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, February 18, 2014 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 and Superintendent Thomas Considine.
MINUTES REVIEW:
The minutes of the February 3, 2014 regularly scheduled Commissioners meeting were reviewed. Commissioner Goodell made a motion to accept the minutes as presented, seconded by Commissioner Ross.
The vote was in favor of the motion 3-0-0.
FINANCIAL DIRECTORS REPORT:
Mrs. Wilkins asked that the BOC accept the J. Harding & Company, PLLC (Independent Auditors) proposal to provide financial audit services to the department in accordance with the Governmental Accounting Standard Board article. The proposal requests full access to the department’s financial records and that management will fully disclose the requested information in a timely manner for the fiscal year ended 2013.
Following a brief discussion Commissioner Goodell, Secretary for the BOC, executed the proposal on behalf of the department.
SUPERINTENDENT/ GENERAL MANAGERS REPORT:
1. The remaining Mercury Vapor (about 12) luminaires are being removed from service and being replaced with similar size luminaires that utilize Light Emitting Diodes (LED’s). This is expected to result in an energy saving of about thirty (30) to forty (40) percent or about 6,000 Kwh per year in this group. This will reduce the Town of Littleton’s un-metered street lighting expenses by about $600 over the first year in service. The expected return rate on these luminaires is significantly long (estimated at about ten years at current retail expense) due to the relatively high capital cost of purchasing the fixture and the present tariff.
2. Though this winter season has been measurably colder than recent years (degree days below zero) the number of water services “freeze-ups” has been minimal to date. The end of February through mid-March is typically the busiest time for this type of trouble call. There are about four (4) customers that are on the Running Water Program this season as the department is addressing each site when practicable.
3. The BOC reviewed and discussed several bolts that were removed from the bonnet of a six (6) inch water gate valve that apparently failed under load. The bolts each show signs of deterioration though three (3) appear to have deteriorated severely enough to have failed after only being in the ground since about 1994 (50 year life expectancy on buried water parts). This allowed the valve to separate and gasket to push out and break under system pressure, causing the water leak on Monday February 3, 2014 at the intersection of Spruce Street and Highland Avenue.
Superintendent Considine stated that the assumption was made that the bolts were stainless steel though following inspection and research it was determined that the bolts were electroplated carbon steel. These types of bolts are still being utilized on the lower grade gate valves and are still available on the market. The valves that the department is currently utilizing have stainless steel bolts securing the bonnet.
4. Superintendent Considine advised the BOC that he and Mr. Herrington are scheduled to meet with representatives of Northeast Utilities transmission services division on February 26, 2014. This meeting is to discuss and explore the potential of the department developing a 34.5 kV interconnection to the NU-U199 115 Kv transmission line. Preliminary discussions have already taken place with the industrial park representatives with regard to land.
Commissioner Goodell asked if the selectmen are aware of the department’s interest in acquiring land in the industrial park. Superintendent Considine stated that he has had a very preliminary discussion with the town manager on the topic and proposed property parcels though any detail discussion is still premature at this time. If this project were to come to fruition it will involve the town government as bonding authorization will most likely need to be acquired via town meeting due to the costs involved.
GENERAL BUSINESS:
1. The BOC reviewed the results of ISO-NE’s most recent Forward Capacity Auction (FCA) number eight (8) that took place on February 3, 2014 and closed with a production price of $7.25 / kw-month. This pricing is expected to take effect on June 1, 2017 and will cost the department about 2 ½ times more than what we are currently paying for demand capacity. These prices are the direct result of pending generation plants slated to close by this date (i.e. Vermont Yankee and Brayton Point, etc.) and the closure of some coal generating plants as a result of tightening regulation effecting carbon emission. The department capacity requirement is typically set coincidentally with ISO-NE system peak month (July-August).
2. National Information Solutions Cooperative (NISC) submitted the department with several draft billing statements for review that will be produced by the iVue utility billing system. The BOC was generally pleased with the appearance of the draft statements.
NISC representatives are scheduled to be on site March 3rd – March 6th to conduct training on the test files in the Accounting Business Solutions (ABS) portion of the iVue software. Selected individuals will participate in the training as it is primarily focused on accounts payable, miscellaneous receivables and asset management (i.e. accounting and materials inventory).
3. 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 2:10 p.m.
Public session reconvened at 2:25 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 2:32 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.