Results while making reference to her report "Mansfield Municipal Electric Department Financial Report March 1999" After her presentation the Commissioners questioned, Ms. Stoyle and Mr. Beliveau regarding the power plants and if there were any more stmt downs scheduled for this summer. 4. Park Street Conduit Locations Continued Public Hearing Request for continuance until May 26, 1999 Commissioners agreed to continuance until next Light Commissioners meeting June 7" at 8pnr Commissioners agreed to Smiley Avenue Public Hearing to take place on June 7d' at 8:15pnn 5. Audit Report with Jim Goulet Jim Goulet presented the Light Department's Audit Report while making reference to his report "Mansfield Municipal Electric Department Financial Statements December 31, 1998 and 1997" and "Mansfield Municipal Electric Department Management Letter Year Ended December 31, 1998" The Commissioners questioned Mr. Goulet regarding the "shape" of the Electric Light Department. Mr. Goulet stated that the Electric Light Department is "financially solvent ", in "very good shape financially ", has a "handle on where we are going" and the new staff is going through "training but catching on quickly ". Chairman Robinson suggested that a review be conducted in 6 months. Mr. Beliveau endorsed that recommendation adding that Jim Goulet and his staff are very helpful. 6. Gilbert Street Substation Update —Jack Beliveau Mr. Beliveau stated that a consultant has been hired to review all the possible options and that the final report is due by the next Light Commissioners Meeting. Power Source and Peak DemandNia Power Suppliers (Summer Months) Mr. Beliveau reported that he is in contact with Mayhew Sievey and Rachel at MMWEC and they advise him with regards to ADM Cocoa and our peak demand. 8. Old Business A. Commissioners Commissioner McCarter inquired whether Mr. Beliveau had had an opportunity to attend any meetings regarding cable. Mr. Beliveau had and reported that North Attleboro has backed away from cable, Taunton was fill speed ahead on cable, and Braintree is installing fiber optics. He also reported that Ire has scheduled a meeting with the Advisory Board for Wednesday, May 19'". Light Commissioners Mtg. 05/12/99 Pagel of 2 Commissioner Amoruso inquired if Mr. Beliveau was able to determine how we could sell more power than we bough. Mr. Beliveau believes that it is due to overlapping time period on the billing cycles. Chairman Robinson requested an update on the Canoe River customer. Mr. Beliveau produced a letter that was sent to the customer regarding the Conservation Groups inability to contact the customer. He requested that the customer call him if they were still interested in having an energy audit completed. B. Director - None Street Light Patrol will be preformed 2 times a year. We have been responding next day on calls into the office reporting street light outages and have received many thank you notes for our quick response. 9. New Business A. Commissioners Commissioner Amoruso had some changes to the DPU Report Motion: To approve the DPU report with amendments. (Amoruso - Royle) All in Favor. Passes. Commissioner McCarter and Wills commented that the financial report that Ms. Stoyle prepared was nice and contained a lot of other helpful information. Commissioner Royle questioned the need for a police detail at 125 High Street on April 21 ". Mr. Beliveau reported that it was due to customer terminations due to non- payment and that last year that made several 911 calls due to irrate customers. Mr. Beliveau has read an article on employers being responsible for hostile work environments even if it was caused by customers so he believed a police detail would ease the situation since it was a new staff and a new experience. Mr. D'Agostino brought up the policy of the meter readers accepting cash in the field. Chairman Robinson and Commissioner Royle commented that cash should only be accepted at the Treasurer's Office. It was recommended that a rough draft shut off policy be created. Details of MMWEC, NEPPA and APPAs annual meetings were discussed for any one wishing to attend. Date of Next Meeting The next meeting of the Mansfield Light Commissioners is scheduled for Monday, June 7, 1999 at 7:30pnn B. Director Mr. Beliveau updated the Commissioners on the Condition of Office and the need to have a new heating and cooling system installed. Mr. Beliveau also brought up the possibility of eliminating deposits. He would like to stop taking deposits on residential renter and reftmd current deposits for a trial of one year. It was suggested that Mr. Beliveau should price out the cost of the current policy and research the history. 10. Adjournment 9:32 PM Motion: To adjourn. (Boyle - McCarter) All in Favor. Passes. Respectfi ally Submitted, Laurie M. Anderson Light Commissioners Mtg. 05/12/99 %1,1 Page 2 of 2 Over the past six months, we purchased approximately 25% of our power on a daily basis. This saved us several hundred thousand dollars over utilizing our existing contract with Northeast Utilities, which is priced at approximately 5 cents per kilowatt-hour. Over the next several weeks, I will be working with MMWEC to find the best mix of power commitments to both minimize our cost and minimize our risks. As several million dollars are transacted, effective management in this area will result in several hundred thousand dollars in savings to Mansfield Electric. • Financials This evening we welcome Kimberly Stoyle, our new Accounting Officer, who will present our February financial results. Our February results are $107,336 before taxes and $74,354 after payments in lieu of taxes. Our year to date earnings results are $430,434 before taxes and $372,180 after payments in lieu of taxes. We are currently ahead of our projections for 1999. 6. Review Minutes of February 08,1999 and March 03,1999 Motion: To approve the minutes of February 08, 1999 with the amendment. (Amoroso — Royle) All in favor. Passes Motion: To approve the minutes of March 03, 1999- (Amontso — Royle) All in favor. Passes 7. Old Business A. Commissioners Commissioner Robinson inquired about the Conservation Audit that was to be done on a residence on Canoe River Road. Mr. Beliveau believes that the audit was performed sometime last week but will follow -up on that with the Conservation Group. B. Director - None 8. New Business A. Director Ray Gouley is, for the sixth year, visiting the Mansfield Schools with his Electrical Safety Program. He has offered to again conduct one for Mansfield's Senior Citizens. In the past it has been presented during a buffet luncheon. The Commissioners agreed that this is a necessary program. There have been some changes to the wording of our bills, which should make it easier for our customers to understand. Citizens will be able to download necessary forms from the WebSite. We are receiving compliments from our customers regarding the timely repair of streetlights. We will notify customers of scheduled power outages on the Web Site. B. Commissioners Commissioner Wills wanted to confirm the Selectmen's Tour scheduled for Saturday, April 10 from 9am -1 lam. Commissioner Amoruso will not be able to attend on that date. Tour rescheduled for Saturday, April 24'". Commissioner Robinson noticed on his morning run that the plastic covering on the wires has cracked on a pole at the comer of Essex and Jonathan. He will make note of the pole number tomorrow morning and report such to Mr. Beliveau. C:,; `11 \g49 ! 9. Adjournment 9:58 PM Motion: To adjourn. (Boyle - McCarter) All in Favor. Passes. Respectfully Submitted, Laurie M. Anderson Light Commissioners Mtg. Page 3 of 3 03/31/99