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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-04-19 Min - Board REGULAR MEETING April 19, 2006 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 7:02 PM in the TDPUD Board room by President Hemig. ROLL CALL: Directors Joe Aguera, Ron Hemig, Patricia Sutton, Tim Taylor and Bill Thomason were present. EMPLOYEES PRESENT: Neil Kaufman, Alan Harry, Mary Chapman, Kathy Neus, Kim Szczurek, Peter Holzmeister, Neil Kaufman and Barbara Cahill CONSULTANTS PRESENT: Keith Knibb and Keith Grand OTHERS PRESENT: Frank and Juanita Schneider, Pat Waite, Christine Stanley, Pat Davison, Lin Zurconi, Ellie Hyatt, Don Hyatt, Ann Penfield, Joel Erickson, Rick Momii, Mardie Peterson, Michael Sofnel, Dave Klabundf, and two other members of the public. PUBLIC INPUT Ellie Hyatt distributed to the Board an internet web page from the Heartland Institute about municipally owned broadband networks. She said they are a non profit organization and do not take money from cable companies to do their research. CONSENT CALENDAR CONSIDERATION OF A CONTRACT WITH SAUERS ENGINEERING TO PERFORM SERVICES RELATED TO INITIATION OF ANNEXATION OF PLACER COUNTY PARCELS AT DONNER LAKE Director Sutton moved and Director Aguera seconded, a motion to adopt the consent calendar as pre- sented. ROLL CALL: All Directors, aye. SO MOVED. ACTION ITEMS CONSIDERATION OF RENEWING THE DISTRICT'S GENERAL LIABILITY INSURANCE PACKAGE Director Aguera moved and Director Taylor seconded, a motion to approve the property and liability insurance policies for the 5/1/06 through 4/30/07 period as presented in the amount of $334,575.00 with an amendment for the cost of a treasurers bond. ROLL CALL: All Directors, aye. SO MOVED. CONSIDERATION OF BIDS RECEIVED AND POSSIBLE AWARD OF A CONTRACT FOR CON- STRUCTION OF THE DISTRICT PIPELINE REPLACEMENT PROJECT(TAHOE DONNER) -2006 No action taken. Item will be addressed at the next regular board meeting after additional review of wa- ter department finances. CONSIDERATION OF A STATUS REPORT REGARDING THE POSSIBLE ISSUANCE OF WATER SYSTEM DEBT 1 Minutes: April 19, 2006 No action taken. Item will be addressed at the next regular board meeting when there is a completed report and conclusions incorporating the funding needed for the District Pipeline Replacement project. CONSIDERATION OF A PROPOSAL TO CONDUCT A CUSTOMER SURVEY RELATED TO BROADBAND USE No action taken. Board was not satisfied with reviewing a single proposal and asked staff to solicit additional proposals for Board review. CONSIDERATION OF A REPORT ON AVAILABILITY OF LITIGATION INSURANCE RELATED TO DEPLOYMENT OF BROADBAND, POSSIBLE ACTION No action taken. Item will be addressed at the next regular board meeting. CONSIDERATION OF A REPORT ON POSSIBLE DEPLOYMENT OF PHASE 1 OF THE BROAD- BAND BUSINESS PLAN. No action taken. CONSIDERATION OF THE SALE OF DISTRICT OWNED LAND AT HILLTOP, POSSIBLE APPOINTMENT OF A NEGOTIATOR AND DETERMINATION OF THE METHOD OF SALE. Director Thomason moved and Director Taylor seconded, a motion to appoint the General Manager as negotiator and Ron Hemig to assist on the sale of district owned parcels south of Hilltop, APN's 19-300-16 and 19-300-17; and staff to come back with an offer for the board to take action. ROLL CALL: All Directors, aye. SO MOVED. ROUTINE ITEMS TREASURER'S REPORT Approval of the December 2005 final report Director Thomason asked this item be delayed until after the auditors report. STAFF REPORTS No action taken. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 9:53 PM. TRUCKEE D NER PUBL UTILITY DISTRICT J. Hemig, Pre dent Prepared by 4 GA `W (e Barbara Cahill, Deputy District Clerk L., bhc 2 Minutes: April 19, 2006 Agenda Item # 13 e' TRUCKEE DONNER Public r Staff Report To: Board of Directors From: Peter Holzmeister Date: April 14, 2006 Subject: General Manager monthly report Personnel: During the past month I have participated in interviews to fill the vacant Senior Accountant position. We are hoping to employ a person with the skills to help upgrade our managerial reporting system and improve our long- term financial planning. Also during the month I have dealt with two continuing disputes with the union, one regarding the District's promotional process and the second dealing'with ,,.. allocation of work among union and professional staff. During the past month we completed MOU negotiations. We will now spend time working with the consultant and the union in conducting the compensation survey. I met with the General Manager of the other Truckee public agencies and learned that