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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002-08-05 ad Hoc - RMLD Governance Advisory Committee MinutesAd Hoc RMLD Governance Advisory Committee Meeting TO'A N CLERK August 5, 2002 READING, MASS- 2001 AUG 2q P 1 46 The meeting convened at 7:30 p.m. in the Town Hall Conference Room, 46 Lowell Street, Reading, Massachusetts. Present were Board of Selectman Matthew Cummings, Finance Committee Member James Francis, RMLD Governance Advisory Committee Members Travis Miller, Doug Cowell, Dan Ensminger, John Carpenter and George Theophanis, Town Manager Peter Hechenbleikner, Dennis Anderson from the Chronicle, RMLB Chairman Bill Hughes, Arthur Carakatsave from the RMLD Advisory Board and Marianne Fabbri from the RMLD. Selectman Matthew Cummings reviewed the agenda and asked for election of a Chairman. Francis moved and Carpenter seconded Matthew Cummings as Chair. Cummings moved and Cowell seconded Dan Ensminger as Chair. Matthew Cummings then withdrew from the nomination. On motion by Francis seconded by Miller, the nominations were closed and Dan Ensminger was declared Chairman on an unanimous vote. Dan Ensminger asked Matthew Cummings to review the remainder of the agenda and outline the Selectmen's expectations with regard to the Committee. Review of Policy Establishing the Advisory Committee John Carpenter noted that the overriding theme in the policy as stated by George Theophanis when he was interviewed was "what went wrong." Development of Mission Statement The consensus was that this was adequately handled with the policy establishing the Advisory Committee. Review Status of the RMLD Task Force Matthew Cummings noted that the Task Force was basically done with its work but agreed to be available at the call of the Chairman if required by the Reading Municipal Light Board. Dan Ensminger asked for copies of the Minutes from the Task Force for the Committee and these will be supplied. Review of Materials Provided These were generally reviewed by the Committee. Staff Support The Town Manager will take Minutes and attend all meetings. Town Counsel and the Town Accountant will also be available. The Task Force felt that would be adequate staff support as far as they know at this time. Development of Fact Finding Procedures Matthew Cummings noted that some members of the Reading Municipal Light Board are - looking to "testify" before the Advisory Committee. Some members are looking for a body to be a community sounding board such as the Task Force has done over the past several months. RMLD Governance Advisory Committee Meeting- August 5 2002 - Page 2 It was also noted that the Citizens Advisory Board should be asked to participate in this process. Matthew Cummings noted that we should look to other Municipal Light Departments for other models of governance. This could be information from the Chief Executives of those bodies. Additional presentations from the Town Accountant, Accounting Manager at the Light Department and Town Counsel would be desirable. The Town Manager noted that some of the areas of fact finding that might be important are the method of payment of bills, whether there is a Light Board and, if so, is it elected, appointed or advisory. If appointed, who appoints the Light Board? Who appoints the General Manager? What is the interrelationship between the Town and the Light Board in accounting and auditing, legal services, personnel policies and management and general management. Matthew Cummings noted that the main interest would be whether there are checks and balances in place. Bill Hughes pledged the complete cooperation of the department and asked that some advanced notice of request for information be given. The committee asked if there were additional policies or procedures other than what was included in their notebook. Bill Hughes noted that they have policies on 90% of the issues that come before the department. Other issues that arise are unexpected and policies are sometimes developed to address them. Matthew Cummings noted that one of the issues in terms of the governance may be a consistency of how other Boards, Committees and Commissions of the Town operate. He also noted that additional policies are being developed by the Light Board currently to address issues such as pulling items off a bill role warrant. He noted that one of the checks and balances that we might want to look at is whether there ought to be the same auditor for the Light Department as for one of their subsidiary agencies. Matthew Cummings noted that one of the things that we should look at is whether there's a difference between what the law, Charter or policy state about the roles and responsibilities of the General Manager, Board, etc. and what we are actually doing. Bill Hughes asked that when we are getting information from other Towns whether we can get information on whether Commissioners are compensated. John Carpenter expressed strong advocacy for staying with a volunteer form and not paying members of Boards, Committees and Commissions. Travis Miller offered to put together a draft survey form so that we can survey all of the Municipal Light Departments in Massachusetts. He'll try to have that for us as soon as possible so that we can review it and begin to use that as a guideline. Dan Ensminger asked for a copy of the Board of Selectmen's schedule so that we know when we will be able to meet with the Board to update them. He also asked about the Charter his understanding is that four votes are needed to take any action of the Advisory Committee and it was noted that was the case. He asked about the use of e-mail for communications, and the Town Managernoted that you can't conduct business by e-mail. However, e-mails can be sent RMLD Governance Advisory Committee Meeting - August 5, 2002 - Page 3 to all members of the committee as long as a copy is sent to the Town Manager who will then List/Copy it on the Board of Selectmen's Agenda so that it becomes a public record. The following are the type of questions that will be asked of Town Counsel: 1. What is the range of options for governance of a Light Department? 2. The State law states that a Municipal Light Department shall have a General Manager - can an agreement be structured with a General Manager eliminating some of the "power" that the General Manager has? 3. Are there differences between a Light Department that provides for sale and distribution of electricity versus one that provides for power generation, sale and distribution? 4. Is the Light Department regulated like a utility using revenue bonds, etc? 5. What is the range of authority that can be given to the General Manager and what range of authority can be reserved for a Light Board? 6. What is the history of case law beyond Chapter 164 designating the role and responsibility of Light Managers and Light Boards? 7. What are the legal interpretations of a contract with the General Manager the law states "under direction and control" of the Light Board what does this mean? 8. What is the relationship of the Light Department to the Town Accountant? 9. What are the operative sections of the 20 year Agreement, and has it changed or jeopardized by changes in the governance structure of the Light Department? 10. What are the pros and cons of having separate Counsel for the Town and the Light Department? 11. Aside from power purchase, in what other ways does the Light Department operate differently from other municipal operations; i.e., personnel, purchasing, etc.? 12. Is there anything that can be done to constrain the power and authority of the Light Manager through employment contract or other means? Questions for the Town Accountant: 1. What authority does the Town Accountant have to reject bills or payrolls from the Light Department? How would that authority be exercised? The Committee agreed to meet on Monday evenings at 7:30 p.m. The next meeting will be on August 12th, followed by August 26th and September 3rd. At the next meetings, we will try to have Town Counsel, the Town Accountant and the RMLD Accounting Manager, and discussions on the roles and responsibilities of the Light Board, General Manager and Accounting Manager with members of the Board, Acting General. Manager and Accounting Manager present. The Town will try to get a list of all Municipal Light Departments in the Commonwealth, and Travis Miller will develop a draft survey for review by the Committee. The Committee thanked Bill Hughes for coming and expressing cooperation from the Light Department. Arthur Carakatsave from Lynnfield, a member of the CAB, was happy to see that the Ad Hoc Committee will exercise its jurisdiction very deliberately and without preconceived ideas. RMLD Governance Advisory Committee Meeting - August 5 2002 - Page 4 On motion by Francis seconded by Theophani, the Ad Hoc RMLD Governance Advisory Committee adjourned their meeting of August 5, 2002 at 8:45 p.m. by a vote of 7-0-0. PeectA- 11 ' submitted, etary