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HomeMy WebLinkAbout18 Your Local Community Partner WorkshopAgenda Item #18 To: From: Date: Subject: Board of Directors Steven Poncelet September 05, 2018 Your Local Community Partner WORKSHOP 1. WHY THIS MATTER IS BEFORE THE BOARD This Board item, Your Community Partner, is the eighth and final in a series of Board workshops concerning how the District communicates and serves its customers and community. 2. HISTORY The Mission of the Truckee Donner Public Utility District is to provide reliable, high quality water and electrical power services while meeting customer demand, and to manage District resources in a safe, open, responsible, environmentally sound manner at the lowest practical cost. To achieve this mission, the District operates an electric and water utility along with the necessary supporting departments and programs. It is imperative, given the complexity of the energy and water sectors, that the District communicate effectively with its customers and community in order to educate them on the value of public power and water and to engage customers to participate in the many programs and services that we offer. These communication and outreach efforts, along with the associated programs and services, fall into well known themes that communicate the essence of the District's efforts to serve its customers and community. The District's current key themes include: The Best Water Right From Your Tap (9/6/17); Save Energy, Water, Money and Live More Comfortably (10/4/17); The Facts of Mountain Living (11/1/17); Your Public-Owned Local Electric and Water Utility (12/6/17); Clean, Reliable, and Affordable Electric Services (5/6/18); Truckee is EV Friendly (6/6/18); Your Online SmartHub Account (7/18/18); and Your Local Community Partner (tonight). 3. NEW INFORMATION Your Local Community Partner: This theme is really about everything that the District does to achieve it's mission. It is also a part of every theme that we have presented in this series of Board workshops especially Your-Public-Owned Local Electric and Water Utility. The District is key part of local government answerable directly to the rate payers. The District's electric and water utilities are governed by an elected Board who come from the community and who understand the needs of the District's rate payers. Your Local Community Partner permeates throughout the other themes as well. The Best Water Right From Your Tap speaks to the value of our water resources, the District's obligation to protect and manage water quality, and promoting water conservation. Clean, Reliable, and Affordable Electric Services speaks to the District's 'three legged stool' used to communicate the need to balance rates, renewables, and reliability. Save Energy, Water, Money and Live More Comfortably is a theme embraced by many of our customers and the District's energy and water conservation programs have put tens of millions of dollars into customer's pockets. Your Online SmartHub Account is about customer engagement and how we serve customer needs while Truckee is EV Friendly and The Facts of Mountain Living are emerging themes. One key component of the District's ability to perform at a high level is to effectively communicate with our customers and community. Effective communication is accomplished when everyone in the District, from the Board to customer service to the crews in the field, becomes an ambassador for the District's mission. In addition to robust communications, both internally and externally, the District is active in the community participating in numerous annual events such as: Truckee Home Show (with Lean or Burn presentations); Big Truck Day; Neighborhood Block Party; Truckee Thursdays; Truckee Day; Truckee High School Trashion Shows; and Truckee Farmers Market. The District is also active with the many local public, non-profit, and private partners that serve our community and seeks to find opportunities to leverage resources and collaborate to address common goals. For example, the District is an active participant in the local Mountain Housing Council which is working on solutions to the housing crisis impacting all employers in the region. The District is also a large landowner in and around Truckee and works hard to steward these natural resources and maximize their benefit to its rate payers and, where possible, the overall community. The District's support of a Truckee River Watershed Council wetlands restoration project that included a portion of a District parcel near the Rodeo Grounds along with trails easements that the District has granted to the Town of Truckee for the Brockway Trail and Trout Creek Trail are recent examples. Your Local Community Partner embodies what the District does to achieve it's mission Steven Poncelet Michael D. Holley Public Information & Strategic Affairs Director General Manager Your Local Community Partner embodies what the District does to achieve it's mission and help make Truckee a great place to visit, live, work, and raise a family. 4. FISCAL IMPACT There is no fiscal impact associated with this workshop item. 5. RECOMMENDATION Provide input to staff.