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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1995-05-15 Min - Board REGULAR MEETING May 15, 1995 In accordance with District Code Section 2 08 010 the TDPUD minutes are action only minutes All Board meetings are recorded on audio tapes which are preserved perpetually and,,made available for listening to any interested party upon their request. The regular meeting of the Board of Directors of the Truckee Donner Public Utility District was called to order at 7:04 PM in the TDPUD Board Room by President Jones. ROLL CALL: Directors Joe Aguera, Ron Hemig, Bob Jones, James Maass and Patricia Sutton were present. EMPLOYEES PRESENT: Joan Antonucci, Mary Chapman, Susan Craig, Steve Hollabaugh, Peter Holzmeister, Kathy Neus, Bob Quinn and Scott Terrell. CONSULTANTS PRESENT: Attorneys Christina Bark and Steve Gross; Consulting Engineer, Keith Savers. OTHERS PRESENT: James Whalen of NCPA; Rick Blumenfeld and PatMathieson of Arthur Andersen & Co.; Jeff Cotton DISCUSSION OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA POWER AGENCY WITH JAMES WHALEN, ASSISTANT GENERAL MANAGER OF NCPA Mr. Whalen explained why and how the Northern California Power Agency was formed and briefly described NCPA programs. It was noted that April 17, 1995 was the first day power was delivered to the PUD through NCPA. Staff will provide a report to the Board indicating how many hours of power were actually received during April and May and the savings realized by the District. PUBLIC INPUT District underground electric policy Jeff Cotton spoke in favor of the District placing electric lines along Glenshire Drive underground. He noted that the Town's General Plan will address scenic corridors and suggested joint trenching with SouthWest Gas when the gas lines are installed. Staff advised that SouthWest Gas will probably not begin gas line installation in that area until the 1996 construction season. In order to serve the new well and customers formerly served by Sierra Pacific, the District needs to build and upgrade electrical lines this season. Overhead lines are planned; however, everything possible has been taken into consideration to avoid aesthetic impacts. The poles are minimum size, there are restrictions as to what can be placed on the poles, the pole locations are being adjusted and will be away from the road, there will be minimum tree cutting. An Initial Review is 5115195 Page 1 being prepared and will be presented to the Board soon. The Board asked that a map and written description of the construction be provided the Wednesday before the meeting at which the Initial Study will be considered. PUBLIC HEARING Public comment on the adoption of a Negative Declaration for the Glenshire Drive Well Project, a portion of Phase ill of the Safe Drinking Water Bond Law Project The public hearing to receive public comment on the adoption of a Negative Declaration for the Glenshire Drive Well Project was opened at 7:40 PM. Consulting Engineer Sauers advised that the environmental review process should be complete at the next Board meeting; then, site acquisition and preparation of the construction plans and specifications can be finalized. The funding contract stipulates that the project be complete by December 31, 1995. Two letters commenting on the project were received, one from the Town Planning Division relating to encroachment permit requirements and the other from the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Lahontan Region, expressing some concerns that will be addressed by the District Engineer. Copies of the correspondence have been attached to these minutes for reference. • There being no comment from the audience, the public hearing was closed at 7:50 PM. 1995 WELL PUMPS UPGRADE PROJECT - CONSIDERATION OF A CONTRACT CHANGE ORDER; POSSIBLE ACTION The proposed change order concerns 1) the purchase of a water level transmitter to monitor the water level in the Prosser Annex Well and interface with the SCADA system at a price of$2,248 and 2) to allow the re-use of the existing pump base and discharge at the Northside Well at a deduction of$350. This will allow the continued use of existing mechanical equipment and piping at the station. Director Maass moved, and Director Aguera seconded, that the Board approve Contract Change Order No. 2 presented by Clayborn Contracting Group, inc. for a net increase of$1,898 on the 1995 Well Pumps Upgrade Project contract. All Directors, aye, by voice vote. SO MOVED. CONSIDERATION OF BIDS RECEIVED FOR WiRE, CABLE AND TRANSFORMERS; POSSIBLE AWARD Annually, electric system maintenance work and construction projects are planned and budgeted and the District solicits bids for the purchase of wire, cable and transformers.the • The bid summary for wire and cable along with staff recommendations for award were reviewed. Director Aguera moved, and Director Maass seconded, that the Board award 5115195 Page 2 the wire and cable bids as recommended by staff - Schedules A and B to Okonite; Schedules C and D to Pirelli; Schedules E, G, H, I and J to Western States, Schedule F. to WESCO. All Directors, aye, by voice vote. SO MOVED. (*See below for further action.) After evaluating the transformer bids, staff requested the Board to deviate from awarding the bids to the low bidder on some of the schedules due to the long time required for delivery. Counsel noted he researched the matter and found the Board can declare a bidder non-responsible if they do not have the capacity to perform in a timely fashion. if this is the case, award may be made to the next responsible low bidder. After some discussion, Director Maass moved that Western States, the low bidder on Schedules A and F, be given the opportunity to meet a delivery time frame that is acceptable to the District (12 weeks). If they are able to perform within this time period, the bid is to be awarded to them; if unable to perform, Westem States shall be declared a non-responsible bidder on Schedules A and F and the award will be made to WESCO. Schedules B, D and E are to be awarded to the low bidder, WESCO; Schedule C is to be awarded to Western States, the low bidder. ROLL CALL: all Directors, aye, with the