Board Meeting - September 3, 2015

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, September 3, 2015, at 9:00 a.m.  This meeting was preceded by notice duly published in the Hastings Tribune on Tuesday, September 1, 2015, 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, Kully, Dewalt, Shoemaker

Also Present: Schultes, Meyer, Vrooman, Ptak, Leonhardt, Cogley, Thompson, Hartman, Cox, Sekora, Strom, Barfknecht, Odom, Goebel, Tony Hermann (Hastings Tribune)

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.

Schultes reported that Hastings Utilities had ordered and received the Distributed Generation – A Guidebook for Public Power Utilities from the American Public Power Association as requested by Board Member Hunt.  A copy was given to Hunt and the original will be kept in the Hastings Utilities Library.

Schultes reported that the Nebraska Power Association sponsored a booth at the Nebraska State Fair.  Whelan Energy Center Control Room Operator Jim Specht was featured in a poster on public power.

Steve Cogley shared with the Board an update on the Water Funding Project.  He has attended the Natural Resource Commission's Task Force Meeting.  The Commission has made the final adjustments to the Guidelines and Rules and are sending them to the Attorney General for review.  The Governor will have the final review.  Hastings Utilities plans to get it's application in the end of this year if no changes are made.  There is $11,000,000 per year for 10 years available, however all but $5.8 million has already been allocated for the first two years.  After grading the projects, projects that are federal mandates will get an additional 2 bonus points.  Staff will review the application process and make a recommendation to the Board.

Al Meyer reported that the electric facilities experienced full load testing.  On August 17 and 18, North Denver Station Unit 4 was successfully full load tested at 15 MW which is normal capacity.  On August 27th, Den Henry Power Center was full load tested at 20 MW.  WEC Units 1 and 2 are running and experiencing no issues at this time.  The preliminary schedules for a fall outage at WEC-1 is for September 25 – October 5 and WEC-2 will be October 26 – November 2.

A discussion on coal generation and gas generation took place.

Lori Hartman reported on personnel activities:

• Stores Clerk started in Warehouse on 8/17 (external hire – Kyle Patten)
• Fuel handler started at WEC on 8/24 (external hire - Jake Eikmeier)
• Mechanic Assistant started at WEC on 8/24 (external hire – Robbie Johnson)
• Started the interview process for the four Auxiliary Operators at WEC
• Interviewing this week for Instrument Supervisor at WEC and finishing Lineman interviews
• Mechanical Engineer starts Tuesday, September 8th

Hastings Utilities has had an ongoing conversation with Hastings College on the 9th Street relocation costs at Hastings College.  Staff is looking into the information that staff originally provided Hastings College to see if there is anything HU can do to reduce the cost to the college.  Chairman Shoemaker asked Jeanette Dewalt to meet with him and staff to discuss the project and then bring a report on the specifics back to the Board.

Chairman Shoemaker asked that staff provide the budget project maps to the Board earlier than the budget meetings this year.  He also asked staff to provide a map that was previously prepared on sanitary sewer collection outside of our current boundaries.  Shoemaker also mentioned that he wants a discussion with the Board at the budget worksessions on the parameters that we use for evaluating and distributing the economic development incentive money.  He would like a conversation on potentially using those funds for an expansion of our infrastructure for development purposes, as housing limitations is a significant issue in Hastings.

Chairman Shoemaker thanked the following employees for their years of service:

Scott Cisinski – North Denver Station – 5 years; Timothy Shuck  - Combined Dept. – 15 years; Ronald Anderson – Whelan Energy Center – 35 years; Bob Helton – Gas Department – 30 years; David Frasier – Whelan Energy Center – 30 years.

Hunt referred to the amended rating from Standard & Poor's Rating Services.  He has questions on Mark Barfknecht's conversation with the rating agency and he will visit with Mr. Barfknecht.  The Board will keep this downgrade in mind when budget discussions about rates are taking place.

Committee Reports:

Comparability – not meeting at this time.  An employee has raised an issue for the Comparability Committee and the committee would like Marv to set up a meeting. Land Leases – Kully said the committee has not met but have had conversations on some land at the Pollution Control Center that the city has adjacent land and discussion is being held on joint uses.  The Committee has not looked at the paper leases yet. Budgeted Labor – Dewalt said the committee received an updated worksheet from Deb McCoy and the committee needs to get together within two weeks to visit about the final worksheet. All of this information will be brought back to the Board during budget discussions.Improvement Districts – Policy on Transition Agreements – The Committee has not meet since the last Board meeting but the committee felt they need advise from the City Council on the need for this kind of a transition policy on the incorporation of newly served properties into the city.  The City Council worksession is scheduled for September 21st at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall.

