Board Members present: Susie Smith, Jeff Osanka, Sandra Bishop, and Dorothy Anderson. Commissioner Dyer was excused.
Others present: Randy Berggren, Manda Bednarczyck, Tom Buckhouse, Chuck Dalton, Dick Helgeson, Everett Jordan, Jim Origliosso, Dick Varner, and Krista Hince of the EWEB staff; various members of the public; and Kim Kunkel, Minutes Recorder.
Vice President Osanka, Commissioner Bishop, and EWEB staff member Chuck Dalton offered brief comments regarding the tragedy.
AGENDA CHECK
President Smith determined there was consensus to approve the agenda, as written.
ITEMS FROM BOARD MEMBERS
Commissioner Bishop thanked Steve Hill for the opportunity to tour the Terra Therm project.
MINUTES
The Commissioners reviewed the minutes of the May 5, 1998, Work Session and Regular Board Meeting.
Referring to sentence 1 in the first paragraph under Items From Board Members on page 1 of the minutes Regular Board Meeting minutes, Vice President Osanka requested that "Fairmont" be replaced with "Fairmount."
Referring to paragraph 2 on page 4 of the Regular Board Meeting minutes, Commissioner Anderson requested that sentence 2 be amended to state "Commissioner Anderson responded that a model for watershed assessment, utilized by the McKenzie Watershed Council, is one product of the organization."
Referring to page 7 of the Regular Board Meeting minutes, Commissioner Anderson requested that paragraph 2 be amended to read "Noting that land acquisition may be more meaningful in the lower McKenzie, Commissioner Anderson suggested that EWEB focus on the acquisition of lands in that area while increasing its contribution to the McKenzie Watershed Council in the interest of Carmen Smith, an upper river project."
Referring to the attendance section of the Regular Board Meeting minutes, Commissioner Bishop requested that she be referred to as "Sandra" rather than "Sandy."
Vice President Osanka moved, seconded by Commissioner Bishop, to approve the minutes of the May 5, 1998, Work Session and Regular Board Meeting, as amended. The motion passed unanimously.
CORRESPONDENCE
General Manager Randy Berggren announced that a wind power forum was scheduled to take place the following evening in the EWEB atrium.
Noting that six-month projected Board Meeting schedules will be distributed to Commissioners, Mr. Berggren stated that on June 16, rather than conducting the scheduled Work Session on the Compensation Plan, the Board will convene in Executive Session to address issues of relicensing. He said that because the Compensation Plan will be discussed during the July 21 meeting, he would like to meet with Commissioners individually prior to July 16 to discuss plan-related issues and questions.
Mr. Berggren reviewed draft agendas for the June 16 Executive Session and Special Board Meeting.
PUBLIC INPUT
Chris Aetneave, expressed concern that the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) appears to be monopolizing the ongoing deregulation hearings. She said she was concerned that EWEB's customers are not directly involved in the hearings.
Vice President Osanka requested that any resolution approved by Lane Electric Co-op regarding this matter be forwarded to the EWEB Board for review. Mr. Berggren stated that EWEB is closely monitoring the deregulation hearings; however, there are limits to EWEB's role in the process.
BOARD BYLAWS
Mr. Berggren explained that the proposed amendments to Article 4 of the EWEB Board Bylaws eliminate the seniority clause and clarify that a Board Officer shall serve no more than two consecutive one-year terms. He requested that the Board take action on the proposed amendments.
Vice President Osanka stated his objection to the proposed elimination of the seniority clause. He said he thinks EWEB would be better served if the rotation of Board Officers was conducted in a manner such that each Board member was given the opportunity to serve as President, and thereby represent their constituency in a leadership position.
Commissioner Anderson moved, seconded by Commissioner Bishop, to approve the proposed amendments to Article 4 of the EWEB Board Bylaws. The motion passed, 3:1, with Vice President Osanka opposed, and Commissioner Dyer absent.
ASSETS RECOMMENDATIONS
Referring to a memorandum and attached draft resolution included in the meeting agenda packet, EWEB Treasurer Jim Origliosso reviewed staff's recommendations concerning the strategic application of the utility's accumulated assets.
Mr. Origliosso explained that the proposed resolution would authorize EWEB's General Manager to allocate, reserve, and invest
Mr. Origliosso stated that beyond the two alternatives proposed in the resolution, the choices are less clear from a financial perspective. He said that based on Board discussions, it appears additional work is needed on low-income assistance and relicensing/land trust programs before viable policy choices can be made. Mr. Origliosso stated that allocating only a portion of the available funds to the two recommended purposes will enable staff to continue working with the Board on the outstanding issues surrounding other proposed purposes.
