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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-01-23 RMLD Citizens Advisory Board MinutesREADING MUNICIPAL LIGHT DEPARTMENT CITIZENS' ADVISORY BOARD (CAB) MEETING MINUTES Regular Session Time: 6:30 P.M. Date: Wednesday, January 23, 2013 Place: RMLD, 230 Ash Street, Reading, MA, General Manager's Conference Room CAB Members Present: Mr. Tony Capobianco (Reading), Mr. George Hooper (Wilmington), Mr. David Nelson (Lynnfield), Mr. John Norton, Chairman (North Reading) CAB Members Absent: Mr. Tom 011ila (Wilmington) RMLD Commissioners Present: None RMLD Staff Present: Ms. Paula O'Leary, Ms. Jane Parenteau, Ms. Kathleen Rybak, Mr. Kevin Sullivan Public Present: Mr. Jared Carpenter 1. Call Meeting to Order — J. Norton, Chairman Chairman Norton called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. 2. Approval of Minutes —j. Norton, Chairman Chairman Norton asked for a motion on the minutes presented in the Agenda packet. Mr. Hooper made a motion to approve the minutes of the May 16, 2012, meeting, seconded by Mr. Nelson. Hearing no further discussion, Motion carried 4.0. Mr. Hooper made a motion to approve the minutes of the June 12, 2012, meeting, seconded by Mr. Nelson. Hearing no further discussion, Motion carried 4.0. Mr. Hooper made a motion to approve the minutes of the October 17, 2012, meeting, seconded by Mr. Capobianco. Hearing no further discussion, Motion carried 4:0. Mr. Nelson made a motion to approve the minutes of the November 7, 2012, meeting, seconded by Mr. Hooper. Hearing no further discussion, Motion carried 4.0. 3. Discussion on Use of LED Street Lights in North Reading — As members of the North Reading Board of Selectmen were not present, Mr. Sullivan suggested that the Agenda be taken out of order pending arrival of the Selectmen. 4. November 2012 Financials — K. Sullivan Mr. Sullivan reviewed the year -to -date financials for the month ending November 30, 2012, as presented in the Agenda packet. Mr. Hooper asked what contributed to the O &M overage of $104,000. Mr. Sullivan did not have the answer available, but will get that answer to the Board. RMLD Citizens' Advisory Board Regular Session Minutes: January 23, 2013 Page 1 of 4 5. November 2012 Reliability Report — K. Sullivan Mr. Sullivan reviewed the November Engineering and Operations report as presented in the Agenda packet. Of note on the Reliability Report was an increase in the monthly CAIDI average due to an outage just before 1:30 a.m. on November 13 caused by tree contact. Nine hundred of the 960 customer outages for the month were the result of this incident, which drove the CAIDI number up. Mr. Sullivan reported that due to the attention paid to system reliability, the RMLD is now able to concentrate on smaller and smaller outages as we go through time. SAIFI continues to decline, with basically one outage incident every three years for the average customer. The RMLD meter upgrade project is at 24,000 meters replaced through January. The RMLD began obtaining monthly reads for billing through the fixed network project during the month of January. The commercial meter upgrade project will begin in February. The expectation is that the residential upgrade project will be finished sometime in March. There were no storm or heat events in November. There were a total of 187 calls for the month, five outage incidents, with 960 customers affected by outages. The incident mentioned earlier affected 900 customers. Feeder outages were zero (0), area outages four (4), and one (1) service outage was reported. Mr. Nelson asked about Item 1 on the Engineering & Operations report: Reconductoring on Essex Street — no activity noted. Mr. Sullivan reported that the project has not yet begun. Mr. Nelson asked about Item 3: Is there work in progress that will restart soon? Mr. Sullivan reported that this will begin again in spring; the project has to go out to bid and a site contractor selected. Mr. Nelson asked about Hazmat /Oil Spills (page 2): The amount is zero; have there been no oil spills? Mr. Sullivan reported that where to put the value when there is a storm like hurricane Sandy is difficult. There is a significant dollar amount resulting in the spill that occurred between the North Reading and Lynnfield border of the Ipswich River Pumping Station. Those dollars went into a different account to be earmarked in anticipation of a possible FEMA claim. Mr. Carpenter, who was in the audience as a rate - payer, asked whether the hazmat soil was tested. Mr. Sullivan responded yes. Mr. Carpenter asked what it was. Mr. Sullivan responded that it was NON - PCB. Mr. Carpenter wanted to know exactly what it vas. Mr. Sullivan stated that he did not have that information available. Mr. Carpenter asked if he could get that information. Mr. Sullivan responded that he would investigate and obtain an answer. Mr. Carpenter then asked about the time -frame for commercial meters and will they be automatically read? Mr. Sullivan responded that they will be automatically read. The expectation is that as the days are cold, we are going to begin installations. Mr. Carpenter asked, for large and small customers? Mr. Sullivan said he was not sure. RMLD has not gotten that deep into the project, but the expectation is that we will perform the inside tasks as opposed to the outside tasks with the residential customers on days like today (cold weather). Mr. Carpenter asked what the plan is for the larger customers. Mr. Sullivan responded that larger customers will most likely need outages so that needs to be figured in. Mr. Carpenter asked, will they be automatically read? Mr. Sullivan responded that all customers will be automatically read on the system. Mr. Carpenter asked for the time -frame of completion. Mr. Sullivan reported that his expectation is that it will be complete by the end of June. Mr. Carpenter asked if that is something that is being released to customers who are asking. Mr. Sullivan responded that it hasn't been brought up. If there are outages and RMLD needs to coordinate with customers for outages, things can change. 