we are all dealing with employee compensation matters because of the rapid changes occurring in Truckee. Financing for new water debt: Mary Chapman and I have spent considerable time working with the financial analyst in water debt issues. One issue that always comes up when we talk with representatives of the financial market is the need to improve the District's cash reserves in order to secure an A rating or better. This is a matter that will come before the Board very quickly Broadband: Alan Harry and I have been working with District staff to evaluate a Phase 1 broadband build focusing on essential public sector services. At the very beginning of this evaluation it appears there is a small deployment that can provide significant services to our District and other public agencies. We will work on this issue quickly so we can report back to the board quickly. Public outreach: I am working with Scott Terrell to prepare a newsletter based on the public outreach program recently approved by the Board. I have drafted several newsletter articles. Other staff members have been assigned the task of preparing other articles. Our goal is to get a newsletter into the billing envelopes during May. Agenda Item # DONNER - Staff Report To: Board of Directors From: Stephen Hollabaugh Date: April 14, 2006 00000, For the month of: April 2006 ASSISTANT GENERAL MANAGER, ELECTRIC UTILITY MANAGER POWER SUPPLY ENGINEER— Updated by Stephen Hollabaugh WAPA (Western Area Power Administration): I have made good progress with WAPA concerning having the Stampede Generation delivered to Truckee verses having the benefit go to Sierra Pacific. This generation will be a great asset to our power supply portfolio. Stay tuned to future updates. MOU Negotiations: I have worked on the MOU negotiations during March and April. The District and Union have agreed a one year MOU. After the compensation study is completed in 2006, we will have another MOU negotiation for a time period of 2007 forward. NCPA: I attended a NCPA Utility Directors meeting March 9th. A number of issues are being brought up in the legislature that may have impacts on Local Control of public power systems. I will follow up on some of these items and see how they might affect the District. NWPPA E&O Conference: I will be attending the 2006 NWPPA E&O conference the last week of April. Power Supply: The month of March and beginning of April have been very wet and cold. Our load has been up compared to the forecast by about 5% year-to-date due to the weather and temperatures in Truckee. I have been able to meet our load needs with our Constellation contract and buying a small amount of energy from the market at good prices. This helps in two ways. Our load is up and we are able to buy more energy at a lower price than our Constellation contract. Our WAPA contract has been performing well due to the water releases. I have been able to use this kWh value to buy power from the market to meet our customers load needs. Page 1 of 4 ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING - Updated by Joe Horvath 4112106 I have been working on and supervising the electrical line extension designs for numerous developments projects. In addition, I have been preparing a design to extend a three phase overhead circuit to the Prosser Lakeview area from Sugar Pine Estates via Alder Creek Drive. The Alder Creek Road right-of-way is on land owned by the USDA Forest Service. I prepared an easement application and submitted it to the Forest Service for their review. I continue to prepare and modify electrical construction standard drawings and construction standard units (CUs) for job cost estimating and material staging requirements. In addition, have been modifying the electric SCADA system to incorporate new features and connect to new hardware in District substations. ELECTRIC OPERATIONS & CONSTRUCTION — Updated by Jim Wilson 04114106 Electric Outages: During the month of March we had an outage on the circuit that handles the Donner Pass Rd. area from the round about to Armstrong tract. The cause was a burnt connection in a pad mounted switch behind Bank of the West in the Safeway shopping center. We were able to isolate the problem and restore power to the customers. On the last Saturday in March power was lost to our customers along west river and Deerfield Dr. the cause turned out to be at a transformer that was pushed off it's pad by a loader plowing snow. Work in Progress: Building B at The Rock on Brockway was powered up, phase 1 of Donner Crest subdivision the main feeders were installed and energized, as