Massena Electric Department

Pending Approval by the MEUB Page |1 MASSENA ELECTRIC UTILITY BOARD MINUTES of Thursday, MARCH 21, 2024 Town of Massena Electric Department – 71 East Hatfield Street Present: James Shaw - excused Andrew McMahon, Superintendent Richard Maginn Jeffrey Dobbins, Treasurer John Bogosian – excused Matt Gray, Deputy Superintendent Charles Raiti Margo Rochefort, Deputy Treasurer Rene Hart Patrick Facteau, Town Liaison Eric Gustafson, Attorney Raymond Lancto, Town Liaison Public, David Grant-via Zoom William Freitag, BST Jeremy DeBarr, BST Trevor Caroll, BST Board member Hart opened the Audit Review portion of the meeting at 12:00 pm and recognized BST, the outside audit firm of the Department. Bill Freitag and Jeremy DeBarr of BST updated the MEUB on the status of the 2023 Audit. The initial Audit work for the audit started in January remotely, and Mr. DeBarr noted that the onsite field work was nearly complete. Trevor Carroll of BST was also in attendance for the presentation and had been onsite with Mr. DeBarr since Monday, March 18th. Based on the field work completed and documents provided an unqualified, clean opinion was expected. There were no findings, changes or adjustments to the financial statements provided by management. Mr. Freitag then reviewed the statements, which included a net profit of over $1.8 million. The final statements will be released once the Management Discussion and Analysis is completed by management and reviewed by BST. Board member Hart opened the meeting at 1:00 p.m. 1) APPROVAL OF MINUTES: RESOLUTION: The Massena Electric Utility Board hereby approves the minutes of the regular meeting of February 21, 2024 as presented. Moved by Charles Raiti - Seconded by Richard Maginn - 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 631 days. There were no reportable injuries in February. This brings the number of days without a reportable injury to 994 days.  Pending Approval by the MEUB Page |2 B. Customer Impact Chart: MED Customers continue to experience very low Customer impacts with only 1,227 minutes recorded in February. With this continued decrease in monthly CIMs, the 12-month average has decreased to 16,466. The lowest it has been in the last calendar year. C. Reliability: MED Crews addressed eleven calls throughout the month of February, the majority of which occurred during a high wind event on the 28th and 29th. In total, MED Crews responded to one call that affected no Customers, six calls that affected only one Customer and four calls that affected more than one Customer. The largest Customer impact was due to a tree contact on Grantville Road that affected eleven Customers for thirty-seven minutes. The remainder of the calls in February were minimal in impact and quickly corrected. D. Work Schedule: Crews are continuing to install fused cutouts on all transformers in the village. Crews are continuing with private area light conversions to LED with a focus on areas outside the Village. Given the mild weather that we’ve been experiencing, MED Crews have continued to replace poles around the district. 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 $1,962.39 as audited by Mr. Rene Hart. Moved by Charles Raiti - Seconded by Richard Maginn - All in Favor B. Power Comparison Graph: Power Costs were $715,600 for the month. Over $100,000 less than 2023 and over $500,000 less than 2022, the 5-year max. Supplemental Power costs were over $246,400 for February. 9,130 MWh of incremental energy purchased. Zone D Average Energy rate was over $27/MWh, lower than Feb. 2023 and $24/MWh less than Jan. Transmission related expenditures totaled $232,800, up from Jan and compared to Feb 2023. UCAP (Unforced Capacity) was over $43,400 for the month – 9,800 kW x $4.43/kW. Other NYISO charges were also higher for Feb and totaled $93,700. Impact to Customers - Base PPAC for March of 1.1¢/ kWh, Supplemental PPAC of 2.0¢/ kWh. Base is similar to Feb 2023, Supplemental 1.3¢ lower. Supplemental 2.5¢ lower than Feb which was 4.5¢/ kWh. MWh purchased, over 22,250, in the range of what is expected for Feb. Peak Demand was 39,927, typically over 40,000 kW in Feb., over 45,000 in Feb 2022 & 2023. 