Massena Electric Department

Pending Approval by the MEUB Page |1 MASSENA ELECTRIC UTILITY BOARD MINUTES of Thursday, November 16, 2023 Town of Massena Electric Department – 71 East Hatfield Street Present: James Shaw Andrew McMahon, Superintendent Richard Maginn Jeffrey Dobbins, Treasurer John Bogosian Matt Gray, Deputy Superintendent Rene Hart Margo Rochefort, Deputy Treasurer Charles Raiti Patrick Facteau, Town Liaison Eric Gustafson, Attorney Debra Willer, Town Liaison Chairman Shaw opened the meeting at 1:05 p.m. 1) APPROVAL OF MINUTES: RESOLUTION: The Massena Electric Utility Board hereby approves the minutes of the regular meeting of October 24, 2023 as presented. Moved by John Bogosian - Seconded by Charles Raiti - All in Favor 2) OPERATIONS UPDATE: by Matt Gray, Deputy Superintendent A. Safety: MED has not had a lost time injury since June 8th, 2022. The number of consecutive days without a lost time accident now stands at 510 days. There were no reportable injuries in October. This brings the number of days without a reportable injury to 873 days. Safety Note – Lou Gabrielle with NEPPA was on site to present his last training session of the year. This month’s training was centered around fire extinguisher use and hearing protection. B. Customer Impact Chart: MED experienced 15,582 Customer Impact Minutes in the month of October. The largest impact occurred when a truck contacted a Verizon line on Browning Rd and caused damage to multiple poles. Given the comparatively low amount of CIM in October, the 12-month average has decreased slightly and is now at 31,705. C. Reliability: MED Crews responded to nine calls throughout the month of October. One call affected no Customers, even though it involved a broken pole on a mainline section of circuit 2301, five calls affected only one Customer, and three calls affected more than one Customer. Of the nine calls received, six calls contributed to our monthly CIM total. The largest CIM contributor was the issue on Browning Rd that affected forty-four Customers for one hour thirty- five minutes and thirty-two Customers for five hours forty-five minutes. The remainder of the CIM contributing calls in October were of routine nature and minimal impact. D. Work Schedule: Throughout the month of October, Crews worked on the Engstrom Substation low voltage switch upgrade. This consisted of load transfers to isolate the switches and the replacement of the thirty-six low voltage switches. With the installation of the new switches, the current rating of these tie switches now matches the maximum current output of the feeder breakers. Also, Crews began a pole replacement job on Ponton Bridge Road in support of the new Air Products facility. The intent of the pole replacements is to provide thirty feet of vertical clearance at the new facility entrances. This involved the replacement of six poles.  Pending Approval by the MEUB Page |2 3) FINANCIAL REPORTS: by Jeff Dobbins, Treasurer A. Write-Offs: RESOLUTION: The Massena Electric Utility Board hereby authorizes the write-off of bad debt totaling $4,212.57 as audited by Mr. Rene Hart. Moved by Rene Hart - Seconded by John Bogosian - All in Favor B. Power Comparison Graph: Power Costs were $470,000, high end of what is expected for October. NYPA Energy purchased was up compared to Sept. and similar to 2022. Load Share was 5% higher in Oct., compared to Sept., and hourly load was flatter during Oct. vs Sept. Supplemental Power costs were $88,000. 3,700 MWh of incremental energy purchased during September. Zone D Average Energy rate was $23.90/MWh, $5.00/MWh less than the Zone D price in Sept. Transmission/ISO Exp totaled $166,390 for Sept. Unforced Capacity was $54,450. Other ISO related charges were over $53,000. Charges for Transmission (NYPA and Long Sault) totaled over $58,900. Impact to customers - PPAC for Oct. of 0.08¢ / kWh. MWh purchased, over 16,500, also higher than previous years. Peak Demand for Oct. was 30,500 kW, higher than previous years. Peak occurred at the end of the month during a cold stretch – 10/31 @ 8:00 (low of 27 that morning). C. Cash Flow: The Operating Fund increased by $193,460, increase was slightly higher than expected. The Operating Fund at month end was $7.3 MM. October receipts were over $1.0 MM for the month. Customers payments were $199,000 more than projected for the month. Reimbursed work included