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6.1. ERMUSR STAFF UPDATES 11-15-2011Elk River Municipal Utilities 13069 Orono Parkway • P.O. Box 430 Elk River, MN 55330-0430 UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING POwEA~'`EUD81 ~~ i ~1~ P OH' E R E D T O S c n- Phone: 763.441.2020 Fax: 763.441.8099 TO: FROM: Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission Troy Adams, P.E. -Utilities Director John Dietz -Chair Daryl Thompson -Vice Chair Al Nadeau -Trustee MEETING DATE: AGENDA ITEM NUMBER: November 15, 2011 6.1 SUBJECT: Staff U dates -Utilities Director DISCUSSION: The 2012 American Public Power Association Legislative Rally in Washington, D.C. will be held March 12 - 14. In the past, the Minnesota municipal utilities meet with our elected officials on the last day of the event. This is an opportuniTy to take the stories from Main Street Elk River directly to our elected officials with the aggregate support of municipal public power. During this rally's Legislative and Resolutions Committee, ERMU also has the opportunity to vote on APPA's policy on legislation, regulation, and other federal issues. It is important to have ERMU and Minnesota municipal public power represented in APPA policy. The 2012 budget reflects 3 from ERMU attending this rally. Rooms became available on November 1 and have already been reserved. Staff requested quotes for frost trenching for the upcoming winter season. Midwest Diversified Utilities was the low bidder. The bid sheet is attached for reference. At the October 2011 Utilities Commission meeting, the Commission directed staff to look into the Elk River Dam and the possibility of transferring it to the City of Elk River. In conjunction with City staff, ERMU staff has requested and received two quotes for dam inspections. This dam engineering inspection is actually a line item in the City's public works 2011 budget. Upon completion of a dam inspection, a replacement value and the on-going insurance cost can be determined. The dam is currently insured through general liability that the Utilities pay for. Also through the dam inspection process, an updated maintenance plan for the dam will be established. After the inspection, the Utilities and the City will be able to determine the most cost effective way to manage and operate the dam in the future that will be fair and equitable for the citizens and utility customers. ~~ m Also at the October 2011 Utilities Commission meeting, the Commission directed staff to look into signage for the Power Plant. Staff is working on this and will bring information to the Commission at a future meeting. Attached is a letter from Minnesota Municipal Utilities Association (MMUA) thanking Mark Fuchs for being an instructor for the 2012 MMUA Overhead School. Also attached for your reading are two articles from APPA: • Voters in Boulder, Colo., approve ballot measures that could lead to a new public power utility -Public Power Daily -Thursday, November 3, 2011 • North Dakota Sues Minnesota over law restricting electricity imports due to carbon emissions -Public Power Daily, Friday November 4 2011 ~, c N v O V N a ~ „ ~ m m M Z p i ~ _ ~ ~ ~ y .r c c O Ol ~ U/ ~ i N O ~ ..d+ j '~ N H O O M m ~ M ` d O 7. y . ~ ' C ~ ~ N O ~ ~ a ~ Z F- IL W N y ~ ~ M .N O ~ ~ ~ ~ t 2 0 0 ~ ~ ~ O ~ 0 0 0 0 0 0 N (p m 0 d 3 M _ ~ N ~ ~ ~ W 1n to tl~ ~ ' 0 g ~ ° C O O ~ _ > ~ d fa » f» v~ » fn » N O a l' 1 m r ti "'~ c d m t+J ~O O N fl v ~ ~ Z ~ W c ~ C . 'p, o ~ °'~ ~ o v~ o ~n u~ l0 ~n O fI y Z ~ aD N O ~ O '~ I~ O O N I~ ~ .- D O ( (O O r C C/~ ~ ~ U ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ m d Vi ~ fA f9 fR E9 (A ~ L - •n.l ~ C7 +r " r~ 3 N {(j I~ 1 W Z ry OA d M ~ O a ~ ~ J ~ ~ Y J N N O ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ O ~ ~ ~ ~O V a ~ I~ ~ t0 f~ (O O f (O •{~ L N R O y ~ O O ~ ~ d F f0 ~ ~ ~ M 2' E9 f9 f9 E9 M E9 fA ba N h ~ ~ a I a ~ ~ O O O y w i w N F~ ~ o 0 ~ U1 ~ ~ [V CO C' O (O ~ ~ .- N c7 (h W d o A ~A~~~.