Waunakee Utilities Commission

Waunakee Utilities Commission Meeting December 19, 2019 Members Present: Paul Endres Chris Zellner Shirley Nelson Steve Kraus John Roessler Absent: Roxanne Johnson Gary Herzberg Others Present: Tim Herlitzka Jeff Matthias John Roessler called the regular meeting of the Waunakee Utilities Commission to order at the Waunakee Utilities facility at 322 Moravian Valley Road. Minutes Moved by Shirley Nelson, seconded by Steve Kraus, to approve the minutes of the November 25, 2019 Utilities Commission meeting. Motion carried. Bills The list of bills was reviewed. Moved by John Roessler, seconded by Shirley Nelson, to approve payment of the following bills: Total Vendor Description $ 2,771.21 1050 Lillian St., LLC Refund on Deposit 350.58 Ace Hardware Miscellaneous parts/supplies 113.07 Airgas USA, LLC Substation maintenance 1,519.00 Boardman Clark Legal: Frontier lease, PSC water AMI order, WP & L customer acquisition & sale of OH to ATC 666.60 Border States Equipment for URD 250.00 Carroll, Olivia Scholarship 121.09 CCP Industries Tools/equipment 165.12 Cintas Corporation Uniforms 1,475.00 CliftonLarsonAllen Interim billing for audit 129.35 Conney Safety Shirts for water/sewer dept. 502.00 Coverall North American, Inc. Cleaning service 1,282.32 Crescent Electric Inventory & URD maintenance 259.65 Diggers Hotline, Inc. Locating services 38.67 Eck, Melanie Refund 13,231.38 EFTPS * 941 taxes 3,455.76 Empower Retirement * Deferred Compensation & Roth 19,988.00 Energis Holdings, LLC Substation 5 year maintenance testing 1,524.71 Exxon Mobil * Gasoline for trucks 8,082.00 GLS Utility, LLC Locating services 174.55 Hoppe, Veronica Refund 84.15 Insight FS Fuel for forklift 1,999.91 Itron, Inc. Meter reading equipment maintenance 562.55 Lakeside International, LLC Truck maintenance 38.30 Madison & Main Refund 175.00 MEUW * Seminar registration 275.00 MEUW Training registration 590.01 Minahan, Mary & John Refund 43.37 Mosling, Luke & Dana Refund 24.32 NAPA Auto Parts Truck maintenance 365.00 North Shore Bank * Deferred Compensation 1  450.00 Octopi Brewing, LLC Holiday party deposit 33,222.23 Payroll* 12/6 142.95 Pitney Bowes Equipment rental 458.96 Prairie Power Center Equipment 17,285.96 Quartz Health Benefit Plans Monthly health insurance premiums 250.00 Renken, Diana EV fast charger rebate 11,790.60 Resco Inventory & transformers 511.00 Rhyme Business Products * Monthly lease payment & usage charges 10.14 Riggle, Andy Refund 20.04 Robertson, John Refund 234.44 Rogers, Chris & Corina Refund 1,469.00 Ruekert & Mielke, Inc. Mapping expense 639.66 Securian Financial Group * Life insurance premiums 3,939.42 SEERA c/o Wipfli, LLP Focus program fee for November 143.50 Stafford Rosenbaum Legal: General & Well 3 roof reservoir project 1,416.97 SBank of CP/Credit card payment * Safety manual binders, computer equipment, water maintenance, shop repairs, tools, calendars, meter school expenses, safety school exp., paper and notary renewal 6.80 Statz, Carl F. Trailer maintenance 5,257.91 Strand Associates, Inc. SCADA system upgrades 215.60 Stuart C Irby Co. Electric metering 217.58 T.A.S. Communications, Inc. * Answering service 973.96 TDS Telecom * Monthly phone & modem service 192.50 USA BlueBook Well maintenance 531.31 U.S. Cellular * Monthly cell phone service 138.00 Village Glen Apartments, LLC Refund 59,054.00 Village of Waunakee Flexplan & refuse/Nov. 2,700.00 Water Tower Clean & Coat, Inc. Tower maintenance 20.60 Weaver Auto Parts Truck supplies 15,574.31 WI Dept. of Revenue * State & sales taxes paid 626,782.46 WPPI Energy November power bill 8,389.12 WPPI Energy Hosted e-mail & financial and accounting software, member network assessment & monitoring, utility billing & customer information software, WPPI WAN, cyber security, shared meter technician, meter data collection & mgmt., Verizon charges and computer maintenance 14,302.93 WI Retirement System * Retirement - November 