Massena Electric Department

Approved by the MEUB 7/18/2024 MASSENA ELECTRIC UTILITY BOARD MINUTES of Thursday, June 20, 2024 Town of Massena Electric Department – 71 East Hatfield Street Present: James Shaw Andrew McMahon, Superintendent Richard Maginn Jeffrey Dobbins, Treasurer John Bogosian -excused Matt Gray, Deputy Superintendent Charles Raiti-excused Margo Rochefort, Deputy Treasurer Rene Hart Patrick Facteau, Town Liaison Eric Gustafson, Attorney Raymond Lancto, Town Liaison Public, David Grant Chairman Shaw opened the meeting at 1:02 pm 1) APPROVAL OF MINUTES: RESOLUTION: The Massena Electric Utility Board hereby approves the minutes of the regular meeting of May 17, 2024 as presented. Moved by Rene Hart- 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 723 days. There were no reportable injuries in May. This brings the number of days without a reportable injury to 1,086 days. Pete Crowley with NEPPA was on-site to present an OSHA mandated training that covered pole top and bucket rescue. B. Customer Impact Chart: MED Customers experienced a comparatively low number of Customer Impact Minutes throughout the month of May, with only 416 minutes recorded. Given the low monthly CIM, our 12-month average is now at 12,921. This average is lowest we’ve seen in the last calendar year. C. Reliability: MED Crews responded to only six calls in the month of May, one of which contributed to our monthly CIM total. Of the six calls received, one call affected no Customers, four calls affected only one Customer and one call affected more than one Customer. The only Customer impact was due to a tree contact on Meadow Drive in Louisville. The tree fell as the result of a brush fire that the homeowner started. This outage affected four Customers for one- hour forty-six minutes. The remainder of the calls in May were routine in nature and of no impact. D. Work Schedule: Crews are nearing completion of the pole replacement job at the intersection of Hatfield and State Highway 420. This job is expected to be completed by mid-June.  Approved by the MEUB 7/18/2024 Crews completed a repair on the TB1 transformer at Massena Village Substation. The transformer was found to have elevated dissolved gases indicative of an internal over-heating condition. Black and MacDonald verified the condition as part of our follow-up analysis. They then performed an internal inspection and found a loose connection on the delta-wye switch. The connection was repaired and the unit energized with no load. Subsequent oil tests showed that the dissolved gas had decreased at which point load was returned to the transformer. Oil tests will be conducted over the coming weeks to verify that the repair was successful. 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 $11,264.24 as audited by Mr. Rene Hart. Moved by Rene Hart - Seconded by Richard Maginn - All in Favor B. Power Comparison Graph: Power Costs were $445,800 for the month. Supplemental Power costs were over $60,600 for May. Less than 2,500 MWh of incremental energy purchased. Zone D Average Energy rate was $24.40/MWh, higher than the rate from May 2023, down slightly from last month. Transmission related expenditures totaled over $179,000. UCAP (Unforced Capacity) was $42,600, significantly higher than April and $11,000 less than May 2023. UCAP Requirement was 9,500 kW compared to 9,900 last year, cost was $4.58/kW, down from $5.41/kW last year. Other Transmission charges were lower compared to April and totaled $126,400. Impact to Customers PPAC of 1.0¢/ kWh in June. C. Cash Flow: The Operating Fund increased by $81,000. The Operating Fund at month end was $7.95 MM. May receipts were over $1.245 MM, $18,000 less than budgeted. Customer payments remained steady for the month. Included additional LI-HEAP payments which will remain open until August. Interest revenue remained higher than budgeted. May expenditures totaled over $1.16 MM for the month. RESOLUTION: The Massena Electric Utility Board hereby approves the bills as audited by Mr. Rene Hart totaling $1,082,982.62. Moved by Rene Hart – Seconded by Richard Maginn - All in Favor 4) COMMITTEE REPORTS: by Andrew McMahon, Superintendent A. Personnel 1. Staff Update: Mr. McMahon informed the board that with the hot weather this week we have been trying to be sensitive to job assignments. He also noted the high temperatures is a primary reason why we work summer hours. Mr. Shaw asked about summer help. Mr. McMahon noted that we had not received any applications from students who meet our requirements.  Approved by the MEUB 7/18/2024 B. Finance & Economic Development 1. Energy Efficiency Programs: Nothing to report. 2. S&S software upgrade (Cloud servicing etc.): Treasurer Dobbins reported that the kick-off meeting for the project was scheduled for the following day, Friday June 21. The next phase of the project will be discovery, which will require S&S staff to be on-site in July. 3. KeyBank Credit Card Change: Treasurer Dobbins indicated that all questions had been answered by Key Bank and that only signatures were now needed. C. Engineering & Energy 1. Cybersecurity: Treasurer Dobbins reported that Dragos, the third party network monitoring platform used by the department, would be upgrading its equipment in the coming weeks. This upgrade will include some new functionality and will require some training to better utilize the product. Treasurer Dobbins also commented that thus far Dragos has not identified any areas of concern with the network. 