~/ iiiiv~~ Minnesota Municipal Utilities Association October 7, 2011 TO: Mark Fuchs Elk River Municipal Utilities 13069 Orono Pkwy. P.O. Box 430 Elk River, MN 55330 FROM: Kevin Thompson MMUA Training Center 1004 Michigan Road Marshall, MN 56258 Dear Mark: I would like to express our appreciation from the Mike Willetts and myself for taking time out of your already busy schedule to be instructor at the 2012 MMUA Overhead School! In looking at the reviews this was one of the best training sessions we have had in the history of the MMUA Training Center. We are very pleased that you found time to assist in the instruction of the "2012 Overhead School"! MMUA is fortunate to have members like Elk River Municipal Utilities that have talented staff like you! Thank you, ~ ~~ Kevin Thompson MMAU Training Center Coordinator 3025 Harbor Lane North • Suite 400 • Plymouth, MN 55447-5142.763.551.1230.800.422.0119 (MN) • Fax 763.551.0459 • www.mmua.org Voters in Boulder, Colo., approve ballot measures that could lead to a new public power u... Page 1 of 2 Public Power Ouily Tbunday, November 3, 2°11 Voters in Boulder, Colo., approve ballot measures that could lead to a new public power utility Public power may be coming to Boulder, Colo. Residents of the Colorado community on Nov. 1 approved two ballot measures that will allow the city to continue to explore the possibility of purchasing Xcel Energy's distribution system and forming a city-owned electric utility. Ballot measure 2C, which authorizes the creation of such a utility if customer rates would be the same as those Xcel Energy is charging at the time of acquisition, passed with 51.78% of the total vote. A companion measure, 2B, provides the funding necessary to determine the actual costs of buying Xcel's system and starting a local utility. It passed with support from 50.27% of voters, the city said. While the margins are narrow, the city attorney said the results are not close enough, as defined in local statutes, to trigger an automatic recount. Xcel spent about $950,000 to fight the measures, while supporters spent about $87,500, according to the local newspaper, the Daily Camera. The total spent so far makes the fight over these ballot measures the most expensive political issue in Boulder's history, the newspaper said. "This vote shows, once again, that the Boulder community wants to chart a new course -one that makes cleaner energy a priority while also taking into account other core values, such as rates, reliability and a desire for more control," said City Manager Jane S. Brautigam. "We need to recognize, however, that this was a close decision. There aze still a lot of questions and concerns that we need to address. The city is committed to moving forward in a deliberate, but measured, thoughtful and inclusive way." The impetus behind this particular effort to create a municipal utility appears to be driven in large part by a desire for cleaner, more renewable sources of energy. A telephone survey this summer found that Boulder voters support creation of a city-owned electric utility by a wide margin and that residents overwhelmingly want a reduction in carbon emissions. Seventy-one percent of survey respondents said they support municipalization and said they thought the city would be better than Xcel Energy at offering renewable sources of energy and at reducing carbon emissions. A smaller, but majority, percentage (57%) thought the city would do a better job than Xcel Energy at finding innovative solutions to energy problems. Ninety-one percent of those surveyed said they would support an increase of between 5% and "as much as it takes" in their monthly electric bills to reduce carbon emissions and/or increase renewable sources of energy. (See the Aup. 22 Public Power Daily.) The vote in favor of the ballot measures "does not mean that municipalization is imminent," the city said in a press release. "A decision about whether to form a local electric utility has yet to be made." http://www.naylometwork.com/app-ppd/articles/print-V2.asp?aid=158485 11/7/2011 Voters in Boulder, Colo., approve ballot measures that could lead to a new public power u... Page 2 of 2 No bonds will be issued "until full information on costs is available and a careful analysis of these decisions occurs," the city said. Boulder officials said they believe it will take three to five years to complete this process. In the meantime, Xcel Energy will continue to provide electricity to Boulder customers. The city manager encouraged community members on all sides of this issue to remain engaged in the ongoing conversation. "I wish to thank both supporters and opponents of the measures," Brautigam said. "Together, they raised the level of public discussion and understanding about the city's options with regard to our shared energy goals. This kind of public participation is part of what makes Boulder special -and is one of our greatest strengths as we continue our research." Among the supporters of the ballot measures was Earth Day Founder Denis Hayes, who said, "The most innovative utilities in the nation are municipal utilities: Austin, Eugene, Seattle, Sacramento. I'd expect Boulder will follow (or lead) the munis, and it will