exception of Director Sutton, who voted no. SO MOVED. `Director Sutton noticed an error made in the staff recommendation on wire and cable bids. She moved that the previous action to award the bids be rescinded and that awards be made to the low bidders as follows: Schedules A and B to Okonite; Schedules C and • D to Pirelli; Schedules E, G, H and I to Western States; Schedules F and J to WESCO. All Directors, aye, by voice vote. SO MOVED. CONSIDERATION OF REPEALING THE FUEL ADJUSTMENT CLAUSE MECHANISM FROM THE DISTRICT'S ELECTRIC RATES; POSSIBLE ACTION Attached is a Purchased Power Billings chart which summarizes the District's demand and energy readings, the rates charged by SPPCo and the dollar amounts billed by Sierra Pacific to the District for those demand and energy readings. The totals are shown for both 1994 actual charges, what the 1994 charges would have been if the District was on the new rates and projections for 1995 for both the old and new rates. The estimated savings for 1994 would have been $876,211; estimated savings for 1995 are $1,081,261. Also attached is a copy of the Fuel Charge Billings chart. it shows the history of fuel charges billed to customers and to the District since 1989. The amounts change from year to year. Because of the six month rolling average, line losses and the lag-time between when the District is billed and when the District bills its customers, there are sometimes significant differences on an annual basis. Through May 1995 it is estimated that the District will have billed $170,248 in fuel charges to its customers. From June through October, it is estimated that there will be a net credit of$1,554.24 before the fuel charges work their way out of the six-month period. • After some discussion, Director Maass moved that the Board adopt Resolution No. 9512 removing the fuel cost adjustment from billings to customers and rescinding Resolutions 7503 and 8146. The motion was seconded by Director Sutton. ROLL CALL: all Directors, 5115195 Page 3 . aye. SO RESOLVED. During preparation of the 1996 budget, staff is to review the rates and determine if further analysis is in order. CLAIM FOR DAMAGES SUBMITTED BY LAWRENCE BAKER;CONSIDERATION AND POSSIBLE ACTION Director Maass moved, and Director Aguera seconded, that the Board deny the claim submitted by Lawrence Baker. All Directors, aye, by voice vote. SO MOVED. CONSIDERATION AND POSSIBLE APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF APRIL 3, 19, 17 AND 24, 1995 Director Hemig moved, and Director Aguera seconded, that the Board approve the minutes of April 3, 10, 17 and 24, 1995 as presented. All Directors, aye, by voice vote. SO MOVED. CONSIDERATION AND POSSIBLE APPROVAL OF BILLS Director Maass moved that the bills presented for consideration be approved for payment, seconded by Director Hemig. All Directors, aye, by voice vote. SO MOVED. . CORRESPONDENCE There was no correspondence discussed by the Board. MONTHLY STAFF REPORTS Complete copies of the staff reports are attached to these minutes for reference. LAFCo Sphere of Influence Representatives of TDPUD, TSD, TFPD, TDR&PD and the Town met with SR Jones, Executive Director of Nevada County LAFCo to discuss their request that the District update its sphere of influence map and master service elements. it was learned at the meeting that LAFCo expects each District to be a land-use planner and to adopt sphere of influence maps that contain five, ten, fifteen and twenty year development projections. They also want the Districts to consider denying service to a developer who proposes to build in the ten year zone during the first five years, even if the Town or County has approved the project. Counsel was directed to review the laws that govern LAFCo and to determine whether it is possible for the District to withdraw. This will be discussed at a workshop meeting. • in the future, perhaps the special district representatives to LAFCo from Truckee will be invited to attend a PUD Board meeting. 5115195 Page 4 . Mountain Area Preservation Foundation The MAPF expressed concern that the Gateway tank will be highly visible from Highway 89 and encouraged the District to do more tree planting and to choose a color that will help the tank disappear into its surroundings. It was noted that they missed the opportunity to comment at the public hearing concerning the matter' they will be placed on the Board meeting agenda mailing list. WORKSHOP Review and discussion of the draft 1994 audit of the District's financial statements Rick Blumenfeld and Pat Mathieson from Arthur Andersen attended the meeting and presented the draft 1994 audit report. Mr. Blumenfeld stated that the audit report contains a clean opinion letter, which means that in the opinion of Arthur Andersen, the financial reports fairly represent the condition of the District as of December 31, 1994. There was considerable discussion of the form of presentation of information in the report and of the significance of the information Review and discussion of a draft policy authorizing financing of customer efficiency projects • Scott Terrell presented to the Board a draft policy establishing a loan program to support customer efforts to install energy efficiency programs. Several questions were raised that need to be researched by staff and reported back to the Board. Following is a list of the questions raised: What are the specific criteria for approving the loans? Would there be a loan committee? How do we define the interest rate? Will we be in competition with local banks? Will the program require more staff? is the program designed for only the ground source heat pump program? What is the maximum loan amount? Will energy efficiency lead to a reduction in sales of electricity? Should we have a rebate program rather than a loan program? Will there be income or age of house criteria? Staff was asked to provide the Board with additional research for consideration at a future meeting. CLOSED SESSION There was no closed session. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at— PM. TRUC EE DONNER PUBLIC UTILITY DISTRICT • Robert A. J&0*, President 5115195 Page 5 Prepared by • Susan M. Craig, Deputy District Clerk U SmC 5115195 Page 6