Electric $ 188, PIWS $ 9, WWWS $ 2,406.52

Transcription

1 June 16, 2015 The regular meeting of the Board of Commissioners of PUD No. One of Wahkiakum County, Washington was held on the above date with President Eugene Healy presiding. Also in attendance were Board Vice President Robert Jungers Board Secretary Dennis Reid, Manager David Tramblie, Auditor Erin Wilson, Attorney Timothy Hanigan, Secretary Jennifer Lorenzo, and Wahkiakum County Eagle Newspaper Reporter Diana Zimmerman. Commissioner Healy asked if there was a motion to approve the agenda. Commissioner Reid moved to approve the agenda as submitted. Commissioner Jungers seconded. The motion passed 3-0. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: On a motion from Commissioner Jungers and a second from Commissioner Reid, the minutes of the regular board meeting held on June 2, 2015 were approved as submitted. The motion passed 3-0. APPROVAL OF FINANCES With regard to the following electric and water vouchers submitted by Auditor Erin Wilson, Commissioner Reid made a motion to approve the vouchers for electric and water as submitted. Commissioner Jungers seconded the motion. The motion passed 3-0. Electric $ 188, PIWS $ 9, WWWS $ 2, PUBLIC COMMENT: None. OPEN DISCUSSION PERIOD: Commissioner Healy stated that he has done some thinking on the potential deployment of smart meters and would like to start a discussion about the possibility of starting the project. Commissioner Healy envisioned that the project would start with an overview of the project and creating a macro-cost analysis. He indicated that a time frame for the project would not be necessary as of yet. Commissioner Jungers stated that in light of the fact that the contract with the Town of Cathlamet to supply water will expire in some finite amount of time, he would like the PUD to begin seeking another source of water for Puget Island. It is Commissioner Jungers understanding that obtaining water rights it is like pulling teeth, however the PUD Meeting Minutes 1

2 PUD does have one asset, which would be the Grays River water system. He asked Manager Tramblie what the well capacity is versus its production. Manager Tramblie stated that there are two wells on the Grays River water system. One well has the capacity to pump 323 gallons per minute and the other well has the capacity to pump 329 gallons per minute. The wells usually run about 3 times a day for two hours. While the wells are running, they are pumping 225 gallons per minute, which keeps the pressure at 125 psi. Manager Tramblie stated that it is possible that the water from those wells is required to stay in that water shed. Commissioner Jungers asked Manager Tramblie to verify if it is true that the water from the two wells is required to stay in that water shed. He also asked that Manager Tramblie find out if a four-inch pipe will have enough flow if ran 24 hours per day to handle our requirements and eliminate the burden we are putting on the Town of Cathlamet. Manager Tramblie replied that he would have a discussion with Gray & Osborne. Scott Wilson entered the meeting at 8:38 a.m. Scott Wilson BPA Scott Wilson, the PUD s BPA Account Representative, stated that he came to the meeting to inform the board of the current happenings within BPA regarding rates and to check in to see what is on their minds. Mr. Wilson reported that BPA just came out on Friday with the draft record decision on the rates. He indicated that the draft record decision was a little disappointing in that it talks about everything you need to know other than what the rates will be. The last discussions on predicted rate increases were around 6% to 7% for Wahkiakum PUD. Mr. Wilson reported that BPA has been discussing where they will be in 2028 when their contracts expire. Issues that BPA are focusing on are what will be cost competitive and what BPA can do now to prepare for after the contracts expire. BPA is looking to control costs by doing everything efficiently. In the short term, two area of focus are investments; such as what can BPA invest in now so they are in a good place in the future; and the second is to look at their debt structure and decide what BPA should do now to reduce current debt. Mr. Wilson reported that BPA has been looking at their Energy Efficiency Program. BPA made the decision to stop capitalizing energy efficiency costs and instead move to expensing the program and pay for it as they go. Commissioner Jungers asked if all financing is carried by the Department of Treasury. Mr. Wilson replied that BPA s banker is the Treasury and they do carry the financing for BPA. Anything outside of that, BPA has to get creative and find other alternatives, which can be more expensive. One alternative that BPA has done is customer s prepayment of Bonneville s bills. PUD Meeting Minutes 2