2. EAB extra work: Mr. McMahon noted that as the board members have seen in the bills they just approved, we continue to work on the Emerald Ash borer issue. The impact of EAB is becoming more and more dramatic this year in the village. 3. NYSERDA projects: Mr. McMahon is working on the water heater project for NYSERDA. The work that SUNY Canton students did was incomplete and Mr. McMahon will be working on this project with the Dean of Engineering at SUNY Canton. 4. Grant funding CAC/IIJA/IRA: Mr. McMahon pointed out that Senator Schumer and Senator Gillibrand had put in ear marks in the Agriculture budget that would help us complete ash tree removal in the western portion of our service territory. This ear mark is for approximately $500,000. This grant is tied to the federal budget so a determination on it would not happen until the fall at the earliest or maybe early next year. The state DEC Grant for $230,000 has not been issued yet. The DEC had initially thought they would be making awards in May so we are hopeful that we will hear soon. 5. QEI SCADA software upgrade: Mr. Gray noted QEI has completed remote backups of our existing servers. They will now ship the new servers to MED and we will coordinate the switch over to the new servers. 6. Trailer purchase: Sauber Trailer has indicated that everything is on track for a late July or early August delivery. 7. AMI procurement schedule: MED staff and our consultants from PSE engineering met with four different vendors over the course of two days. They all have quality products and systems. We are working on determining the best fit for the money of these vendors. It is clear we will have a system that will improve our reliability and help us achieve a higher level of energy efficiency. Staff will be meeting with the engineering committee in the coming days to update them more fully on our progress. 5) LEGAL ISSUES: by Eric Gustafson, Attorney: Mr. Gustafson had no remarks for open session. 6) UNFINISHED BUSINESS:  Approved by the MEUB 7/18/2024 7) NEW BUSINESS: Sale of Surplus Vehicles Mr. McMahon informed the board we received 9 bids for the 2018 Chevy Tahoe, with the high bid being $20,465.00. The 2016 Chevy F-250 Super Duty received 5 bids with the highest being $7,200.00. RESOLUTION: The Massena Electric Utility Board hereby awards the bid for the 2018 Chevy Tahoe to the highest bidder in the amount of $20,465.00 Moved by Richard Maginn – Seconded by Rene Hart- All in Favor RESOLUTION: The Massena Electric Utility Board hereby awards the bid for the 2016 Chevy F-250 Super Duty to the highest bidder in the amount of $7,200.00 Moved by Richard Maginn – Seconded by Rene Hart- All in Favor Mr. McMahon then discussed the tree trimming bid. He stated that we were still analyzing the proposals. History of MED Video - Mr. McMahon started by noting the passing of long time MED liaison and Town Board member Albert Nicola. He then stated to the board that many of the key people who are involved in the creation of Massena Electric had passed. He suggested that while a handful of the central figures were still alive that we should dedicate some time and money to somehow document the creation history of Massena Electric and the success we have achieved through the years. Mr. Hart commented that he thought this was an excellent idea as did Mr. Shaw. After a short discussion, Mr. McMahon requested $1500 for this project. RESOLUTION: The Massena Electric Utility Board hereby authorizes funding for a History of MED video project, as requested by the Superintendent at a cost not to exceed $1500.00. Moved by Richard Maginn– Seconded by Rene Hart – All in Favor 8) ARTICLES OF INTEREST: 9) SCHEDULE OF EVENTS: Next regular meeting scheduled July 18, 2024 10) PUBLIC COMMENT: 11) EXECUTIVE SESSION: Motion to move into executive session at 2:24 pm. Moved by Rene Hart – Seconded by Richard Maginn - All in Favor  Page 5 Approved by the MEUB 7/18/2024 Motion to move out of executive session at 2:31 pm. Moved by Richard Maginn – Seconded by Rene Hart -All in Favor Tree Trimming Bid - Superintendent McMahon and Deputy Superintendent Gray reviewed the base work bids provided by the contractors and the additional work quotes included with the bids. After a review of these values, and assumptions of additional work requirements during the contract period, Putney Tree Service was deemed the low submitted bid. RESOLUTION: The Massena Electric Utility Board hereby awards the bid for tree trimming services to the low bidder, Putney Tree Service in the amount of $242,000.00, with additional work and storm work at the hourly rates included in the bid response. Moved by Richard Maginn– Seconded by Rene Hart – All in Favor Motion to adjourn at 2:31 pm Moved by Richard Maginn – Seconded by Rene Hart - All in Favor