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 Tuesday, February 20, 2024 in the LWL conference room. Present were Commissioner Ralph Ross, Commissioner Peter Cooper, Director of Finance Lori Hogan and Superintendent Thomas Considine.
MINUTES REVIEW:
The minutes of the February 5, 2024 regularly scheduled Commissioners meeting were reviewed. Commissioner Ross 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:
1. Mr. Bruce Hadlock addressed the BOC about concerns surrounding the proposed energy storage system that will be located at the Westside Substation and the article as it appears on the 2024 town meeting warrant. Mr. Hadlock stated that though he supports LWL’s plan as it appears that it will save the ratepayers money, he is not confident that town officials will be able to adequately address the concern raised by residents. In his opinion LWL should be the one negotiating the terms of the property lease agreements and not town officials for both projects. In his opinion he doesn’t know why LWL went to the town in the first place about the energy storage system as the property is already zoned for a substation for LWL.
Commissioner Cooper stated that the energy storage system is being built and managed by a third party (Convergent Energy) as a commercial enterprise on town owned property. LWL wanted to be fully transparent, that is why the BOC sent Convergent to the towns zoning and planning office.
Mr. Hadlock stated that the town does not have zoning and or planning ordinances in place that will address either the proposed solar farm or an energy storage system project that are on the warrant. For that reason alone, the selectmen should not have sponsored the property lease articles in the first place and left it off the warrant. If this issue is not handled correctly, it could open the door for Eversource to attempt to install a much larger battery system at their Forster Hill property.
He also stated that he is not comfortable with anyone at the town offices dealing with these articles as they are lay people, especially the (old) town manager (TM) as he is prohibited by law from interfering with LWL activities.
Commissioner Cooper stated that both Kearsarge Energy (solar) and Convergent Energy (Energy Storage) both submitted draft article language at the request of town officials, presumable the TM who was working on behalf of the town government as the property owner.
There was some back-and-forth discussion related to whether the TM should have been involved in the first place or the process stopped by the selectmen due to no zoning pertaining to these types of renewable energy sources.
Commissioner Ross stated that it was not up to LWL to tell the selectmen how they should manage their employees and how they should have processed the requests made by both Kearsarge and Convergent regarding the possibility of a property lease.
Mr. Hadlock stated that the Littleton residents and taxpayers that are not LWL customers would not benefit from the passing of either article. LWL should consider doing something for those Littleton residents that are outside LWL service territory.
2. Mr. Considine stated that he attended both nights of the deliberative session and spoke regarding both warrant articles. The solar article was received generally well by the residents that attended the deliberative session. Most of the residents that spoke had concerns about the impact to the activities currently taking place on the old landfill (i.e. snowmobile/ATV trail system, fireworks launching platform, etc.) and if the developer would be responsible for all the towns current expenses associated with the closed landfill.
The energy storage system received a lot of push back from the residents that spoke. Almost all the residents expressed concerns regarding the potential of the batteries catching fire and the environmental impacts to the surrounding area and whether the fires could be put out. Many of the residents that spoke at the deliberative session urged Littleton residents to vote “no” on the energy storage system at the town meeting in March.
Mr. Considine stated that he is a bit disappointed that Convergent was not up-front regarding the fires at three (3) of their energy storage facilities in 2023 and will ask Convergent for an explanation to be presented to the BOC. He cautioned the BOC that LWL should not rush into executing any binding agreements until fully vetted.
DIRECTOR of FINANCE and HUMAN RESOURCES REPORT:
1. Mrs. Hogan reviewed a “Draft” of the financial statements for the month ended December 2023 with the Commissioners. Several variances as compared to the budget were discussed and explained by Mrs. Hogan.
Following some discussion, it was agreed that as LWL’s annual financial audit is scheduled and it does not make sense to provide the town with a draft of the December 2023 statement. Any changes/adjustments recommended by the auditors would be applied against December’s statements making the draft void. Once the audit is finalized that becomes LWL’s official financial record for the year ended.
2. Mrs. Hogan stated that the LWL employee that started work in late November of 2023 quit on Friday, February 16, 2024 after working for about ten (10) weeks without notice. Management plans to review the applications received when the position was initially posted for a potential candidate prior to deciding to readvertise.
SUPERINTENDENT/ GENERAL MANAGERS REPORT:
1. NH Broadband, a subsidiary of NH Electric Cooperative (NHEC) has requested to attach to LWL poles to be able to provide NHEC customers with internet services. The LWL area that NHEC is requesting to cross is mostly in the westerly side of LWL service territory in and adjacent to Partridge Lake. LWL is working with NHEC to develop and pole attachment licensing agreement.
There was some discussion as to why NHEC needed to cross LWL franchise area and if NHEC is already providing electric service to these customers, why do they need to attach their broadband cable to LWL poles. Superintendent Considine will inquire.
2. An engineer from Convergent Energy plans to make a site visit to the Westside Substation on Friday, February 23, 2024 to evaluate the proposed point of interconnection for the energy storage system, if approved.
MEETING ADJOURNMENT:
There being no further business to come before the board Commissioner Ross made a motion to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Commissioner Cooper.
The vote was in favor of the motion 2-0-0.
The meeting adjourned at 1:48 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.