Meeting of Commissioners of
Public Utility District No. 1 of Clark County, Washington
March 20, 2018
A meeting of Commissioners of Public Utility District No. 1 of Clark County was held in the Operations Education Center, Vancouver, Washington, on Tuesday, the 20th day of March at the hour of 9:00 a.m.
Present: President Jim Malinowski, Vice President Nancy Barnes, Commissioners, CEO/General Manager Wayne Nelson, Director of Finance Rick Dyer, Director of Operations Dan Krebs, Director of Water Doug Quinn, Director of Energy Resources Dan Bedbury, Director of Information Services Mike Harris, Director of Engineering Cal Morris, Director of Communications Lena Wittler, Director of Customer Service Lisa Fix, Corporate Communications Manager Erica Erland, Materials and Purchasing Manager Cathy Wannamaker, Safety Manager Gene Morris, Communications Services Manager Heather Allmain, Energy Services Project Manager Matt Babbitts, Fleet Manager Paul Chamberlain and Assistant to CEO/General Manager Margaret Anderson.
Press Representatives: None
Others Present: Don Steinke, Rick Syring (Materials A)
At 9:00 a.m., President Malinowski called the meeting to order for the transaction of formal business.
Commissioner Van Dyke was excused from the meeting.
Member of the public Don Steinke shared his thoughts with the board regarding Initiative 1631 and his desire to reduce dependence on fracked gas. The board thanked Mr. Steinke for coming and sharing his views.
Consideration of the Minutes of March 6, 2018
There were no changes or corrections.
Consideration of Accounts Payable
The board, by a unanimous vote, approved the following payment amounts as listed on the Letter of Transmittal dated March 20, 2018, from the District Auditor:
Electric Revenue Fund – $12,903,630.27
Water Revenue Fund – $315,271.42
Generating System Fund – $565,753.38
For a total of $13,784,655.07
Consideration of Resolutions of Intent to Establish LUD Nos. 1310 and 1313
Director of Engineering Cal Morris addressed the board regarding the Intent to Establish Local Utility District Nos. 1310 and 1313.
Resolution No. 7433 – LUD No. 1310 – Merritt’s Hideaway PH3
Resolution No. 7434 – LUD No. 1313 – Sutherland Subdivision
After the presentation by Mr. Morris, Commissioner Malinowski opened the public hearing for comment. There being no comment, a motion was made by Commissioner Barnes, seconded by Commissioner Malinowski, and unanimously carried that Resolution Nos. 7433 and 7434 be adopted and a public hearing was set for April 17, 2018 (Materials C).
Consideration of Bid Award No. 531 – LED Acorn Post Top Luminaires
Materials and Purchasing Manager Cathy Wannamaker reviewed the memo dated March 20, 2018 detailing the bid results (Materials D). Commissioner Barnes moved to recommend that Bid No. 531 be awarded to the low evaluated bidder, General Pacific, Inc. in the amount of $259,508.00 ($648.77/ea. x 400 units) plus applicable taxes. Commissioner Malinowski seconded the motion, and it passed unanimously.
Consideration of Bid Award No. 534 – Fiberglass Fluted Decorative Standards
Materials and Purchasing Manager Cathy Wannamaker reviewed the memo dated March 20, 2018 detailing the bid results (Materials E). Commissioner Barnes moved to recommend that Bid No. 534 be awarded to the low evaluated bidder, Alliance Composites, Inc., in the amount of $329,600.00 ($824.00/ea. x 400 units) plus applicable taxes. Commissioner Malinowski seconded the motion, and it passed unanimously.
Consideration of Disposal of Surplus Vehicles
Materials and Purchasing Manager Cathy Wannamaker reviewed the memo dated March 20, 2018 (Materials F). The utility has accumulated vehicles that have been identified as surplus due to high mileage, hours, years of service and increased repairs leading to increased cost and downtime. Staff is requesting that the vehicles outlined be declared as surplus for disposal through a public auction sale at the end of March, with U.S. Fleet Services.
