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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2000-04-19 Agenda Packet - Board (14) TRUCKEE DONNER DistrictPublic Utility Monthly Activity Report To: Board of Directors From: Peter L. Holzmeister, General Manager Date: 04/14/00 My work involves a variety of matters, but the items that take most of my time are as follows: Governance: I met with Bob Rauch, Oz Butterfield, Mike Terwilliger and Steve Randall to discuss strategy for addressing the governance issue at LAFCo. It was the first of several meetings that we need to have. We discussed strategies for dealing with LAFCo's intent to request proposals for a preliminary study. The RFP is seriously biased in favor of reorganization, but it appears virtually certain that LAFCo will consider proceeding with the study. The strategy we decided upon was to get information into the hands of Town Council members regarding the bias and regarding the Local Study.We also need to prepare brief summaries of the Local Governance Study for distribution in the community. It was also agreed that we should consult with an attorney regarding the LAFCo process and timeline so we know when various decisions will be made that we need to influence. We think that the committee of general managers needs to be expanded to include one member from the Board of Directors of each agency. The committee will meet regularly, and I have been asked to chair it for now.We will need to meet again after the April 20 LAFCo meeting. Telecommunications: I have spent time on the telecommunications issue. We are receiving input from many sources, the overwhelming majority of it positive. We are receiving negative comments from Paul Kline and Paul Duggan. This item will not be back on the board agenda until after the LAFCo decision unless something unanticipated happens in the interim. Acquisition of Steele property: I am continuing to work on acquisition of the Steele property. The more we discuss it at the staff level, the more opportunities we discover. We are now diligently investigating any limitations on use of the property before we consummate the deal. CMUA conference: I attended the CMUA conference in Monterey. The agenda was less meaty than in the recent past, maybe because the deregulation scare of the recent past is now under control. There were a few matters discussed having particular relevance to TDPUD. A few speakers spoke about the movement of public agencies into telecommunications and offered suggestions that we need to consider. One suggestion was to prepare a clear statement of the values or principles •Page 1 that guide our entry into telecommunications.We will work on a draft of such a statement and submit it to the board for discussion. Union: I continue to meet with IBEW and the employee committee to negotiate a new Memorandum of Understanding on wages, benefits and terms and conditions of employment. We are discussing difficult issues, although we are doing so in a positive and constructive manner. We hope to reach agreement on a package within the next two months. Management group meetings: I continue to conduct planning meetings each Monday morning with the management group. All employee meeting: I continue to conduct all-employee meetings, usually on the third Wednesday of each month.We miss a few here and there, especially during our busiest months. We are considering moving them to Fridays so we clash less with the schedules of the line and water crews. The employees are particularly interested in the telecommunication issues. 9 Page 2 TDPUD STAFF REPORT TO. Board of Directors FROM. Alan Harry, Director of Telecommunications Services SUBJECT Staff Activity Report, March 2000 DATE. April 14, 2000 AGENDA #45 During the month of March '00 1 focused my attention on eight related areas: 1. Lease of District owned conduit 2. Broadband Technology education 3. Upgrading the District Web Site 4. Clarification of District's authority to provide Broadband Services 5. District "Pole Attachment" agreements 6. Legal Action - USA Media 7. Pole ownership 8. CMUA Telecommunications meeting Sierra Pacific Communications, a division of Sierra Pacific Resources, contacted the District regarding their interest in leasing/trading/purchasing District owned conduit recently acquired through our relationship with Williams Communication. At that time Sierra Pacific Communications was looking to purchase conduit space from Williams Communications from Reno, Nevada, to Sacramento, California. Williams representatives directed Sierra Pacific Communications to me in that they do not have available conduit space within District boundaries. Following our initial meeting Sierra Pacific Communications have slowed their efforts, possibly due to PUCN's denial of a recent Sierra Pacific Power rate increase request. In that the sale/lease or trade of empty District conduit may be lucrative to the District, I will continue to follow-up on this and any future interests. In order to ensure that misconceptions regarding the District's proposed telecomm / broadband plan are put to rest in a timely fashion, staff continues to speak to District customers, local businesses & service groups regarding the concept of providing broadband/telecommunication services within the Truckee Community. As part of the District's customer education program, I have undertaken a revamping of the District's existing Internet Web Site. The focus of this is to provide District Staff the ability to add, change, and