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, February 04, 2013 in the Littleton Water and Light Department (LWL) conference room. Present were Commissioner Ralph Ross, Commissioner Eddy Moore, Commissioner Perry Goodell, Office Manager Jackie Kenney and Superintendent Thomas Considine.
MINUTES REVIEW:
The minutes of January 22, 2013 regularly scheduled Commissioners meeting were reviewed. Commissioner Moore made a motion to accept the minutes as presented, seconded by Commissioner Goodell.
The vote was in favor of the motion 3-0-0.
SUPERINTENDENT/ MANAGERS REPORT:
1. A water leak developed on Main Street adjacent to Jiffy Mart that was temporarily resolved by the department for the winter by closing a mainline valve adjacent to Elm Street. There appears to be another mainline water valve that department personnel believes to be in the closed position located between Elm Street (the one recently operated) and Jiffy Mart that the department was not aware of, and fortunately the leak was located in this section between these valves. The department has historically had a difficult time maintain any chlorine residual in the westerly side of the distribution system and further investigation is needed to resolve this dilemma. No customers were affected by leaving the valve in the closed position and final repairs will be made when the weather improves.
2. The ISONE Market and Credit Risk Department issued a notice recently to LWL that one of its energy suppliers were rejected from participating in the Day Ahead spot market because their collateral limits were reached. Apparently they did not post sufficient financial assurance during the week of January 20th through January 27th as spot market energy prices exceeded twenty-five (25) cents per kWh. Left unresolved the department would have been forced to buy on the spot market for contracts previously hedged by firm contract pricing that are less than five (5) cents per kWh. Though the exposure to the spot market would have been minimal the department would have experienced higher financial expenses for that week’s energy transactions. Fortunately, the notice was resolved without incident and La Cappra is investigating the incident.
Commissioner Ross inquired as to why the department would have been held responsible in this situation. Superintendent Considine stated that a full report would be forthcoming from La Cappra though he suspects that it is because we are the “end user”.
3. The BOC accepted the bid submitted by Tuite Painting Company in the amount of $5,353 to improve the crew room and men’s back restroom. The proposal would include removing the floor tiles, painting the walls and apply a textured epoxy flooring system directly to the concrete slab in both areas. The floor application should provide low maintenance solution for these areas.
The department will be responsible for removing the old telemetry Zetron radio system and old map boards which are no longer relevant to current operations. This bid does not include any plumbing work that may be required.
4. Superintendent Considine discussed the maintenance work that typically is performed at the Gale River intake during filter cleaning operations and the proposed catwalk/scaffold that was submitted as a portion of proposed 2013 capital expenditure plan. Cherry Mountain Machine Works was asked to provide a bid to construct a catwalk/ walkway above the pipe gallery that personnel would utilize during filter cleaning operations. This is an area accessed frequently by department maintenance personnel and was the site of a lost time workers compensation incident. The catwalk will make it safer for employees working the valves, will keep them above potential pinch points and should help mitigate slips, trips and falls during cleaning operations.
The BOC agreed that the proposed work would improvement the safety of workers while working in this area and accepted the bid proposal submitted by Cherry Mountain Machine Works for the amount of $4,217.00.
5. Superintendent Considine asked the BOC if they had a preference in the final disposition of truck 799. The truck was given an initial trade estimate value of $5,000. This is the same amount recently offered in trade for the department’s meter reading pickup truck. After some discussion the BOC agreed that they did not have a specific preference in so long as the department received the best economically viable offer.
6. The department was verbally notified very short notice that Ammonoosuc Computer Services (computer network service provider) was closing their business and had sold their client list. The department has been soliciting IT support proposals from other service providers and will make a decision soon in an effort to maintain network continuity. Expenses will increase as the department will enter into an “all requirements” agreement as compared to the “as needed” one it had with Ammonoosuc Computer Services. IT/ computer support services are expected to more than double as a direct result of the change in the character of services provided.
GENERAL BUSINESS:
1. Natgun Corporation submitted document that certifies their completion of work and a request for final payment in the amount of $20,853.67 with regard to the Oak Hill water storage tank project.
The punch list items were completed by the contractor and are acceptable to the department, the only items remaining is the removal of the silt fencing in the spring once the grass cover is established. There is a one (1) year warrantee from the date of substantial completion (in service date) and there is no reason to believe that Natgun will not honor the warrantee. The tank and associated equipment is operating as expected and in accordance with design plans. Department water operators have had to make several operational adjustments (fine tuning) to the system to account for a higher system operating pressure when the tank altitude valve closes (no overflow).
Commissioner Moore made a motion to accept Natguns certification of final completion of work notice and authorized the department to release the retained project funds ($20,835.67) as requested in their final application. Seconded by Commissioner Goodell.
The vote was in favor of the motion 3-0-0.
2. Superintendent Considine stated that the legal review was recently completed with regard to developing the Net Metering (NM) rate structure. The department could offer a hybrid program that is very similar to the program outlined by the NHPUC. The new NM policy details how the department will administer the applicable charges and credits with regard to energy delivery back into the department’s system by customer owned cogeneration (renewable) system. This rate policy works in concert with the Interconnection Rules and Regulations (technical specifics) that were adopted by the department last year by the BOC that governs the character of the installations allowed by the department eligible for interconnection.
After some discussion the BOC agreed that though the department is under no legal obligation to offer a Net Metering program it could be a benefit to those customers interesting in renewable cogeneration. Therefor they approved the NM policy amended as follows:
a) A meter and billing fee of $ 7.00 (proposed $10.00) would adequately cover any applicable department overhead expenses that are associated with managing the account and specialized equipment purchased by the department.
b) The customer would receive a credit in accordance with the NM rate structure equal to the following:
NM Energy Credit = Department current retail power supply tariff rate x kWh delivered
Superintendent Considine asked if the department should base the NM credit on the department’s wholesale cost for the energy supply and not the retail price as suggested. After some discussion the BOC agree that as this is a hybrid program that the rate earned by the customer should be equal to what they are buying it from the department.
ADJOURNMENT:
Commissioner Goodell made a motion to adjourn the meeting, seconded by
Commissioner Moore.
The vote was in favor of the motion 3-0-0.
Meeting adjourned at 2:40 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.