6.1i ERMUSR 12-08-2020UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING
TO: FROM:
ERMU Commission Mike Tietz Technical Services Superintendent
MEETING DATE: AGENDA ITEM NUMBER:
December 8, 2020 6.1i
SUBJECT:
Staff Update
ACTION REQUESTED:
None
DISCUSSION:
In November, the locators processed 335 locate tickets. These consisted of 1 emergency
ticket, 219 normal tickets, 17 non-excavation tickets, 46 updated tickets, 12
cancellations, 21 boundary surveys, 14 boundary surveys corrections, and 5 locate
meets. This resulted in a 33.4% decrease in tickets from the previous month and a 79.1%
increase over the prior year. This is the result of an extended construction season due to
good weather conditions. The locators have begun GPSing again as locates start to slow
down.
Electrical Technicians completed 189 service order tasks, updated the power bill,
performed weekly substation checks, attended to customer meter issues and off-peak
concerns. Staff began testing of the reclosers at our Station #14 substations. I expect to
have this completed before the end of the year.
On November 30, staff ran generator #4 and used city water for cooling of the
generator. We had an issue initially with a frozen intake pipe but were able to thaw it
out. This delayed our start time by 2 hours, so the decision was made not to run
generators #1 & #2. We will continue to use city water through the winter months until
Lake Orono is returned to normal levels.
Mapping department continues to update points and attributes for our systems assets
within the ESRI ArcView GIS system. We have been working on establishing
meter/service points within the GIS maps so that we can import their location data to
the Customer Information System which will help make us more efficient with meter
reads. Staff continues to assist the water department withon-call rotation support.
On November 25, staff assisted Bob Sewell from Minnesota Municipal Utilities
Association with our annual League of Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust generation
audit. This audit helps to establish what our insurance rates will be for the next year on
our generation equipment. As we make further improvements at our generation
facilities, our rates may be able to be reduced.
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