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.
View Meeting Minutes for: | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 |
The regularly scheduled Board of Commissioners (BOC) meeting began at 1:00 p.m. on Monday, May 21, 2018 in the Littleton Water and Light (LWL) conference room. Present were Commissioner Peter Cooper, Commissioner Schuyler Sweet, Financial Director Cheryl Wilkins, and Superintendent Thomas Considine.
MINUTES REVIEW:
The minutes of the May 7, 2018 regularly scheduled Commissioners meeting and the minutes of the May 14, 2018 Special meeting were reviewed. Following some discussion Commissioner Sweet made a motion to accept the minutes with corrections, seconded by Commissioner Cooper.
The vote was in favor of the motion 2-0-0.
CUSTOMER & PUBLIC CONCERNS:
Commissioner Cooper acknowledged Justin Roshak, a newspaper reporter for the Littleton Courier inquired as to how LWL kept the rates so low as compared to other utilities in the area.
Commissioner Sweet and Superintendent Considine addressed this question generally stating that LWL does not have to inflate its bottom line to pay stock holders and maintains a relatively low overhead. The customers/residents of the Town of Littleton are the shareholders that receive the benefit of an economical rate.
FINANCIAL DIRECTORS REPORT:
Mrs. Wilkins discussed/ explained some of the general comments presented by Vachon Clukay & Company (auditors year ended 2017) with regard to strengthen/formalizing some of the internal control LWL has in place to mitigate fraudulent type activities. LWL management has attempted to address the auditor’s comments by implementing tighter controls on payroll entry and the utilization of store charge accounts and credit cards.
No further discussion was taken with regard to the year ended 2017 audit as the full BOC was not present.
SUPERINTENDENT/ GENERAL MANAGERS REPORT:
1. An email notice from ISONE was discussed with the BOC that referenced the pending increase in the forward capacity market due to take effect on June 1, 2018. The intent of the email was to notify market participants that as a result in the increase in capacity costs that a higher financial assurance obligation would be required resulting in an increase in collateral to all market participants.
Commissioner Sweet inquired as to how participants meet this collateral threshold.
LWL meets their collateral limits by maintaining its financial investments grade rating with Moody’s Securities, maintaining tangible asset (unrestricted cash liquidity ) that are readily available and that the BOC possess the sole ability to change rates as needed to meet operating needs.
2. The LWL BOC reorganization certification will be sent to the Town Clerk’s office following acceptance of minutes of May 7, 2018 in accordance with enabling legislation.
3. The access ramp to the proposed test well site at the end of Lafayette Avenue is complete; the drillers are expected to begin within the next several weeks. Some general discussion with regard to ongoing LWL projects throughout town was discussed.
GENERAL/ OTHER BUSINESS:
1. The topic of summer hours (6:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.) was presented by Mr. Considine on behalf of the LWL front office staff starting the week of June 25th and ending in early October on a trial basis. A tally sheet was discussed that tracked the front office counter activities between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. and depicted that about 30% of those walk-in customers required assistance from staff. Comparisons were made to other utilities in the area that do not offer walk-in service and that LWL now offers multiply methods for customers to pay.
Following some additional discussion Commissioner Sweet made a motion to approve summer hours on a trial basis as suggested, seconded by Commissioner Cooper.
The vote was in favor 2-0-0.
2. Superintendent Considine requested that the meeting be moved to nonpublic session to discuss matters concerning employees.
Commissioner Sweet made a motion to enter into nonpublic session in accordance with RSA 91-A: 3, II (a) to discuss matters relative to employees, Seconded by Commissioner Cooper.
Commissioner Cooper called for a roll call vote to enter in nonpublic session. Commissioner Sweet - Yes, Commissioner Cooper – Yes.
The vote was in favor of the motion 2-0-0.
Nonpublic session entered into at 1:50 p.m.
Public session reconvened at 1:58 p.m.
ADJOURNMENT:
Commissioner Sweet made a motion to adjourn the meeting, seconded by
Commissioner Cooper.
The vote was in favor of the motion 2-0-0.
Meeting adjourned at 2:03 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.