6.1b ERMUSR 05-09-2017 ./j
Elk River
Municipal Utilities UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING
TO: FROM:
ERMU Commission Theresa Slominski—Finance & Office Manager
MEETING DATE: AGENDA ITEM NUMBER:
May 9, 2017 6.l b
SUBJECT:
Staff Update
ACTION REQUESTED:
Discussion on signatures.
DISCUSSION:
We had 65 shut-offs on April 18 and of those only three are still off, and one "skip" (determined
to be vacant and the responsible party absent.) Most people paid within two days and staff did a
great job at handling each situation! We had some unwanted excitement when a customer who
missed the deadline to be turned on the same day became very angry and went out and sat in his
truck in the parking lot rather than leaving the premises. A call was placed to the police
department and they quickly came over, talked to the individual and helped remedy the situation.
The officers were also present at the site for the turn on the next day. We are extremely grateful
for the over-the-top support we receive from the police department on a regular basis. In
addition to helping out during shut-offs they also help with fraud situations, angry customers,
investigating complaints, safety training, and general information when we need advice on
suspected criminal activity.
As follow-up to our audit discussion at last month's commission meeting, I spoke with our audit
partner, Andy Berg, regarding Power Cost Adjustment (PCA) recognition. It was decided that
we have proper recognition of the PCA in our financial statements without utilizing a separate
account. There were three considerations given to arrive at this determination:
• 1) There is no requirement placed on ERMU to charge or credit the PCA back to the
customers (although this has historically been our practice), and so there is no
requirement to recognize an asset or a liability.
• 2) The question "What is the benefit of recording the PCA differently?" was evaluated. It
was determined that there would be perhaps increased transparency when it covers
multiple years,however it is an infrequent occurrence that the distribution of a charge or
credit would not be in the same year and cross multiple years. Given that, if we were to
have the same situation again, we may record it differently and the end of the year,
however, monthly recording would remain the same.
• 3) In terms of the audit, even an item of$500,000 is an insignificant amount for a$35
million revenue company.
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With the creation of a 5 member commission I have some questions I'd like to pose to the
commission that are not addressed in the by-laws. We currently have 3 signatories on our bank
account: John Dietz, Daryl Thompson, and Alan Nadeau; the pre-existing three commissioners.
We require two signatures on every check and have Mr. Dietz's signature stamp available to the
Payroll and Accounts Payable Specialist for the first signature, and for the second signature I
have a stamp for Mr. Thompson, and Troy has a stamp for Mr. Nadeau. The only other
requirement of signatories is bank paperwork such a letter of credit and this requires a physical
appearance for signing at the bank. I am listed as a signatory for transfers, wires, and bank
activity such as authorizing stop payments and fees. Given that we have five commissioners
now, should we have all five listed as signors on the bank account— and should we have
additional stamps created? If we continue to have three, how often would we determine who
those three are? I don't know that we need to change anything but I'd like to have some
discussion to be intentional about our handling the designations.
There are very few times that Troy and I are both out of the office leaving us without a second
signature option, but that would be the rationale for having an additional stamp (or two).
Holders of another stamp could be the Executive Administrative Assistant (and an additional
manager - I would suggest someone in the office such as the Customer Service Manager or
CIP/Key Accounts Manager, however it could be someone in the field as well.) For comparison,
the City has only the Mayor and the City Administrator as signors.
ATTACHMENTS:
• None
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