Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout20 2020-09-02 - minutesREGULAR MEETING MINUTES September 2, 2020 1. CALL TO ORDER The meeting of the Board of Directors of the Truckee Donner Public Utility District was called to order at 6:00 p.m. in the TDPUD Boardroom by President Bender. Disclaimer: Due to the COVID-19 situation and the California Governor's Executive Orders, this Board meeting was conducted with the Board via video/teleconferencing measures and live streamed on the District website. Public comment was opened using email and questions and answers on Zoom. 2. ROLL CALL Directors: Tony Laliotis, Joe Aguera, Bob Ellis, Vice President Crista Finn, and President Jeff Bender. Absent: EMPLOYEES PRESENT: Rem Scherzinger, Brian Wright, Joe Horvath, Shanna Kuhlemier, Ian Fitzgerald, Steven Poncelet, Mike Salmon, and Steve Moore. CONSULTANTS PRESENT — Steve Gross, District Counsel. Pam Hobday, Pamela Hurt As- sociates, Shawn Koorn, HDR Inc. 3. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE — defer. 4. CHANGES TO THE AGENDA — none. 5. PUBLIC INPUT President Bender called for public comment. District Clerk Kuhlemier — None President Bender closed public comment. 6. DIRECTOR UPDATE Vice President Finn: • Busy few weeks, attended UAMPS virtual conference, Special Districts West Seminar, Mineral Tour of Tahoe Truckee Sanitation Agency. Consistent theme between each was the importance of communication both internally and externally. President Bender: • Met with other agency heads and had excellent communication, along with General Manager Scherzinger. Looking forward to collaborating with other agencies and growing those relationships. GENERAL MANAGER / CEO UPDATE 7. General Manager/CEO Rem Scherzinger gave updates regarding: • TDPUD customer current energy and water usage o TDPUD provided our community with 71 % renewable electricity in July. On the water side water use increased 7.01 million gallons compared to August 2019. • TDPUD Power Outage update: We experienced a number of outages with varying causes (3 wildlife related and 1 due to transmission supplier outage). As a result we are investigating our single shot process and looking to improve notification processes/ • Customer survey and results. • Financial update and past due • Provided updates on District initiatives including; Covid Response, Groundwater and Energy Committees, Strategic Planning, Renewable Energy and Greenhouse Gas, Broadband, AB 6, & CEC Rule making • Provided updates on current projects including; Capital Improvements, Grays Crossing CFD refinancing, 2021 Water Rates, Water MTU Replacements, Tank Site Piping Mod- ification, Redhill Tank, Northwoods Main Line Circuit Rebuild, Pole Replacements, Cur- rent Limiting Fuse Replacement, Truckee Substation Control House, and finally the Coldstream Development. • Transmission Supplier Planned Outage — September 8-12. District staff has secured power supply through CAISO to maintain power during this planned outage. However, if PG&E proceeds with a PSPS the District will be subject to that PSPS. District staff is reaching out to NVE to try and postpone work until after fire season CONSENT CALENDAR 8. Appoint Treasurer and Assistant Treasurer for the District Board affirmed Michael Salmon as Treasurer and appointed Melanie Rives, Finance and Accounting Manager as Assistant Treasurer. 9. CPS Human Resources Consulting Contract Amendment Authorize the General Manager to execute a contract amendment with CPS HR Con- sulting to increase the contract an additional $30,000 through October 31, 2020, for a not to exceed amount of $92,000. 10.Annual Community Facilities District Foreclosures in Grays Crossing and Old Greenwood 1. Adopt foreclosure Resolution 2020-22 authorizing staff and special counsel to pro- ceed with the foreclosure process on all parcels with delinquent assessments within the CFDs as required by Bond covenant; and 2. Authorize the General Manager to execute a contract for legal services with Stradling, Yocca, Carlson, & Rauth for their work relating to the foreclosure on delin- quent parcels. President Bender called for public comment. Seeing none, closed public comment. Director Ellis moved, and Director Finn seconded, that the Board approve the Consent Calen- dar. The motions passed unanimously (5-0), by a roll call vote. President Bender recused from item 10 of the consent calendar due to financial interest in Gray's Crossing. ACTION ITEM(S) 11. Approval of Reallocation of electricity purchase funds: Amendment to the Tree Trimming Contract with Wright Tree Service 1. Authorize the General Manager to execute an amendment, and all necessary documents, to the Tree Trimming Contract with Wright Tree Service as follows: 2. Transfer an additional $500k to electric capital reserves. The above will increase the contract amount for FY20 from $1,000,000 to an amount not to exceed $1,500,000. Joe Horvath provided a presentation (available upon request). Board Comments: • Well overdue, excited that we're in the financial position to make this work without im- pacting rates. • Requested we: o Consider and weigh the cost of undergrounding of electricity versus the increas- ing price of tree trimming. o Determine if there are Federal Funds to help us cover the cost of undergrounding power. General Manager Scherzinger stated: • Agreed with the Board, we need to consider undergrounding of electric lines while do- ing other projects where we can realize some economy of scale. President Bender called for public comment. Seeing none, closed public comment. Director Laliotis moved, and Director Ellis seconded, that the Board approve the staff recom- mendation. The motion passed unanimously (5-0), by a roll call vote. 12. Approve an Amendment to the 2020 Traffic Control Services Contract with Traffic Manage- ment Inc. Authorize the General Manager to execute an amendment, and all necessary documents, with Traffic Management Inc. increasing the contract amount for FY20 from $225,000 to $425,000. Steve Moore provided a presentation (available upon request). Board Comments: • Confirmed with staff that this is an estimated need, there is a chance the final cost could be less • Stated this is a necessity to ensure crew safety President Bender called for public comment. Seeing none, closed public comment. Director Laliotis moved, and Vice President Finn seconded, that the Board approve the staff recommendation. The motion passed unanimously (5-0), by a roll call vote. 13. Revising District Values The Board of Director's Adopt Resolution 2020-21, revising the