delete information included on the site without contacting a Web Page Developer. It is my intention to use this site as the center of the District's customer education program. Susan Craig and I have met with the individuals who designed our current Web Site to discuss our vision, and intended uses. As we move further on this project I will provide you with greater detail of our intended changes. The District recently received a legal opinion from USA Media stating that Public Utility District's can not provide cable television services without first obtaining the legal authority to do so by the California State Legislature. I have worked with District Counsel Steve Gross to prepare an Opinion that provides answers to each of the issues raised by USA Media, and definitively shows that Public Utility District's have the legal authority to provide cable television and other broadband services under local, state and federal law. Once again, while researching this issue we found that throughout the Country incumbent cable television operators, like USA Media, are attempting to stop the implementation of Broadband Services by Public Agencies by using any and all methods available to them. A revised pole attachment agreement has been developed and is currently undergoing final review by District Counsel, Electric and Telecommunications staff. It is expected that a final version will be brought before the Board prior to the end of the second quarter. Litigation continues between the District and USA Media. Reports shall continue to be brought to the Board during closed sessions as our cases move forward. I continue to keep in contact with Pacific Bell representatives so as to maintain discussions regarding pole ownership. Responses have been very positive, with Pacific Bell staff agreeing that if District power is on the pole that the poles primary ownership is with the District. As additional information is available I will include it in my monthly Activity Report to the Board. On March 13th I had the opportunity to attend a CMUA Telecommunications meeting, held in Alameda, California. The focus of this meeting was the implementation of Broadband Services by Alameda's Electric Department. As you are aware, the City of Alameda has recently entered into a contract with SIGCorp. Communications for the design, construction and operation of a Metropolitan Area Network for the provision of voice, Internet, business-to-business data transmission & cable television services. This undertaking is primarily due to the City's belief that telecommunication services are a tool to increase revenue, and provide economic development opportunities to a community. The presentation included an overview of Alameda's system design, the services they intend to provide, and the financing mechanism used to fund the project which includes an exit strategy to protect the City's investment in this new business venture. During the afternoon portion of the meeting members discussed opportunities surrounding regional synergies through the interconnection of utilities with regional fiber-optic cable, local POP's (Points of Presence), and the possibility of using CMUA as a financing mechanism for its deployment. U . i IIE s •NNER ' III Public Utility District 40, A Monthly Activity Report To: Board of Directors From: Kathy Neus, Support Services Manager Date: 04/14/00 Purchasing and Warehousing • The busy season is rapidly approaching. A few bids for the upcoming construction season have been placed. We have ordered wire, cable, vehicles and inventory material. Sam is working on getting the yard ready for all the material due in. • Sue continues to work on getting familiar with the new CAD P computer system. Meter Readers • The meter readers continue to work on combining routes, this once again increases the quantity of routes that can be downloaded to the devices which in turn allows more meters to be read in a day. • The water crew has installed OMR water meters; the meter readers are working out all the little bugs in order to read the meters with the devices. • With the snow melting so quickly, the meter readers have begun their annual seal check Due to the reduction in staff and the last meter change-outs, the meter readers were not able to complete last years check They will begin with the routes they weren't able to do last year. There should be no problem completing the seal check this year. • The meter readers read 10, 725 meters, completed 126 service reports and delivered 178 notices. Vehicle Maintenance We are still getting by with two contract mechanics. Glen Wagner handles all of our BIT inspections and Chris Brouwers handling pick-ups and Jimmies. This has been working well. Building and Grounds Maintenance • We are still short-handed and this is an area that has definitely been neglected. Repairs are done on an as-needed basis. I have begun to talk to different contractors about doing outside maintenance and some projects that were previously going to be done in-house. 