well all transformers were set for phases 1 &2, and the primary feeders to the transformers were pulled. Most of the transformers for Grey's Crossing phase 2 were installed, and the new service for Park and Rec. at Regional Park was powered up. Vacant Positions: The District still has three journeyman lineman positions open. We are continuing our search for journeyman linemen in an attempt to fill the three open positions. Page 2 of 4 r GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS - Updated by Ian Fitzgerald Due to the inability to compromise on a Work Order Management solution, and the reoccurring need by the electrical departments engineer, planner, and supervisor to track the progress, costs, labor, and documents of electrical projects from conception to completion, an internally designed, developed, and coded software product was released into production earlier this month to accomplish these needs. Named "TDPUD Project Manager" users of the product can find any active electric project by name, current responsible party, or project stage, and then after selection, all relevant and pertinent information related to that project. As time progresses and this product becomes a mainstream tool in project tracking, communication between staff, as well as individual knowledge of each and every electrical project should see vast improvements. , iorw rnawa..rr.•I�rwrs r.u.N.i�3 -- GRAYS CROSSING PHASE 3 'Norir 0,*1er t.tvs 'a"-nr h All CT x-n i°ra'Yas .'<f;ft,K l;i;(,)f q �:tir?ai:fi '-1,tJ? 1 i<- 4u?st n Deson _._ f 4 PAR>;l N I _ D—iyo 5i,eiuti eeneet esa}r� w C' Sean.4r t) g"f'",ejet.,lay tJscb' ., A ,—n117.vaWr {a5rn"Vt it i7rsi"}1r� -1 ARlDAIF worst order in C111M1 Nis `r 'Id Yc=t,(Cs;IV WO`r,a qyDesign ,CxsbaTtn!—�.>en��..ane,:.firs f Wtes(:.aM:3er C+r.csu I NW tFaraer�a>�ceeo+ti >1 J4 Lil'r't R'7AMt. At(.00fil i"I0MW R Grays Station,LLC if'14)ACI i'HOW (530)550-2709 oMACT t AX (530)587-7905 Cf NIAC;'*Atil.E ONIM 7 f MAH EWOPARTNERS.COM `F'It I Ri I's Tared Northon,Construction Manager P.O.Box 2537 tr TRUCKEE ± 11 CA 11' 96160 TDPUD Project Manager Page 3 of 4 GIS software upgrades have been completed on our Design Software, and Outage Management Software. The newest features for the Outage Management software include a more compact, sleeker interface for customer call intake. More information is both available to our customer service through this interface, as well as giving the ability to provide more information to our dispatchers. a='. FMttittN oocwn�t-t9krvwlt tnt.n..tc=off«' .j -:. Back 23.'£S? fat Jt•'23 _ - s "°- - -- - 3V!ess 50 _'ks Home r Documentation NAVIGA1CA S TO Responder Enter outage and callback information. _= Clasiomer -. .. . Front PoW D TRUCKEE DONNER PU 11670 DONNER PASS ROAD TRUCKEE,CA 96161 1 raunt 509999924 CaN Center ler 76702694 Cu outa{fe Information i us;omer Callback Standards TroutieT,ye. 'lo Power e,rs_xA -�uesleo Hazxd Designs <%ore> �._._ _ 71 3se <Unxrowr> Sutmd i I I Outage CaY Intake The GIS department continues to keep extremely busy, not only with new release of software and software upgrades as described above, but also with mapping and maintaining our asset database caused by electrical designing, parcel changes, water replacements and new development, new customers and meters, as-built field GPS collection, and continual quality control of the data to ensure applications like our outage management run successfully. Page 4 of 4 Agenda Item # DistrictPublic Utility Staff Report To: Board of Directors From: Ed Taylor Date: April 12, 2006 Subject: Water Department Monthly Staff Report Water Department Capital Projects — Office Engineering CAPITAL— DISTRICT PROJECTS • District Pipeline Replacement — 2006 — The CEQA process was completed on April 5, with the approval of a mitigated negative declaration. The Board authorized advertising for Bids on March 15. The Bid Openings are scheduled for April 13. A recommendation for award will be presented at the April 19 meeting. The current project schedule is given below: January 18, 2006—Begin CEQA preparation March 1,2006—Board Approval of CEQA Initial Study March 15, 2006—Public Hearing on CEQA Initial Study March 15, 2006—Board Authorization to Begin Advertising for Bids April 5, 2006—Adoption of Final CEQA Document April 13, 2006—Bid Opening April 19, 2006—Award of Contract May 1, 2006—Begin Construction • District Pipeline Replacement — 2007 — I have begun examining the planned pipeline replacement work for 2007. It is expected that some work will be in Tahoe Donner, with other portions in Sierra Meadows, Glenshire and possibly