Massena Electric Department

Approved by the MEUB 12/19/2024 Page |1 MASSENA ELECTRIC UTILITY BOARD MINUTES of Thursday, November 21, 2024 Town of Massena Electric Department – 71 East Hatfield Street Present: James Shaw Andrew McMahon, Superintendent Richard Maginn Jeffrey Dobbins, Treasurer Rene Hart Matt Gray, Deputy Superintendent Charles Raiti Margo Rochefort, Deputy Treasurer Mark Ryan Raymond Lancto, Town Liaison Eric Gustafson, Attorney - excused Patrick Facteau, Town Liaison - excused 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 October 21, 2024 as presented. Moved by Richard Maginn- 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 876 days. As of October 31st, 2024, MED has been 133 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. Pete Crowley with NEPPA was onsite to present an OSHA mandated training on fire suppression techniques as well as hearing conservation best practices. B. Customer Impact Chart: MED Customers experienced only 21,277 Customer Impact Minutes throughout the month of October. Even though the monthly CIM was higher than most months, the 12-month average remains relatively unchanged from last month and is at 14,165. C. Reliability: MED Crews responded to twelve calls during the month of October. Of the calls received seven contributed to our monthly CIM. Also, two of the calls involved a momentary outage. Of the calls received, two calls affected no Customers, four calls affected only one Customer and six calls affected more than one Customer. The largest CIM contributor occurred on the 31st when a pine tree broke during a wind event and landed on the main line primary in the vicinity of the Mohawk Housing. This outage affected five hundred fifty-three Customers for thirty-seven minutes. MED also responded to three calls in October that involved animal contacts. Two of those calls affected only a single transformer and the third involved a momentary outage on Circuit 2301. The remainder of the calls in October involved little to no Customer Impact and were resolved with minimal effort.  Approved by the MEUB 12/19/2024 Page |2 D. Work Schedule: MED staff continue to work 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 Crews have completed a 7-pole change-out on County Route 36 in the Town of Louisville. The poles that were replaced were moved closer to the road so that they could be easily maintained in the future. MED Crews are addressing poles in need of replacement on Roosevelt Road. 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 $2,747.36 as audited by Mr. Rene Hart. Moved by Rene Hart - Seconded by Richard Maginn - All in Favor B. Power Comparison Graph: Power Costs were $454,730 for the month. October Peak Demand 26,800 kW, low end for Oct. Set Oct. 29th at 9:00 am. Low the night before was below freezing. MWh purchased, 14,660 MWh. Overall a mild month. Supplemental Power costs were only $56,700. During October 1,760 MWh of incremental energy purchased. Zone D Average Energy rate was $32.30/MWh. Transmission related expenditures totaled $187,900. UCAP (Unforced Capacity) was over $37,850 in Oct. Other ISO charges reflect costs for Sept. and were over $73,640. Other Transmission charges were similar to Sep and totaled $76,400. CES totaled $50,440. Impact to Customers PPAC of .7¢/ kWh in November. C. Cash Flow: The Operating Fund increased by $131,350. The Operating Fund balance at month end was 7.8 MM. October receipts were 915,500, a little less than budgeted. Sales remain less than budgeted. Interest revenue $20,740 was higher than budgeted, offsetting some of the lower sales. October expenditures totaled over $781,000, $139,400 less than budgeted. RESOLUTION: The Massena Electric Utility Board hereby approves the bills as audited by Mr. Rene Hart totaling $739,859.68. Moved by Rene Hart – Seconded by Charles Raiti- All in Favor 4) COMMITTEE REPORTS: by Andrew McMahon, Superintendent A. Personnel 1. Staff Update: Mr. McMahon informed the board that the front office staff member who has been out on leave has submitted retirement papers. He will prepare a resolution to thank the employee at next month’s board meeting. Mr. McMahon informed the board that we will be looking for training opportunities for staff to take advantage of during the winter weather. Approved by the MEUB 12/19/2024 Page |3 B. Finance & Economic Development 1. Energy Efficiency Programs: Treasurer Dobbins reported that one landlord and one residential customer did request credits. The landlord request is the final amount available related to a large lighting project approved for the customer. The final payment to this customer will be reflected in next month’s abstract. As a not for profit, they are eligible to receive a payment for materials purchased. Treasurer Dobbins also noted that another landlord has requested an audit of some rental units. The landlord submitted waivers for 4 rental properties they would like to make improvements to. The residential credit is for a customer that had an audit earlier in the year. The credit request is for only one of the measures identified in the audit. Since all the recommendations were not completed, the credit request does not include