0 Page 1 15) GTRUCKEE DONNER 0 Public Utility District 7, Monthly Staff Report To: Board of Directors From: Ed Taylor,Water Superintendent Date: 04/14/00 PROJECTS The Brockway Well was drilled to a depth of 785 feet. We are moving ahead to develop a full production well with an anticipated online date of June 23, 2000. Truckee Falls Golf Course Pipeline Project is out to bid. WATER QUALITY We have monitored the Hirschdale Treatment Plant on a daily basis and the aesthetic quality of the water has been excellent all month. Performed preventative maintenance on equipment. Water samples were taken each week during the month. Routine daily rounds were made, taking chlorine residuals throughout the system. The monthly bacteriological report for March was sent to the Department of Health Services. The District has met the State's drinking water standards for the month. Continued work on the District's monitoring program, bacteria site plans, copper & lead rules and cross connection control program. I met with the Department of Health Services. SYSTEM OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE Five leaks were repaired The first phase of a commercial water meter radio read change out program was completed. • Page 1 TDPUD Monthly Activity Report April 13, 2000 To: Board of Directors From: Stephen Hollabaugh— Power Supply Engineer Subject: Monthly staff report—April 2000 Agenda #15 • Union Negotiations: This item has taken up quite a bit of my time lately. i have been working with Peter on the Union ongoing negotiations. Peter will update you of the progress. GIS Strategic Plan issue: (Graphical information System) • We have started advertising fora GiS Coordinator and are starting to receive resumes. 1 have put together a mapping conversion data packet for CADP. CADP will evaluate our data and give us an estimate for conversion. I am also helping with the Fiber Backbone project as to the field data collection needed for this project. I hope to use a lot of this data with our future mapping system. Recently i have also been working with the Water Department and Cranmer Engineering to acquire aerial photos for many parts of the District. The aerial photos will help correct our base maps so that future mapping will be easier and GPS will work with our basemaps. I will be attending the GITA Annual Conference (Geospatial information and Technology Association) in late March to look at new technologies that are becoming available in the GIS environment. • Western Area Power Administratlon 2004 Marketing Plan: In our letter and application for the resource pool, we brought up that the district has in the past had an allocation from Western in the past but was notable to receive the power because of transmission. We pointed out that a lot had changed since the allocation was withdrawn and was requesting a new allocation from Western. If the District receives an allocation, it will be a tong-term contract(20 years)for capacity and energy at below market prices into the future. • MWISA (Mountain West Independent System Administrator): The MWISA FERC filing was conditionally accepted by FERC in late January. The MWISA proposes to handle the Transmission scheduling for Nevada and part of California. I am involved with this group to make sure the District's transmission agreement is accepted and the benefits are not lost due to a new Transmission administrator. The MWISA has requested an extension of 120 days to answer the FERC's questions. I will continue to work with the MWISA and look out for the District's interests. Stay tuned. • Power Scheduling: I work closely with NCPA to ensure that our daily power schedules to Idaho Power and Sierra Pacific is done correctly. NCPA has been doing a good job with the pre-scheduling and real-time scheduling for the District. The District had a peak load during the Presidents Weekend in February of 27.6 MW. • The Aituras transmission line has been energized. This allows us to serve our full load from Idaho per our settlement at FERC with Sierra. The commercial rating for the Alturas line is in a battle at FERC between some California utilities such as San Diego vs. Sierra Pacific and BPA. The District has filed a vanilla intervention to protect our interest if this goes to hearing at FERC. FERC has set this matter to a settlement hearing. We are keeping up on this subject. TDPUD Monthly Activity Report April 5, 2000 To: Board of Directors From: Scott Terrell, Planning Director Subject: March 2000 Activity Report Agenda # 15 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. Strategic Planning/District $Savings Key Accounts Program- Staff will be in touch with KA customers this year regarding their wants and needs and feelings (opinions) about TDPUD. Staff is waiting to contact KA customers until the outcome of TDPUD's plans regarding telecommunications is known. Staff can then discuss telecommunications needs during these meetings. TDPUD Building GSHP Proposal—Staff would like to re-visit this project idea with the Board in the near future. The building occupants and visitors could use air conditioning during the hot summer days. This project is on-hold pending the outcome of the District's Strategic Planning process. Deregulation Education- I am attending various courses, seminars, workshops and meetings to help me keep up with deregulation and "competition" activities. I attended the March 2,3 CMUA Energy Efficiency & Marketing Committee meeting in Anaheim. The meeting had several interesting topics including: deregulation and direct access, Cal ISO summer peaking concerns and load management, renewable power and pricing to customers, etc. ConservationlDSM/Economic Development/Public Benefits Public Benefits Program- TDPUD has received and processed about sixty applications for the Conservation Cash Rebate programs. The School District is currently having a CEA Lighting Analysis performed for the Truckee School facilities.Atlantis Energy is planning to install the Solar PV system for Sierra High School before