Massena Electric Department

Page 1 Approved by the MEUB 9/18/2024 MASSENA ELECTRIC UTILITY BOARD MINUTES of Wednesday, August 21, 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-excused Charles Raiti Margo Rochefort, Deputy Treasurer Rene Hart Raymond Lancto, Town Liaison Eric Gustafson, Attorney Chairman Shaw opened the meeting at 12:04 pm 1) APPROVAL OF MINUTES: RESOLUTION: The Massena Electric Utility Board hereby approves the minutes of the regular meeting of July 18, 2024 as presented. Moved by Rene Hart- Seconded by John Bogosian - 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 784 days. As of July 31st, 2024, MED has been 41 days without a reportable injury. MED experienced a reportable injury on June 20th when an Employee cut their forearm while stripping wire. The Employee is currently working with no lingering effects from the injury. B. Customer Impact Chart: MED Customers experienced 43,651 Customer Impact Minutes throughout the month of July. This is the largest CIM total since last September resulting in an increase in our 12-month average which is now at 16,208. An increase of approximately three thousand since last month. C. Reliability: MED Crews responded to fifteen calls in the month of July, eleven of which contributed to our monthly CIM total. Of the fifteen calls received, one call affected no Customers, eleven calls affected only one Customer and three calls affected more than one Customer. The largest customer impact was the result of a severe thunderstorm on July 24th which caused Breaker 3301 to trip to lockout. This outage affected nine hundred-six Customers for forty minutes and involved approximately thirty-six thousand Customer impact minutes. The two other large CIM contributors were a blown fuse on South Raquette Road that affected one hundred-fifty-seven Customer for twenty-eight minutes and a broken primary tap on County Route 42 that affected fifty Customers for forty-six minutes. The remainder of the calls involved minimal Customer impact and were easily addressed.  Page 2 Approved by the MEUB 9/18/2024 D. Work Schedule: MED staff are working with representatives from Air Products to install a temporary feed to the site to support construction activities. This project will entail the installation of a three-phase primary line extension and primary metering arrangement. This project is currently in the design review phase. MED staff are working with landowners adjacent to the Fregoe Road line relocation project. This project is in phase two and will involve the relocation of the MED facilities to the Langtry property. Actual construction of the new line segment is expected in the near future at the request of NYPA. MED staff and legal counsel are in the process of securing an easement with the affected landowner. Crews are working on a rebuild of the St Hwy 37 crossing near the intersection of St Hwy 37C. This improvement will provide increased clearance over the highway. 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 $2,263.63 as audited by Mr. Rene Hart. Moved by Rene Hart - Seconded by Richard Maginn - All in Favor B. Power Comparison Graph: Power Costs were $527,840 for the month. Even though over $527,000 for the month, down from July 2023 - $574,780. Supplemental Power costs were $164,400 for July. 4,320 MWh of incremental energy purchased. Zone D Average Energy rate was $38.00/MWh, higher than the rate from July 2023 and up from June. Prices exceeded $90/MWh during several hours in July due to hot temperatures. Transmission related expenditures totaled over $144,860, this was down from June. UCAP (Unforced Capacity) was over $40,000 in July. Other Transmission charges were lower compared to June and totaled $104,860. Impact to Customers PPAC of 2.0¢/ kWh in August. C. Cash Flow: The Operating Fund increased by $53,250. The Operating Fund at month end was $8 MM. July receipts were $988,700, $65,000 less than budgeted. Sales remain less than budgeted. Interest revenue continues to be higher than budgeted. July expenditures totaled over $935,476, $179,000 less than budgeted. RESOLUTION: The Massena Electric Utility Board hereby approves the bills as audited by Mr. Rene Hart totaling $966,497.50. 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 the continued absence of one front office employee who is preparing for her impending retirement. On the advice of her doctor, she will not be returning to work prior to her retirement.  Page 3 Approved by the MEUB 9/18/2024 B. Finance & Economic Development 1. Energy Efficiency Programs: Treasurer Dobbins reported that a couple of residential audits were being done in the next few days and that 1 commercial customer completed a lighting upgrade identified in an audit performed earlier in the year. Energy Answers has done a follow up inspection to confirm the project was completed. RESOLUTION: The Massena Electric Utility Board hereby approves a commercial energy efficiency credit in the amount of $772.15. Moved by Rene Hart – Seconded by Charles Raiti - All in Favor 2. S&S software upgrade (Cloud servicing etc.): Staff continues to work with S&S on the upgrade of the Department’s billing and financial management system to enQuesta v6. Treasurer Dobbins noted that the VPN for the cloud services was in place and that S&S had started working on the new database. The first round of training will begin in early Sept and it is expected that additional training and testing will start in Sept as well. 3. KeyBank Credit Card Change: This process is still ongoing and Treasurer Dobbins noted that he had received 1 follow up question from Key Bank. The response was submitted the following day and he is now awaiting any further questions or confirmation that Massena Electric was approved. 