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 Monday, March 19, 2012 in the Littleton Water and Light Department (LWL) conference room. Present were Commissioner Eddy Moore, Commissioner Ralph Ross, Financial Services Director Cheryl Wilkins, Operations Manager Richard Herrington and Superintendent Thomas Considine.
MINUTES REVIEW:
The minutes of March 5, 2012 regularly scheduled Commissioners meeting were reviewed. Commissioner Ross made a motion to accept the minutes as presented, seconded by Commissioner Moore.
The vote was in favor 2-0-0.
APPOINTMENTS:
Superintendent Considine stated that La Capra Associates had intended to attend today’s meeting but had to postpone their visit with the BOC until April 16, 2012.
SUPERINTENDENT/ MANAGERS REPORT:
1. Moody’s Investors Service is in the process of re-evaluating the department’s credit rating. A ninety (90) minute conference called was conduct this past week that addressed items the Moody’s analyst had provided to LWL previously. Due to the high cost involved when procuring a power supply contract the credit rating is used by wholesale power providers during the procurement process to judge the department’s credit worthiness as a viable counterparty. A higher investment grade rating means a better deal with lower costs, a low rating means the provider assumes a greater risk entering into a business deal with the department. Low credit rating typically requires that the party provide a security deposit or pay some costs upfront for the duration of the deal. The department’s new rating should be available by the end of the month and is expected to be slightly higher than the current A1 rating.
2. The advertisement for bids to construct a new 1millon gallon water storage tank at the top of School Street will be distributed to contractors requesting a proposal this week. Bids are planned to be opened publicly on Tuesday, April 17, 2012. It is expected that the successful contractor will begin work as soon as the road bands are removed.
3. The auditor (J. Harding & Company, LLC) completed the 2011 year end audit draft report and the department has reviewed and commented. In addition the Management and Discussion Analysis was provided to the auditor for review and inclusion with the financial statements. The final report is expected shortly.
4. The BOC reviewed a report that graphed the department’s delinquent accounts (outstanding balances) over a period of twenty-four (24) months. The statistical data was collected for all outstanding accounts (sixty days beyond the due date) that will be subject to disconnection for non-payment on April 1st. The data revealed that for over the past 24 months the department’s delinquency rate has averaged about eight (8) percent of the total receivables and trending slightly upward. This upward trend most likely is reflecting a difficult economic environment throughout the area.
5. The transmitter to the Metrotech 810 underground line locating device was hit by a fuel truck and damaged beyond repair on Thursday, March 15, 2012. The device was employed properly by LWL personnel locating underground water mains when the truck owned by Harris Energy accidentally ran over the transmitter. Though this device model (purchased in 2006) is no longer manufactured Metrotech was able to find the same model and provide it to the department at a reduced price. This represented a significant savings of more that $2,000 as compared to purchasing a newer model. Harris Energy (Carroll Lucas) has agreed to pay for the replacement device at the reduced cost.
GENERAL BUSINESS:
1. The department was recently invoiced in the amount of $18,580.54 by the Town of Littleton for work completed by Winterset Construction to replace the water main that crosses beneath the Redington Street Bridge. Winterset costs totaled about $ 92,800 of which 80 percent was covered by federal and state matches. The departments share represents twenty (20) percent of the actual total. Other cost incurred by the department for service rendered were for materials, labor and equipment in addition to the Winterset costs which totaled about $12,000.00. In total the department incurred more that $30,500 in costs in connection with this project.
2. As a direct result of what the department felt was a slow emergency response time to several town wide outage events in 2011, the department drafted a letter to National Grid requesting clarification of their trouble call procedures and emergency response time. The response from National Grid was received by the department on March 6, 2012 and was discussed and addressed by the BOC (copy attached).
National Grid stated that they do not have the logistical ability to lessen the response time because their response personnel are staged in Lebanon, NH. This could mean that under certain conditions the Town could potentially be out of power from three (3) to six (6) hours. The capacity of the 3315 overhead 34.5 kV line from Commerford Station to Pattenville breaker 1515 and communication between the department and National Grid Distribution Control Center was also addressed in their response.
The BOC agreed that the National Grid March 6, 2012 response inadequately addressed the concerns raised by the department in LWL’s letter to National Grid dated August 26, 2012. The outage response is our particular concern because National Grid did not suggest any corrective measures that might resolve their trouble call responsiveness.
The department will prepare a rebuttal to National Grid’s letter dated March 6, 2012 especially focusing on their inadequate emergency/ trouble call responsiveness and their network load sharing of the 3315 line.
ADJOURNMENT:
Commissioner Ross made a motion to adjourn the meeting, seconded by
Commissioner Moore.
The vote was in favor 2-0-0.
Meeting adjourned at 2:15 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.