give Colorado an independent standard against which to measure Xcel." In an Oct. 29 article, the New York Times said proponents of ballot issues 2C and 2B "say that the utility industry desperately fears a public awakening, and that a John Brown-like raid on a monopoly in one place could galvanize electricity consumers all across the nation to push for change." Boulder said it will spend the next several weeks laying the groundwork for additional engineering work, starting negotiations with Xcel Energy and determining what steps can be taken in the meantime to help the community achieve its goals. A roundtable discussion with the newly elected City Council is scheduled for Dec. 6. More information about the city's effort to form a municipal utility is posted on the city's website. -JEANNINE ANDERSON Copyri&ht O 2011, Amencen Public Power Associafion http://www.naylornetwork.com/app-ppd/articles/print-V2.asp?aid=158485 11/7/2011 North Dakota sues Minnesota over law restricting electricity imports due to carbon emissi... Page 1 of 1 Public Pawer Daily Friday, November d, 1011 North Dakota sues Minnesota over law restricting electricity imports due to carbon emissions North Dakota has filed a lawsuit against Minnesota over its Next Generation Energy Act of 2007 (NGEA), which imposes restrictions on carbon dioxide emissions from the generation of electricity imported into and consumed in Minnesota. "Minnesota's Next Generation Energy Act has direct and serious consequences for North Dakota," said Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem. Missouri River Energy Services joined the state and others in the suit. "NGEA restricts MRES from considering all options when choosing the least-cost resources for our 24 municipal electric utility members in Minnesota as well as for our 36 other municipal electric utility members in the states of Iowa, North Dakota, and South Dakota," MRES CEO Tom Heller said. Two other electric utilities (Basin Electric Power Cooperative and Minnkota Power Cooperative), two coal companies (The North American Coal Corp. and Great Northern Properties Ltd. Partnership), as well as the Lignite Energy Council, also joined the suit. The Minnesota law presumes that human carbon dioxide emissions are a cause of global warming and "imposes restrictions on carbon dioxide emissions from out-of--state energy sources as a purely symbolic gesture that could only have negligible impact toward actually achieving the purpose of reducing greenhouse gases on a global scale," North Dakota said in its Nov. 2 complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for Minnesota. North Dakota alleges that the NGEA violates the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution, unconstitutionally interfering with North Dakota's energy production. Minnesota improperly seeks to control and regulate new energy facilities, as well as the expansion and refurbishment of existing energy facilities, located in North Dakota and other states, the complaint said. The complaint also alleges that the Minnesota law favors new large energy projects in Minnesota or Minnesota-based businesses with new large energy projects to the detriment ofNorth Dakota and other out-of--state interests and entities. "It is unfortunate it has come to this," said Stenehjem. Over the last four years, North Dakota officials have made every effort to convince Minnesota officials to rescind the law, he said. The Minnesota Legislature voted to repeal the law, but the governor vetoed the legislation, he noted. Copyright ®2011, American Public Power Association http://www.naylornetwork.com/app-ppd/articles/print-V2.asp?aid=158490 11/7/2011 Elk River Municipal U 13069 Orono Parkway • P.O. Box 430 Elk River, MN 5 5 3 30-0430 UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING P O W E fl~"' E, Bt B 1 ~~ i V~~ P O`/~ E RED T O S E R`/ E Phone: 763.441.2020 Fax: 763.441.8099 TO: FROM: Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission Theresa Slominski -Finance and Office John Dietz -Chair Manager Daryl Thompson -Vice Chair Al Nadeau -Trustee MEETING DATE: AGENDA ITEM NUMBER: November 15, 2011 6.1 SUBJECT: Staff U dates -Finance Director/Office Mana er DISCUSSION: We had 1,156 credit card payment transactions in October, compared to 1,086 in September. The fee for October should be $2,601. We had increased usage with the onset of the cold weather rule deadline as we turned off people with high balances so that they are caught up before the winter season. The credit card interface which will allow customers to obtain their account balance information