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 business meeting of the Littleton Water and Light (LWL) Board of Commissioners (BOC) began at 1:00 p.m. on Monday, August 16, 2021 the LWL conference room. Present were Commissioner Peter Cooper, Commissioner Linda MacNeil, Director of Finance Lori Hogan, LWL consultant Schuyler Sweet and Superintendent Thomas Considine.
MINUTES REVIEW:
The minutes of the August 2, 2021 regularly scheduled Commissioners meeting were reviewed. Commissioner MacNeil made a motion to accept the minutes as presented, seconded by Commissioner Cooper.
The vote was in favor of the motion 2-0-0
CUSTOMER & PUBLIC CONCERNS:
Overhead line work on West Main Street was recently completed by LWL. Later this fall the line voltage in that service area will be stepped up to a higher operating voltage in accordance with on-going voltage conversion project. The conversion work will affect mostly residential and some commercial customers along West Main Street between the fire station and Main Street, Farr Hill Road, Rock Strain and Patriots Drive. Most of the work is expected to take place during normal working hours to minimize expenses. LWL will target service outages/disturbances of no longer than four (4) hours (suggested time between the hours of 8 a.m. to noon) on mild weather days and will accommodate customers as much as possible. All customers in the affect area will be notified in advance of any planned electrical service interruption.
DIRECTOR of FINANCE and HUMAN RESOURCES REPORT:
1. Mrs. Hogan reviewed the highlights of the financial statements for the month ended June 2021 with the Commissioners. Several variances as compared to budget were discussed and explained by Mrs. Hogan.
2. A cash flow power point presentation was reviewed with the BOC that highlighted cash flow activities and trends in the operation account and that the 2020 cash transferred as voted on by the BOC was delayed. The analysis shown that LWLs largest expenses are incurred by ISO FCM demand and wholesale power supply and are due around the of 20th of each month whereas LWL’s largest revenue collection cycle four (4) due date is later in the month.
This is causing a misalignment in our cash balance credit and debits as LWL needs to subsidize pass-through expenses such as power supply and transmission costs. On certain occasions the operating account balance experiences a negative cash flow situation for three (3) to four (4) days until cash balances catch back up.
Mr. Considine stated that this misalignment was not an issue in the past as cash transfer from operating to capital reserve were not transferred. Operating account balances have been a topic of discussion recently due to the Town of Littleton recent interference in LWL operations and their financial difficulties.
Mrs. Hogan and Mr. Considine recommended that the largest meter route 423 which accounts for about 2/3 of the revenue in cycle 4 and contains the largest accounts especially along Meadow Street which is now the large load and revenue center be move into cycle 3 along with certain other larger customers. Though the mechanics of this action have not been fully worked out this option appears to be the less disruptive on everyone. Proposed implementation of this plan of action is that the affective route 423 customers be notified in September and the new reading/billing will take effect with the revenue month ended October 2021.
Following some additional discussion, the BOC agreed with recommendation made to align the operating account credit and debits more uniformly throughout the month.
SUPERINTENDENT/ GENERAL MANAGERS REPORT:
1. A planning board hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, August 17th at the Community House about permitting the excavation and blasting of the Highland Croft property on West Main Street. A decision rendered by the Littleton Zoning Board in 2010 (ZBA10-14) identified a list of specific criteria and contains well defined roles and responsibilities for the owner to meet prior to excavation activities on this site. As of today, LWL is not aware that any of the five (5) major criteria identified by the 2010 ZBA have been satisfied. Construction site activities at this site could potentially have devastating effect to the water quality and pumping capacity of the Brickyard Road well and it is critical that the new owners comply with the ZBA10-14 decision.
Following some discussion Commissioners Cooper and MacNeil stated that they would attend the planning board meeting on behalf of LWL as Mr. Considine is out of the office for the week following today’s meeting.
2. LWL is in the final stages of completing a lead service line survey requested by the NHDES to address concerns change in the Lead and Copper Rule generated by Flint Michigan investigation. Each water service line connection is being reviewed by LWL personnel to determine materials especially lead service line and estimated cost for replacement.
To our knowledge lead service are not prevalent through the LWL system and minimal galvanized service line and some small distribution main lines remain. Some exploratory excavation may be needed to determine the type of service line at some service locations that are not known to LWL operators during this survey.
GENERAL/OTHER BUSINESS:
The BOC and Mr. Sweet discussed whether a nonpublic session was needed to discuss the recommendation for additional discovery recommended by LWL legal counsel regarding the Town of Littleton versus Schuyler Sweet et al. The BOC agreed that no specifics are being discussed and that the BOC were only voting to authorizing LWL’s attorney to proceed, a nonpublic session was not necessary.
Following some general discussion Commissioner MacNeil made a motion to authorize Attorney Delude to proceed with the recommended course of action, seconded by Commissioner Cooper.
Vote was in favor of the motion 2-0-0.
MEETING ADJOURNMENT:
There being no further business to come before the board Commissioner MacNeil 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 1:50 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.