District's values. Shanna Kuhlemier provided a presentation (available upon request). Board Comments: Very thoughtful and well presented. Appreciation for Rem and Pam getting staff input and engagement in the process. Confirmed we will replace signs in addition to updating the resolution. General Manager Scherzinger stated: • Pointed out the need to amend the verbiage under "Integrity" to read be "...honesty and ethics as out base principles". Shared his appreciation of staff bringing the request to amend District Values to his at- tention. Is glad that we are able to take action so quickly. Applauds staff for bringing this topic to the table. President Bender called for public comment. Seeing none, closed public comment. Vice President Finn moved, and Director Aguera seconded, that the Board approve the staff recommendation including an amendment under "Integrity" to read be "...honesty and ethics as out base principles". The motion passed unanimously (5-0), by a roll call vote. 14. Pamela Hurt Associates Contract for Strategic Planning Authorize the General Manager to execute a contract, and all necessary docu- ments, with Pamela Hurt Associates for strategic planning. Pam Hobday and Rem Scherzinger provided a presentation (available upon request). Board Comments: • Glad to see we are working on strategic plans, stated we are heading in the right direc- tion. • Also expressed they were glad to see we are focused on community involvement. • Concerns over any potential overlap with the work that Town of Truckee and other agen- cies are, or should be, doing. Asked that we be mindful of their work and not stepping into, or spending funds on, things that are in other agencies area of expertise. General Manager Scherzinger stated: • Agreed we need to find synergies with other agencies in our strategic planning. We need to support and work with other agencies to find mutual benefits in our roles and activities. President Bender called for public comment. Public Comment received via email, District Clerk read it to the Board: This strategic plan is excessive in cost at $127,000. Per Ms. Hobday, the District spent weeks and weeks on culture and her fees were upwards of $265,000. With this contract, it is a a total of $392,000 for Ms. Hobday's consulting services in the past 2 years. The staff has several MBAs on staff, use the expertise we already have on staff. The prior agenda item changed the priority of the culture because they did not listen to the employee first. Why are we paying so much money for it to be changed since it wasn't done correctly in the first place. It is a simple process that is being made complicated in order to go through the process to come right back to the Mission Statement. Keep it simple, keep the District small and be careful about spending too much money on a process that should be a fraction of the cost. Respectfully submitted, Kim Harris Board Discussion in regard to public comment: • Multiple Board of Directors stated they received a similar phone call from community member Becky Mazzer • Concluded that there are real dollars that can be attributed to the savings we have al- ready realized in the 7 weeks since General Manager Scherzinger hire. This contract is a small cost in comparison to the savings we will realize from a strategic plan. We cannot forget to weigh the cost/benefit ratio. • Reminded everyone that it is important keep in mind our last contract with Pamela Hurt Associates came in on time and under budget, meeting all goals and objectives. • The Board agreed the District does have professionals on staff and they could throw together a plan and say we did it, but that is not what the Board wants and is not what the community needs. The Board desired the District to be the best, we need to strive to be the best in completing this strategic plan. We need to allow our staff to focus on their jobs of running the utility and the services the community needs. • Pamela Hurt Associates is the expert in this field. Vice President Finn moved, and President Bender seconded, that the Board approve the staff recommendation. The motion passed unanimously (5-0), by a roll call vote. WORKSHOP(S) 15. Mid -Year Financial Update - 2020 Receive and file the 2020 mid -year financial update. Mike Salmon provided a workshop presentation (available upon request). President Bender called for public comment. Seeing none, closed public comment Board Comments: • Good report, glad to have the data and information. • Excellent summary, appreciate the hard work. 16. Water Utility Rate Study - 2020 Provide direction on the water rate study. Brian Wright provided a workshop presentation (available upon request). President Bender called for public comment. Seeing none, closed public comment. Board Comments: • The Board is in agreement that scenario 1 is not an acceptable approach. Consensus is that we need to be somewhere between scenario 2 and 3. • Requested that staff bring back alternate options that will allow the District to address more of the capital improvement plans without the steep increases that scenario 3 pre- sents. • Pointed out that the 1st year increase in scenario 3 is roughly $10 per month. In compar- ison to other water providers in the area the District is substantially lower in cost. General Manager Scherzinger stated: • Believes that it would be problematic to implement double digit increases, would like to see if we can front load the increase and then carry moment into years 3-5. • In next meeting staff will bring a staff recommendation to the Board. ROUTINE BUSINESS 17.Treasurer's Report: August 2020 a) Approval of the Treasurer's report of fund balances for the Month Ended June 30, 2020. b) Approval of disbursements for July 31, 2020. President Bender called for public comment, seeing none. Director Laliotis moved, and Director Ellis seconded, that the Board approve the staff recom- mendation. The motion passed unanimously (5-0), by a roll call vote. 18.Approval of the Minutes of August 5, 2020. President Bender called for public comment, seeing none. Director Ellis moved, and Vice President Finn seconded, that the Board approve the staff rec- ommendation. The motion passed unanimously (5-0), by a roll call vote. ADJOURNMENT - 9:59 p.m. There being no further business before the Board, the meeting was adjourned to the next reg- ularly scheduled meeting of the Truckee Donner Public Utility District on October 7, 2020 at 6:00 p.m. TRUCKEE DONNER PUBLIC UTILITY DISTRICT President Bender Respectfully Submitted, Shanna D. Kuhlemier, CMC, District Clerk