Loading...
2.2 ERMU MINUTES 09-09-2014ELK RIVER MUNICIPAL UTILITIES REGULAR MEETING OF THE UTILITIES COMMISSION HELD AT UTILITIES CONFERENCE ROOM August 12, 2014 Members Present: John Dietz, Chair, Al Nadeau, Vice Chair; and Daryl Thompson, Trustee ERMU Staff Present: Troy Adams, General Manager; Theresa Slominski, Finance and Office Manager; Mark Fuchs, Line Superintendent; Eric Volk, Water Superintendent; Wade Lovelette, Technical Services Superintendent; Tom Sagstetter, Conservation & Key Accounts Manager; Michelle Canterbury, Executive Administrative Assistant Others Present: Cal Portner, City Administrator; Peter Beck, Attorney; Greg Oxley, Minnesota Municipal Utilities Association 1.0 CALL MEETING TO ORDER John Dietz called the August, 2014 meeting to order at 3:30 p.m. 1.1 Pledge of Allegiance The Pledge of Allegiance was recited. 1.2 Consider Utilities Agenda John Dietz requested to add agenda item 5.5, Chamber of Commerce Irrigation. Daryl Thompson moved to approve the amended August 12, 2014 Utilities agenda. Al Nadeau seconded the motion. Motion carried 3-0. 1.3 Introduction of New Employees This was postponed until the next scheduled Utilities Commission Meeting. 2.0 CONSENT AGENDA (Approved By One Motion) John Dietz had a few questions on the financials and PCAs, staff responded. Page 1 Regular meeting of the Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission August 12, 2014 irp Al Nadeau moved to approve the Consent Agenda as follows: 2.1 July Check Register 2.2 July 15, 2014 Previous Meeting Minutes 2.3 Financial Statements 2.4 Second Quarter Utilities Performance Metrics Update Daryl Thompson seconded the motion. Motion carried 3-0. 3.0 OPEN MIC Ryan Utsch, Elk River Municipal Utilities (ERMU) Customer — addressed the Commission regarding some concerns he had regarding his electric meter and billing. Recently staff discovered that his electric meter wasn't reading correctly. Staff replaced the meter and determined that it had been malfunctioning for approximately three years. The customer was back -billed for one year of the estimated charges and was given an extended period of six months to pay the back charges. Mr. Utsch voiced his concerns that ERMU staff went onto his property to replace his meter without notifying him, the year of back billing and the limited time he has to repay it, the $50.00 fee for checking the new meter, and why his household is using more electricity than his neighbors. He stated that he's willing to pay back the charges, but to do so within a six month period would be a financial hardship. Discussion followed. The Commission agreed that the longest they would be willing to extend the payments would be one year. They will give staff their recommendation and request it be added to the September 9, 2014 Utilities Agenda for ratification. Commission Trustee Daryl Thompson requested that the topic of ERMU access to private property be added to the September agenda for additional discussion. 4.0 OLD BUSINESS There is no old business. 5.0 NEW BUSINESS 5.1 2015 Budeet Schedule; Travel & Trainina. Dues/Subscriptions/Fees: and Personnel The Travel and Training budget has a 3% increase over the prior year. John Dietz and Daryl Thompson voiced their concerns on the cost to attend out of state APPA meetings and recommended that staff go every other year, choose either the summer conference or the Washington Legislative Rally, and that either a staff member or a commissioner attend, not both. Troy Adams explained that the summer conference focuses more on education and the Washington conference on activism. Greg Oxley with MMUA was present and Page 2 Regular meeting of the Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission August 12, 2014 17 gave his input on the importance of having an elected official attend the conference. The APPA Summer Conference will be held in Minnesota next year so we're anticipating sending more people as there will be less costs associated with it. The Dues, Subscriptions, and Fees budget has a 24% decrease, reflecting various known and projected increases for 2015. Troy pointed out that this is over a $40,000 savings. Troy Adams gave a verbal update on the Personnel portion. The Wage & Benefits Committee met yesterday and went over a proposed organizational chart through the year 2019. Staff is looking at hiring two new positions next year. More information will be brought back at a future meeting. 5.2 Governance Handbook Troy Adams presented the first draft of the Governance Handbook. He explained that the intent of the handbook would be to incorporate it into an ERMU Governance Manual which would also include information such as: By -Laws, Statutes and Ordinances regarding the authorities of the Utilities and Commission, an overview of the history of ERMU, an organizational chart for ERMU, Conflicts of Interest Policy, Data Practices information, Open Meeting law information, and an overview of the fiduciary responsibilities of the Commissioners. Staff is looking for feedback and direction moving forward. Discussion followed. The commissioners agreed that we need something like this and the consensus was to proceed forward with the other parts of the manual. 5.3 Emplovee Handbook Annually staff and legal counsel review the existing personnel policies incorporated into the ERMU Employee Handbook for compliance with changing labor laws. Troy Adams went over the revised ERMU Employee Handbook reflecting the proposed changes. Discussion followed. Troy Adams shared an additional item that came up regarding the request from employees to have the option of donating sick time to fellow employees experiencing a major illness. A handout was distributed of the cities Sick Leave Donation Policy. The commissioners were open to the idea and staff agreed to bring something back to the next meeting for separate consideration. Daryl Thompson made a motion to approve the revised ERMU Employee Handbook. Al Nadeau seconded the motion. Motion carried 3-0. 