Board Members present: Susie Smith, Jeff Osanka, Mike Dyer, Sandra Bishop, and Dorothy Anderson.
Others present: Randy Berggren, Gale Banry, Manda Bednarczyck, Ken Beeson, Tom Buckhouse, Everett Jordan, Garry Kunkel, Jim Origliosso, and Krista Hince of the EWEB staff; Chris Atneave, Dan Doerr, Derek Jaros, Toni Nathan, members of the public; and Kim Kunkel, Minutes Recorder.
President Smith called the meeting to order.
AGENDA CHECK
President Smith determined there was consensus to approve the agenda, as written.
ITEMS FROM BOARD MEMBERS
Commissioner Dyer reported that a draft version of the supplemental compensation/retirement plan for EWEB's General Manager, prepared by him and Commissioner Bishop, is almost complete. He said copies will be distributed to Commissioners as part of the April 21 Board Meeting agenda packet. Noting that comments from the Commissioners will be incorporated into a final version submitted for Board approval, Commissioner Dyer inquired as to whether the plan should be considered and acted upon in regular or executive session.
Following clarification that the supplemental compensation/retirement plan is not a negotiated contract related to Mr. Berggren's performance evaluation and therefore does not require an executive session, the Board agreed to deliberate and take action during regular session.
Commissioner Anderson announced that she has been appointed as a member of the Governor's Task Force on Growth. She said the task force will gather and report information concerning the costs and impacts of growth as well as propose tools that will enable local governments to deal with issues of growth and the policy issues that must be addressed. Commissioner Anderson requested that Commissioners contact her for more information concerning the task force.
Vice President Osanka announced that he and Commissioner Anderson attended the recent Tale of Two Rivers display. He said attendance was impressive and EWEB staff should be proud of the event.
Commissioner Bishop reported that during the last Lane Council of Governments (L-COG) meeting she attended, a vote was taken concerning whether L-COG would support a valley-wide survey on growth and livability. She said she cast the only "no" vote because she opposes spending additional public resources, between $70,000-$78,000, on determining attitudes toward growth and livability. In addition, Commissioner Bishop expressed gratitude to Brad Edwards and other members of the EWEB staff who worked on the Adams Street/Whiteaker area tree trimming issue. She said she had received a letter from a Jasper resident praising EWEB's tree trimming practices.
MINUTES
The Commissioners reviewed the minutes of the March 3, 1998, Work Session and Regular Board Meeting, the March 13 & 14, 1998, Board Retreat, and the March 17, 1998, Work Session and Special Board Meeting.
Referring to paragraph 2 under Board Discussion on page 3 of the minutes of the March 14, 1998, Board Retreat, Commissioner Anderson requested that the final sentence be amended to read "She said she would like to explore the ways in which public perceptions are related to customers' lack of knowledge that EWEB is a publicly-owned utility."
Referring to page 3 of the March 14, 1998, Board Retreat minutes, Vice President Osanka requested that paragraph 1 be amended to read "Based on a customer's comment in the survey, Vice President Osanka requested information regarding THM (Trihalomethane), a carcinogenic."
Referring to the agenda item Board Priority Development on page 6 of the March 14, 1998, Board Retreat minutes, Vice President Osanka requested that paragraph 2 be amended to read "With regard to how the Board would like EWEB to be perceived by customers in the future, Commissioners indicated on large display charts their priorities, as follows:"
Referring to page 8 of the March 14, 1998, Board Retreat minutes, President Smith requested that paragraph 3 be amended to read "President Smith expressed the opinion that EWEB's efforts to bridge the gaps should integrate its new emphasis into the types of communication it already has with the community, rather than launching a major new effort. As an example, she suggested that one approach might be to utilize the information gained from the 1997 surveys to enrich the way EWEB communicates about its Resource Plan through the focus groups and other community outreach efforts."
