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HomeMy WebLinkAboutmin of light commission 04/14/03 r Minutes of Light Commissioners Meeting April 14, 2003 Of"~) ", ~ I. f I'I!: ,,0 ! ,.., \". J"~ i 'j ~i J, I Present: Vice Chairman Michael W. McCue; Clerk Steven MacCaffrie; comml~sibri~t~' David McCarter and Daniel Donovan; Director Jack Beliveau; Chief Financial Officer Kimberly Stoyle and Town Manager John D' Agostino Light Commissioners Meeting The meeting was called to order at 7:30 followed by the pledge of allegiance. Minutes of March 10,2003 Regular Session Motion: To approve Passes 3/0 (with Commissioner McCarter abstaining) Questions and Comments There were no questions or comments. Financial Report for February 2003 r Chief Financial Officer, Kimberly Stoyle, reviewed the profit and loss statement and the balance sheet for February. Total metered sales for February were $2,140k and total power production expense was $1,490k. Net income for the month was $213k while net increase to surplus was $173k. Director Beliveau stated that the Light Dept will not make the maximum profit this year but will not lose money either. Manager D' Agostino asked if the PPCA would be raised. Director Beliveau responded that it already had. He also explained that the Light Dept's reimbursement from MMWEC has never been less than $1,000,000 but this year it is $662k which is a reflection of lower interest rates. There is also less working capital due to higher power costs. Commissioner McCarter questioned the Unappropriated Earned Surplus figure of 19,022,967 on the balance sheet. CFO Stoyle explained this was an accounting entry representing an accumulation of earnings which has nothing to do with cash. Manager D' Agostino asked about the Prepaid Purchase Power figure of 1,884,580. Director Beliveau stated that previously the Light Dept had joined in a venture with RF A, Refuse Fuel Associates, which was a recycling plant which generated electricity. The project failed and the Light Dept suffered a loss of $10 million which will be paid off this year. There were 8 outages for the month, one was due to squirrels. r CFO Stoyle gave a major projects update. A date of August 2003 has been set for the E- Billing to begin. She is currently meeting with various vendors and making price comparisons. Also, the monthly automatic credit card payment project is complete. Customers can now come into the office to fill out an authorization form. , (' (i ;'~' ! \ J l..... -"'~-Ji cD :-"~ 1('::- 9: 17 ,-to i J(.;:"'-7' ,}.) ';" T S 1- " r Engineer Ann Langille spoke about Plant & Equipment major projects. A ground water problem is holding up the Gilbert St. Substation expansion. As soon as dryer weather occurs, the project will resume. The North Main St. project with Verizon and Comcast (formerly AT&T Broadband) has begun. Cable is being installed at the West St. Expansion project. There are no changes with the School St./Elm St. bridges. Six re- closers have been installed, the next one to be installed on West St. Director's Report Director Beliveau reviewed the economic outlook for 2003. He stated that this will be a much more difficult year as economic indicators are not as healthy as last year. He also gave an overview of the Light Dept reserves. There is $879,000 in working capital in MMWEC as the Light Dept is required to have a 30 day working balance posted. It is also important to maintain the independent credit rating to avoid having to post approximately $5 million as a working capital deposit with the ISO. There is $2.9 million in the reserve trust which is to pay down stranded investment by 2008. According to schedule, there should be $2.6 - $3.2 million in the trust which will payoff the debt in 2008. A $39,000 monthly payment is made. The Light Dept also has $1 million in depreciation reserve account for construction projects such as repair at Gilbert St Substation. There is also $250,000 working capital deposited with the Treasurer. r Director Beliveau distributed a breakdown of the assistance that the Light Dept has provided to the Town. All of the items, such as, street light subsidy, heating assistance, banner hanging and donations totaled $948,524 for the past year. Engineer Ann Langille announced that the Robotics team was at a competition in Houston last weekend. They placed 44th out of 74 which is comparable to how they finished in their last competition. Old Business Commissioner MacCaffrie mentioned the donation to the New England Shelter for Homeless Veterans. A date will be set with representatives from the shelter to come to a Selectmen's meeting to accept the check for $5000. New Business Vice-Chairman McCue inquired about the Light Dept's ability to handle the 40B housing on West St? Director Beliveau responded that the Light Dept would charge the builder $1350 per apartment. He explained there would be no significant impact and the Light Dept would recover the investment. r' 2 -I '~ " ( The date for the next meeting was set for Monday, May 12, 2003 at 7:30. r r Adjournment Motion: To adjourn the Light Commissioner's meeting at 8:40 Passes 4/0 Respect y ubmitted: Jacqueline Lee 5/12/03 fi. SfZ )O) Date of'ipproval 3 ..-#/, ",,;."',-.