Board Meeting - March 17, 2016

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, March 17, 2016, at 9:00 a.m.  This meeting was preceded by notice duly published in the Hastings Tribune on Tuesday, March 15, 2016 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, Shoemaker, Dewalt

Also Present: Schultes, Meyer, Vrooman, Leonhardt, Cox, Cogley, Hartman, Odom, Goebel, Crecelius, Hernandez, Ptak, Barfknecht, Schawang, Miller, Sekora, E. Kranau, Struss, Stange, Helton, and 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.

Marv Schultes reported that the City Council will hold a worksession on Monday, March 21st at 5:30 p.m. where they will discuss the In Lieu of Taxes on Wholesale Power.

Schultes also reported that Peabody Coal may have to declare bankruptcy but Peabody has assured Hastings Utilities that they will still honor our contract for coal.

Schultes reminded the Board that the next meeting is Tuesday, March 29, 2016.

Steve Cogley updated the Board on the Water Sustainability Grant.  Cogley said that there were 12 projects in our group size competing for the $25,000,000 grants.  Next week we will find out if HU's project goes forward to the grading process. Determinations for the grants will be made April 19th.  The Board asked Steve to notify them whether our project moves forward to the grading process.

Lori Hartman reported on the following Personnel Activities:

-        Currently conducting interviews for the Electrical Engineer position.
-        An offer was made for the Mechanic Assistant at PCF which was accepted.
-        Interviews are finished and we are close to making an offer for the Mechanic  
         Assistant at WEC.
-        Currently taking applications and Kim Woolery is doing testing for a Fuel Handler 
         position at WEC.
-        We will have an opening for a Secretary position at WEC, due to a retirement. 
         We had an opening for a Secretary position less than six months ago, so we will
         utilize that same list.
 

Chairman Shoemaker recognized and publicly thanked the following employees for their years of service at Hastings Utilities:

Deborah Van Boening – who is retiring on April 1, 2016 with 33 years in the IT         Department.

Shoemaker mentioned an article he read in the Grand Island Independent on the Grand Island Utilities.  Their utility is going to suspend operating their coal-fired power plant for 3-4 months after it goes down for a scheduled outage because of the soft market and their diverse energy mix.  Discussion took place on options for Hastings Utilities.

Committee Reports

a.   Comparability
      The Comparability Committee will meet on April 7th.
b.   Improvement Districts – Policy on Transition Agreements
      The Committee met last week and ironed out a procedure for a transition agreement.  The conclusion reached was on how quickly we ask the homeowner to hook up to city utilities but the extended payment provisions in the previous policy will stay in effect.  Staff will be working on putting the information in writing so the committee can review it before coming back to the Board with a proposed transition agreement.
 

Moved by Kully, seconded by Dewalt, that the following items on the Consent Agenda be approved, with the exception of 6c. Review and approval of checks issued March 11, 2016, with the exception of check no. 29693 to Kully Pipe & Steel Corp. and check no. 29742 to Sullivan Shoemaker PC LLO.  Roll Call:  Ayes; Kully, Dewalt, Hunt, Shoemaker.  Nays; None.  Motion carried.

Moved by Dewalt, seconded by Hunt, to approve 6c. review and approval of checks issued March 11, 2016, with the exception of check no. 29693 to Kully Pipe& Steel Corp. and check no. 29742 to Sullivan Shoemaker PC LLO.  Roll Call:  Ayes; Dewalt, Hunt, Shoemaker, Kully.  Nays; None.  Motion carried.

Discussion took place on In Lieu of Taxes.  Further discussion will take place at the Council Worksession on Monday.

The Board asked if HU has a written policy in place on cell phones.  Dewalt asked how many cell phones are issued to employees.  Hastings Utilities has a cell phone use policy but not a policy on which employees require a company phone.

Moved by Hunt, seconded by Dewalt, to approve check no. 29693 to Kully Pipe & Steel Corp. in the amount of $302.52.  Roll Call:  Ayes; Hunt, Dewalt, Shoemaker.  Nays; None.  Kully abstained.  Motion carried.

