6.1g ERMUSR 06-13-2023Elk River
Municipal Utilities UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING
TO:
FROM:
ERMU Commission
Mike Tietz —Technical Services Superintendent
MEETING DATE:
AGENDA ITEM NUMBER:
June 13, 2023
6.1g
SUBJECT:
Staff Update
ACTION REQUESTED:
None
DISCUSSION:
• In May, the locators processed 656 locate tickets. These consisted of 555 normal tickets,
4 emergency tickets, 62 updated tickets, 15 cancellations, 18 meets, 1 non -excavation,
and 1 correction. This resulted in a 55.1% increase in tickets from the previous month
and is a 1.7% increase from the prior May.
• Electrical technicians completed 270 service order tasks, updated the power bill,
addressed customer meter issues and any off-peak concerns.
• On May 26, staff ran generators #1, #2 & #3. About 45 minutes into the run on
generator #3, a fuse blew on one of the raw -water pumps causing the temperature to
rise quickly. Staff took the generator offline quickly and shut down the engine. Staff will
be getting estimates to rewind the motor vs. replacement.
• Testing of SCADA operation for the new Station #14, Bank #4 feeder has been
completed. A fiber communication conduit was installed through the substation yard to
the control house in preparation for our next fiber connection to a substation. Also, staff
added crushed rock to the Station #14 substation entrance.
• We met with TKDA on May 22 to discuss development of our Advanced Metering
Infrastructure (AMI) installation RFP and their consulting services for inspection of the
installation contractor's work. The AMI kick-off meeting was held on May 31 with Core
& Main and Sensus representatives in attendance. Discussion topics covered all aspects
of the project and I found it reassuring that National Information Solutions Cooperative
& Sensus have worked together on numerous other projects. We have started to receive
the AMI network radio equipment and have done a preliminary walkthrough at each of
the water towers to make sure there won't be any last-minute surprises. I anticipate the
AMI radio network will be operational by the end of June. We are optimistic that the
initial deployment meters will arrive late August or early September so that we can start
testing the system.
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