additional make ready work for projects in the service territory. Interest revenue remains higher. October expenditures totaled just under $837,000, which was $59,500 less than budgeted. RESOLUTION: The Massena Electric Utility Board hereby approves the bills as audited by Mr. Rene Hart totaling $853,867.29 Moved by Rene Hart – Seconded by John Bogosian - All in Favor 4) COMMITTEE REPORTS: by Andrew McMahon, Superintendent A. Personnel 1. Staff Update: Mr. McMahon noted that negotiations go on and that more meetings would be coming. There are no significant developments among staff. Mr. McMahon explained that he was looking for training opportunities for himself in the next few weeks that were online to fulfill his professional engineering requirements. B. Finance & Economic Development 1. Energy Efficiency Programs: Treasurer Dobbins updated the board on energy efficiency programs offered by the Department. Two commercial audits were performed since the last meeting. One customer is looking to upgrade lighting and the other is reviewing options for replacing an old motor used for its operations. Once the audits are received, Treasurer Dobbins indicated he would discuss them with the Finance Committee.  Pending Approval by the MEUB Page |3 Mr. Gustafson explained progress on the two new residential energy efficiency programs he has been working on. He said that the walk-through program was ready to go and that the blown insulation program had some final changes to make but was otherwise ready to be initiated as directed by the board. Mr. McMahon continued that he would be on WMSA in the first week of December and would begin marketing these programs. He also noted that he was attempting to get on the FM version of WMSA so that he could reach a broader audience. C. Engineering & Energy 1. Cybersecurity: Mr. McMahon explained a recent problem that he was involved in. The issue was related to a weblink that redirected Mr. McMahon to an incorrect site. No malicious software was downloaded and Adirondack tech assisted in quickly resolving the problem. Mr. Dobbins noted that there is typically an increase this time of year in e-mail phishing scams that attempt to get information from individuals that have on-line accounts. This year has been no different, and to refresh staff on steps they can take to minimize exposure to these scams, the Department will be having a session in December that focus on phishing attempts and overall cybersecurity. Attendance at this training will be required for all users on the Department’s network, but also offered to all employees since these scams can happen at home. 2. EAB extra work: Mr. Gray reported that customers continue to remain willing to work with MED on removing Ash Trees. We are hoping that we can use winter months for removal of the impacted Ash trees. 3. NYSERDA Submittals: MED has begun working with SUNY Canton and NYSERDA on one of our proposed grants. The other project was going out for re-bid. 4. Grant funding CAC/IIJA/IRA: Mr. McMahon discussed information on the APPA website related to the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). He will send the link to the board members. The primary take away Mr. McMahon discussed was that while there is a lot of money and a lot of programs, there are only a limited number of programs and money that will potentially assist Massena Electric. The most promising set aside is the EECBG block grant money that will go through the state. Mr. Maginn has worked with block grant money in the past for the benefit of the community. 5.Transformer purchase update: Transformer purchase delivery is now expected in the first quarter of 24. 6.Vehicle purchase update: Vehicle purchase delivery is now expected in the first quarter of 24 as well. 7. Building damage: Mr. McMahon discussed the damage to the building which occurred earlier this month when a vehicle ran in to the building at 3:08 am one morning. Mr. Dobbins showed some pictures of the damage. Mr. McMahon explained that in addition to the superficial damage to the cold storage building there was two bushings on the inside of the building which were bumped by the vehicle hitting the building. In addition to repairing the building the bushings that were bumped will need to be tested before being put in service. An insurance adjuster was here from our building insurance company and we are moving forward with the claim. Mr. Maginn has advised staff on the repair process. 