3 Commissioner Healy asked how much debt is gained in borrowing power by going this direction with the energy efficiency program. Mr. Wilson stated that roughly $100 million dollars a year is gained, and about $70 million dollars is currently collected in rates to give back in incentives. The other $30 million is used to pay for regional infrastructure and to fund research. Mr. Wilson reported that this fall, BPA will put out a tool that looks at long-term rates. People are tired of rates going up. BPA CEO Elliott Mainzer s plan states that rates will be this rate period and will try his best to hold to that. Truthfully, rates vary a lot due to water supply and gas prices, and those are not variables that BPA can control. Commissioner Healy asked if the green energy producers have any role in fish and wildlife preservation or is it mostly the dams. Mr. Wilson stated that when you try to mitigate things you tend to go to the deepest pockets, which would be the dams. Mr. Wilson reported that BPA s hiring has gotten better. BPA conducts a new employee orientation every two to four weeks. Mr. Wilson participated in an orientation last week with thirty new employees. Most of the new hires were from transmission and some of them were financial. Mr. Wilson stated internal candidates are getting hired for other positions because there is a demand for those that have experience. Executive ranks have changed as well. Auditor Wilson asked if Bonneville has seen any noticeable trends of lower sales due to homeowners putting in their own solar power systems. Mr. Wilson stated that Bonneville has seen a small trend but there has not been a noticeable decrease in loads. Discussion ensued. Commissioner Jungers asked if Bonneville has taken any interest in ENW s involvement with NuScale. Mr. Wilson stated that the engineers are definitely paying attention and have taken interest in the NuScale project. Commissioner Reid reported that he read in yesterday s newspaper that the City of Kelso is looking into starting a community project to install solar panels on 126 light poles. REPORTS: Attorney Hanigan: Attorney Hanigan reported that he will be getting a letter out to the board regarding the attorney conference he attended at the beginning of the month. Manager Tramblie: PUD Meeting Minutes 3

4 Manager Tramblie provided an update on ongoing projects that the PUD has been working on. Yesterday morning, the PUD took the Wahkiakum Substation offline without any customers knowing they did it. BPA showed up later and started rebuilding the t-tap into Wahkiakum and will have it completed in two weeks. Manager Tramblie reported that they are still working on the Una Street portion of the overhead conductor rebuild. He has rented some equipment and will pull ropes in today. He plans to have the wire pulled in and return the equipment on Friday. Discussion ensued. Manager Tramblie reported that pipe for Shannon Road is being delivered today. The crew is using the digger derrick to unload 40-foot long pallets off the truck. Discussion ensued. Manager Tramblie reported that the excavator has been delivered. As soon as the crew has time, they will take it to Shannon Road. Manager Tramblie will be meeting today with Altec to approve final drawings for the bucket truck that should be here at the end of year. Manager Tramblie reported that he and Auditor Wilson have put together another proposal for the Town of Cathlamet regarding the water contract. Manager Tramblie will meet with David Goodroe later this week. Manager Tramblie reported that consumption for the PIWS has been up since the warm weather has arrived. There was a spike on the system so the water crew did some investigating and found that the usage has all been consumption. Commissioner Jungers asked if Manager Tramblie resolved the issue with acquiring HDPE pipe. Manager Tramblie replied that he chose to purchase the tools needed rather than rent them. Commissioner Healy asked that Manager Tramblie think about offering a short tour of the project on Shannon Road. Auditor Wilson: Auditor Wilson reported that she is currently working with PCS on the online portal that customers use to log in and pay their account. A new online portal will be available for customers that will be more user-friendly and will allow customers who have more than one account to link their accounts together. PCS is also assisting them with upgrades to the credit card processing to satisfy new credit card regulations. Auditor Wilson reported that Manager Tramblie will meet with the liability and property valuation consultant next week. The consultant is coming out to do a site visit and update our property values to ensure assets are valued correctly. PUD Meeting Minutes 4

5 Auditor Wilson wanted to remind the commissioners to keep in mind that stats for the electric and water systems reflect power and water costs from the first day through the last day of the month, but the PUD reads meters and bills customers in the middle and the last week of the month. Auditor Wilson reported that the PUD coordinated with the County to utilize the shredder truck when it was here. The PUD shredded an equivalent of 120 banker boxes. Commissioner Reid stated that he noticed five checks for REAP pledges. He asked if those checks were for pledges. Auditor Wilson replied that the checks are for pledges and will be applied to customer accounts. Commissioner Reid: Commissioner Reid asked Manager Tramblie when he would receive from the County Commissioners the information on the sand that could be potentially dredged and put on property that could affect the water and power lines. Manager Tramblie stated that it has been quiet. He knows that a gentleman from the Corp of Engineers would like to move forward, however the County has put the project on hold. Commissioner Reid asked Manager Tramblie if he has heard back on the work with the grant money for the water system consolidation. Manager Tramblie replied that he has not heard back. Commissioner Jungers: Commissioner Jungers reported that he has a schedule conflict and will not be able to attend the ENW Board of Director s quarterly meeting on July 22 nd and 23 rd. and asked if one of the other commissioners would like to attend that for him. Commissioner Healy stated that he may be able to. Commissioner Healy: Commissioner Healy had no report at this time. PUBLIC COMMENT: None. MEETINGS & TRAVEL APPROVAL REQUIRED: Commissioner Reid made a motion to approve travel and expenses for Auditor Wilson to attend the WFOA Annual Conference in Tacoma, WA on 9/16 through 9/18, and Commissioner Jungers seconded. The motion passed 3-0. PUD Meeting Minutes 5

6 ADJOURNMENT: The meeting was adjourned at 10:16 a.m. PUD Meeting Minutes 6

7 Approval of the minutes of the regular meeting of June 16, Eugene Healy, President Robert Jungers, Vice President Dennis Reid, Secretary PUD Meeting Minutes 7