MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF THE COMMISSION
April 4, 2016
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MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF THE COMMISSION
OF PUBLIC UTILITY DISTRICT NO. 1 OF CHELAN COUNTY, WASHINGTON
April 4, 2016
The regular meeting of the Commission of Public Utility District No. 1 of Chelan County, Washington, was held in the office of the District, 327 North Wenatchee Avenue, Wenatchee, Washington, on April 4, 2016, at the hour of 10:00a.m., pursuant to proper notice thereof.
Commissioners present wereRandy Smith, Carnan Bergren,Dennis Bolz, Garry Arseneault and Ann Congdon.In attendance were General Manager Steve Wright,General Council Erik Wahlquistand Acting Clerk of the Board Lisa Sanders.
Others in attendance:Bill and Sharon Robinson, Steve McKinna, Michael Everson, Darin Klinginsmith, Jared Richardson and Christine Pratt (Wenatchee World)
Lorna Klemanskiled the Pledge of Allegiance andprovided a safety minute.
President Smithpresented the Agenda for approval.The agenda was approved as written.
Customer Satisfaction Survey Results– John Stoll, Suzanne Hartman, and Bill Robinson presented the board with the customer satisfaction survey results conducted by Robinson Research. The key metric is overall level of satisfaction. 90 percent of our customers stated they are satisfied with 76 percent saying they are extremely satisfied – a slight increase over the2014 results. Thesurvey consultants indicated that this is the highest level of customer satisfaction they have seen among their utility customers. (See for the presentation)
Intelligence Grid–Andy Wendell provided an update to the board including an overview and planned next steps regarding the District’s intelligent grid strategy. Benefits of advanced two-way metering include:
- Reduces manual meter reading and carbon footprint
- Provides near real time usage data to customers
- Ensures metering and billing accuracy
- Reduces need to access customer property
- Improves outage notification to customers
- Provides Customer self-serve dashboard functionality
- Gives customers ability to opt-out
The overarching goals and objectives related to two-way metering include:
- Improve customer service
- Enhance revenue
- Improve reliability
- Improve safety
- Improve operational excellence through efficiencies
- Positive return on investment
Planned actions in 2016 are to support the CIS replacement and provisioning, establish a customer involvement topic team, develop a customer outreach plan, report on results of the customer outreach plan and complete a technology assessment and business readiness. The next decision related to how to move forward will be in 2017 as part of the 2018 budget process. (See for the presentation)
Regional Water Source–Ron Slabaugh discussed the regional water supply system and current planning as well as next steps. (See for the presentation)
- Planning the next 50 years of drinking water supply for Greater Wenatchee and East Wenatchee
- Currently supplies approx. 75,000 people with a single source
- Projected to serve over 100,000 people by 2040
- Reliability and redundancy are vital considerations
Three regional supply alternatives include groundwater supplies near Malaga, near Alcoa, and near Rock Island Dam. The RI aquifer alternative most favorably satisfied the qualitative evaluation criteria, and was selected by Regional membership for further evaluation. He also discussed the next steps in:
2016
- Collect community input
- Site, drill and evaluate test well(s)
- Complete evaluation of RI aquifer source
- Finalize project cost estimate (currently $50 million)
- Analyze financing options
- Evaluate rate impacts to Regional membership
2017-2018
- Present final project proposal to community and seek feedback
- Design and prepare construction documents
- Acquire financing
2018-2019
- Construct project
Update on RR White Sturgeon Management Plan and Progress of Monitoring and Evaluation Program–Lance Keller and Keith Truscottdiscussed the status of the White Sturgeon Management Plan and changes to our monitoring and evaluation needs. The plan goals are:
- Increase sturgeon population
- Determine effectiveness of program
- Determine carrying capacity
- Determine natural reproduction potential
Continued study is important to get reservoir specific data to determine that our stocking levels are appropriate. Remaining questions include:
- Inputs to adult abundance model
- Model used conservative estimates from other reservoirs
- Habitat Conservation Plan Species and Rocky Reach Pacific Lamprey Management Plan
- Additional data is needed to identify risks to other species in the event too many sturgeon are stocked into the reservoir
- Future juvenile stocking levels
- Requires reservoir specific inputs to ensure an ecologically balanced stocking rate beyond 2020
Staff proposes to contract with Blue Leaf Environmental, Inc. to conduct field work in years 2016-2020 and reporting in 2021. This is an additional $340,000 per year for a total of $1.7 million. (See for the presentation)
The meeting recessed at12:00 p.m. to reconvene at 1:00 p.m.
Due to staff not having new information to present to the board and does not presently have plans to present additional information until the June 6 hearing the Commissioners continued the public hearing on the High Density Load rate to 1:00 p.m. on July 6.
President Smith presented theconsent agenda which consisted of the minutes of the March 21, 2016 regular meetingfor approval.