Prosser Lakeview. The GIS budget for 2006 includes LIDAR mapping of the entire District. Completion of this mapping will provide a single topographic map that covers the entire service area and will greatly aid in the future production of design drawings. Water Department Capital Projects—Construction Inspection Mark Harrigan will be temporarily upgraded to the position of Inspector for Pipeline Construction on April 17. He will function in this position until the Fall of 2006. t INSTALLATION OF GENERATORS— The 2006 Water Department Budget calls for emergency power supplies at the hydropneumatic pump stations. Specifications are being developed for the bid of the purchase of the generators. CAPITAL PROJECTS — DEVELOPMENT OLD GREENWOOD WELL • Brockway Road Transmission Pipeline—The Bid Opening was held on March 29. On April 5, the Board awarded the project to Vulcan Construction. The Board also awarded a contract to Inland Ecosystems for construction phase environmental monitoring. A pre-construction meeting has been scheduled for April 20. The current project schedule is given below: January 4, 2006—Board Approval of CEQA Initial Study February 1, 2005—Public Hearing on CEQA Initial Study February 15,2006—Adoption of Final CEQA Document February 15, 2006—Board Authorization to Begin Advertising for Bids. March 29, 2006—Bid Opening April 5, 2006—Award of Contract May 1, 2006—Begin Construction Developer Projects—Office Engineering Mike Connell has spent time working on projects submitted by developers. As of April 10, the backlog is two projects. Current turn-around time is about 3-4 days. We are currently awaiting resubmittal on a number of projects. Developer Projects—Construction Inspection Paul Rose and Mike Connell will lead inspection of developer projects for 2006. Construction has not yet begun. Otherlssues On April 5, the Board awarded a contract for geotechnical testing services to Converse Consultants. A presentation was made regarding the water pipeline at the intersection of Brockway Road and Martis Valley Road at the at the April 5 Board meeting. I have reviewed the drawings for this project developed by Bickett Engineering. I will bring this issue back to the Board once bids have been opened. CAPITAL PROJECTS — DONNER LAKE • Donner Lake Paving — One of the remaining issues at Donner Lake involves pavement restoration of four streets: Cedar Point Drive, Devil's Peak Road, Mt. Judah Drive and Red Mountain Road. Per the encroachment permits issued by Placer County and The Town of Truckee, the District is responsible for a pavement overlay on these streets. Jessica is working on the Contract Documents for this project. The current project schedule is given below: May 17, 2006—Board Authorization to Begin Advertising for Bids June 14, 2006—Bid Opening June 21, 2006—Award of Contract July 10, 2006—Begin Construction 2 i �" • Donner Lake 6323 Tank Landscaping — Per the Encroachment Permit issued by the Town of Truckee, the District is responsible for some tree planting at landscaping at the Donner Lake 6323 Tank site. This work was not part of the contracts awarded (and completed) last year. Jessica is working on the Contract Documents for this project. The current project schedule is currently under development. Water Department - Operations & Maintenance The distribution crew did snow removal. The two employees on light duty returned to their normal duties at the end of the month. Time was also spent on one leak repair for the month. Due to the poor weather conditions, they were not able to get out and repair the leaks. Crews also spent time taking apart the old Donner Lake Intake and the Old Armstrong pump station. Some crew time was also spent on putting together the new trucks that were order last year. The trucks should be on the road by the end of April. As of April 11, 2006, we have 15 on going leaks. Once the weather clears, the leak crew will be back in action again. The Operations Crew continues to work on pump stations. At Red Mountain Pump station, the pumps are in and we are waiting on parts to hook them up. This pump station should be on line by the end of April. At the Ponderosa Palisades' Pump Station, the new motor is up and running. The second motor will be running by the end of April.The Operations crew also spent time with snow removal. Water Quality has been working on the backflow program, along with his weekly sampling program. 