6.1. ERMUSR 12-12-2012 Elk River
Municipal Utilities UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING
TO: FROM:
Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission Troy Adams, P.E. —General Manager
John Dietz—Chair
Daryl Thompson—Vice Chair
Al Nadeau—Trustee
MEETING DATE: AGENDA ITEM NUMBER:
December 12, 2012 6.1
SUBJECT:
Staff Updates—General Manager
DISCUSSION:
On November 15, Staff and I participated in an American Public Power Association webinar
Managing the Public Power Workforce: New Strategies for Staff Retention, Recruitment, and
Succession Planning. The webinar provided insight into the Utilities industry and issues facing
public power. A few takeaways include: almost 60% of the Utilities Industry workforce are
baby-boomers; generation differences create significant challenges and Utilities need to evolve
their policies and practices to recruit and retain the future leaders; government will need to
recognize the private sector and become more competitive to recruit and retain their workforce.
On November 30, I attended the Minnesota Municipal Utilities Association 2012 Legal Seminar.
This is a one day program held in Plymouth that is geared towards management and utility
attorneys. The topics this year covered: employment law and human resources; landlord,
tenants, and utility issues; and eminent domain and electric service territory.
I will attend my first MMUA board meeting as an official member on December 4th at the 2012
Technical & Operations Conference in St. Cloud. The board meeting will include organizational
goals, department updates, 2013 legislative session updates, and MMUA projects. The T& 0
Conference includes a management track and foreman track.
I am continuing to work with Sprint and their agents on finalizing the amendments for the tower
attachment agreement. There have been some delays with the finalized drawings.
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NATURE
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Power Provider P O W E R E D T o S E R V E
Elk River
Municipal Utilities
13069 Orono Parkway
P.O. Box 430
Elk River, MN 55330
(763) 441-2020
UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING
TO: FROM:
Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission Theresa Slominski —Finance and Office
John Dietz, Chair Manager
Daryl Thompson, Vice Chair
Allan Nadeau, Trustee
MEETING DATE: AGENDA ITEM NUMBER:
December 12, 2012 6.1
SUBJECT:
Staff Updates
DISCUSSION:
We had 1748 credit card payment transactions in November, compared to 1814 in October.
The fee for November should be $3,933.
The auditors will be here December 7th, 2012, for preliminary work and I will provide a verbal
update at the meeting regarding their visit. Typically this preliminary work gives them a start on
the planning of the audit as they review meeting minutes and bids of the year, review the chart of
accounts, and conduct some Accounts Payable testing.
Our PCAs year to date (through October's billing) total $222,715, which is down from last
month by $60,741 due to credit PCAs in October. Through the budgeting process for 2012 we
had designated up to $500,000 in PCAs to be absorbed by ERMU and not passed along to our
customers. It appears we will not have to pass along any PCAs, nor need the entire amount for
2012 - and that's good news for our customers. I will continue to update the commission on the
PCA amount in my staff updates.
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Power Provider P O W E R E D T o S E R V E
Elk River .�.
Municipal Utilities
13069 Orono Parkway
P.O. Box 430
Elk River,MN 55330
(763)441-2020
UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING
TO: FROM:
Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission Mark Fuchs
John Dietz, Chair Line Superintendent
Daryl Thompson, Vice Chair
Allan Nadeau, Trustee
MEETING DATE: AGENDA ITEM NUMBER:
December 12, 2012 6.1
SUBJECT:
Staff Update
DISCUSSION:
• Continue rebuilding Quinn Avenue and 6th Street by Cretex.
• Continue rebuilding O'Day and O'Brian Avenue in Otsego.
• Continue working on Fresno Street Rebuild.
• Installed some three phase primary at Midas so we could remove a rusty junction box.
We also installed some three phase primary at TCF bank and a fuse pad for Wells Fargo
so we could remove a rusty junction box.
• Working on installing three phase primary so we can loop and move the transformer at
the Crossings Church.
• We are upgrading and extending the service at Barton's gravel pit.
• Had to switch out the Waco substation to work on the LTC.
• Had to fix some hot spots found by the infra-red camera at Station 14 bank 3.
• Had one new house service.
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NATURE
Reliable Public P O W E R E D T o S E R V E
Power Provider
Elk River .M.
