Board Members present: Susie Smith, Jeff Osanka, Mike Dyer, and Dorothy Anderson. Commissioner Bishop was excused.
Others present: Randy Berggren, Deborrah Brewer, Tom Buckhouse, Chris Evonuk, Dick Helgeson, Garry Kunkel, Roseanna McArthur, Jean Meyers, Kris Middlewood, Mark Oberle, Allison Tarbaux, Dick Varner, and Krista Hince of the EWEB staff; Chris Cardwell, Rick Matcovich, Cardwell Group Consultants; Lance Roberts, the Register-Guard; and Peter Bartel, guest.
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 Anderson noted that in a recent newspaper article, EWEB received a high rating for its conservation and renewable efforts.
Vice President Osanka reported that he continues to hear from constituents criticizing the Board's approval of a supplemental retirement package for EWEB General Manager Randy Berggren.
MINUTES
The Commissioners reviewed the minutes of the July 7, 1998, Work Session and Regular Board Meeting.
Referring to paragraph 5 on page 2 of the Work Session minutes, Vice President Osanka requested that sentence 3 be followed by a new paragraph consisting of the following language: "In other words, a separate power pricing option that allowed a customer to choose to take no green power whatsoever. Vice President Osanka noted, for the record, his opposition to EWEB making available to its customers a 'brown' power option. In response to the comment of another Commissioner who pointed out that Vice President Osanka sounded like President Smith on this point, Vice President Osanka responded that he often agrees with President Smith."
Referring to page 2 of the Regular Board Meeting minutes, Vice President Osanka requested that paragraph 3 be amended to read "Referring to paragraph 1 of page 5 of the Special Board Meeting minutes, Vice President Osanka requested that sentence 3 be amended to read "Beginning January, 1998, and repeated every January through 2,006, $35,000 plus 8 percent will be accrued as a liability. To round up to $280,000 to $300,000, $55,000 plus 8 percent will be accrued as a liability in the first year of the plan." The Board agreed to defer consideration of this matter, pending a review of the meeting audio tapes. (A review of the audio tapes supported the amended language proposed by Vice President Osanka).
Referring to paragraph 4 on page 3 of the Regular Board Meeting minutes, President Smith requested that "will begin" be replaced with "began."
Referring to the final sentence in paragraph 3 on page 5 of the Regular Board Meeting minutes, President Smith requested that "curtailed" be replaced with "tailored."
Referring to sentence 1 of paragraph 4 on page 6 of the Regular Board Meeting minutes, Commissioner Anderson said it was her understanding that if a majority of Commissioners were uncomfortable taking action, the Board would defer the item until the following meeting. Vice President Osanka said it was his understanding when he issued the proposal, that action would be deferred if any of the Commissioners expressed discomfort. The Board agreed to address this issue as a future agenda item.
Referring to paragraph 2 on page 3 of the Regular Board Meeting minutes, Vice President Osanka requested that sentence 1 be amended to read "Vice President Osanka moved to include as an item on next month's meeting agenda discussion regarding the fact that the Board members' letter to the Register-Guard did not address the editorial's criticism that the Board's consideration of Mr. Berggren's Supplemental Retirement Plan was based on the larger salaries of General Managers at large municipal utilities, and that the medium and mode figures were not listed. The motion died for lack of a second." The Board agreed to defer consideration of this proposed modification, pending consultation of the meeting audio tapes.
(A review of the audio tapes revealed that Vice President Osanka stated the following: "On the Register-Guard editorial itself, with this one point that I didn't see quite covered in letter from the Board majority was the suggestion from the Register-Guard that in listing only the -- or going down to the level and including large municipality salaries as well as medium-sized municipality salaries -- that this skews the numbers. . .some of the things I'd specifically like to note then in terms of salary -- and I reserve the right to add a few more things in -- would be, we had the average, but we didn't have things like the median and the mode. And those numbers might tell us some different stories. And I'd also like to see, if we could have the actual numbers for variety, that would be nice -- but at least the -- any good statistician could break it up into quartiles and give us the salaries for those quartiles -- because it seems to me that the suggestion by the Register-Guard is that we, as EWEB, hid, obscured the average salary by including large municipalities with large salaries.")
Referring to paragraph 7 on page 3 of the Regular Board Meeting minutes, Vice President Osanka requested that the final sentence be amended to read "In addition, Mr. Urhausen said the 8 percent interest provided under the plan is extremely high and will result in Mr. Berggren receiving approximately $150,000 in supplemental retirement income when he retires." The Commissioners agreed to defer consideration of this matter, pending a review of the meeting audio tapes. (A review of the tapes revealed that Mr. Urhausen stated the following: "My last point is that when all this compound interest is built up, by the time this thing comes to an end we're going to owe him about half a million dollars.")
The Commissioners agreed to defer consideration of the July 7, 1998, Regular Board Meeting minutes pending consultation of the meeting audio tapes.
Vice President Osanka moved, seconded by Commissioner Dyer, to approve the minutes of the July 7, 1998, Work Session, as amended. The motion passed, 3:0; with President Smith abstaining.
CORRESPONDENCE
General Manager Randy Berggren announced that the annual EWEB picnic is scheduled for Saturday, July 25.
Mr. Berggren reviewed a number of information items included in the meeting agenda packet, including a follow-up memorandum concerning EWEB legal costs. Noting the absence of Commissioner Bishop, who had requested the follow-up information, the Board agreed to defer consideration of scheduling additional discussion regarding this matter until the next meeting.