3 Agenda Item # lobUCKEE DONNER Public Utility District 11 Staff Report To: Board of Directors From: Scott Terrell Date: April 13, 2006 Note: Since most of these projects are ongoing, Staff continues to report the basic information and highlights the activities that have occurred during the reporting month. When a projectlactivity is completed it is reported,then deleted from this report. Conservation/DSM/Economic Development/Public Benefits Landscape Water Conservation Workshop Series 2005- There are no more workshops scheduled for 2005. Staff will be working with Trout Creek and the Villager next year. Staff attended the March 22 Water Conservation Showcase EXPO at PG&E's Pacific Energy Center in San Francisco March 22. A lot of great water conservation information and products were exhibited and staff brought back plenty of information on this. UNR Smart & Sustainable Living EXPO- Staff met for the last several months organizing a green building conference titled "Smart and Sustainable Living Exposition" that was held at UNR October 1, 2005. The Truckee Community was invited to this event through a TDPUD bill stuff er. The event went very well with about 300 in attendance. It looks like the success of this event will ensure that it becomes an annual event. Staff attended a meeting March 17 at the new UNR Redfield Campus to help plan the 2006 EXPO. Green Building Tour-This year's tour took place October 8 and included both Truckee as well as Lake Tahoe. This is a big event building upon last year's very successful event where the tour grew from about 50 people per year to over 75. The green building movement is growing which is creating more interest in the tour. Every year Staff works with Mayumi of Moonshine Ink to update the Green Building Resource Guide. The information is very helpful to our customers who want to learn more about GB measures. Planning for next year's tour will begin early this year. Green Building Assistance- Staff has been talking to several developers over their possible interest in incorporating green building measures into their subdivisions and other projects. So far I have talked to the developers of WinterCreek, Hilltop, DMB Highlands Group, Forest Service, Town of Truckee, Recreation & Parks District new Community Center, Park Service new Museum, new Sierra College campus planned for Truckee in 2008. The Sierra College Board approved making the campus a LEED Silver green building rated �— building and has asked staff to participate in the design process. Staff has now been asked to participate in the design of the Mill Site/Railroad Yard neighborhood project. Staff has been in touch with several of the green building project developers to stay in touch and help out anyway needed to advance the green elements of these projects. • Affordable Housing- I have offered to work with WHATT in Truckee to make their projects more affordable through energy and water management strategies. I have attended some affordable housing conferences and meetings including one with a green building emphasis. Staff has been in touch with most of the area developers regarding their plans to design and build affordable housing units. Staff is in touch with Rachelle Pellisier re:WHATT's proposed affordable housing plans. Public Benefits Program- TDPUD staff prepared a Public Benefit's report for TDPUD PB programs from 1998 through 2004 for NCPA in preparation for a report CMUA is presenting to the legislature. The purpose of the CMUA report is to show the legislature that CA's public utilities have been aggressively implementing their PB programs as compared to the picture the IOU's are painting about the publics. TDPUD Staff has processed about 460 Conservation Cash Rebate program applications to date. Schools Energy & Water Conservation Education Program- This program is designed to teach both energy and water conservation to 6th grade children and includes energy and water conservation measures the kids can install in their parent's homes. Sue Mock is responsible for teaching this program for the School District. Livingwise kits have been ordered and received for this School year. Staff gave two resource planning and efficiency presentations March 2. Ground Source Heat Pump Program- Staff is currently looking into new ideas on how to educate and promote this technology to our customers. Staff has been contacted by several developers, architects and building engineers, etc. due to their interest in possibly pursuing GSHPs for projects they will be building. Staff has been working with Meline Engineering to evaluate the potential for a GSHP system for the building. They have conducted two studies which look promising and staff has asked them to prepare a proposal to do the engineering