Massena Electric Department

Approved by the MEUB on 1/23/2023 Page |1 MASSENA ELECTRIC UTILITY BOARD MINUTES of Monday, December 19, 2022 Town of Massena Electric Department – 71 East Hatfield Street Present: James Shaw Andrew McMahon, Superintendent Charles Raiti Jeffrey Dobbins, Treasurer Richard Maginn Matt Gray, Deputy Superintendent John Bogosian - Zoom Margo Rochefort, Deputy Treasurer Rene Hart Patrick Facteau, Town Liaison Eric Gustafson, Attorney Debra Willer, Town Liaison Chairman Shaw opened the meeting at 1:35p.m. 1) APPROVAL OF MINUTES: RESOLUTION: The Massena Electric Utility Board hereby approves the minutes of the regular meeting of November 17, 2022 as presented. Moved by Charles Raiti - Seconded by Rene Hart - All in Favor RESOLUTION: The Massena Electric Utility Board hereby approves the minutes of the special meeting of December 6, 2022 as presented. Moved by Charles Raiti - Seconded by Rene Hart - All in Favor 2) OPERATIONS UPDATE: by Matt Gray, Deputy Superintendent A. Safety: MED has not had a lost time injury since June 8th. Our consecutive days without a lost time accident now stands at 175 days. There were no reportable injuries in November. This brings the number of days without a reportable injury to 538 days. All MED Employees attended an Active Shooter/Situational Awareness Training presented by the New York State Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Services. B. Customer Impact Chart: MED experienced only 350 Customer Impact Minutes throughout the month of November. The largest Customer Impact was due to a squirrel contact on O’Neil Road in the Town of Massena. Given the low amount of Customer Impact Minutes, our 12- month average remains relatively unchanged and is now at 24,392. Approved by the MEUB on 1/23/2023 Page |2 C. Reliability: MED Crews responded to only eight calls in the month of November. Of the calls received, four calls involved no Customers, three calls affected only one Customer and one call affected more than one Customer. Three of the calls received in November contributed to the monthly CIM total. The largest Customer Impact was the previously mentioned squirrel contact on O’Neil Rd that affected 12 Customers for 20 Minutes. Also, of note, MED responded to three instances of hit poles during the month of November. Fortunately, during our follow-up inspections only minor damage was found. A review of the Snow Storm that occurred on December 16th was presented. MED Crews responded to approximately 100 calls over the three-day period following the storm. Of the calls received, MED addressed twelve separate outages. The remainder of the calls mostly involved downed wire or trees on wire. The largest Customer impact occurred in the Mill Road and County Route 38 areas. Fortunately, no main line outages occurred as a result of the heavy snow. D. Work Schedule: Crews have completed their work in regards to the line reconfiguration in support of the NYPA Smart Path project on Fregoe Rd. The scope of work was extended a bit due to the fact that MED was required to lower our primary conductor near the NYPA Right-of-way. This temporary field change became known when NYPA installed their temporary structures and MED Crews noticed the lack of vertical clearance between NYPA and MED. MED has since returned to the site and made our final adjustments. With the onset of winter approaching, MED Crews have been working to complete unfinished projects such as pole sets and underground facilities inspections. 3) FINANCIAL REPORTS: by Jeffrey Dobbins, Treasurer A. Write-Offs: RESOLUTION: The Massena Electric Utility Board hereby authorizes the write-off of bad debt totaling $3,875.28 as audited by Mr. Rene Hart. Moved by Rene Hart - Seconded by Richard Maginn - All in Favor B. Power Comparison Graph: November power costs were $446,000, down from November 2021. Supplemental Power costs were $95,000. Incremental Energy rate was just under $20.00/MWh. Transmission costs were higher than expected. Peak Demand for November was 33,000 kW, low end for the month of November. MWh purchased totaled 16,820, also low end for November. Mild month and 4,784 MWh of supplemental energy purchased. Impact to customers – Dec. 2022 Base PPAC- $.005/kWh and Supplemental PPAC $.007/kWh. C. Cash Flow: The Operating Fund increased by $462,360. The Operating Fund at month end was over $6.7 MM. November receipts were over $1.0 MM, over $285,000 higher than budgeted. Included two large L-1 HEAP payments and interest revenue also higher in November. Expenditures totaled $570,900, this was $213,000 less than budgeted.  