Board Meeting - August 28, 2014

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS

A regular meeting of the Board of Public Works was held at the Hastings Utilities Board Room on Thursday, August 28, 2014, at 9:00 a.m.  This meeting was preceded by notice duly published in the Hastings Tribune on Tuesday, August 26, 2014, and by notices duly posted in the lobby of Hastings Utilities, 1228 North Denver Avenue, and the City Hall, 220 N. Hastings Avenue, and was therefore open to the public.

Present: Hunt, Krieger, Shoemaker, Kully, Dewalt

Also Present:  Schultes, Meyer, Ptak, Vrooman, Cogley, Hartman, Goebel, Odom, Sekora, Struss,  Barfknecht, Crecelius, M. Richards,  Tony Hermann (Hastings Tribune), and Allison Petr and Cameron Trumble (McDermott & Miller

Chairman Shoemaker stated that the Board of Public Works is subject to the Open Meetings Laws and acknowledged that the Open Meetings Law poster has been posted in the room.  He also declared a quorum of members present.

The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.

There were no public comments.

Marv Schultes reported that NERC completed a compliance audit at Hastings Utilities and found no deficiencies.  He thanked Jim DeTour, Steve Hohman, Brian Exstrum, and Nathan Bren for all their hard work during the audit.

He also reported that the Comparability Study has been received at Hastings Utilities.  Schultes will distribute copies to the Comparability Committee and schedule a committee meeting.

Al Meyer reported that Hastings Utilities continues to experience a shortage of coal for WEC Units 1 and 2.  Al reported that the WEC-1 outage has been moved up to September 26th because of storm damage to the cooling tower.  This outage is expected to last until October 6th.  Al reported that WEC-2 is experiencing problems with the Boiler Feed Pump.  A part is on order but is not expected to be delivered in time for the scheduled maintenance outage.  The North Denver Station Unit 5 was operated successfully this week and Unit 4 will be tested and run on September 9th and 10th.

Under Committee Reports, the Chamber Retail Committee recommends Hastings Utilities maintain the same level of funding as last year which is currently $30,000.

Moved by Hunt, seconded by Dewalt, that the 2015 proposed Hastings Utilities budget reflect $30,000 as a contribution to the Chamber of Commerce for retail development.  Roll Call:  Ayes; Hunt, Dewalt, Shoemaker, Krieger, Kully.  Nays; None.  Motion carried.

Chuck Shoemaker recognized and congratulated the following employees for their years of service to Hastings Utilities.

Clint Nunnenkamp, Gas Department – 15 years; Janet Lennemann, Business Office – 10 years; James Black, Whelan Energy Center – 15 years; Greg Gundersen, Whelan Energy Center – 15 years; Clifford Hohlfeld, Whelan Energy Center – 5 years; and Dale Christen, Water Department – 30 years.

Bid Policy Committee – Staff has distributed information requested by the committee and they will meet after the committee has had a chance to review the information.

Street Light Committee – The committee met on June 9th and looked at areas that may need lighted.  The committee recommended the current Underground Residential Lighting Agreement (URL) be changed from 5 years to 10 years to be developed.

Moved by Krieger, seconded by Kully, that the following items on the Consent Agenda be approved:

Roll Call:  Ayes; Krieger, Kully, Hunt, Shoemaker, Dewalt.  Nays; None.  Motion carried.

Cameron Trumble and Allison Petr from McDermott & Miller presented the 2nd Quarter Financial Review as prepared by McDermott & Miller.

Moved by Hunt, seconded by Dewalt, to receive and accept the 2nd Quarter Financial Review as presented by McDermott & Miller.  Roll Call:  Ayes; Hunt, Dewalt, Kully, Shoemaker, Krieger.  Nays; None.  Motion carried.

Moved by Hunt, seconded by Krieger, to approve Change Order No. 1 to the Stack CEMS Enclosure Extension at WEC-1 Contract (Contract No. 2013-35) with Judd's Brothers Construction for a net addition of $26,855.36, and that the Mayor of the City of Hastings be authorized to sign the document.  Roll Call:  Ayes; Hunt, Krieger, Dewalt, Shoemaker, Kully.  Nays; None.  Motion carried.