and write specifications for the project. This project is on hold until funding is available for it. Fuel Cells- Steve H. and Staff attended a fuel cell presentation given at TDPUD June 15. Delmar Networks offered a turn-key 5 Kw fuel cell for $15,000 to demonstrate fuel cell use in Truckee. Staff is currently looking at the value of such a project and whether we have now or in the future an appropriate site and application for this demonstration. Del Mar Networks has provided us with a Buy and Try option of using and demonstrating the technology at our facility for 3 months without obligation. Staff hopes to bring this fuel cell to TDPUD. This project is on hold until funding is available for it. Energy Surveys/High Bill Assistance- Staff completed 0 commercial and 2 residential energy-use analyses and/or energy survey(s)this month. Staff also responded on-site to 2 residential "high" bill complaint(s). There are currently several customers Staff is working with to help them understand and control their energy costs. Staff fields many questions by phone. Communications/Public Relations/Education Newsletter- Staff with the assistance of Gilwee PR completed the current newsletter which went out in Spring. The articles in the newsletter included: TDPUD water system, customer service programs, energy and water conservation, green building activities, the Truckee biomass project and a welcome to the two new Board members. Staff is currently working on the Spring newsletter. Topics being considered for the newsletter are: Customer Service Programs, Mountain Water Service Costs More, Green Building &TDPUD Energy &Water Programs,Water System Pipeline Construction, Landscape Water Conservation. Community Event Marketing- Local organizations have been in contact with TDPUD staff regarding helping them publicize their 2006 activities. Bill stuffers planned for distribution this year include: Earth Day, Truckee Home and Building Show, Truckee Day, July 4 Beach Party, Nevada County Fair, Lake Tahoe Summer Music Festival, SBIC Green Building Seminar, Smart Living EXPO at UNR, Truckee River Day, Green Building Tour .. and a Power Content Label. Power Content Label- State law requires that all California public and private utilities supply their customers with a Power Content Label quarterly. The last PCL was mailed out Q1, 2006. 2 Water Bottle-The new TDPUD water bottle is getting a lot of attention. There have been requests for bottles to -�~ take to meetings and other events Staff has 2,000 TDPUD water bottles along with 2,000 labels to be applied to any water bottles being filled with pure, clean Truckee water. If you know of any groups or organizations that could benefit from the use of TDPUD water bottles please let staff know. Truckee Home& Building Show- Staff worked once again to help the Home Show staff organize another great event. Staff gave a green building presentation May 28, 3-5 p.m. at the Show to about 25 in attendance. The theme again for the Show this year was green building. Staff met with Pam Neff, Home Show organizer, to discuss bringing in more green building type businesses into the event. The next Home Show, May 27-28, may have a strong green building emphasis. Community/Statewide Involvement Town of Truckee Green Building Committee- Staff was appointed to the Town of Truckee Green Building Committee. Our last meeting was September 12. The Committee is currently working on several new projects including looking at voluntary guidelines and more educational activities and information for consumers and local building professionals. The Committee reported to Town Council activities to date and 2006 Workplan at the November 3 meeting. Staff attended the March 6 meeting.The next meeting is scheduled for April 3. Sierra Green Building Association- Staff participates in the Sierra Green Building Association in Truckee. The group educates and assists building professionals in their pursuit of building energy-efficient, economical and human and environmentally-sensitive buildings in the region. Many local building professionals are actively pursuing green building design. SiGBA organized a series of seminars and other events to assist consumers and building professionals last year including: SBIC Green Building Workshop August 23(went well with over 80 in attendance), Green Building Conference October 1 at UNR and the Truckee/Tahoe Green Building Home Tour. The Sigba Executive Committee meets monthly. Staff attended the March 14 meeting. Regional Sustainability Grant Proposal/Study- Staff met with a group of people in No. Nevada, Lake