Massena Electric Department

Approved by the MEUB 6/20/2024 Page 1 MASSENA ELECTRIC UTILITY BOARD MINUTES of Friday, May 17, 2024 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 Charles Raiti - excused Margo Rochefort, Deputy Treasurer Rene Hart Patrick Facteau, Town Liaison Eric Gustafson, Attorney Raymond Lancto, Town Liaison Chairman Shaw opened the meeting at 8:33 a.m. 1) APPROVAL OF MINUTES: RESOLUTION: The Massena Electric Utility Board hereby approves the minutes of the regular meeting of April 19, 2024 as presented. Moved by John Bogosian- 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 692 days. There were no reportable injuries in March. This brings the number of days without a reportable injury to 1,055 days. Steve Socoby with NEPPA was on-site to present an OSHA mandated training for Qualified Electric Personnel. B. Customer Impact Chart: MED Customers experienced only 1,762 Customer Impact Minutes in the month of April. Given the low monthly CIM our 12-month average has decreased to 13,835. This average continues to be well below the top quartile average. C. Reliability: MED Crews responded to eleven calls in the month of April, five of which contributed to our monthly CIM total. Of the eleven calls received, three calls affected no Customers, five calls affected only one Customer and three calls affected more than one Customer. The largest Customer impact was due to a faulted secondary conductor on Woodlawn Avenue. This issue affected twelve Customers for two-hours thirteen-minutes. The duration of the outage was impacted by the remote location of the fault. The remainder of the calls in April were relatively routine in nature and impact. D. Work Schedule: Crews are making good progress on the State Highway 420 and Hatfield Street intersection pole replacement project. Eight of the thirteen poles required for the job have been replaced. Crews installed a 600-foot primary line extension off of Tucker Terrace to feed the new Lakeview Cabins.  Approved by the MEUB 6/20/2024 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 $7,345.54 as audited by Mr. Rene Hart. Moved by Rene Hart - Seconded by Richard Maginn - All in Favor B. Power Comparison Graph: Power Costs were $487,400 for the month. Supplemental Power costs were over $120,710 for April. 5,140 MWh of incremental energy purchased. Zone D Average Energy rate was $23.50/MWh, higher than rate from April 2023, down slightly from March. Transmission related expenditures totaled $150,400, down from March. UCAP (Unforced Capacity) was $9,500, $3,000 less than March and April 2023. Other Transmission charges were down from March and totaled $140,900. Impact to Customers - PPAC of 0.6¢/ kWh in May. Peak Demand was 33,550 kW, very similar to previous years. MWh purchased, 17,400, in the range of what is expected for April. C. Cash Flow: The Operating Fund increased by $366,860. Increase was more than projected, expenditures in April were lower than expected. The Operating Fund at month end was $7.87 MM. April receipts were over $1.46 MM, $281,690 less than budgeted. Sales remain lower than budgeted. Interest revenue remained higher than budgeted. April expenditures totaled over $1 MM, this was $432,850 less than budgeted. RESOLUTION: The Massena Electric Utility Board hereby approves the bills as audited by Mr. Rene Hart totaling $989,472.21. 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 said there was nothing notable going on with the staff. Mr. McMahon has not hired a summer intern yet, but still may hire one to support some routine tasks. B. Finance & Economic Development 1. Energy Efficiency Programs: Treasurer Dobbins reported that the Village of Massena was planning some upgrades to the waste water treatment facility on E. Orvis St. The project would include upgrading some of the equipment and replacing the interior and exterior lighting with more efficient LED lights. A report from the engineer working on the project is expected in the near future and Treasurer Dobbins will review this with the Finance Committee. Treasurer Dobbins also noted that there were a couple of residential audits since the last meeting. 2. S&S software upgrade (Cloud servicing etc.): The agreements for this project have all been signed and Treasurer Dobbins expects the kick off meeting to occur in either late June or early July. Approved by the MEUB 6/20/2024 Page 3 3. KeyBank Credit Card Change: The application was reviewed in more detail by the Department’s legal counsel and there were no major concerns identified. Staff intends to submit the application now that the review by counsel is complete. C. Engineering & Energy 1. Cybersecurity: Treasurer Dobbins noted that the Department extended their agreement with Dragos. The extension is still part of NYPA’s community defense initiative and will include new hardware being installed at no cost to the Department 2. EAB extra work: Matt Gray gave update and discussed going out for bid for tree contractor. Mr. McMahon noted that he was hopeful to hear positive news on state UCF grant for Ash trees. This grant would be for $231,000. Additionally, we have asked for federal grant money. Mr. Dobbins reminded Mr. McMahon that we have expended the last approval for additional work and would need an additional approval to continue to do ash removal pending receipt of outside funds. RESOLUTION: The Massena Electric Utility Board hereby approves an additional $25,000 to remove Ash trees showing signs of EAB. Moved by John Bogosian- Seconded by Rene Hart - All in Favor 3. NYSERDA projects: Mr. McMahon updated the board that after some promising early work, the students at SUNY Canton dropped the ball on the NYSERDA water heater project. Mr. McMahon will work with the Dean of the Engineering department at SUNY Canton to finish up the water heater project. The other project that we thought we would get funding for has still not come to pass. Mr. Shaw expressed his disappointment with NYSERDA on these projects. 