Referring to paragraph 7 on page 2 of the March 17, 1998, Work Session minutes, Vice President Osanka requested that the final sentence be relocated to become the final sentence of the following paragraph. In addition, Vice President Osanka requested that sentence 1 of the final paragraph be amended to read "Vice President Osanka suggested, rhetorically, that EWEB propose legislation that provides full access to average rate payers, but limits or blocks access for large industrials."
Referring to page 1 of the March 17, 1998, Work Session minutes, President Smith requested that the final paragraph reflect the fact that she was referencing the example of competitive telephone services.
Referring to page 3 of the March 17, 1998, Special Board Meeting minutes, Vice President Osanka requested that his comments following the motion reflect his statement that ". . . its awfully easy to increase rates, but when it comes time to decrease rates, when it comes time to give a rebate to the customer even from over-realized funds, we seem to have a hard time doing that."
Vice President Osanka moved, seconded by Commissioner Dyer, to approve the minutes of the March 3, 1998, Work Session and Regular Board Meeting, the March 13 & 14, 1998, Board Retreat, and the March 17, 1998, Work Session and Special Board Meeting, as amended.
Commissioner Bishop indicated that she had not yet reviewed the minutes of the Board Retreat. The Board agreed to defer approval of the Board Retreat minutes to the April 21, 1998, Board Meeting.
Vice President Osanka accepted the proposed amendment to the original motion, deleting from Board approval the March 13 & 14 Board Retreat minutes. The amended motion passed unanimously.
CORRESPONDENCE
Mr. Berggren reviewed the following information items included in the meeting agenda packet:
Mr. Berggren said he would distribute to Commissioners draft agendas for the May 1-2 Board Retreat.
PUBLIC INPUT
There was no public input.
1997 AUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
EWEB Treasurer Jim Origliosso and Don Doerr, Coopers & Lybrand, briefly reviewed highlights of EWEB's annual audit for 1997.
Commissioner Bishop inquired as to whether financial information regarding the defunct Trojan Nuclear Plant is available. Mr. Origliosso responded that a separate audit of the plant is available upon request.
STRATEGIC APPLICATION OF ACCUMULATED ASSETS
Referring to a memorandum and attachments included in the meeting agenda packet, Mr. Origliosso reviewed both background information and the chronology/time line relative to the strategic application of EWEB's accumulated reserves. He said this presentation would focus on the option of utilizing the accumulated assets to supplement the capital plan.
Following a review of EWEB's capital plan, Mr. Origliosso summarized that if future conditions are similar to the status quo, relatively inexpensive financing is available to support anticipated projects within the scope of the Capital Plan and the Energy Resource Plan. To the extent current uncertainties around some of the projects evolve into unfavorable outcomes, it is probably better from a financial policy standpoint to have paid for the projects with cash, rather than to have incurred debt. Mr. Origliosso said that from a planning standpoint, it may be prudent to select one or more projects that present the highest financial risk profile and consider funding from reserves rather than debt.
President Smith inquired as to whether it was previously decided to utilize a portion of the accumulated assets to pay for relicensing. Mr. Origliosso said relicensing was suggested as one area that would benefit from the accumulated assets. Plans before the accumulation were to spend $6 million from reserves and borrow $10 million. An alternative using accumulated assets would be to borrow less and pay more from reserves. He said there is a good chance that a portion of the assets will be allocated toward relicensing projects.
Commissioner Anderson proposed, as an alternative application of the accumulated assets, that EWEB invest a portion of these funds in assisting very low-income customers. She suggested that because the amount of any rebate EWEB might offer to offset the accumulated assets is very small, the funds may yield a greater impact if applied to a smaller group of customers. Commissioner Anderson forwarded Chuck Dalton's suggestion that until a detailed plan has been developed, EWEB set aside a funds that will be utilized to assist the utility's very low-income customers. She noted that assisting those customers who cannot or do not pay their bills indirectly benefits all EWEB customers, in that it reduces the amount of subsidies paid to cover the costs of unpaid bills. Commissioner Anderson requested that staff draft a memorandum based on her proposed option. She clarified that the criteria for this option is "community benefit."