6. Rotation Schedule for Attendance at RMLD Board Meetings — J. Norton, Chairman Chairman Norton noted that Mr. Nelson would be covering the January meeting. The group went through months and assigned representation for each month in 2013. February, Mr. Capobianco; March, Mr. Hooper; April, Mr. Nelson; May, Chairman Norton; June, Chairman Norton, July, Mr. Hooper; August, Mr. Capobianco, September, Chairman Norton; October, Mr. Nelson, November and December, Mr. 011ila. RMLD Citizens' Advisory Board Regular Session Minutes: January 23, 2013 Page 2 of 4 7. Other Items for Discussion: Mr. Capobianco noted that he was scheduled to cover the last RMLD Board meeting, but needed to cancel at the very last minute due to work constraints. Mr. Capobianco apologized for the late cancellation. Mr. Nelson noted that it is his understanding that the RMLD Board of Commissioners is going to start getting monthly updates on RFC's. He would also like to have a CAB update on REC's. Mr. Sullivan agreed to look into it. Mr. Nelson acknowledged that the Chairman sets the Agenda, but wondered about the process for any other member who may want to add a topic to the Agenda. Chairman Norton confirmed that members should notify Ms. Rybak who will in turn notify him. Mr. Nelson noted that in the CAB handbook there is a Policy 1 and Policy 2 for the CAB. One was created in 1998 and the other in 2004. Mr. Nelson wondered if there was any need to look at those policies to see if they are still applicable, or if no changes, update them to indicate that they were reviewed. Chairman Norton also noted that the CAB handbook includes an index of personnel and their telephone numbers, and asked that an updated list be distributed to CAB members. Mr. Nelson asked if someone from the RMLD could attend a Lynnfield Board of Selectmen meeting to talk about the RFC's and their status (maybe in a month or two). Mr. Sullivan said the Interim General Manager and maybe someone from Energy Services would be available to attend. Mr. Nelson then asked for an update on the General Manager search. Mr. Hooper reported that there has not been much change; they are still exploring a few things. Mr. Hooper noted that some of the information pertaining to the RFC's is included in the Commissioners' Meeting Minutes provided to the CAB and that these items can be discussed at the CAB meetings. Ms. Parenteau responded to Mr. Nelson's question regarding the RFC's. She reported that part of the power supply report that she presents to the Board of Commissioners includes a recap of REC's. Ms. Parenteau stated that she would be happy to provide this report as well as any other information he may want. Mr. Carpenter asked if Lynnfield was just interested in the REC's or if they were interested in exploring solar options. Mr. Nelson will follow -up to see if there is an interest in solar, and incorporate this with the RMLD discussion of REC's if appropriate. 8. Schedule of Upcoming Meetings —J. Norton, Chairman: Chairman Norton reported that there will be two budget sessions in April (the 3rd and 10th). The first will be held in North Reading as per a set rotation and the 25 -year agreement which requires the first budget meeting be held outside of Reading. As there are no pressing matters, the group agreed not to meet in February. The March meeting will be held on March 13. Return to Item 3: Discussion of LED Street Lights in North Reading — K. Sullivan Chairman Norton apologized that the Board of Selectmen were not present. Mr. Sullivan presented the comparative analysis included in the Agenda packet. Mr. Sullivan reported that this is intended as a framework of information for discussion, not a comprehensive analysis. The information is based on estimates and limited historical data. In summary, Mr. Sullivan stated that he feels the time necessary to remove the HPS fixture and reinstall LED is considered to be about two hours per fixture, which is equal to re- lamping the HPS fixture twice (or two maintenance cycles). The analysis of cost benefit on a one -to -one basis is essentially dependent upon the cost to purchase the fixtures versus the energy savings for the LED fixture and how many years it would take for that to come down to a zero point. In summary, if something like this were to be looked at more closely, the decision would have to be made by North Reading, who would make the purchase of the fixtures, how many fixtures would be bought, and how it would impact the overall price and the final decision. Discussion ensued. RMLD Citizens' Advisory Board Regular Session Minutes: January 23, 2013 Page 3 of 4 Mr. Sullivan asked to recognize Ms. O'Leary, as this is her last CAB meeting. Ms. O'Leary has been with the CAB for quite some time and has done a wonderful job. The Board members agreed and thanked Ms. O'Leary for her years of service. 9. Executive Session - J. Norton, Chairman Mr. Hooper made a motion that the CAB go into Executive Session based on Chapter 164, Section 47D, exemption from public records and open meeting requirements in certain instances, to approve the release of Executive Session Minutes and then return to regular session, seconded by Mr. Nelson. Motion carried 4:0 by a poll ofinembets present. Mr. Nelson, aye; Mr. Capobianco, aye; Mr. Hooper, aye; Chairman Norton, aye. 10. Return to Regular Session for the Purpose of Releasing Executive Session Minutes — J. Norton, Chairman Mr. Hooper made a motion to return to Regular Session, seconded by Mr. Nelson. Hearing no further discussion, Motion carried 4.0 by a poll ofinembets present. Mr. Nelson, aye; Mr. Capobianco, aye; Mr. Hooper, aye; Chairman Norton, aye. Returned to Regular Session at 7:22 p.m. 11. Motion to Release Executive Session Minutes —J. Norton, Chairman Mr. Hooper made a motion to release the Executive Session minutes from 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010, with the exception of July 12, 2010, seconded by Mr. Nelson. Hearing no further discussion, Motion carried 4:0. 12. Motion to Adjourn —J. Norton, Chairman Motion to Adjourn made by Mr. Hooper, seconded by Mr. Nelson. Hearing no further discussion, Motion carried 4:0. Meeting adjourned at 7:25 p.m. Respectfully submitted, J9hn Norton, Chairman Minutes approved on: _ RMLD Citizens' Advisory Board Regular Session Minutes: January 23, 2013 Page 4 of 4