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 November 4, 2019 2019 in the Littleton Water and Light (LWL) conference room. Present were Commissioner Peter Cooper, Commissioner Schuyler Sweet, Commissioner Ralph Ross, Financial Director Cheryl Wilkins and Superintendent Thomas Considine.
MINUTES REVIEW:
The minutes of the October 21, 2019 regularly scheduled Commissioners meeting were reviewed. Commissioner Sweet made a motion to accept the minutes as presented, seconded by Commissioner Ross.
The vote was in favor of the motion 3-0-0
CUSTOMER AND PUBLIC CONCERNS:
Severe winds, sometimes gusting in excess of 50 mph and heavy rains caused wide spread power outages throughout the LWL service territory and the region on Thursday October 31, 2019. The first trouble/power outage calls began coming into the LWL paging system at about 8:30 p.m. on Thursday evening and continued until the winds died down late in the afternoon on Friday, November 1, 2019. All available LWL personnel were busy with power restoration activities beginning with the first calls. Power was restored to all customers and LWL crews were cleared by about 7:30 p.m. Friday evening. Clean-up and permanent repairs will be ongoing until complete.
FINANCIAL DIRECTORS REPORT:
Mrs. Wilkins reviewed the highlights of the financial statements for the month ended September 2019 with the Commissioners. Several variances as compared to budget were discussed and explained by Mrs. Wilkins.
Mr. Considine stated that preliminary 2020 operating and maintenance budgets are expected to be made available for review by the next BOC meeting on Monday, November 18, 2019.
SUPERINTENDENT/ GENERAL MANAGERS REPORT:
1. Therapists from the Center for New Beginnings, LWL’s Employee’s Assistance Program providers (EAP) are scheduled to conduct a mandatory workshop on Thursday, November 7, 2019 in the conference room. Workshop topics will focus on valuing differences in others, respect and ethical behavior in the workplace. LWL’s workplace policies with regard to harassment, acceptable conduct/behavior, and preventing a hostile working environment will also be highlighted.
Note: The EAP is a voluntary program that LWL employees and family member can utilize for private/confidential counseling and or therapy sessions to cope with a variety of issues relative to their psychological well-being at home and in the workplace.
2. GEM Environment recently conducted an asbestos inspection on the pump house at the Gale River South Branch dam. The inspection is required by the Town of Bethlehem to acquire a demolition permit in preparation for the proposed removal of the dam in connection with the dam removal/river restoration project.
3. Green Street Power Partner the proponent organization for a proposed utility scale passive solar array on Mann’s Hill in Littleton provided answers to several questions submitted to them by LWL. The questions were focused on the draft term sheet/agreement provide by Green Street outlining their proposed purchase power agreement with LWL.
As Green Streets reply arrived just prior to today’s meeting the BOC agreed to postpone any action until Green Street answers could be properly evaluated.
4. The BOC reviewed a tally of hours/cost that LWL had in support of the Town of Littleton’s Sub Area B wastewater rehabilitation project in the Union Street area. LWL incurred a total of 277 man-hours (7-weeks) or almost $20,000 in total expenses in support of the town’s project. Mr. Considine stated that this time could have been better utilized in the accomplishment of needed LWL projects/ work and the project was a continuous drain on LWL daily manpower.
5. The results of the 2019 wholesale power supply procurement should be made available by the next BOC meeting. Solicitations for proposal have been sent to prospective bidder which will allow them time to gather the required resource. The official RFP process is executed quickly as the timing and execution is time dependent as power is a commodity that is bought and sold by the hour.
GENERAL/ OTHER BUSINESS:
1. The BOC agreed and approved the expedited purchase of a new meter reading vehicle (LWL No. 213) outside the annual capital approval process. This is due to several contributing factors that include the priority and need/use of the vehicle, pending maintenance repairs costs and severe deterioration in the wheel wells and undercarriage. The existing 2013 Dodge pick-up is originally schedule for replacement in 2021. Trucks 6 (2008 1-ton dump) and 12 (2010 pick-up) are scheduled for replacement and will be presented in the 2020 annual capital project and equipment plan.
2. A discussion ensued with regard to the color of the LWL fleet vehicles. The question is whether or not the cost of having a custom painted (fire engine yellow) vehicle is cost prohibitive or is it a real safety concern. Many private companies and utilities are moving away from custom painted trucks and are keeping the stock factory white vehicles due to the costs and feel that the strobe lights surrounding their exterior provide sufficient safety and awareness. LWL is looking at independent automotive body shop for completing the custom paint jobs as a means to reduce cost.
Following some additional discussion it was decided that LWL will contact PRIMEX (LWL’s property and liability insurance carrier) and check to see if there is any benefit to using a custom safety color in lieu of the stock factory white.
Commissioner Sweet stated that in his opinion LWL should maintain the safety green colored fleet for safety and a visual identifier for the LWL customers.
3. There was some discussion relative to the economic impact with regard to LWL establishing a 115 KV interconnection to the Eversource U-199 transmission line that was present at the October 21, 2019 by Daymark Energy Advisors.
The BOC agreed that there were many issues that still needed to be discussed with Eversource Energy and resolved before proceeding and that a consolidated list needs to be prepared before further action is taken.
ADJOURNMENT:
There being no further business to come before the board Commissioner Sweet 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 2:02 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.