3. Insurance review: Treasurer Dobbins updated the board on a recent visit by the Executive Director of PURMA, Nichole Magnifico. PURMA is the risk management association that Massena Electric is a member of and the source for several of the Department’s insurance coverages. Each year PURMA does an insurance review for all members either virtually or in person. This was Ms. Magnifico’s first in-person visit to Massena. Superintendent McMahon and Deputy Treasurer Rochefort also participated in the meeting. The review looks at all coverages held by the Department, not just those through PURMA and its affiliates. No specific gaps were identified. Treasurer Dobbins did note that he is still reviewing the Public Officials’ Liability coverage they utilize through the Town. The Town changed carriers this year that resulted in a significant reduction to the cost of the coverage. The old program also included Employment Practices Liability coverage. Since there was a significant reduction in cost, Treasurer Dobbins wants to confirm there was not a reduction in coverage too. He has reached out to the Town and is waiting for the full policy document to review what is included in the coverage. C. Engineering & Energy 1. Cybersecurity: The Department and its third-party contractor continue to monitor the networks of the Department. No deficiencies have been identified based on present operations. Treasurer Dobbins discussed the upcoming migration to the new version of enQuesta, the Department’s billing and financial management system, as well as the AMI. Each of these projects will require additional work related to the networks which will include some additional hardware and software to assist with keeping the networks secure. 2. EAB extra work: Mr. McMahon stated that we continue to work on tree trimming and are taking down some ash trees, but only those that must be taken down. He noted that he will do a better job going forward on informing customers of what trees the Department will be taking down. The Department will only be taking down trees that impact its operations, not all ash trees in the designated areas.  Page 4 Approved by the MEUB 9/18/2024 Some recent inquiries by residents wanting trees removed in areas away from our lines indicate confusion by some on the Department’s scope of work related to ash tree removal. Mr. McMahon also indicated the Department is taking a brief break from tree removals until we have received the go ahead to use the state funds that were addressed in the grant from the DEC. 3. NYSERDA projects: The water heater project is on pause until canton students return to school. At that point we hope to have students who will want to complete this grant. 4. Grant funding, Federal and State: We have two PACES grants pending. One is for battery storage and the other is for AMI. We are increasingly concerned about battery storage projects due to concerns raised in the article in the board packet. We are, however, hopeful about getting financial support for the AMI project and having the timing work out. Staff has also put in a grant to receive funds technical analysis on the proposed 2305 W. Massena infrastructure support project. 5. QEI SCADA software upgrade: QEI was onsite to initialize the new SCADA servers. This was done with minimal interruption in coverage and was completed ahead of schedule. QEI and MED personnel are now working to address lingering follow-up items. 6. Trailer purchase: MED received the wire pulling trailer and everything seems to be in order. The vendor is now coordinating an on-site demonstration for all line personnel. We are hopeful that this will take place in September. 7. AMI procurement schedule: Mr. McMahon explained that staff has gone through references for a number of the vendor finalist. We've discussed the usage and dependability of AMI systems with multiple utilities. Mr. McMahon commented that it was surprising to him that many of the utilities were under utilizing the AMI system. Mr. McMahon expects to make calls with vendors in the coming weeks to go through point by point the functionality we hope to utilize to assure that the vendors can easily deliver on these functions. We are also hoping, as mentioned previously, that we can work out the timing of grants to support this expensive project. 8. Tree Power Program: Mr. McMahon noted that we did not receive funding from ALCOA this year to support our tree power activities. We will therefore be taking funds out of our energy efficiency account. Staff intends to leverage NYPA's tree power discount program to support activities this year. 5) LEGAL ISSUES: by Eric Gustafson, Attorney: Mr. Gustafson had no remarks for open session. 6) UNFINISHED BUSINESS: History of MED Video 7) NEW BUSINESS: Sale of Surplus Vehicles Mr. McMahon informed the board we received 6 bids for the 2016 Chevrolet Traverse with the high bid being $5,300.00, the 2015 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 received 3 bids with the highest being $6,300.00 and the Chevrolet Silverado 3500 received 3 with the highest bid being $20,100, for a total of $31,700.00.  Page 5 Approved by the MEUB 9/18/2024 RESOLUTION: The Massena Electric Utility Board hereby approves the sale of the surplus vehicles to the highest bidders, for a total amount of $31,700.00. Moved by Charles Raiti – Seconded by John Bogosian- All in Favor APPA BOD Vacancy RESOLUTION: The Massena Electric Utility Board hereby approves motion made for Andy McMahon to apply for vacancy on the APPA BOD. Moved by John Bogosian – Seconded by Rene Hart- All in Favor 8) ARTICLES OF INTEREST: 9) SCHEDULE OF EVENTS: Next regular meeting scheduled September 19, 2024 10) PUBLIC COMMENT: 11) EXECUTIVE SESSION: Motion to move into executive session at 1:05 pm. Moved by Rene Hart – Seconded by John Bogosian - All in Favor Motion to move out of executive session at 3:35 pm. Moved by John Bogosian – Seconded by Richard Maginn -All in Favor Motion to adjourn at 3:35 pm Moved by John Bogosian – Seconded by Charles Raiti - All in Favor