Vice President Osanka stated that based on discussion during the last meeting concerning this matter, he had expected that prior to moving on a resolution, the Board would first discuss and determine the process it would use to choose among the available options. In addition, he said it was his recollection that each Commissioner was to create a prioritized list of projects for discussion by the Board. Vice President Osanka said he thought voting on the proposed resolution was premature and that the Board should first determine the process it will use to select among the allocation options.
Commissioner Anderson inquired as to whether the proposed allocation of $3 million to a medical trust could be increased at a later date if the Commissioners were to support additional funding. Mr. Origliosso said the amount could be increased at a later date.
Addressing Vice President Osanka, Commissioner Anderson recalled that Commissioner Dyer has stated his support for funding the medical trust. Mr. Origliosso confirmed that Commissioner Dyer indicated such support in a Board survey.
Commissioner Bishop stated that because there are items in need of funding that are much more important than the Telecommunications Project, she would not support the proposed resolution.
President Smith inquired as to whether the Board should approve an amended version of the resolution, deleting references to the Telecommunications Project, to expedite the allocation of funds to the medical trust. Mr. Origliosso said that would be acceptable.
Commissioner Bishop moved, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, to adopt the resolution, as amended to delete all references to the Telecommunications Project.
Vice President Osanka reiterated his concern regarding process. He said that although there is consensus among Board members to fund the medical trust, modifying the amount of funding may be necessary to accommodate alternative funding allocations such as the proposed rebate.
The motion passed unanimously with the modifications.
Noting that the smallest proposed allocation was for low-income assistance, Commissioner Bishop stressed that EWEB should beyond direct financial costs and savings when considering the value of its investments. She said some investments have indefinable value. In addition, Commissioner Bishop stated that investing in the land trust would be of great benefit; however, similar to investing in low-income assistance, it would be difficult to quantify the value of the investment in terms of a dollar amount. She said she would support an investment of between $750,000 and $1 million in low-income assistance and an investment of $1 million in the land trust. Commissioner Bishop flagged low-income assistance and the land trust as issues for future Board discussion.
Vice President Osanka requested that staff draft a proposal related to the rebate option. He noted that there are at least two Commissioners who support that option. Mr. Origliosso stated that the updated cost of service study should reveal rate inequities and may also provide information that can be added to the rebate discussion. Commissioner Bishop said she thinks it is unwise to allocate additional staff resources on the rebate issue when a comprehensive memorandum has already been produced. She said staff might consider updating the memorandum as to any new findings.
President Smith suggested that as an alternative process, the Board illustrate on a large display chart how it will "carve up the pie" of $9 million in accumulated assets. She said the Board could simply identify general areas of funding and determine dollar amounts later.
President Smith proposed that EWEB's accumulated assets be allocated as follows:
President Smith recommended that due to the availability of bond revenue, no portion of the accumulated funds be allocated for relicensing.
Following brief discussion, the Board agreed to adopt a package proposal rather than adopting a separate resolution for each allocation. In addition, the Board agreed to schedule an additional July meeting to accommodate further discussion of this matter.
WATER SUPPLY PLAN STATUS
Referring to a series of overhead displays, Director of Water & Steam Divisions Dick Helgeson reported that work on the Water Supply Plan is progressing well. He said the Water Supply Plan Working Group has identified several alternative strategies and will continue working throughout June to develop recommendations that will be incorporated into a draft plan. Mr. Helgeson said the Draft Water Supply Plan will be submitted to the Board in July.
Public Affairs Manager Marty Douglass presented a brief overview of the Water Supply Plan public outreach that has been conducted to date. Noting that the working group has sponsored two outreach forums, Mr. Douglass reviewed samples and themes of comments received during the forums. He said the working group will make presentations to several neighborhood groups during the next two or three weeks and has scheduled a final public forum for June 30. Mr. Douglass stated that the working group will likely conduct additional public outreach events during the period between the Board's review of the final recommendations and Board action.
President Smith stated that the working group process has been both interesting and useful. She requested that at the conclusion of the process, EWEB staff and Commissioners who participated in the working group debrief which elements of the process worked well and which did not.
The meeting adjourned at 9:23 p.m.