Massena Electric Department

Approved by the MEUB on 2/21/2024 Page |1 MASSENA ELECTRIC UTILITY BOARD MINUTES of Monday, January 22, 2024 Town of Massena Electric Department – 71 East Hatfield Street Present: James Shaw Andrew McMahon, Superintendent Richard Maginn Jeffrey Dobbins, Treasurer John Bogosian – via Zoom Matt Gray, Deputy Superintendent Rene Hart Margo Rochefort, Deputy Treasurer Charles Raiti Patrick Facteau, Town Liaison Eric Gustafson, Attorney Raymond Lancto, Town Liaison Public, David Grant-via Zoom 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 December 21, 2023 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, 2022. The number of consecutive days without a lost time accident now stands at 571 days. There were no reportable injuries in December. This brings the number of days without a reportable injury to 934 days. B. Customer Impact Chart: For the second consecutive month, MED Customers experienced a very low Customer impact with only 1,829 minutes recorded. Given the comparatively low amount of CIM in December, the 12-month average has decreased and is now at 23,157. C. Reliability: MED Crews responded to nine calls in December, with only one call involving a Customer impact. This call affected thirty-nine Customers for fifty-one minutes and was the result of a hit pole on Mahoney Rd. Fortunately the pole sustained minimal damage. The majority of the calls received in December were Customer issues and involved no Customer impact. Also, MED Crews responded to a total of four hit poles throughout the month of December, all of which involved minimal repair. D. Work Schedule: Crews are in the process of replacing conventional insulators with vise-type insulators with a focus on the wind prone areas. Specifically, they’ve completed replacements on Kingsley Road and Browning Road. Crews are also in the process of repairing hot spots that have been found during our annual Infra-red scanning of the MED district.  Approved by the MEUB on 2/21/2024 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 $5,145.85 as audited by Mr. Rene Hart. Moved by Rene Hart - Seconded by Charles Raiti - All in Favor B. Power Comparison Graph: Power Costs were $718,300, roughly $200,000 less than 5-year max from 2022 (over $911,000). NYPA Energy purchased was higher in Dec. compared to Dec. 2022. Load Share was similar to last year. Ave hourly load was higher increasing NYPA Energy received by 1,000 MWh. Supplemental Power costs were $312,185. 10,000 MWh of incremental energy purchased during December. Zone D Energy rate was $31.05/MWh. Transmission/ISO Exp totaled $159,320. ISO related charges were over $74,290. Charges for Transmission (NYPA and Long Sault) totaled $75,000. Impact to customers - PPAC for Jan. Base of 0.08¢/kWh, down from 1.4¢/kWh in Jan. 2023. Supplemental 1.9¢/kWh (>1,500 kWh), down from 5.8¢ / kWh. Over 24,000 MWh purchased during the month, similar to 5-year max set in 2021. Peak Demand for December was 40,490 kW. Similar to previous years, well below 5-year max of 44,050 set in 2019. C. Cash Flow: The Operating Fund increased by $127,985, YTD fund was up over 1.22 MM. The Operating Fund at month end was $7.76 MM. December receipts were over $1.15 MM for the month. Customers payments were less than expected for the month. YTD over $13 MM received from customers. This is less than budgeted, lower kWh sold and lower power costs for the year were contributing factors. Reimbursed work over $176,000 received, included make ready work for projects in the service territory and insurance reimbursements. In 2023 over $460,000 in reimbursements. Highest annual amount received by the Department. Interest revenue remains higher and exceeded $260,000 for the year. December expenditures totaled over $1 MM for the month. Expenditures for the year totaled 12.64 MM, this was roughly $2.78 MM less than budgeted for the year. Lower than budgeted costs contributed to the $1.22 MM increase to the Operating Fund in 2023. RESOLUTION: The Massena Electric Utility Board hereby approves the bills as audited by Mr. Rene Hart totaling $1,441,857.00. Moved by Rene Hart – Seconded by Richard Maginn - All in Favor 4) COMMITTEE REPORTS: by Andrew McMahon, Superintendent Mr. McMahon welcomed Ray Lancto to the board meeting. Mr. Lancto is the new liaison to the MED board. Mr. Lancto and Mr. Facteau have been appointed as the Town liaisons to the MEUB. Mr. McMahon introduced the MED board and staff who were in attendance to Mr. Lancto. A. Personnel 1. Staff Update: Mr. McMahon explained that the staff is presently healthy after a number of cases of COVID and other illnesses in early December. Approved by the MEUB on 2/21/2024 Page |3 B. Finance & Economic Development 1. Energy Efficiency Programs: Treasurer Dobbins reported that he had spoken recently with Energy Answers regarding the attic insulation campaign. There were a couple of minor questions related to the agreement that needed to be answered. Energy Answers is expected to sign the agreement. Once that is done, initial letters will be sent to electric heating customers in the targeted neighborhoods. 