5-year max was 47,000 from last year. C. Cash Flow: The Operating Fund decreased by $296,400, decrease was more than projected. The Operating Fund at month end was $7.1 MM. February receipts were over $1.36 MM. Mild second half of Jan and full month of Feb contributed to lower sales in Feb. Interest revenue remained higher than budgeted for the month. February expenditures totaled roughly $1.66 MM, this was $232,474 less than budgeted. RESOLUTION: The Massena Electric Utility Board hereby approves the bills as audited by Mr. Rene Hart totaling $989,970.01. Moved by Charles Raiti – Seconded by Richard Maginn - All in Favor  Pending Approval by the MEUB Page |3 4) COMMITTEE REPORTS: by Andrew McMahon, Superintendent A. Personnel 1. Staff Update: Mr. McMahon advised the board that the staff is relatively healthy and there is nothing further notable to discuss. Mr. McMahon also reminded the board that MED would be advertising for summer interns, and indicated that the Department had already received a number of attractive applicants. B. Finance & Economic Development 1. Energy Efficiency Programs: Treasurer Dobbins reported that there had been a couple of commercial audits performed and one residential audit since the last meeting, and that there were no credit requests at this time. He also indicted that report on efficiency activities and system improvements that are required under the Long-Term Agreement with NYPA was nearly complete and showed that the Department was in compliance with this requirement. 2. Building damage (completion): Deputy Superintendent Gray indicated that all work related to the damages was complete. The building work was completed since the last meeting and Treasurer Dobbins noted that all documents had been submitted to the Insurance company for reimbursement. 3. S&S software upgrade (Cloud servicing etc.): The 2023 & 2024 capital budget included IT upgrades. This included upgrades to the Departments Customer Information System (CIS/billing) and Financial Management System (FMS), enQuesta. Treasurer Dobbins noted they had been discussing this upgrade for the past 2-years and with the plan to move forward with the AMI project upgrading the CIS/FMS at this time was needed. He then reported that the upgrade estimate did come in significantly higher than budgeted. The estimate includes upgrading to the latest version of enQuesta (v6) and going to cloud hosting with the provider Systems & Software. Since the Department is agreeing to the cloud hosting, Treasurer Dobbins reported that S&S was also willing to enter into a 5-year maintenance agreement that included 2.5% annual increases. This increase is half the normal increase to the annual maintenance paid by the Department. RESOLUTION: The Massena Electric Utility Board hereby approves the upgrade of the CIS/FMS software enQuesta to version 6 at a cost not to exceed $500,000. Moved by Charles Raiti – Seconded by Richard Maginn – All in Favor RESOLUTION: The Massena Electric Utility Board hereby authorizes Treasurer Dobbins to enter into a Five-year support and maintenance agreement for enQuesta version 6 and sign the updated master agreement with S&S that includes the hosting and licensing agreements associated with the upgrade. Moved by Charles Raiti – Seconded by Richard Maginn – All in Favor Pending Approval by the MEUB Page |4 4. KeyBank Change: Treasurer Dobbins updated the MEUB on conversations he and Deputy Treasurer Rochefort recently had with Key Bank regarding the Credit Cards. The cards presently utilized by Department staff have been in place for over 10-years and are considered small business cards. Since initially getting the cards the Department is now considered an institutional customer of Key Bank, making them eligible for different cards that would include the ability to earn account credits for purchases made on the card. This change would require the Department to complete a Key2Business application and an Officer’s Certification. These documents were provided to the Department’s legal counsel for their review. Mr. Gustafson noted that he did not see any issues with his initial review and that he planned to review them again with Treasurer Dobbins prior to anyone signing the documents. RESOLUTION: The Massena Electric Utility Board hereby authorizes management to sign the Key2Business Application and Officer’s Certification, pending final approval from Mr. Gustafson. Moved by Charles Raiti – Seconded by Richard Maginn – All in Favor C. Engineering & Energy 1. Cybersecurity: Mr. McMahon told the board that there was nothing notable to discuss on the subject, but our efforts still continue. 