Moved by Kully, seconded by Dewalt, to approve the following items on the Consent Agenda:

a. Review, correction or approval of minutes of August 13, 2015

b. Review of payroll for period ending August 22, 2015

c. Review and approval of checks issued August 21, with the exception of check no.27570 to

Kully Pipe & Steel Corp.

d.  Approval of the following claims:

- General Operating Fund against the Electric Fund – $2,877,764.61

- General Operating Fund against the Combined Fund - $2,980,730.17

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

Moved by Hunt, seconded by Dewalt, to approve check no. 27570 to Kully Pipe & Steel Corp. in the amount of $1,605.46.  Roll Call:  Ayes; Hunt, Dewalt, Shoemaker.  Nays; None.  Kully abstained.  Motion carried.

Brian Strom gave a presentation on Mailing Guidelines and Pricing for Customer Billings.  He stated that a software upgrade to offer email billing is being looked at for the 2016 Budget.

Marv Schultes presented the June 2015 Monthly Report.  A recommendation was made to add more information on the Revenue and Expense slides.  The PPGA Debt was reviewed and the Board asked staff to get the amount of principle that was paid this year.

Ron Sekora gave a presentation on possible approval of Work Order SW-315 which is for a Sanitary Sewer on North 2nd Ave. for a cost of $120,648.  Shoemaker stated that this is the same project that the Board has talked about before and recommended to the City Council for creation of a sewer improvement district, that the Council approved, and asked Attorney Ptak to do the paperwork for the creation.

Moved by Hunt, to approve Work Order SW-215 to install sanitary sewer on 2nd Ave. from existing manhole 1000 feet north for an estimated cost of $120,648 which includes the installation and removal of the septic tank and tile field.  The motion died for lack of a second.

Moved by Hunt, to approve the expenditure of $5,500 to install a septic tank and tile field for the property of Dustin Tibbs at 2407 N. 2nd Ave., as a temporary with a full agreement accompanying our letter in a form acceptable to Attorney Ptak.  The motion died for lack of a second.

Attorney Ptak suggested that staff be directed, that the septic tank and the leech field not be installed without a letter agreement with the property owner that they understand that this is a temporary solution.  The Board agreed that the Council should continue with the creation of a district and assessment of the properties, and still have discussions by the committee that has been appointed as to how the transition agreement, if there is one, and if there is, how it will work.  Then the committee will get back together and discuss further the transition issue.

Council Liaison Goebel asked Ptak to work on a transition agreement, which would be legally binding and protect our financial interests.  Council Liaison Odom agreed with Goebel on the transition agreement.

Moved by Dewalt, seconded by Kully, to approve the following work orders:

SL-99        Installation of LED street lights on Baltimore Ave. and Lochland Rd. West. Estimated Cost:  $  12,329

SL-100     Installation of LED street lights on Baltimore Ave. north of North Shore Dr. Estimated Cost:  $    7,080

PL-670     Whelan Energy Center fuel oil storage tank level monitoring.  Estimated Cost:  $  16,983

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

Under Board Member Comments Hunt stated that some of the Transition Agreements have not been handled properly, some exempted, some aren't collected, not carried through.  He asked that staff review these with Dave Ptak.

Shoemaker reminded the Board of a Special Meeting to tour the Whelan Energy Center on September 15, 2015 at 1:30 p.m.  The meeting will start in the WEC-2 Conference Room with a preview of the tour and include a possible Executive Session after the tour.

There were no Miscellaneous and Future Agenda Items.

Moved by Hunt, seconded by Dewalt, that this Board go into Closed Session, which Closed Session is clearly necessary for the protection of the public interest in that said Closed Session will consist of a strategy session relative to negotiations and litigation.  Roll Call:  Ayes; Hunt, Dewalt, Shoemaker, Kully.  Nays; None.  Motion carried.

The meeting closed to the public at 11:45 a.m.  The executive session consisted of Board Members, the Board's Attorney, Council Liaisons Goebel and Odom, Marv Schultes, and Al Meyer.

Moved by Hunt, seconded by Dewalt, that the meeting be reopened to the public at 12:00 p.m., and that no decisions were made nor official actions taken during said Closed Session.  Roll Call:  Ayes; Hunt, Dewalt, Kully, Shoemaker.  Nays; None.  Motion carried.

The meeting adjourned at 12:00 p.m.