Utility Commission

Waunakee Utilities Commission Meeting December 21, 2021 Members Present: Paul Endres Shirley Nelson John Roessler Chris Zellner Steve Kraus Others Present: Tim Herlitzka Randy Dorn Absent: Roxanne Johnson Gary Herzberg John Roessler called the regular meeting of the Waunakee Utilities Commission to order. Minutes A motion was made by Shirley Nelson and seconded by Chris Zellner to approve the minutes of the November 22, 2021 Utilities Commission meeting. Motion carried. Bills The list of bills was reviewed. A motion was made by John Roessler and seconded by Paul Endres to approve payment of the following bills: Total Vendor Description $ 254.70 AFLAC * Monthly premiums 680.40 American Public Power Assoc. Reliability tracker 435.07 Auto Value Waunakee Truck parts 68.44 BP * Gasoline for trucks 129.75 B Rail, LLC Refunds 38.04 Burgard, Kim Refund 250.68 Cintas Corporation Uniforms 498.00 Control Works Building maintenance 3,118.79 Core & Main Water/sewer meters 502.00 Coverall North American, Inc. Cleaning service 3,631.97 Crescent Electric Metering, OH & UG maintenance 637.00 Dane Lumber & Home Center Building maintenance 251.14 Dish * Monthly service 28,423.13 EFTPS * 941 taxes 6,680.00 Empower Retirement * Deferred Compensation & Roth 210.00 EPS Engineering & Design URD maintenance 2,007.64 Exxon Mobil * Gasoline for trucks 4,633.00 GLS Utility, LLC Locating services 20.94 Grainger Well maintenance 332.90 Interstate Power Systems Building maintenance 1,888.75 LMS Construction, Inc. Maintenance of water services 4,892.40 Martelle Water Treatment Chemicals for wells 55.00 MEUW Event registration 225.58 Napa Auto Parts Truck parts 368.22 Northeast WI Technical College Apprentice line worker training 288.60 Northern Lake Service, Inc. Water samples for Octopi 1,100.00 North Shore Bank * Deferred Compensation 700.76 NWTC Bookstore Books & supplies for apprentice line worker 610.54 Office Depot Office supplies 68,947.21 Payroll* 12/3 & 12/17 1  935.00 Pinnacle Landscaping, Inc. URD maintenance 142.95 Pitney Bowes Equipment rental 169.50 Registration Fee Trust * Title/license for trailer 5,450.35 Resco Inventory & URD maintenance 544.09 Rhyme Business Products * Monthly lease payment & usage charges 776.32 Securian Financial Group * Life insurance premiums 4,475.41 SEERA c/o Wipfli, LLP November Focus on Energy program fees 378.00 Stafford Rosenbaum Legal: Electric & sewer issues 2,547.35 State Bank of CP/Credit card payment * School expenses, shop supplies, well maintenance, truck parts, office supplies, minute book, sewer camera expense, trailer maintenance & hotel exp. for conf. 18,300.00 Statz, Carl F. New trailer 5,842.31 Strand Associates, Inc. Verleen Ave. tank repainting 758.00 Stuart C Irby Co. Transformer maintenance 109.73 T A S Communications * Answering service 972.18 TDS Telecom * Monthly phone & modem service 2,790.16 Tri-County Paving Water lateral leak & water main maintenance 3,526.02 TSTM, Inc. Electric metering 865.90 USA BlueBook Water meter testing supplies & well maintenance 391.75 U.S. Cellular * Monthly cell phone service 164,110.08 Village of Waunakee Flexplan, refuse/Nov., electric & water taxes, economic development contribution and re-bill for : Mechanic 835.81 Vogel Bros. Building Co. Refund on Deposit 551.99 Waunakee Power Equipment OH maintenance 60.00 Wil-Kil Pest Control Pest control 18,410.15 WI Dept. of Revenue * State & sales taxes paid 782,628.18 WPPI Energy November power bill 8,883.88 WPPI Energy Meter data collection & mgmt., utility billing & CIS, shared meter technician, low-income admin. service fee, hosted e-mail & financial and accounting software, cyber security, member network assessment & monitoring, member network support, member/WPPI WAN and Verizon charges 15,511.04 WI Retirement System * Retirement - November 45.00 Wisconsin Rural Water Association Membership renewal 26.00 WI State Lab of Hygiene Water samples 91.90 Yu, Fei Refund Bills Received Subsequent to Packed Delivery $ 532.91 Ace Hardware Miscellaneous parts/supplies 253.82 Cintas Corporation Uniforms 1,614.41 Delta Dental Monthly dental insurance premiums 249.76 Hartman, Steven Mileage reimbursement 4,024.11 Infosend Billing costs 1,364.91 MG & E Boosters, wells, service building & lift stations 71.90 Office Depot Office supplies 161.48 Pitney Bowes Ink for postage machine 20,499.51 Quartz Health Benefit Plans Monthly health insurance premiums 1,347.20 Ruekert & Mielke, Inc. Water mapping expense 17,785.00 Ruekert & Mielke, Inc. Annual hosting of mapping system ($8,892.50 billed to village) 3,380.00 Stuart C Irby Co. Electric inventory 13,737.33 Village of Waunakee Rebills for: Wolf Paving & outside engineering 2  149.74 Yahara Materials, Inc. URD maintenance $ 1,237,181.78 Motion carried. Public Comment There was no public comment. Infiltration and Inflow Matters and Proposal for Sewer Manhole Rehabilitation The commission discussed the infiltration and inflow action plan proposed by staff. A proposal to seal eleven manholes identified by staff as needing repairs was presented from Hydro-Klean for an amount not to exceed $33,310. After a discussion, a motion was made by Shirley Nelson and seconded by Chris Zellner to approve the proposal. Motion carried. Changes to COVID Emergency Sick Leave Policy The current COVID Emergency Sick Leave policy is based off the village policy which was recently amended to lower the amount of sick leave hours from 80 to 40 for employees vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus. Utility staff is recommending similar changes. In addition, staff is recommending that the commission allow management to be able to administer the COVID testing for non-vaccinated employees versus having staff from village hall do this in order to streamline the process. Testing results will still be sent to village hall staff. After a discussion, a motion was made by Chris Zellner and seconded by John Roessler to lower the amount of Emergency Sick Leave hours to 40 and allow the testing of unvaccinated employees to be administered by utility staff effective January 1, 2022. Motion carried. 2022 Utility Commission Meeting Schedule The 2022 meeting schedule was presented. Advanced Metering Infrastructure Project The commission was provided a project update. 4,535 water units are now in service and the project is approximately 87% complete. The project is on hold due to the availability of water meters. Village-Wide Construction Projects There were no projects to discuss this month. Operations Report The commission was provided a brief update on various operational matters including the record amount of electric services installed in 2021. General Manager’s Report The general manager discussed the status of purchasing two vehicles in 2022 and the sale of the old water department vehicle. Financial Statements The financial statements were reviewed. 3 Employee Wage Adjustments and Manager Performance Evaluation The commission reviewed a variety of salary data including benchmark information from other utilities. After a discussion, a motion was made by John Roessler and seconded by Shirley Nelson to approve wage adjustments as discussed for all staff except the general manager. Motion carried. After a discussion, a motion was made by Chris Zellner and seconded by Shirley Nelson to approve a wage adjustment for the general manager as discussed, with the goal of moving the wage to the market midpoint by the end of 2023. Motion carried. A motion was made by Chris Zellner and seconded by Steve Kraus to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried. Respectfully submitted: _____________________________ Commission Secretary 4