45.00 WI Rural Water Association Membership renewal 26.00 WI State Lab of Hygiene Water samples Bills Received Subsequent to Packet Delivery $ 58.43 Bieri, Blake Refund 55.04 Cintas Corporation Uniforms 1,724.53 Delta Dental Monthly dental insurance premiums 13,815.04 EFTPS * 941 taxes 3,455.76 Empower Retirement * Deferred Compensation & Roth 101.00 Herlitzka, Tim Mileage reimbursement 1,660.00 Honeywell Electric AMI meters 1,249.98 MG & E Boosters, wells, service building & lift stations 250.00 Miele, Anthony EV fast charger rebate 365.00 North Shore Bank Deferred Compensation 33,475.71 Payroll * 12/20 113.85 Pepsi Madison Soda for machine 427.50 Power System Engineering, Inc. Mapping expense 834.87 Resco URD maintenance 14,320.00 Ruekert & Mielke, Inc. 2020 GIS Annual services 2  380.99 Village of Waunakee Flexplan 12,101.94 Village of Waunakee Engineering project costs and re-bills for: Drug testing, mechanic, flexplan & human resources 49.40 Weaver Auto Parts Truck & water main maintenance 2,805.37 WI Dept. of Revenue * State taxes & business tax registration paid $ 953,915.03 Motion carried. Public Comment There was no public comment. Presentation from Financial Advisor Jeff Matthias from Madison Investment Advisors presented information about the investment portfolio and the overall financial market. Rate Recovery of Credit Card Fees and Increasing Monthly Fixed Charges in Electric Rate Increase Application A review of the adequacy of electric rates is underway with assistance from the WPPI rate department staff. A presentation about the overall proposed increase will be made to the commission at the January meeting. The commission was presented a staff recommendation to petition the PSC to allow for recovery of credit card fees in rates. This will provide customers more convenient options to pay their bills as many customers expect to be able to pay using a credit card with no related fees. This can also allow for less delinquent account balances, fewer non-sufficient fund payments, and faster collection of outstanding balances. The monthly fixed charge only recovers a small percentage of actual fixed costs and utility staff are recommending it be increased to a level that more appropriately reflects the monthly cost to serve customers. The commission indicated support for petitioning the PSC to allow for credit card fees to be recovered in rates and increasing the monthly fixed charge. 2020 Utility Commission Meeting Schedule The 2020 utility commission meeting schedule was presented. Advanced Metering Infrastructure Project The commission was provided a project update. 3,869 electric meters have been installed and 1,728 water units are now in service. Village-Wide Construction Projects Utility staff provided information about the Heritage Hills project. Operations Report Various operations topics were discussed. General Manager’s Report The MyAccount rollout and upcoming holiday party were discussed. Financial Statements 3 The November financial statements were discussed. Consolidated operating income is under budget for the year, primarily due to lower electric operating results and increased MMSD charges. Employee Wage Adjustments and Manager Performance Evaluation The commission reviewed a variety of salary data including benchmark information from other utilities. In addition, the status of manager goals for 2019 and proposed 2020 goals were discussed. After a discussion, a motion was made by John Roessler and seconded by Chris Zellner to approve wage adjustments as discussed for all staff except the general manger. Motion carried. A motion was then made by Shirley Nelson and seconded by Chris Zellner to approve a wage adjust for the general manager as discussed. Motion carried. A motion was made by Steve Kraus and seconded by Paul Endres to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried. Respectfully submitted: _____________________________ Commission Secretary 4