Municipal Utilities
13069 Orono Parkway
P.O. Box 430
Elk River,MN 55330
(763)441-2020
UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING
TO: FROM:
Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission Wade Lovelette—Superintendent of Technical
John Dietz, Chair Services
Daryl Thompson, Vice Chair
Allan Nadeau, Trustee
MEETING DATE: AGENDA ITEM NUMBER:
December 12, 2012 6.1
SUBJECT:
Staff Update
DISCUSSION:
• The Locating department had a total of 229 locate tickets for the month of November;
two of them being emergency tickets, five cancelations, six meets, 192 normal and 24
updated tickets.
Jeff is using the infrared camera in the field to see if there are any hot spots on our
system that needs immediate attention.
• In November, the Security Systems Department had a total of 98 phone contacts, 14 new
systems quoted, 16 system sales made, 14 installs completed, 26 service calls made and
14 personal visits.
• Field staff completed the cyber security training through GRE for using SCADA. GRE
will schedule a date for training us on how to use it. Meter Technicians continue with the
meter reading,power bill, substation checks and off-peak issues. They were involved in
taking down the Waco substation transformer for repair of the Load Tap Changer(LTC).
• The power plant staff did the monthly run of the generators(no issues). Steve and Jeff
completed the directional boring projects for the season.
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�NATUREI
Reliable PublicT
Power Provider P O W E R F O T o S ERVE
Elk River
Municipal Utilities
13069 Orono Parkway
P.O. Box 430
Elk River, MN 55330
(763) 441-2020
UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING
TO: FROM:
Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission David Berg— Superintendent of Water
John Dietz, Chair Services
Daryl Thompson, Vice Chair
Allan Nadeau, Trustee
MEETING DATE: AGENDA ITEM NUMBER:
December 12, 2012 6.1
SUBJECT:
Staff Update
DISCUSSION:
• On November 28`h, 2012, three water operators, one office staff employee and a City
building inspector went to St. Cloud for training on backflow prevention. The Minnesota
Department of Health is starting to enforce backflow prevention and will require that
water suppliers have a program to check all backflow prevention devices. Water suppliers
must enforce installation at locations that may not have a device installed currently. We
plan to have a presentation about this topic at our April 2013 Minnesota Rural Water
training, which we will host again. Other utilities have already started their backflow
prevention programs with great success in being proactive with protecting water quality.
• The water department has been staying busy with many jobs that had been put to the side
with the lack of employees. Eric Volk joined the water department last month and with
the increase in personnel we have been able to address more of the random, but needed
tasks amongst the regular jobs. Items such as: pump repairs, final meter change outs,
well cleaning, tower cleaning, inventory shelving/organization, hydrant repairs, and shut
offs etc... Each water operator has taken time to show our new employee the water
system and detail for jobs that we may do individually. Overall, Eric seems to be fitting
in and continues to gain knowledge in the Elk River water system.
POWERED B1
Reliable Public 'NATURE
Power Provider P O W E R E D T o S E R V E
Elk River
Municipal Utilities
13069 Orono Parkway
P.O. Box 430
Elk River,MN 55330
(763) 441-2020
UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING
TO: FROM:
Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission Tom Sagstetter—Conservation and Key
John Dietz, Chair Accounts Manager
Daryl Thompson, Vice Chair
Allan Nadeau, Trustee
MEETING DATE: AGENDA ITEM NUMBER:
December 12, 2012 6.1
SUBJECT:
Staff Update
DISCUSSION:
• Working to wrap-up 2012 rebates.
• Responding to high use customer questions.
• Developing in home presentation and audit forms for Project Conserve Phase IV. There
are currently 10 customers that have completed applications. More may be added as a
resolution for high bill questions.
• Met with Waste Management on potential expansion of Landfill Gas to Electricity. Gas
curves have been completed by WM and it appears there is enough methane to support 4
more engines. Evaluating other options for generation and possibly Solar PV as a cover
for completed cells.
• Analysis of commercial rates and programs for 2013.
• LED lighting contest. We have 4 applications. Judging will be done December 10th
through 14th.
• Working with large industrial customers on the installation of sewer meters.
• Working with City Staff on standardizing solar PV applications and permit process.
• Updating residential appliance and lighting rebates for 2013 to be sent out to customers in
early 2013.
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