Tahoe and Truckee to put together a proposal that will bring in funding from the National AIA group in Washington DC to conduct a sustainable economic development study for this region. The group was recently notified that the National AIA awarded the grant/study to this region. Green Building & Economic Development- Staff gave a presentation to several City of Palo Alto Departments on Green Building September 19 while I was in the Bay area for another meeting. The City of Redding is interested in discussing this issue with Staff. This subject is gaining a lot of interest in the Truckee/Tahoe area as an economic development tool. California Municipal Utilities Association Energy Services, Marketing and Legislative Committees- Staff attended the CMUA meeting in Lompoc October 17, 18. Staff gave a presentation on green building at this meeting. Staff plans on attending the CMUA Energy Efficiency & Marketing Committee meeting in Riverside April 3, 4. NCPA Public Benefits Committee- Staff joined the newly formed NCPA public benefits committee to work with other NCPA member utilities to optimize benefits through collaboration. The group is put out an RFP to solicit bids from consultants to create a database of PB measures and their kW and kWh benefit. Bidders were interviewed in June and the contract is being awarded to KEMA Consulting. NCPA member utility energy services staff has had several meetings to move this project forward. The project will be complete by this Winter. This project will clarify to the CA legislature exactly how much money in being spent by each public utility on each specific area of the state-mandated public benefits program. A meeting is planned for March 30 in Lodi to train NCPA member users on this tool. CA Regional Water Authority- Staff began attending RWA Water Conservation Committee meetings in April, 2005. The committee is made up of water representatives of most of the water agencies in No. CA. The group 3 works together to optimize collaborative program benefits. TDPUD's involvement with this group is dependent on whether there are funds for our participation with them in 2006. Public Renewable Partnership(PRP)- Western Area Power Administration Staff formed a group called the Public Renewable Partnership made up of about 15-20 publically-owned electric utilities throughout the State. PRP applied and received $6,000,000 in grant funding from the California Energy Commission. The grant money included funding an assessment of whether a biomass plant could be built in the Tahoe-Truckee area that could provide a reliable supply of economical electric generation for any interested utility. The grant money also includes setting up a small-scale 15 kW biomass demonstration project. The Commissioning/Start-up and operator training took place the first week of November.The Biomax 15 unit became grid-tied and operating as of the last week in December. McNeil Technologies is submitting the Final Report on this pilot project early January and we will continue to collect data through 2006. A report on the feasibility of the larger scale(1-3 Megawatt) biomass project in Truckee is almost ready for Board review. Shau Mitchell with TDRPD and Staff has been invited to speak at the April 10 APPA Engineering & Technical Operation's Conference in Sacramento on the Truckee Biomass Project. BIG PAC- I met with a newly formed group of public agency councils(PAC) who are discussing ways to work together in their 20 plus local governments on green building issues and promotion. This group is currently working on Statewide voluntary Green Building Guidelines adapted from Alameda County Waste management Authority's GreenPoints GB guidelines. The Guidelines have been completed and are being disseminated to city and county entities throughout the state. Staff attended the March 21 BIG-PAC Committee meeting in Santa Rosa. Also attended a tour of the first LEED Certified building in the Santa Rosa area,the new Police headquarters. Utility Energy Forum Planning Committee- The May 4-6 UEF Conference was very successful. Planning meetings are currently taking place to plan the May 3-5 2006 UEF. Staff is in charge of the organizing the Forum's Green Building pre-conference workshop. US Green Building Association- TDPUD is a member of the USGBC. Staff attends the USGBC Annual conference at least every other year. Staff interacts with the San Fran USGBC Chapter as San Francisco activities certainly affect Truckee as many of Truckee's second homeowners are from the Bay area as well as those shopping for real estate in Truckee. 4