and make payments online will be ready to test November 2152, 2011. We will be putting together instructional information sheets to include with the bills in December to help the customers become familiar with this new feature. We have been working on this since the beginning of summer and will be excited to see it implemented. Work has already begun on the audit preparations to prepare the financial statements internally this year. We have the financials and spreadsheet links from prior years to become familiar with and prep for the 2011 audited information. Our auditors, Abdo Eick and Meyers have been very helpful in preparing for this transition. Last month, an update on the Power Cost Adjustments (PCAs) was requested. A recap of the PCAs charged to ERMU to-date, and the PCAs we have collected from customers to-date is attached. We have approximately $325,000 that we have been charged but have not collected. POWER COST ADJUSTMENT WORKSHEET (Coll from)/Ref to ' i Collected from/ customers less 2011' Connexus (Refunded to) Connexus chg L ;Power Bill PCA l Customers _ Balance i -- - - - - _. I - Balan d 9 i January ' demand -- 56,308.2 - -_ -- _ ener 9Y __ _49,10740 , -._ ____- -. -___- ______-- February-11 demand ~ 25,30738 -- __ --. __-_ 'I enersv I (12,375 74) I - - -- March-11 - _ demand - 17,5 57.5~5 -- - _ ~ p- -_ A ril-11 energy demand ~ 42,525.06 'I 7,902.72 - - I __ - _. - -- i energy - (12,946.54)' _ _ - - ~ May-11 demand 5169.03 i - - ~i energy 11,650 43 - -- I -- --_ - ~ -- -- June-11 demand ~ 8 651 22 i energy 111,971.67 -- t -- - - i Jul 11 Y- demand 290.52 _ I energy _ __ -_ ~ 40,121.07 . { --T August-11I demand i _(32,448.80)_ _ 132,591.70 i ~mill s ~ energy 18.2,_404.35_ _ _ _ _ _ _ September-11 demand - 1 22 862.03 _ _ _ 1 mil _. energy_ _ - October-11 demand 20 206.87 I ~ 1 mil energy_ ~ _ -_ November-11 demand _-_-__ - _ energy December-11 demand _ _- - - _ -- energy i I '. 501,195.61 ' _ _ 175,660.60 (325,535.01),, (0.013) mills -- _ _ - - i - 25,000,000 kwh - _ _ ~ -- _ _-I'- - _. Page 1 PUNEREU ®r ~~~V~~ P O W E R E D T O S E R E Elk Ri Municip al Utilitie s UTILITIES CONIlVIISSION MEETING TO: FROM: Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission David Berg John Dietz, Chair Water Superintendent Daryl Thompson, Vice Chair Al Nadeau, Trustee MEETING DATE: AGENDA ITEM NUMBER: November 15, 2011 6.1 SUBJECT: Staff U dates Discussion: • The intern from the St. Cloud Tech Water & Wastewater program completed his one week and had a lot of hands on experience while shadowing water personnel. • Wells 8 & 9 are currently being transferred on SCADA to update the programming with the recent re-routing project. • The 2°d Street project has been inspected for potential water repairs; several minor things were found and reported to the City engineer. • Wellhead Protection (WHP) Phase II is currently in the midst of mapping and finalizing the inventory of the moderately vulnerable area within the WHP delineation. • We116 backwash pit repair has started; they will reconnect the backwash pipe and fill in a washout area. • Well 5 pump is down, a refurbished one was installed a little over a year ago and is now being tested for the premature issue. • Johnson tower is now winterized for the season. • The water department recently finished a lazge meter change-out route and has continued on with a new set. There aze approximately 400 meters left to change. • Irrigation meter collection has begun. Elk River: Municipal U s UTILITIES COMIVIISSION MEETING PUNEREU ®~ ~~~~~~ P O W E R E D T O S E R E TO: FROM: Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission Mark Fuchs John Dietz, Chair Line Superintendent Dazyl Thompson, Vice Chair Al Nadeau, Trustee MEETING DATE: AGENDA ITEM NUMBER: November 15, 2011 6.1 SUBJECT: Staff U dates DISCUSSION: • Finished changing out six rusty j-boxes and removing one rusty PMH-9 switchgeaz cabinet on Proctor Rd. • Continue working on 6s' and 7a' Street Rebuild. • Started working on rebuilding Sa' Street and Baldwin Ave. • Started moving some poles at the new city garage building site. • Had four new services. • Removed some concrete and did some grading around the holding pond and wet land. The city crushed the concrete for us as they were doing some of their own. • Abra Auto Body repaired our 2002 one-ton truck that was in an accident. They found that the brakes master cylinder had not been working properly and that is why our employee could not stop. At the last commission meeting I was asked to bring back some more information on the increase in the maintenance category and the maintenance