Approved by the MEUB on 1/23/2023 Page |3 D. Approval of Bills: RESOLUTION: The Massena Electric Utility Board hereby approves the bills as audited by Mr. Rene Hart totaling $726,494.02 Moved by Charles Raiti – Seconded by Rene Hart - All in Favor 4) COMMITTEE REPORTS: by Andrew McMahon, Superintendent A. Personnel 1. Staff Update: Mr. McMahon advised board that a number of staff members had had the flu but all were presently working and health seems generally good. 2. Security Update: Mr. McMahon reminded the board that the preliminary security reviews that we have done had flagged remote door locks on the front door as a key next step. Mr. McMahon has spoken to both the Personnel Committee and the Engineering Committee about this upgrade and all were supportive. The remote door locks would cost slightly under $7000. RESOLUTION: The Massena Electric Utility Board hereby approves a security upgrade for remote door locks on the front doors, not to exceed $7,000.00. Moved by Charles Raiti - Seconded by John Bogosian - All in Favor B. Finance & Economic Development 1. Energy Efficiency Programs a. Commercial Update: Treasurer Dobbins reported that he had spoken with a couple of larger commercial customers regarding upgrades to their facilities since the last meeting. In each case the business had contracted with an engineering firm to assist with the work being performed. Treasurer Dobbins indicated that he was still waiting for those reports. One commercial energy credit request was received since the last meeting. The customer replaced some of the older lights at its facility identified in the audit performed with LED lights. RESOLUTION: The Massena Electric Utility Board hereby approves a commercial energy credit for $695.00. Moved by Rene Hart - Seconded by Richard Maginn - All in Favor b. Residential Update: None to report.  Approved by the MEUB on 1/23/2023 Page |4 C. Engineering & Energy: 1. Cybersecurity/IRON NET: IronNet had provided an initial cost of 18k per year and then changed the price to 32k. Mr. McMahon and Mr. Dobbins agreed that IronNet had value but not that much value. They also did not like the way IronNet handled the price change. Mr. McMahon stated that staff still recognized the importance of cybersecurity but would be identifying another firm/product to fill this void in the coming weeks. 2. Forward Energy Procurement: NYPA and Nextera have both provided indicative pricing in the last few days. The pricing for January and February has gone from 85/MWh to 71/MWh in less than 2 weeks. Mr. Dobbins provided historical pricing data for January and February over the last 5 years. Mr. McMahon stated he was hopeful to execute some position this winter to further refine our process and accounting. Mr. Raiti asked what the realistic price expectation would be for January and February. Mr. McMahon explained that historically there has been a week or two of bad weather and high prices but the average price ends up in the 50's. Mr. Raiti suggested we look for a 5MW position for January and February at $55. RESOLUTION The Massena Electric Utility Board authorizes the Superintendent, or his designee, to enter into an agreement for 5 MW of incremental power during the months of January and February 2023, at a rate not to exceed $55.00 / MWh. Moved by Charles Raiti – Seconded by John Bogosian- All in Favor 3. EAB extra work: The Department’s contractor continues to work in certain areas of the community on ash tree removal. Cooperation from community members continues to be positive. 4. NYSERDA Submittals: We are still awaiting action from NYSERDA to move forward on this project 5. Grant Funding CAC/IIJA/IRA: Details of these major initiatives have still not been released. 5) LEGAL ISSUES: by Eric Gustafson, Attorney: 6) UNFINISHED BUSINESS: • Policy Review RESOLUTION: The Massena Electric Utility Board hereby approves the Massena Electric Department policies as presented. Moved by Charles Raiti – Seconded by Rene Hart – All in Favor  Approved by the MEUB on 1/23/2023 Page |5 7) NEW BUSINESS: • Climate action Council The final report of the climate action council was set to be released today. As information becomes available it will be shared with the board. 8) ARTICLES OF INTEREST: 9) SCHEDULE OF EVENTS: Next regular meeting, January 20, 2023 at 1:00 pm 10) PUBLIC COMMENT: 11) EXECUTIVE SESSION: Motion to move into executive at 2:50 p.m. Moved by Rene Hart – Seconded by Charles Raiti- All in Favor Motion to move out of executive session at 3:44 p.m. Moved by John Bogosian– Seconded by Richard Maginn -All in Favor Resolution: The Massena Electric Utility Board authorizes the adjustment to the salary of the Department’s management personnel as follows: Andrew McMahon $3,000 of supplemental compensation for 2022, Jeffrey Dobbins $3,000 supplemental compensation for 2022, Matthew Gray $3,000 supplemental compensation for 2022 and Margo Rochefort $3,000 supplemental compensation for 2022. Moved by Charles Raiti – Seconded by John Bogosian – All in Favor Motion to adjourn at 3:45 p.m. Moved by Rene Hart – Seconded by John Bogosian- All in Favor