Meeting of Commissioners of
Public Utility District No. 1 of Clark County, Washington
January 16, 2024
A meeting of Commissioners of Public Utility District No. 1 of Clark County was held via digital conference on Tuesday, January 16, 2024.
Present via digital conference (phone or video): President Jim Malinowski, Vice President Nancy Barnes, Secretary Jane Van Dyke Commissioners, CEO/General Manager Lena Wittler, Director of Finance Melissa Ankeny, Director of Employee Resources Nichole Reitzenstein, Director of Communications and Corporate Citizenship Erica Erland, Director of Engineering Cal Morris, Director of Operations/Interim Director of Water Gene Morris, Director of Information Services Jeff Groff, Director of Employee Resources Nichole Reitzenstein, Director of Energy Services Dan Bedbury, General Counsel John Eldridge, Director of Customer Service Lisa Fix, Power Manager Steve Andersen, Community Engagement Specialist Morgan Van Fleet, Key Accounts Senior Manager Zeecha Van Hoose, Business Applications Manager Darryl Luther, Customer Service Workgroup Leader John Taylor, PIO/Media Specialist Dameon Pesanti and Assistant to the CEO/General Manager Margaret Anderson.
Others present via digital conference (phone or video): Gordon Matthews, Don Steinke, Rick Marshall, Peter Harrison, Russ Schneider, Tom Gordon and Sherry Erickson.
Media present: Sarah Wolf – The Columbian
At 9:00 a.m., President Malinowski called the meeting to order for the transaction of formal business and the agenda was approved as presented (Materials A).
Public Comment
There were no public comments.
Consideration of the Minutes of January 9, 2024
The minutes were approved as presented.
Consideration of Accounts Payable
The board, by a unanimous vote, approved the following payment amounts as listed on the Letter of Transmittal dated from the District Auditor (Materials B):
Electric Revenue Fund – $4,369,740.20
Water Revenue Fund – $173,741.05
Generating System Fund – $936,712.99
For a total of $5,480,194.24
Consideration of Resolutions of Intent to Establish LUD Nos. 1459, 1468 and 1478
Director of Engineering Cal Morris addressed the board regarding the Intent to Establish Local Utility District Nos. 1459, 1468 and 1478.
Resolution No. 7824 – LUD No. 1459 – Felida Wood Short Plat
Resolution No. 7825 – LUD No. 1468 – Randall K Estates
Resolution No. 7826 – LUD No. 1471 – NE 50th Avenue Subdivision and Cottages
After the presentation by Mr. Morris, Commissioner Malinowski opened for public comment. There being no comment, a motion was made by Commissioner Barnes, seconded by Commissioner Van Dyke, and unanimously carried that Resolution Nos. 7824 – 7826 be adopted and a public hearing was set for February 20, 2024 (Materials C).
Consideration of Establishment of LUD Nos. 1465, 1473, 1477 and 1478
Director of Engineering Cal Morris addressed the board regarding the Establishment of Local Utility District Nos. 1465, 1473, 1477 and 1478.
Resolution No. 7827 – LUD No. 1465 – Manzhura 72nd Ave
Resolution No. 7828 – LUD No. 1466 – Park Meadow
Resolution No. 7829 – LUD No. 1473 – Ramble Creek PH 3
Resolution No. 7830 – LUD No. 1477 – Vancouver Lakeview
Resolution No. 7831 – LUD No. 1478 – Olson Subdivision
After the presentation by Mr. Morris, Commissioner Malinowski opened the public hearing for comments. There being none, a motion was made by Commissioner Van Dyke, seconded by Commissioner Barnes and unanimously carried that Resolution Nos. 7827 – 7831 be adopted (Materials D).
Rate Design Discussion
Power Manager Steve Andersen reviewed the cost of service analysis and retail rate options presentation (Materials E). Based on comments from the commissioners during the last meeting staff provided two additional rate structure options for consideration.
Rate design options range from an $8.0 million per year reserve fund contribution to a $20.0 million dollar per year contribution, with the corresponding projected range of cash on hand by 2027 of be 79-118 days. Currently the utility has less than 60 days of cash reserves on hand, and Russ Schneider with EES Consulting indicated other utilities across the region are in the range of 60-90 days. These options result in a rate increase between the range of 9.9% – 13.0% but balanced between the customer types.
Customer basic charges across all customer classes were presented, and based on discussions at the last meeting rate rebalancing across all customer classes is supported by the commissioners.
Members of the public had the following comments:
Peter Harrison provided comments on the value of conservation to reduce impacts of rate increases on individual customers, he added that perhaps press releases could help customers understand the need for rate increases.
Rick Marshall shared that Clark Public Utilities current rates are an excellent value and have not kept up with inflation, and a rate increase is overdue. Mr. Marshall also supports rebalancing across customer classes.
Don Steinke provided comment on the importance of sharing the cost of power with customers. Mr. Steinke asked if there were impacts to the utility from the Jackson Prairie storage facility outage, and it was stated that there were no impacts to the utility related to gas supply .
Gordon Matthews commented that our reliance on market power is getting the utility into trouble.
Commissioners thanked staff for the updated presentation and looks forward to the public hearing and rate adoption process at the meeting on January 23, 2024.
Commissioner Reports and Comments
Commissioner Barnes reported on her attendance at the Pacific Northwest Utilities Conference Committee meeting and the Washington PUD Association meetings.
Commissioner Van Dyke reported on her attendance at the Washington PUD Association meetings and a brief summary on a few legislative items.
Staff Reports
CEO/General Manager Lena Wittler provided the board with a review of the impact of the storm over the weekend, especially the impacts in the north and northeast Clark County. Ms. Wittler praised everyone’s response and hard work during the storm.
Director of Operations/Interim Director of Water Gene Morris shared that the storm hit the county fast and more than 400 employees responded in addition to contract crews and mutual aid crews.
Director of Engineering Cal Morris shared that the we had the largest winter peak related to load in utility history at about noon on Saturday, 1,153 megawatts.
Director of Customer Service Lisa Fix said that representatives answered a high volume of calls all weekend, sharing that average speed of answer was just 8 seconds. The outage reporting line took 7,000 calls over the weekend, and 70% of those callers hung up after hearing the recorded message.
Commissioners thanked the entire staff for the incredible work done over the weekend.
Other Business before the Board
There being no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 10:25 a.m.