President Smith requested that staff compare the proposed options in terms of their relative benefits to the utility. She said such a comparison would assist the Board in its decision-making process.
Commissioner Bishop suggested that one alternative is to retire a portion of EWEB's debt.
Vice President Osanka suggested that one way to make the rebate equal to the amount of the water rate increase is to set aside funds that will be allocated to customers. He requested that the proposal reflect this suggestion.
GREEN PRICING UPDATE
Referring to materials distributed to the Board, Energy Resource Projects Manager Ken Beeson said the purposes of this presentation were to
Mr. Beeson noted that on May 19, he would submit to the Board a plan for marketing the output of the program.
In response to Mr. Beeson's question to the Board as to whether there is a contradiction between implementation of this program and EWEB's regional position on contributing 3 percent for renewables and conservation, Vice President Osanka said the issue is whether EWEB should factor into its calculation of 3 percent the revenue earned through the Wind Marketing Program, given the fact that it is generated by only a portion of EWEB's customers. Mr. Beeson responded that he does not know what the regional position on this matter will be; however, he said it is his belief that the marketing program will neither add nor detract from EWEB's commitment and contribution to public purposes.
President Smith stated that she does not object to packaging the Wyoming Wind Project output as wind power. She said her concerns relate to what EWEB labels and markets as "green power." President Smith noted that affordable green power sources are currently melded into EWEB's power supply and it is disingenuous to say that customers must pay a premium for this "new" product in order to have electricity from an environmentally friendly source. Suggesting that EWEB re-evaluate its rate structure, President Smith stressed that customers paying for a green power resource portfolio should benefit from the less expensive green resources, such as rebuilt hydroelectric, as well as the more expensive green resources. She asked staff to be both cautious and equitable in allocating the costs of each project.
Commissioner Bishop stated that prior to EWEB's marketing of green power products, the Board must reach an agreement concerning how it defines "green". She said many people do not consider hydroelectric, in any form, to be a green resource.
With regard to the proposed approval process for the Wind Marketing Program, the Board concurred that a public hearing was unnecessary.
RELICENSING UPDATE
Gale Banry, Energy Resource Projects Manager, presented a brief overview of the Ninth Circuit Court Filing on EWEB's new license for its Leaburg/Walterville hydroelectric project. He said the parties involved in the court filing are as follows:
Petitioners: American Rivers; Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
Interveners: National Marine Fisheries Service; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services; and the Environmental Protection Agency
Respondents: Federal Energy Regulation Commission (FERC)
Intervenors: EWEB
Friends of the Court: Numerous
Mr. Banry presented a brief overview of the status of the court appeal and reviewed the deadline dates for specific components of the appeal. He said the next step in the process is to develop and issue briefing documents.
Commissioner Dyer inquired as to McKenzie River Trust's involvement in this action. Mr. Banry said the trust is not intervening. Mr. Kunkel noted that McKenzie River Trust is interested in the matter and EWEB is re-engaging them.
Commissioner Dyer inquired as to whether the Board now has a decision to make regarding the McKenzie River Trust, given the fact that funding the trust has been eliminated as a license requirement. Mr. Berggren responded that EWEB had initially discussed issuing an appeal to reinstate the trust as a licensing requirement; however, staff is now in the process of reconsidering the trust issue. Commissioner Anderson noted that Laurie Power will address this issue before the Board during an upcoming Board Meeting.
Commissioner Bishop said it was her understanding that the Board was in support of the trust. Commissioner Dyer responded that he had voted in support of the trust because it was integral to obtaining approval of EWEB's license. He said that because it is no longer a licencing requirement, EWEB should revisit the structure of the trust and determine the amount, if any, EWEB will contribute.
The meeting adjourned at 9:40 p.m.