Moved by Kully, seconded by Hunt, to approve check no. 29742 to Sullivan Shoemaker PC LLO in the amount of $554.78.  Roll Call:  Ayes; Kully, Hunt, Dewalt.  Nays; None.  Shoemaker abstained.  Motion carried.

Moved by Hunt, seconded by Dewalt, that upon the recommendation from staff, to award a contract (2016-01 FC-13) for Replacement of NDS Demineralizer System to Eco-Tec, Inc., Ontario, Canada, in the amount of $243,668.24 including applicable sales tax and estimated freight and that the Mayor and City Clerk be authorized to enter into said contract accordingly.  Roll Call:  Ayes; Hunt, Dewalt, Shoemaker, Kully.  Nays; None.  Motion carried.

Moved by Dewalt, seconded by Hunt, to approve Work Order PL-678 for the Demineralizer System in the amount of $299,038.  Roll Call:  Ayes; Dewalt, Hunt, Kully, Shoemaker.  Nays; None.  Motion carried.

Marv Schultes gave a presentation on the December 2015 Monthly Report.  Suggestions for possible  future charts are 1.  Equity as a percentage of the Assets, 2. Electric Dept. In Lieu of Tax Payments with and without Wholesale Sales, 3. A graph showing the In Lieu of Tax Payments for each department, with a total.

Jeanette Dewalt reported that she was invited to a teleconference with city officials called Transparency in Public Finance.  This program offers searching capabilities for the financials, projects, etc. for the city.  The City of Topeka, Kansas was the example shown in the teleconference.  The City of Grand Island is in the process of implementing the program.  At this time, the city officials are just previewing the program.  There will be additional teleconferences.

A discussion was held on the Novak Study.  Shoemaker reported that he had spoken to the City Council at their meeting on March 14th.  He suggested to the Council that as the Novak Study relates to the Board of Public Works, there is a lot of good information, experience and expertise on the Board and around this table that would be an important part of the deliberations that the Council is making on how to deal with the Novak Study recommendations and the Board is interested in being a part of the process.  Council Liaison Goebel reported that there will be a public meeting at a worksession in April.

Discussion took place on the use of the Intra City Services Fund and Work Order MA-582 to modify, replace or eliminate water meter pits in the parks.  The estimated cost for these meter pits is $43,747.20 and has been recommended by the City Administrator to use the Intra City Services Fund.  Shoemaker expressed concern that this would use almost half of this year's budgeted amount of $100,000.

Moved by Hunt, seconded by Kully, to approve Work Order MA-582 to remove the pits in the City Parks for an estimated cost of $43,747.20, and charging it to the Intra City Services Fund.

Kully asked if the motion could be amended to authorize Water Department incentive funds up to the per pit removal fee of $900 for a total of $9,000.00 be used to offset the cost with a balance of $34,747.20 to be charged to the Intra City Services Fund and Hunt agreed to the amendment.

Vote on motion with amendment:  Roll Call:  Ayes; Hunt, Kully, Dewalt, Shoemaker.  Motion carried.

The Board asked the Liaisons to visit with the City Administrator to see what the city's priorities are for the use of this fund.

Schultes reported as per a letter from Keith Leonhardt, that the flood plain permit has been approved and the ASR water project can move forward.  We will authorize the consulting engineer to finalize the design and move this project forward and send it out for bids.

Keith Leonhardt gave a presentation on GPS and Lee Vrooman gave a presentation on gas valves.  It was suggested by the Board to revise the service call record to include a time of arrival and a time of gas shut off.  The Board would like an estimated cost to include all gas valves to GIS, along with providing tablets in the service trucks.

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 and that said Closed Session will consist of a strategy session relative to negotiations.  Roll Call:  Ayes; Hunt, Dewalt, Kully, Shoemaker. Nays; None.  Motion carried.

The meeting closed to the public at 11:50 a.m.  The executive session consisted of Board Members, Council Liaisons, Marv Schultes, Dave Ptak, and Al Meyer.

Moved by Dewalt, seconded by Kully, that the meeting be reopened to the public at 12:10 p.m., and that no decisions were made nor official actions taken during said Closed Session.  Roll Call:  Ayes; Dewalt, Kully, Shoemaker, Hunt.  Nays; None.  Motion carried.

The meeting adjourned at 12:10 p.m.