Spring. Schools Energy & Water Conservation Education Program- This program is designed to teach both energy and water conservation education and will include actual energy and water conservation measures the children can use in their parent's homes. The program currently targets sixth grade science teachers and students using the Living Wise Program. Sierra Mountain Middle School has begun implementing this program with assistance from Americorps and TDPUD staff. TDPUD Programs &Services- Staff is currently collecting information and ideas about some possible future programs and services for TDPUD customers. Staff will be researching whole-house surge protection and "fiber-optic" building security systems for the benefit of our customers. Staff will meet with the District's Telecommunications Director to discuss ideas. Ground Source Heat Pump Bulk Purchase & Installation Program- Staff is currently looking into new ideas on how to educate and promote this technology to our customers. Staff met with a developer to discuss the possibility of using GSHP in a 46 unit"economy unit" complex that is being proposed to be built near the Mountain Home Center. Business & Energy Efficiency Partnership-The Truckee Donner PUD/Sierra College Partnership project is designed to encourage local groups, clubs and individuals to tour the energy and water- efficient Sierra College facility. TDPUD uses the grounds as a demonstration of low-water using plant types and water conserving irrigation systems. TDPUD Staff is available for guided tours. Sierra College and the Small Business Development Center nominated TDPUD for an Excellence in Education Partnership award in economic development partner-ing with Junior Colleges in California. TDPUD was recently notified of receiving this award and the award will be presented at an April Conference in San Francisco. 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 complaints. There are currently no survey requests pending. Communications/Public Relations/Education Marketing & Media- Our current marketing efforts focus on community conservation cash rebate programs, low electric rates &high power reliability and TDPUD's efforts in promoting environmental- clean air, high water quality and the local economy. TDPUD will be marketing its benefits to the Truckee area during some future sports events. TDPUD will also be a part of the Sierra Lifestyles program in July/August. TDPUD will be interviewed on a topic of interest as well as be able to market TDPUD "commercials" during this period. Newsletter- The Spring 2000 newsletter is currently being worked on. This issue will focus primarily on Telecommunications. Power Content Label- State law requires that all California public and private utilities supply their customers with a Power Content Label quarterly. The next quarterly label will go out in June. 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. If you have a meeting or event you would like to take water bottles to give me a call. Truckee-Tahoe Affair-The Airport District has decided to put together a new Truckee event at the airport called the Air Affair. This event scheduled for June 24 will involve many different activities including a dinner and dance. TDPUD has volunteered to co-sponsor this event as well as use a billing to promote the event. Electricity Display- Sierra Nevada Children's Museum recently asked TDPUD to help them develop an electricity and water display for the kids at the museum. Staff is currently working with Americorps and museum staff to build the displays. Community/Statewide Involvement California Municipal Utilities Association Energy Services and Marketing Committee-The Committee is working on projects and programs to help CMUA member utilities prepare for deregulation. I attended the March 2,3 meeting in Anaheim. Association for Efficient Environmental Energy Systems- Staff participates in quarterly meetings of the California Utility&GEA GSHP Collaborative. The California Collaborative was formed to oversee the development and promotion of the GSHP industry in California. The next meeting is scheduled for April 12 in Stockton. Utility Energy Forum Planning Committee- The next Conference is scheduled for May 17-19, 2000 in Granlibakken, Lake Tahoe area. D• Public Utility District Monthly Staff Report To: Board of Directors From: Bob Quinn, Electric Superintendent Date: 04/14/00 Electric Department crews worked on the following projects during the month of January: The service crew installed 19 overhead and 1 underground new electrical services and responded to 22 requests for underground facility locates(USA's). Crews continued to replace, or add additional transformers to, transformers that were overloaded because of new construction and growth. The District's electricians continued work in the commercial row alley converting panels to the new underground system. Additionally, considerable time was spent in the District's water facilities. The line crew continued work on the Hwy 267 Bypass project. The line crew worked at the comer of Jaboom and Spring Streets removing overhead electrical facilities and energizing new underground facilities. The line crew removed lines and poles crossing Donner Pass Rd. serving Jackass Ridge and the other commercial establishments on the south side of the road. I attended a meeting with Steve Hoilabaugh in Miami and a superintendent's meeting in Roseville. Vern Smith and Pat Waite attended training seminars on substation equipment in Wisconsin. 0 Page 1