8. DOT Resolution: * Attached 5) LEGAL ISSUES: by Eric Gustafson, Attorney: Mr. Gustafson had no remarks for open session.  Pending Approval by the MEUB Page |4 6) UNFINISHED BUSINESS: Mr. McMahon relayed to the board that he and Mr. Gray had met with NYPA and the village DPW as a follow up to the Disaster Drill this past June. The primary point of concern being followed up upon is the human life risk in the Homecroft neighborhood if Massena intake were to breach. The secondary concern is that there would be a loss of water for the Village to run the intake and water system. MED’s operational concern is that the inundation maps that NYPA has provided indicate that the MED Grasse River Substation and the MED Massena Village substation would be under some level of water. NYPA is going to work on providing more detailed maps to understand how deep the flooding would be at each location and how quickly this flooding would occur. 7) NEW BUSINESS: Policy Review Treasurer Dobbins provided the board with an updated Harassment policy. As part of the annual review of the policies, this is the only policy with changes recommended by staff. Treasurer Dobbins reported that the changes are updates by the state to the model policy that the Department adopted. A resolution was not needed at this time and Treasure Dobbins asked that the board review all the policies and include any other proposed updates before the December meeting. 8) ARTICLES OF INTEREST: Mr. McMahon discussed each of the two articles included in the board packet. The first had to do with the NYPA Conferral process. This is a process that describes the early stages of NYPA’s expanded role in the pursuit of the CLCPA goals. Mr. McMahon opined that this may lead to opportunities for MED to engage with NYPA on some of these projects. The second article on reliability explained some of the events that occurred last winter that led to very high energy costs. Mr. McMahon noted that none of the key operational issues that created last winter’s problems have been addressed. 9) SCHEDULE OF EVENTS: Mr. McMahon noted that the Board meeting would be on December 21st. Further, he noted that he would be meeting with NYS Assembly Energy Chair Didi Barrett in mid-December, having a virtual meeting with NYS Senate Energy Chair Kevin Parker as well as participating in virtual training opportunities to maintain his Professional Engineering license. There was also an upcoming seminar that NERC was hosting on winter preparations that staff will try to participate in. MED is working with an engineering firm on a potential AMI system and would be having a kick off meeting later this month. Finally, staff is having a kickoff meeting with NYSERDA on one of the projects we have been approved for. 10) PUBLIC COMMENT: 11) EXECUTIVE SESSION: Motion to move into executive session at 2:02 p.m. Moved by Richard Maginn – Seconded by Charles Raiti- All in Favor Motion to move out of executive session at 2:18 p.m. Moved by John Bogosian – Seconded by Rene Hart -All in Favor Motion to adjourn at 2:18 p.m. Moved by Charles Raiti – Seconded by Richard Maginn - All in Favor Pending Approval by the MEUB Resolution Authorizing the Municipal Official to Enter Into Agreement with the New York State Department of Transportation RESOLUTION Resolution# On motion by _Charles ___ Raiti _ _ _ _ _ __, seconded by _ _ John Bogosian __ _ _ _ _ __ Andrew unanimously authorized _ _ _ _ J _McMahon _ _ _ _ _ _ to execute any and all agreements with the New York State Department of Transportation regarding the State's construction project: Signal Improvement Project, D265107 - PIN 7807.09 ************************************ I, _Jeffrey _ _M Dobbins __ _ _ _ _ , duly appointed and qualified _ Treasurer _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _, do hereby CERTIFY that the foregoing resolution was adopted at a meeting duly called and held Massena in the office of, _ _ ___ Electric ___ Dept. _ _ , a quorum being present on the __ 16th day of __November ____ 2023 _ _ _ , and that said copy is a true, correct and compared copy of the original resolution so adopted and that the same has not been revoked or rescinded. November 16_ _day of _ _ WITNESSETH, my hand and seal this _ ___ 2023 _ _ __ Jeffrey M Dobbins, Treasurer Name, title