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,
December 5, 2022 in the LWL conference room. Present were Commissioner Peter Cooper, Commissioner Ralph Ross, Commissioner Linda MacNeil, Director of Finance Lori Hogan and Superintendent Thomas Considine.
MINUTES REVIEW:
The minutes of the November 22, 2022 regularly scheduled Commissioners meeting were reviewed. Commissioner MacNeil made a motion to accept the minutes as presented, seconded by Commissioner Ross.
The vote was in favor of the motion 3-0-0
APPOINTMENTS:
1. New employees Ms. Shelley Pinette (Front Office Staff) and Mr. Kristopher Willey (Line worker) were introduced to the BOC and were welcomed to the team.
2. Commissioner Cooper welcomed Paul and Nancy Reitsma that reside at 375 Mt. Eustis Road to the BOC meeting.
Mr. Reitsma stated that since they purchased their home in the late 70’s they have been attempting to have the power line relocated to the north side of Mt. Eustis. Mr. Reitsma presented the BOC with a historical account of what has transpired since he first asked about relocating the utility line more than 30-years ago. In addition, Mr. Reitsma presented the BOC a 1999 letter that he received from then LWL Superintendent Edwin Betz stating the LWL was planning to address maintenance issue on Mt. Eustis Road. Mr. Reitsma stated that in his opinion LWL should honor this letter and the pole line in its current location is a burned especially on a 2-acre parcel that they purchased in the 80’s. He also states that the utility pole line has no easement rights, and the utilities are effectively trespassing. He was told by the telephone company that if he wanted the poles in front of this property moved/relocated that he was going to have to pay for it as he would be the only one directly benefiting from the relocation.
Mr. Considine stated that the utility poles appeared to have been set by the New England Telephone Company in about 1939 according to documents provided by Consolidated Communication. Historically the telephone company nor LWL would set poles on private property without an easement or other written agreement. As the property in question is clearly within the maintenance area managed by the telephone company their involvement in any project of this scope is a must. In about 2010 representative from both LWL and telephone reviewed and discussed the feasibility of relocating of the utility pole line towards/into the public right of way due to maintenance needs of the existing poles and wires. The project was determined to be cost prohibitive and that replacement in-kind was warranted and a better alternative than relocation. The amount of tree clearing, potential ledge outcrop effecting poles sets and that there was no reason to change the location of the line as it is safer in its current location were contributing factors in the decision. In 2020 LWL in an act of good faith and being neighborly relocated a couple of poles that were in front of your home and within the public right of way to the north side of Mt Eustis. This was to preserve and protect your privacy screen from the road even though the top of several trees were burning and unsafe and all of them should have been removed LWL voluntary relocated these poles.
Commissioner Ross stated that because the pole line is located within the maintenance set area of Consolidated Communication (CC) they must be involved in the project, or nothing will take place. CC has no reason to move their line and have not transferred to the new poles just mentioned by Mr. Considine. If he (Mr. Reitsma) can convince the telephone company to set up a meeting on-site to discuss a LWL representative will attend.
The Reitsma’s thanked the BOC for the time and exited the meeting at about 2 pm.
CUSTOMER & PUBLIC CONCERNS:
Robert Blechl newspaper reporter for the Caledonian Record asked about the status of the lawsuit “stay” between the LWL and Town of Littleton.
Following some general discussion Superintendent Considine stated that draft agreements are going back and forth between the attorneys without a resolution to date.
Commissioner Ross stated that LWL is cautiously optimistic that a mutual agreement will be reached though he cannot predict when that will happen.
GENERAL/NEW/ OTHER BUSINESS:
1. Solicitation for wholesale power supply through the first quarter of 2023 are due to LWL by 11:00am tomorrow morning. Future market price has dropped in the recent week mostly due to weather though still extremely high. Although there is no exact correlation between future market (speculative) and real time prices the real time markets have been closing well below $100/MW.
There was some discussion and the BOC agreed that though power supply prices are at record highs LWL should hedge its winter/first quarter open position to mitigate risk as there will be still some riding on the spot market and if the bid price is close to $200 /MW LWL should execute.
2. The BOC was provided with a draft of the proposed 2023 Capital Improvement Project and Equipment (CIPE) plan. There is a limited amount of project being proposed for 2023 as LWL is expecting delivery of a new line truck that was approved in 2022.
MEETING ADJOURNMENT:
There being no further business to come before the board Commissioner Ross made a motion to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Commissioner MacNeil.
The vote was in favor of the motion 3-0-0.
Meeting adjourned at 2:35 p.m.
The above read and approved.
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.