Discussion took place on whether to renew the Chevy Volt lease that expires in September 2014.

Moved by Dewalt, seconded by Kully, to not renew the Chevy Volt lease.  Dewalt and Kully both agreed to a friendly amendment to the Motion, as originally made, to include in that Motion that staff be asked to review the cost of installing a public charging station and potential incentive program for charging stations.  Roll Call:  Ayes; Dewalt, Kully, Shoemaker, Krieger, Hunt.  Nays; None.  Motion carried.

Moved by Krieger, seconded by Dewalt, to recommend approval to the Mayor and City Council of an Interlocal Agreement between the Little Blue Natural Resource District and the City of Hastings, for a Municipal Water System Assistance Program.  Roll Call:  Ayes; Krieger, Dewalt, Hunt, Shoemaker, Kully.  Nays; None.  Motion carried.

The Board asked staff to research additional funding sources for water projects from the Upper Big Blue Natural Resource District, State Funding that may have just become available, and any other resources that may be available.

Ron Sekora and Scott Struss gave a presentation on the proposed sanitary sewer project on East 12th Street from Showboat to the Union Pacific Railroad.

Moved by Hunt, seconded by Dewalt, to recommend to the Mayor and City Council to create a Sanitary Sewer Improvement District on East 12th Street.  Roll Call:  Ayes; Hunt, Dewalt, Shoemaker, Krieger, Kully.  Nays; None.  Motion carried.

Moved by Hunt, seconded by Krieger, to approve checks issued August 22, 2014, with the exception of check 23919 to Kully Pipe & Steel Corp. and check 23980 to Industrial Park East.  Roll Call:  Ayes; Hunt, Krieger, Shoemaker, Dewalt, Kully.  Nays; None.  Motion carried.

The Chairman asked staff to prepare a list of all organizations (required and non-required) that Hastings Utilities pays due to.

Moved by Krieger, seconded by Hunt, to approve check 23919 to Kully Pipe & Steel Corp. in the amount of $4,889.58.  Roll Call:  Ayes; Krieger, Hunt, Dewalt, Shoemaker.  Nays; None.  Kully abstained.  Motion carried.

Moved by Hunt, seconded by Kully, to approve check 23980 to Industrial Park East in the amount of $13,153.60.  Roll Call:  Ayes; Hunt, Kully, Dewalt, Krieger.  Nays; None.  Shoemaker abstained.  Motion carried.

Moved by Dewalt, seconded by Krieger, to approve the following claims:

Roll Call:  Ayes; Dewalt, Krieger, Kully, Shoemaker, Hunt.  Nays; None.  Motion carried.

Moved by Hunt, seconded by Kully, that this Board go into Closed Session, which Closed Session is clearly necessary for the protection of the public interest and for the prevention of needless injury to the reputation of an individual, which individual has not requested a public meeting, in order to discuss certain matters relating to personnel and that said Closed Session will consist of a strategy session relative to litigation.  Roll Call:  Ayes; Hunt, Kully, Dewalt, Shoemaker, Krieger.  Nays; None.  Motion carried.

The meeting closed to the public at 11:18 a.m.  The executive session consisted of Board Members, Council Liaisons, the Board's Attorney, and staff.

Moved by Hunt, seconded by Dewalt, that the meeting be reopened to the public at 11:30 a.m., and that no decisions were made nor official actions taken during said Closed Session.  Roll Call:  Ayes; Hunt, Dewalt, Kully, Shoemaker, Krieger.  Nays; None.  Motion carried.

Moved by Hunt, seconded by Dewalt, to approve the recommendation of staff for appointment of Noel Nienhueser to Electric Distribution Superintendent upon the retirement of Jon Yocom effective October 17, 2014.   Roll Call: Ayes; Hunt, Dewalt, Shoemaker, Kully.  Nays; None.  Krieger abstained.  Motion carried.

Dewalt left the meeting at 11:35 a.m.

There were no Board Member comments.

The meeting adjourned at 11:37 a.m.