Commissioner Barnes moved to declare the vehicles outlined in the presentation as surplus for disposal through a public auction with U.S. Fleet Services. Commissioner Malinowski seconded the motion, and it passed unanimously.
Consideration of Disposal of Surplus Remittance Processing Equipment
Materials and Purchasing Manager Cathy Wannamaker reviewed the memo dated March 20, 2018 (Materials G). The utility and Clark County terminated the Joint Processing Center Intergovernmental Agreement and external client service operations as of January 30, 2018. After evaluating the annual maintenance contract cost of more than $60,000, utilizing the OPEX 7.5 with IEM and iTRAN 8000 NCR Scanning equipment is no longer cost effective. Staff is recommending that this equipment be declared as surplus for disposal through a formalized surplus equipment disposal process, any net sale proceeds to be shared with the County.
Commissioner Barnes moved to declare the OPEX 7.5 with IEM and iTRAN 8000 NCR Scanning equipment be declared as surplus for disposal through a formalized surplus equipment disposal process with the Purchasing Department. Commissioner Malinowski seconded the motion, and it passed unanimously.
National Safety Council Award
Safety and Environmental Manager Gene Morris shared with the board that Clark Public Utilities was recently recognized by the National Safety Council with an award for significant improvement in safety based on our Days Away Restricted Time rate (DART). In addition to this award Mr. Morris highlighted some of the utility’s other safety related achievements in the last year.
Consideration of the Accident Prevention Safety Manual
Director of Operations Dan Krebs presented an updated version of Clark Public Utilities’ Accident Prevention Safety Manual (Materials H) which addresses the latest work procedures, hazards and OSHA/WISHA requirements. Mr. Krebs explained that, as part of the utility’s next RP3 submission there is a requirement that this document be adopted by the board. Following the presentation Commissioner Barnes moved to adopt the Accident Prevention Safety Manual as presented. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Malinowski and it passed unanimously.
February Financials
Director of Finance Rick Dyer addressed the board (Materials I). February had cooler and drier weather resulting in electric revenue above forecast. Mr. Dyer reported that both Electric System and off system sales were above budget for the month. February residential sales were 110.1% of budget, commercial sales were 100.3% and industrial sales were 100.1% of budget. January ended with a net income of $4.3 million compared to a budgeted net income of $2.3 million. Year-to-date net income is $3.3 million ahead of budget.
The Water System has added 142 new customers through February, which is a growth rate of 2.44%. The net income for February was $123,000 compared to a budgeted net income loss of $125,000. Year-to-date net income is $500,000 ahead of budget.
February Wholesale Operations
Director of Energy Resources Dan Bedbury addressed the board (Materials J). Mr. Bedbury updated the board on power supply, noting that Slice performed 31 aMW above prompt month and 91 aMW above budget forecasts. While the monthly load ended 35 aMW above forecast it was a month of large load swings. February was the 35th coldest on record and power prices moved between $3 and $50 for most of the month which was in line with the load swings.
River Road Generating Plant is planned to be off-line through June with April being the maintenance month.
Solar Car Challenge Recap
Energy Services Project Manager Matt Babbitts and Communications Services Manager Heather Allmain provided the board with a recap of the Solar Car Challenge (Materials K). This event was a partnership with Bonneville Environmental Foundation’s Clean Energy Bright Future education program as part of our Green Lights program. This was the inaugural Solar Car Challenge that included 13 schools, 96 teams that competed, 70 utility volunteers and 15 BEF volunteers. Ms. Allmain said that overall the event was a huge success, a lot of lessons were learned for 2019 and the Utility is very much looking forward to a 2nd annual Solar Car Challenge.
Commissioner Reports and Comments
Commissioner Barnes reported on her attendance at the Public Power Council meeting.
Commissioner Malinowski reported on the upcoming Energy Northwest elections and asked for feedback regarding the candidates from Commissioner Barnes.
Commissioner Malinowski also report on his attendance at the Washington PUD Association meetings.
Staff Reports
There were no staff reports.
Other Business before the Board
There being no further business before the Board, the meeting adjourned at 11:23 a.m.