5.4 Sherburne County Fair Hydrant Rental The Fair Board requested use of hydrant for their County Fair and there has been some miscommunication between the parties on how ERMU's hydrant meter rental program Page 3 Regular meeting of the Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission August 12, 2014 IK works. John Dietz received an email from Irene Kostreba, Treasurer of the Sherburne County Fair Board, stating that they had been told there would be no charge for the hydrant rental and water usage. The charges for the rental and water usage totaled $83.36. The Sherburne County Fair Board has requested the Commission forgive these charges. Eric Volk shared some details about the hydrant rental process. He said The Fair Board was told that they would need to come into the office to sign the hydrant meter rental agreement and provide a $1,000 deposit before the hydrant meter and wrench would be supplied. The Hydrant Meter Rental agreement that was signed by the Fair Board was included in the packet. The agreement clearly states the hydrant rental fee and water usage cost that would be assessed to the user. Eric also provided the Commission with a breakdown of the additional costs associated with this transaction. There were labor charges to deliver, pickup, and attach the meter to the hydrant, and the administrative costs to process the paperwork, payment and billing. These activities cost the utilities over $170.00 in labor, which is far greater than what the Fair Board was billed. There was further discussion. The commissioners unanimously agreed to uphold the charges and directed the Water Superintendent to inform the Fair Board, in writing, of their decision. 5.5 Chamber of Commerce Irri¢ation 6.0 Cal Porter touched on a few items in the terms of the lease they're working on with the Chamber of Commerce, mainly the irrigation system they're looking at maintaining for the Chamber. The current system is dated and needs some work. In the process of looking into the noisy irrigation meter, Eric Volk discovered that ERMU had no record of the additional meter they were using for irrigation. It's estimated that over 5.2 million gallons of water were used, but not billed for. Cal explained that it would be the responsibility of the Chamber of Commerce to pay for the new meter, the labor for installation and the water charges. Troy Adams spoke with Debbie at the Chamber and explained that the law allows us to go back to the beginning of time and bill for all the water that went through the system, but our practice is to only go back one year. ERMU staff is currently working on coming up with a fair estimate of what those charges would be and will let the Chamber know as soon as possible. Eric Volk will contact Debbie to give his recommendation on what needs to be done and let them know they will be financially responsible for the new meter, the labor for installation and the past year of water charges. There was no other business. 6.1 Staff Updates Page 4 Regular meeting of the Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission August 12, 2014 IN Theresa Slominski let the Commissioners know we've been invited to attend the National Information Systems Cooperative (NISC) District Meeting on September 9a' from 4:00 — 5:30 p.m. at the Hilton Minneapolis Hotel. Theresa also added that we received the buyout information from Paymentus. The amount of the buyout would be $108,326. This amount was calculated by taking the prior 12 month billing and projected that out for the remaining sixteen months we wouldn't be utilizing their services. Staff realizes this is a big number and is looking for direction on moving forward in the negotiation. Peter Beck told the commission that he had a chance look at the contract and there isn't much wiggle room. There was further discussion. The commission suggested going back to Paymentus to try to negotiate something lower. It was suggested that amount should be roughly 50% of the amount they asked for. John Dietz commented to Wade Lovelette on the increased amount of locates. He had questions on some poles that were left up after we changed it to underground. Staff responded. John Dietz wanted to know how things were going in the security department and if we were signing up many new customers. Wade said that things were going very well and that the advertising was paying off. Eric Volk met with Tom from the Harley Owners Group (HOGS) and they have offered to paint approximately 74 hydrants in vicinity of Zylstra's. ERMU will provide the paint and brushes. We'll be going out to service and grease the hydrants before they're painted. The commission recommended inviting the HOG's to a commission meeting where we can recognize them for their contribution. John Dietz asked Tom Sagstetter how Energy City is going now that they have their plan in place. Tom said it seems to be gaining momentum and it's getting a lot of support. Al Nadeau wanted to know if anyone from Cargill had contacted Tom regarding partnering up with us. Tom responded that we hadn't heard from them as of yet, and the area it would entail is still in Connexus territory. Troy Adams said that we could initiate that conversation and asked Al to provide their contact information. 6.2 Set Date for Next Meeting The next regularly scheduled Commission meeting will be on September 9, 2014. The Commission recessed the regular meeting at 5:14 p.m. 6.3 Closing of Meetine: "Meetine to be Closed pursuant to MN Statute 13D.05, Subd 3(c)(3) to develop or consider offers or counteroffers for the purchase or sale of real or personal property." a. Call Closed Session to Order Page 5 Regular meeting of the Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission August 12, 2014 20 b. Discussion c. Adjourn Closed Session 6.4 Adjourn Regular Meetin¢ Al Nadeau moved to adjourn the regular meeting of the Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission at 5:35 p.m. Daryl Thompson seconded the motion. Motion carried 3-0. Minutes prepared by Michelle Canterbury. John J. Dietz Chair, ERMU Commission Tina Allard City Clerk Page 6 Regular meeting of the Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission August 12, 2014 21