The Auditor’s memorandum dated March 30, 2016 supporting documentation and District’s Computer Report, which certify, pursuant to RCW 42.24.080, that the District received certain goods, services and other considerations specified therein and describes as follows were presented for approval:
- Claims certified by the Auditor for payment and authorization for the Auditor to issue warrants payable by the Treasurer for services, goods and other considerations received by the District in the total amount of $6,006,986.80;
- Approval of Customer Deposit Returns and Conservation Incentive payments dated March 29, 2016 in the amount of $34,518.39;
- Approval of the net Payrolls, Warrant Nos. 234213 through 234246 and Advice Nos. 611844 through 612541 for the pay period ending 03/20/2016 in the amount of $1,635,936.07; and
- Approval of Warrant Nos. 22191 through 22227 totaling $8,563.30 for claim payments from the workers’ compensation self-insurance fund for the period ending March 28, 2016.
A motion was made by CommissionerArseneault, seconded by Commissioner Bolz and passed adopting the Consent Agenda,minutes of March 21, 2016 regular meetingandthe above listed vouchers, which are on file in the offices of the District.
General Manager Steve Wright presented the following resolutions for the Commissioners’ consideration:
RESOLUTION 16-14029 A RESOLUTION RATIFYING FIELD WORK ORDER NOS. 1 THROUGH 7, AUTHORIZING FINAL ACCEPTANCE OF WORK PERFORMED UNDER BID NO. 15-15 WITH POTELCO INC. OF SUMNER, WASHINGTON, AND AUTHORIZING PAYMENT OF RETAINAGE
RESOLUTION 16-14030 A RESOLUTION RATIFYING FIELD WORK ORDER NO. 1 AND AUTHORIZING FINAL ACCEPTANCE OF WORK PERFORMED UNDER BID NO. 14-72 WITH WEG SERVICE COMPANY OF DULUTH, GEORGIA
RESOLUTION 16-14031 A RESOLUTION RATIFYING FIELD WORK ORDER NOS. 1 AND 2, AUTHORIZING FINAL ACCEPTANCE OF WORK PERFORMED UNDER BID NO. 15-06 WITH MOE ASPHALT PATCHING AND SEALCOATING, INC. OF WENATCHEE, WASHINGTON AND AUTHORIZING PAYMENT OF RETAINAGE
A motion was made by Commissioner Congdon, seconded by Commissioner Arseneault and passed to adopt Resolution Nos. 16-14029, 06-14030and 16-14031, which are on file in the office of the District.
Totem Awards–Susan Gillin, Kim Craig, Ruth Erwert and Suzanne Hartman received the following awards:
- Totem - Best of Show, Susan Gillin, Saving Energy is a Slam Dunk
- Totem - Community Relations, Susan Gillin, Saving Energy is a Slam Dunk
- Totem - Community Relations, Kim Craig and Ruth Erwert, Serving our Veterans
- Certificate of Excellence - Advertisements, Suzanne Hartman, Mule Deer Summit
- Totem - Editorials/Op-Ed, Suzanne Hartman, Community Shares Big, New Ideas
- Totem - Direct Mail, Suzanne Hartman, Mule Deer Summit
Whispering Ridge Update – John Stoll and Rich Hyatt updated Commissioners on water and electric service to customers in the Whispering Ridge neighborhood above Squilchuck Road southwest of Wenatchee. Temporary power is in place and once the ground is more stable staff will determine the best permanent solution. Ron Slabaugh’s group is working on solutions to bring water back to the homes. The PUD is supporting Chelan County Emergency Management in responding to the public safety issues caused by the unstable soil conditions.
2016 Legislative Wrap Up – Shaun Seaman, External Affairs, discussed the legislative session that ended March 29, 2016. The Public Works Trust Fund which is in the budget and removes $52.5 million this year was of interest. Commissioners requested more information and discussed the importance of the Public Works Trust Fund.
Update on Fiber Outage – Mike Coleman, Managing Director - Fiber and Telecom,informed Commissioners of a brief outage on the fiber network that occurred on March 28 from 2:27 p.m. – 2:59 p.m. While preparing for an upgrade on a core switch some route changes were made as a preliminary measure. There was an intermittent hardware failure in that switch. During the maintenance outage period the switch was replaced. It appeared stable but the next day there were brief interruptions of a couple seconds on the voice and cell tower circuits approximately every 30 minutes. The input/output modulewas replaced Wednesday and the network has been stable since then.
A motion was made by Commissioner Congdon, seconded by Commissioner Bolz and approved to set a special meeting Monday, April 11, 2015, Visconti’s, 3 N Worthen Street, Wenatchee at 5:30 p.m. for the purpose of the Mid-C Managers/Commissioner.
Commissioners reported on the various meetings each attended the weeks of March 21 and March 28, 2016.
President Smith convened an Executive Session at 2:35 p.m. to discuss with legal counsel agency enforcement actions, litigation, potential litigation to which the District or its board is, or is likely to become, a party, and/or legal risks, as authorized by RCW 42.30.110(1)(i). He said he anticipated reconvening into regular session at 4:05 p.m.
Reconvening at 4:08p.m., President Smith stated that no action was taken.
There being no other business, the meeting adjourned at4:08p.m.