2. EAB extra work: Mr. McMahon pointed out that over $8,000 was spent on EAB extras in February. Mrs. Rochefort noted that under our last resolution for extra work we had approved $25,000 and we have now spent half of it. Mr. McMahon said he remains hopeful that we will receive the $230,000 grant from New York State DEC. 3. NYSERDA projects: Superintendent McMahon reported one of the two projects we were approved for still has had no movement and that the water heater project with SUNY Canton students was progressing. The Canton students are targeting the end of April for Capstone presentation. 4. Grant funding CAC/IIJA/IRA: NYSERDA reported in late January that they would be having a webinar to discuss rollout of the money set aside specifically for municipalities and co-opsin February. To date, we have not had that webinar. However, Massena electric has reached out to one of our engineers to start evaluating some potential projects, so that when the door opens, we are ready to move. 5. Transformer purchase update: The timeline for delivery on these continues to slide due to supply chain issues. 6. Vehicle purchase update: These vehicles were originally ordered in June 2023. Again, we have had supply chain issues related to these purchases and the delivery date is targeted for June. 7. Additional vehicle purchase proposal: Mr. McMahon and Mr. Gray explained a purchasing process through the state where we believe we can get better delivery times and perhaps pricing. Mr. McMahon recommended the purchase of three vehicles. Two of the vehicles were budgeted to be procured in 2024 and the third was targeted for 2025. The third vehicle, a plow truck that is utilized by Department staff has shown a rapid decline in its mechanical condition. Due to that decline, Mr. McMahon recommended accelerating the replacement of the truck and plow as well as the two that were budgeted.  Pending Approval by the MEUB Page |5 RESOLUTION: The Massena Electric Utility Board hereby authorizes the purchase of the three vehicles and required equipment requested by the Superintendent at a cost not to exceed $195,000. Moved by Richard Maginn– Seconded by Charles Raiti – All in Favor 8. QEI SCADA software upgrade: Mr. McMahon advised the board that this was a scheduled upgrade. He also noted that we had initially budgeted $100,000 for this project but believes now that it will come in slightly under the target. RESOLUTION: The Massena Electric Utility Board hereby approves the upgrade of the SCADA system at a cost not to exceed $100,000. Moved by Richard Maginn– Seconded by Charles Raiti - All in Favor 9. Trailer purchase: Mr. Gray advised the board that consistent with the board’s resolution in support of this purchase. The purchase order has been sent out and the delivery is expected in July. 10. AMI procurement schedule: Mr. McMahon explained that MED and consultation with PSE had initially targeted an August pilot deployment of these two-way meters. After sending out our RFP response from vendors indicated that this was a schedule that very few of them could meet. With that in mind, and to get the most vendors, MED staff is recommending we delay deployment of the pilot project until March 2025. The MED board had approved spending $250,000 on this project in 2024 but because of the delay in the pilot project we are expecting to spend far less this year. The overall cost of the project will not be impacted. 5) LEGAL ISSUES: by Eric Gustafson, Attorney: Mr. Gustafson had no remarks for open session. 6) UNFINISHED BUSINESS: Webinars: Mr. McMahon highlighted, some of the webinars that staff has been participating in through the winter that will hopefully assist MED in remaining highly capable in cyber security, reliability, and especially safety. NYAPP, Albany meetings: Mr. McMahon participated with the trade association in meeting with a number of legislators and key administrators early in March. The key issues discussed were the rollout of the NYCI (New York Cap and Investment) program, and the financial, reliability, and overall timing concerns of various state decarbonization programs. 7) NEW BUSINESS: 8) ARTICLES OF INTEREST: 9) SCHEDULE OF EVENTS: Next regular meeting scheduled April 19, 2024 at 1:00 pm  Pending Approval by the MEUB Page |6 10) PUBLIC COMMENT: 11) EXECUTIVE SESSION: Motion to move into executive session at 2:04 p.m. Moved by Charles Raiti – Seconded by Richard Maginn- All in Favor Motion to move out of executive session at 2:06 p.m. Moved by Charles Raiti – Seconded by Richard Maginn -All in Favor Motion to adjourn at 2:06 p.m. Moved by Charles Raiti – Seconded by Richard Maginn - All in Favor