the audit fee. RESOLUTION: The Massena Electric Utility Board hereby approves the residential energy efficiency credit in the amount of $315.21. Moved by Charles Raiti – Seconded by Rene Hart- All in Favor 2. S&S Software Upgrade (Cloud servicing etc.): Treasurer Dobbins indicated that testing is ongoing and continues to be slower than anticipated. S&S is addressing the issues that have been identified. Deputy Treasurer Rochefort noted that in addition to weekly meetings with the implementation team, she and Treasurer Dobbins have been meeting with senior managers at S&S. Having access to these managers has proven to be helpful and to move the project along. The concerns with the project moving slower than hoped, is similar to what Freeport experienced. While at the NYAPP meeting in Long Island, Treasurer Dobbins and Superintendent McMahon visited Freeport to discuss their experience with the new version enQuesta. Freeport has been in the new system for almost a year. The staff did say it took nearly 2-years to implement and that they too experienced some issues with the implementation team. After some changes to the team and additional work internally, they were able to move forward and implement the new version. Since then they have been very pleased with the product. It works and any issues that have occurred are addressed in a timely manner. C. Engineering & Energy 1. Cybersecurity: Treasurer Dobbins reported there were no significant events or issue since the last meeting. 2. EAB extra work: Mr. McMahon noted that there was one ash tree taken down by Putney Tree Service this past month. It would not have been eligible for use of DEC Grant funding and it needed to come down. 3. NYSERDA Projects: We have a new grant to study the system. Grant 5737 was proposed to look at multiple improvement projects with PSE. We still have to submit paperwork and sign a contract with NYSERDA and PSE but this grant looks more promising than other NYSERDA grants. 4. Grant Funding, Federal and State: Mr. McMahon has participated in a number of calls from APPA and Beneficial Electric League subsequent to the election. Most feedback on the grants is that much of it will survive, especially if contracts are signed.  Approved by the MEUB 12/19/2024 Page |4 5. AMI Procurement Update: Mr. McMahon noted that we are moving forward on this project with Eaton. We are in the process of finalizing a master agreement. It is unclear how long it will take to get equipment and get it installed. Staff will update the board as we know more. The status of the PACES grant, which we have been approved for by RUS with Today’s Power, is still unknown and has not been signed. 6. Tree Power Program: The trees have been delivered and mostly installed in Louisville. Due to the size of the trees we had to have North Raquette Greenery do the installation of these trees. In the past, the village of Massena has done these installations of the larger trees. Unfortunately, the town of Louisville does not have equipment which could support this work. 5) LEGAL ISSUES: by Eric Gustafson, Attorney: 6) UNFINISHED BUSINESS: History of MED Video: Mr. McMahon is still videotaping interviews with people involved in the creation and operation of Massena Electric. McMahon and Mr. Raiti are trying to get video and still photography from the early years of MED’s operation. NYAPP meeting: Mr. McMahon discussed the NYAPP meeting that he attended with Mr. Dobbins, Mr. Shaw, Mr. Raiti and Mr. Ryan. Mr. McMahon said he would provide a written summary of the meeting next month. He did note that he and Mr. Dobbins met with staff members from Freeport Electric. Freeport uses the same front office software that we are now installing. That was especially helpful to our ongoing billing transition. 7) NEW BUSINESS: Policy review: Treasurer Dobbins discussed the annual review of the Department’s policies. This is performed annually by the board and Treasurer Dobbins indicated that there were no proposed changes to the policies. Mr. McMahon circulated a card he had received from PAL staff member Darcy Fregoe. Darcy is a former MCS teacher who was actively involved in teaching students about electric, Massena Electric and renewables while she was a teacher. When Mr. McMahon found out she had been brought on at PAL to work with young students he said he remembered a renewable energy kit he had purchased just before Covid. Since the outreach activity planned for that time was cancelled the kit had been unused. Mr. McMahon said he thinks it worked out very well that an educator like Mrs. Fregoe would be involved in utilizing this kit and educating the many young people who participate at the facility. 8) ARTICLES OF INTEREST: 9) SCHEDULE OF EVENTS: Next regular meeting scheduled December 19, 2024 10) PUBLIC COMMENT:  Approved by the MEUB 12/19/2024 Page |5 11) EXECUTIVE SESSION: Motion to move into executive session at 2:15 pm. Moved by Charles Raiti – Seconded by Renee Hart - All in Favor Motion to move out of executive session at 2:43 pm. Moved by Richard Maginn – Seconded by Mark Ryan -All in Favor Motion to adjourn at 2:44 pm Moved by Richard Maginn – Seconded by Mark Ryan - All in Favor