Mr. Berggren noted that in addition to City of Eugene representatives, EWEB staff members were scheduled to attend an upcoming Whiteaker/Adams Street neighborhood meeting regarding the safety of several trees in that area.
Mr. Berggren reviewed draft agendas for the August 4, 1998 Work Session and Regular Board Meeting.
PUBLIC INPUT
There was no public input.
COMPENSATION PLAN PAY STRUCTURES
Referring to a memorandum included in the meeting agenda packet, and materials distributed to the Board, Compensation Plan Project Manager Jean Meyers stated that the purpose of this discussion was to obtain formal Board approval of
Commissioner Anderson moved, seconded by Commissioner Dyer, to approve a split market compensation position with pay for positions over $40,000 set at the 55th percentile of market, and 60th percentile for those positions paid less than $40,000; and a compensation plan transition scenario in which employee pay is frozen until pay range catches up (redline), with the understanding that staff will return to the Board with a proposal for non-monetary incentives for redlined employees.
Noting his discomfort regarding potential significant increases in individual employees' salaries, Vice President Osanka suggested that the Board consider a mitigation strategy that would curb high-level salaries.
Vice President Osanka moved to amend the original motion to approve a compensation position with pay for those employees making $80,000 or more at the 50th percentile; 60th percentile for those positions paid less than $40,000; and 55th percentile for those positions between $40,000 and $80,000. The motion died for lack of a second.
Vice President Osanka moved to amend the original motion to request that staff propose a salary cap to prevent the possible $10,000 to $15,000 salary increases that could result from this plan. The motion died for lack of a second.
Commissioner Anderson commented that EWEB should not punish those employees who should have been making more money for years by now ensuring that they will continue to make less than market salaries. She said this maintains an unfair differential.
The original motion passed, 3:1; with Vice President Osanka opposed.
CUSTOMER COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES
Mr. Berggren said the purpose of this presentation was to discuss the "communication gaps" that were identified at the Board's March retreat. He recalled that the Board had expressed interest in leveraging existing EWEB activities in addressing these gaps, rather than developing a new communications strategy.
Referring to a memorandum included in the meeting agenda packet, Strategic Planning Manager Deborrah Brewer explained that during the March Board retreat, Commissioners identified three specific customer perception gaps that should be addressed in communications undertaken by the utility. These gaps included
Ms. Brewer stated that in discussing how to approach the three identified gaps, several EWEB staff members undertook a brainstorm of things EWEB currently does that fall into one of the three categories. She said the lists are not exhaustive, but are indicative of EWEB's current involvement in the community, in environmental stewardship efforts, and efforts in cost management. Ms. Brewer briefly reviewed the lists.
Public Affairs Manager Marty Douglass said general recommendations from staff are:
He said the customer data on EWEB's efforts to control costs is so vague that it is very difficult to determine specific areas of concern. For this reason, staff feels that additional information needs to be gathered through future surveys.
Mr. Douglass said that in the meantime, there are opportunities for EWEB to be communicating targeted messages to its customers. He said EWEB is now entering the busy event season, and information distribution is always an option during events. Mr. Douglass said there are specific projects and events scheduled in 1998 that offer opportunities to communicate with customers about all three messages. He said these projects include the:
Mr. Douglass said each of these activities and projects offers opportunities to address the identified gaps. He said the specific strategies for doing so will be incorporated into each project or event.
Mr. Douglass explained that the strategy recommendation involves three of the projects previously cited: the opening of the Midgley Building, and specifically the Energy Outlet; EWEB Windpower; and the "Tale of Two Rivers" component of EWEB's Education Grants Program. He said these projects present an opportunity to "fill the gaps" in communicating to customers on issues of interest to the Board, while informing customers of projects that already require communication utilizing existing budgets and resources.
Mr. Douglass said the communication campaigns for each program would involve advertising, bill inserts, the Pipeline, upcoming events such as the Eugene Celebration, Home Show and Public Power Week. These efforts would be funded with existing resources and budget. Mr. Douglass said that in promoting the Energy Outlet, for example, funding could come from the Public Affairs budget as well as the Energy Outlet budget contained in the Energy Management Services Program. Communication about EWEB's Wind Power Program could utilize the existing Public Affairs advertising budget and the Wind Power Marketing budget. Promoting the Tail of Two Rivers/Education Grants Program could be funded by the Public Affairs advertising budget and the community education budget.
President Smith complemented the staff on being completely responsive to the work completed by the Board during its March retreat. She said the communication proposal reflected exactly what she had envisioned. President Smith inquired as to whether there was a way by which to measure the effectiveness of the communications efforts, particularly with regard to the Midgley Building, EWEB Wind Power, and Tale of Two Rivers activities. Mr. Douglass responded that EWEB's annual survey may be a means of measuring changes in the public's perception.
With regard to the cost management communication gap, Commissioner Dyer said it may boil down to the fact there is a certain segment of the community that simply disagrees with the way EWEB conducts its business.
Commissioner Anderson said it may be useful to communicate, via billing inserts, such facts as the reduction in number of EWEB employees concurrent with a significant increase in the number of EWEB customers. She said the survey would then test the effectiveness of that communication.
Vice President Osanka stressed that EWEB should avoid using the survey as a tool by which to move people's opinions in a certain direction. Commissioner Anderson said she was not suggesting that, but rather a means by which to measure the effectiveness of EWEB's communication with the public.
Commissioner Anderson noted that she, Commissioner Bishop, and Vice President Osanka would be unable to attend the upcoming Lane Council of Governments meeting. She encouraged interested persons to attend the meeting.
The meeting adjourned at 9 p.m.