The Board meets on the first and third Monday of each month. Meetings begin at 1:00 p.m. and are held in the department conference room at 65 Lafayette Ave, Littleton. Board meetings are open to the public and time is allotted for public comments at each meeting.
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The regularly scheduled Board of Commissioners (BOC) meeting began at 1:00 p.m. on Monday, October 07, 2013 in the Littleton Water and Light Department (LWL) conference room. Present were Commissioner Eddy Moore, Commissioner Perry Goodell, Commissioner Ralph Ross, Financial Services Director Cheryl Wilkins, Operations Manager Richard Herrington and Superintendent Thomas Considine.
MINUTES REVIEW:
The minutes of the September 16, 2013 regularly scheduled Commissioners meeting were reviewed. Commissioner Ross made a motion to accept the minutes as presented, seconded by Commissioner Moore.
The vote was in favor of the motion 2-0-1. Commissioner Goodell did not vote as he was not present for the meeting.
FINANCIAL DIRECTORS REPORT:
1. Mrs. Wilkins reviewed the financial statements for the month ended August 2013 with the Commissioners. Several discrepancies as compared to budget were discussed and explained by Mrs. Wilkins.
Superintendent Considine stated that both water and energy sales for 2013 through September are down about one (1) to one-half (1 ½) percent as compared to September 2012.
2. National Information Solutions Cooperative (NISC), the department new utility billing software company, will be at the department on Tuesday, October 29, 2013 through Thursday, October 31, 2013 to review and discuss their Accounting and Business Solutions software conversion. Department office and NISC personnel will discuss various modules ranging from the general ledger through asset management (work and purchase orders) over this initial assessment period.
SUPERINTENDENT/ MANAGERS REPORT:
1. Representatives from La Capra Associates (Departments ISONE advisors) plan to attend the Commissioner’s November 4th meeting to discuss two ISONE initiatives. The proposed plan to purchase fuel oil for winter reliability operations and changes in the Forward Capacity Market are on their agenda. Both of these pending ISONE initiatives could have a significant impact of the department’s wholesale power supply budget in 2014.
2. The department hosted the River District Redevelopment Commissions (RDRC) meeting on October 2nd in the conference room. Establishing a base map, general layout and traffic flow patterns were the general topics of discussion at the meeting. Steve LaFrance of Horizons Engineering has agreed to be the central repository in pulling this task together.
The Commission is hopeful that the base map and conceptual layout will be ready to be publically presented at the annual economic luncheon in November.
Note: The LWL is not an official member of the RDRC though we are providing technical oversight in regard to proposed infrastructure improvement suggested by the Commission.
3. Dirt Works contracting recently began work to provide the department with overhead cover for storing our conductor (wood) reels and preventing them from deterioration due to the weather. The department researched in renting offsite storage locations (about 1,000SF) but determined that economically and logistically it made more sense to build the needed storage area(s) at Lafayette Ave. Foundation work began on Tuesday, October 1, 2013 to attach a 15’ x 40’ addition to the existing storage structure on the east end of the main garage. Though not ideal, because access is provided under the eave line it will provide about 560 SF of needed long term storage for material/reels that are not regularly used by the department. A second structure (24’ x 30’) is proposed adjacent to the Quonset hut that was recently permitted by the Littleton ZBA will also be constructed. This structure most likely will be utilized as the primary conductor reel storage area as it should be easily accessible in all seasons. Both foundation/ slabs are expected to be in place by mid- October and framing completed shortly thereafter.
4. The department repaired the final water leak that was part of the NHDES water conservation grant. A total of seven (7) water leaks (6 services, 1 main) and five (5) hydrant seat leaks were repaired by the department. The total water recovered as a result of the repair was estimated at about 93 GPM or 133,920 GPD. The NHDES notified the department that they closed the grant as the department has met its obligation once repairs were completed. A summary of each repair cost is being complied by the department to determine the expected Return-on-Investment (ROI) as a direct result of the NHDES water conservation grant.
GENERAL BUSINESS:
1. Commissioner Moore asked Mr. Herrington what the status was with regard to the revenue metering at Pattenville.
Mr. Herrington stated that the new metering package was placed back in service about July 15th though not capable of remote operations as the communication land line had not been installed. Recently communiques from National Grid have suggested that the remote capability will soon be restored.
2. Commissioner Ross asked about the status of the pole line replacement on High Street from Pleasant Street to School Street and what the nature of the Hitchiner outage on Sunday, September 29th was in regard to.
Mr. Herrington stated that the final easement was just signed off by the property owner on High Street and that he is coordinating with FairPoint Communications as it is there maintenance set area.
To accommodate Hitchiner Manufacturing department personnel worked that Sunday afternoon to replace pin insulators on the utility pole adjacent to the southeast corner of the LWL garage near the railroad tracks. The cause of the initial outage was not obvious as nothing was found and power was restored. Upon further inspection the decision was made to replace the pin insulators on the 34.5 kv conductor where it was determined that an event had occurred. One of the insulator removed showed signs that an arc flash did occur, though it is not known what caused the fault between a ground and the 34.5 kv conductor.
3. Superintendent Considine requested that the BOC move the meeting into nonpublic session to discuss employee compensation matters.
Commissioner Moore made a motion to enter into Nonpublic Session in accordance with RSA 91-A: 3, Para. II (a), to discuss matters of employee compensation.
Seconded by Commissioner Goodell.
Commissioner Moore called for a roll call vote to enter in nonpublic session. Commissioner Goodell - yes, Commissioner Ross - yes, Commissioner Moore - yes.
The vote was in favor of the motion 3-0-0.
Entered nonpublic session at 1:43 p.m.
Public session reconvened at 2:17 p.m.
ADJOURNMENT:
Commissioner Goodell made a motion to adjourn the meeting, seconded by
Commissioner Ross.
The vote was in favor of the motion 3-0-0.
Meeting adjourned at 2:20 p.m.
The regularly scheduled Commissioner’s meeting is held twice monthly on the first and third Monday, at 1:00 p.m., in the Department’s conference room.