4. Grant funding CAC/IIJA/IRA: Mr. McMahon reminded the board that he, Mr. Shaw and Mr. Raiti had heard about an initial funding round under the IRA. This would be $200,000 for project design of initiatives that are consistent with the IRA. Mr. McMahon explained that we have done some preliminary technical work with Jon Tucker of TAS and that we have had contact with the Beneficial Electric League (BEL) to help us write the application to submit to New York state. 5. Transformer purchase update: We ordered the transformer in May 2023. At that time, the vendor indicated 54-week delivery. We will update the board on whether the unit shows up. 6. Vehicle purchase update: As discussed last month with the Board we went through the mini bid process, and it appears that the vehicles have come in at better than expected prices and favorable to the do not exceed number issued last month. 7. QEI SCADA software upgrade: QEI has begun the preliminary work of backing up all of our existing data. Over the next weeks they will receive and program the new head-end servers. Once this is complete, QEI personnel will be on-site for the installation of the new equipment. 8. Trailer purchase: The delivery of this equipment is still expected in Midsummer. 9. AMI procurement schedule: Mr. McMahon explained that we would likely have three vendors in during June to elaborate on their proposals.  Approved by the MEUB 6/20/2024 Page 4 10. Historic Priced TCC’s: Mr. McMahon reminded the board that over the last number of years we have continued to decline the Transmission Congestion Contracts (TCC's), but leave the option open for purchase in future years. While the “Clean Path” and “Smart Path” projects that NYPA is completing will change the market dynamics when completed, the staff recommends that we continue to use the same strategy as we have in previous years. Mr. Shaw noted that the revenues from the TCC have been declining. Mr. Dobbins and Mr. McMahon noted that we believe that this has more to do with the completion of enhancements to the Grid in western New York than in any other factor. There was a discussion between staff and the board on what the market conditions would be after NYPA’s two major upgrades. RESOLUTION: The Massena Electric Utility Board hereby authorizes Mr. McMahon to sign the TCC documents with NYISO, without asking for contracts. Moved by John Bogosian – Seconded by Rene Hart- All in Favor 5) LEGAL ISSUES: by Eric Gustafson, Attorney: Mr. Gustafson had no remarks for open session. 6) UNFINISHED BUSINESS: 7) NEW BUSINESS: 8) ARTICLES OF INTEREST: 9) SCHEDULE OF EVENTS: Next regular meeting scheduled June 20, 2024 10) PUBLIC COMMENT: 11) EXECUTIVE SESSION: Motion to move into executive session at 9:18 a.m. Moved by Rene Hart – Seconded by Richard Maginn - All in Favor NYMPA Settlement The MEUB reviewed the Mutual Release between NYMPA and the Town of Massena, Massena Electric Utility Board, Massena Electric Department and Superintendent McMahon. The release stops all proceedings related to the suite and under the terms the Department will pay NYMPA $250,000. The payment represents the Department’s portion of two hedges purchased by NYMPA for 2019. These hedges were purchased prior to the Department’s filing to leave the agency. Treasurer Dobbins reported that he had an exchange with NYPA regarding the recovery of this expense through the Purchase Power Adjustment Charge since the settlement with NYMPA was related to power costs. NYPA indicated this is an option and agreed that spreading over a 12-month period would be appropriate. The impact to customers over a 12-month period would be roughly $.001/kWh (1 mill).  Approved by the MEUB 6/20/2024 Page 5 RESOLUTION: The MEUB here by authorizes Chairman Shaw and Superintendent McMahon to sign the Mutual Release as agreed to with NYMPA, and here by authorizes a final payment to NYMPA of $250,000 to cover the cost of hedges purchased on behalf of the Department prior to its departure from the Agency. Moved by Rene Hart – Seconded by John Bogosian- All in Favor RESOLUTION: The MEUB here by authorizes recovery of the $250,000 settlement payment to NYMPA through the Purchase Power Adjustment Charge over the next 12-months. Moved by Rene Hart – Seconded by John Bogosian- All in Favor IBEW 1249 Employment Contract RESOLUTION: The MEUB here by authorizes Chairman Shaw to enter into an agreement per the Memorandum of agreement between IBEW 1249 (Massena Blue and White) and the Town of Massena Electric Department. Moved by John Bogosian – Seconded by Richard Maginn- All in Favor Motion to move out of executive session at 9:59 a.m. Moved by John Bogosian – Seconded by Richard Maginn -All in Favor Motion to adjourn at 9:59 a.m. Moved by John Bogosian – Seconded by Rene Hart - All in Favor