of vehicles. The category, in total, is higher by $88,343 From the prior year. There are nineteen accounts that make up this category and the accounts making up the majority of the increase are Maintenance of Structures, Maintenance of Underground Distribution, Maintenance of Street Lighting, Maintenance of Meters, and Transportation Expense. For the first four categories, the increase is project driven and the labor and materials for these projects is the biggest part of the increase. For Maintenance of Structures, we are very fortunate to have our staff Maintenance Person knowledgeable and talented enough to be able to address building needs that the prior staff member could not. Some of these projects are electrical lighting, air conditioning and heat pump unit repairs, and flooring maintenance, which results in a different recording of the time spent by staff. However, this is not an increase in total cost to the company. There was also some structural maintenance done by two employees. There is an intentional shift in focus from prior years on the Maintenance of Underground Distribution and Maintenance of Street Lighting. As our system was built out during the previous boom years, there was not the need for the same maintenance. There was new construction and the focus was on building the infrastructure to support it, with the labor involved capitalized. We are now recognizing and performing the needed maintenance on the system components as they wear some and mature. Most of the street light maintenance is maintaining the fixtures from the lights that were originally put in by the developers. There is also cost that comes from accidents when there is no insurance to bill and collect from when a street light is hit. For Maintenance of Meters, we have been working hard for a number of years to change out our old meters to electronic meters with ERTS so that we can more easily read the meters. When we brought the meter reading back in house, the push to finish the change outs really ramped up. We were really dedicated to getting out there and getting this project done, and that means the manpower related to the project is recognized here. There are several reasons why there has been a large increase in Transportation Expense. With the purchase of the bore rig, we had some additional costs for parts and supplies that we have not had in other years. We redid a trailer used to carry the wire around to get additional years out of it instead of purchasing new, so this was additional expense. In March, April, and May we had some vehicles in to be fixed, more than we usually do, and this was related to various items: brakes, ball joints, batteries, mufflers, and modules. There is an increased cost in the fuel this year compared to last year. This year we purchased some new radios for the trucks to be on the same frequency as the city and the county. We have some installation costs related to the laptop computer mounts in the vehicles that we did not have in other years. We had increased labor costs in the spring to get the new equipment set up and we did this instead of having it come from the factory that way, which would have been more expensive to purchase. There is no one large expense that stands out as a definite item that increased the category. It's a lot of smaller things that are falling under maintenance and adding up this year compared to last year. Elk River, Municipal Utilities UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING PBWEAEU B1 A~UR~ P O W E R E D r 0 5`° TO: FROM: Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission Wade Lovelette-Superintendent of Technical John Dietz, Chair Services Daryl Thompson, Vice Chair Al Nadeau, Trustee MEETING DATE: AGENDA ITEM NUMBER: November 15, 2011 6.1 SUBJECT: Staff Updates -Superintendent of Technical Services • The Locating department had a total of 2601ocate tickets, eight of them being emergency tickets. • Security Systems Department had another good month in October. The monthly totals were not available at the time this update was prepared. • The Mapping Department started putting the changes into the mapbook so that they are ready to print a revised edition. • The Meter shop continues changing electric and water meters. • Landfill Gas Plant had a critical memory failure in a SEL Relay on engine #4. Staff had to change the relay out and sent it to Cooper to upgrade. • We took oil samples from substation transformers to look for abnormal gasses (we do this on a once a year basis). • The power plant staff did the monthly run of the generators. It went very well.