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 21, 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 October 7, 2013 regularly scheduled Commissioners meeting and nonpublic session were reviewed. Commissioner Goodell made a motion to accept the minutes as presented, seconded by Commissioner Moore.
The vote was in favor of the motion 3-0-0.
APPOINTMENTS:
1. Mr. Frank Lawson of 1125 Union Street requested that the BOC abate his $ 400 July 2013 water usage as it was excessive and the conditions surrounding the leak were outside his control. Mr. Lawson stated that the mobile home is not occupied and he believes that someone turned on the outside hose bib located on the back side of the home. When notified by the department Mr. Lawson stated that he corrected the problem immediately.
The BOC agreed that the circumstances were outside his control and that he acted swiftly to resolve the issue and they advised Mr. Lawson that he would be held responsible for cost associated with disinfecting the water.
Commissioner Goodell made a motion to grant Mr. Lawson his abatement request less treatment costs. Seconded by Commissioner Ross.
Vote was in favor of the motion 3-0-0.
2. Mr. Lawson also inquired as to why a high security deposit was quoted to his prospective tenant. Mr. Considine stated that LWL policy is based on the highest two (2) month of actual usage at the property. The security deposit would only be required if the tenants could not provide adequate credit references to open their account with the department.
Mrs. Kenney stated that she would review the property usage with Mr. Lawson and she and Mr. Lawson asked to be excused from the meeting.
FINANCIAL DIRECTORS REPORT:
Mr. Wilkins stated that she feels that the front office needs to be the closed on Wednesday, October 30, 2013 for utility billing software conversion set-up and coordination. NISC will be at the department for three (3) days to discuss the accounting and asset management modules with front office personnel. She believes that the department would gain a better product and personnel would be more focused without interruptions.
Superintendent Considine stated that at this phase of the conversion the department will have an opportunity to review the decision making routine/ steps that the software will use to process a request. Department personnel will be able to affect how each of the cost centers will integrated with each other prior to implementation. Changing the programs post implementation would be difficult and costly.
The BOC agreed with the department assessment and considering the capital investment closing for the day seems prudent and approved managements request to close for the day.
SUPERINTENDENT/ MANAGERS REPORT:
1. Superintendent Considine asked that the BOC approve an increase in expenditure to the annual tree trimming budget through November 26th to accommodate additional planned line work and removal of trouble trees. As a result of a higher than normal rainfall this season and the snow storm in late May tree canopy growth has accelerated and there’s been an increase in danger trees that required the department to actively address.
The BOC approved increasing the 2013 tree trimming line item at an estimated weekly expense of about $5,000.
Superintendent Considine also noted that the tree trimming crew will be working on the river bank behind the town office building adjacent to Centennial Park to remove several dead trees and overhanging limbs.
2. National Grid recently advised the department (via email) that their engineering evaluation and assessment of the line 3315 was completed. As a result of the assessment National Grid plans to replace/ relocate line 3315 from Commerford Station to Pattenville breaker 1515 within the next three (3) years.
The BOC was pleased with the notice from National Grid, Commissioner Ross added that the department has been requesting the assessment since the early 90’s and that this should be good for reliability and is pleased that progress is being made communicating with National Grid.
Superintendent Considine stated that the department is also working with National Grid on acquiring several other operational data points. The department was provided with software to access the revenue meter (system load data) at Pattenville and discussion has taken place to provide the department an interface to acquire line voltage and ampere for SCADA use. In addition National Grid is providing the department with utility information with regard to their transformer characteristic for fuse coordination and other studies in preparation for conversion.
3. The department was recently invited to attend a 6 p.m. meeting with the Mt. Eustis Ski Tow group at the Littleton Bike Shop to discuss their connection requirement. Preliminary discussion has taken place though nothing firm has been discussed with the department with regard to the sites load projections for water and electricity.
4. PSNH notified the department that they plan to begin the permitting process to relocate several structures on their U199 115 kV line adjacent to the Ammonoousic River behind Shaws. They expect to begin work late in 2014 providing that the project permits are in place, they anticipate no impact to the department infrastructure.
GENERAL BUSINESS:
1. Mrs. Kenney discussed a particular situation with the BOC with regard to a customer’s request for an exception to policy. The particular policy recognizes the deed owner when it comes to invoicing for water usage and holds the deeded owner responsible for the water consumption. As the water is considered real property any pass due amounts are transferable with the property and subject to the property lien process. The person living at the premise is not the deeded mortgage holder and not the recorded owner according to the tax records with the town; therefore according to LWL policy is considered a tenant. This person has taken exception with this interpretation and wants the department to acknowledge that he owns the property and has provided his agreement with his lender (not a bank). The lender has even acknowledged that they are the deeded owner of record.
Superintendent Considine stated that the department may lose its right to apply an official lien on the property should the water bill not be paid as there would not be a record with the property owners name associated with the past due amount.
The BOC agreed that the security deposit policy is in place for revenue protection purposes and denied the customers request for an exception to current policy.
2. The BOC reviewed a proposal submitted by Geosphere Environmental Management of Exeter, NH dated October 11, 2013. The proposal is to review the feasibility of developing a public ground water source located on the property at the end of Lafayette Avenue. This would provide the department a professional opinion as to the viability of this location to support or not support a public water source.
The BOC agreed that developing an additional ground water site would provide for greater redundancy and its location would be advantageous and economical. As there are no record to this property ever being officially studied determining the properties ground water potential appears rational.
Commissioner Ross made a motion to perform a preliminary hydrogeological assessment of the property at the end of Lafayette Avenue for an amount not to exceed $14,700 as proposed by Geosphere. Seconded by Commissioner Goodell.
Vote was in favor of the motion 3-0-0.
3. Superintendent Considine requested that the BOC move the meeting into nonpublic session to discuss matters of employee compensation and discussion relative to real property acquisition.
Commissioner Moore made a motion to enter into Nonpublic Session in accordance with RSA 91-A: 3, para. II (a) & (d) as requested by Superintendent Considine.
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 1:55 p.m.
Public session reconvened at 2:23 p.m.
ADJOURNMENT:
Commissioner Ross made a motion to adjourn the meeting, seconded by
Commissioner Goodell.
The vote was in favor of the motion 3-0-0.
Meeting adjourned at 2:25 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.