2. Building damage (insurance): The contractor will be ordering materials and bushing for transformers will be checked by Black and McDonald. C. Engineering & Energy 1. Cybersecurity: Mr. McMahon related to the board that there have been no new efforts on cybersecurity but we remain vigilant. 2. EAB: Mr. Gray explained that we are focusing on EAB extra work during the winter. 3. NYSERDA projects: Mr. McMahon explained the progress on the 2 NYSERDA projects. The work on the Water Heaters with SUNY Canton is very positive. 4. Grant funding CAC/IIJA/IRA: Mr. McMahon updated the board on a number of other grant opportunities that have not come to fruition yet. The Paces grant was submitted over 100 days ago with no response. The rule of thumb was if you haven't heard in 60 days you are denied. However, given the volume of grants that are being sought we are hopeful that the two grants for a joint solar farm and a battery storage system in the southern portion of our district may still be approved. Mr. McMahon will have a conference call with NYSERDA tomorrow to discuss future grant opportunities. 5. Transformer purchase update: The Transformers we have on order are still scheduled to arrive this spring. MED staff reviewed again our present inventory levels and are satisfied that we are presently in satisfactory condition. 6. Vehicle purchase update: The vehicles ordered will hopefully arrive this spring. Procurement of future vehicles remains a problem as New York State contract is no longer honored by vendors. 7. Conferral process: Mr. McMahon reminded the board that this process is an open door for the power authority to develop more renewables in New York State. It is unclear whether this will be an open door or an expectation for NYPA to develop more renewables. If the power authority is to develop new renewable energy sources it will be important to understand their expectations for the role of municipals and cooperatives to develop these new resources. 8. Direct transfer trip relaying: Massena Electric has a relaying system that needs attention due to poor communications from Verizon. Determining an acceptable and cost effective solution will require engineering on our part as well as collaboration with the power authority and Alcoa. The power authorities engineering department is presently reviewing. 9. Trailer purchase: Mr. Gray explained that a specialized trailer that was identified in the budget will be going out for bid. Mr. McMahon noted that he was hopeful that the bid would be presented to the board at next month's meeting.  Approved by the MEUB on 2/21/2024 Page |4 5) LEGAL ISSUES: by Eric Gustafson, Attorney: Mr. Gustafson had no remarks for open session. 6) UNFINISHED BUSINESS: 7) NEW BUSINESS: Mr. McMahon advised the board of the need to renew the Massena Police Departments after hours answering service. RESOLUTION: The Massena Electric Utility Board hereby approves the annual agreement between Massena Electric Department and Village of Massena Police Department for emergency telephone answering, during 2024, and to pay the sum of $7,750.00 for the services. Moved by Charles Raiti – Seconded by Rene Hart – All in Favor AMI - Mr. McMahon and Mr. Gray explained the progress being made on this project. It is hopeful that we go out to bid by the end of the month with proposals being reviewed in March. We are hopeful to deploy that pilot portion of this project in August. DEC Urban and Community Forest Grant - Mr. McMahon is pursuing this grant to remove Ash trees through DEC. Massena would qualify for this as the Eastern portion of our district is considered a disadvantaged community. NYAPP meeting- Mr. McMahon will attend this meeting with Chairman Shaw, Mr. Raiti and Mr. Dobbins. There will be a number of timely subjects covered including grant opportunities. 8) ARTICLES OF INTEREST: 9) SCHEDULE OF EVENTS: Next regular meeting scheduled February 21, 2024 at 1:00 pm 10) PUBLIC COMMENT: 11) EXECUTIVE SESSION: Motion to move into executive session at 2:05 p.m. Moved by Charles Raiti – Seconded by Richard Maginn- All in Favor Motion to move out of executive session at 2:25 p.m. Moved by Richard Maginn – Seconded by Charles Raiti -All in Favor Motion to adjourn at 2:25 p.m. Moved by Richard Maginn – Seconded by Charles Raiti - All in Favor