Board Members present: Dorothy Anderson, Peter Bartel, Susie Smith, Patrick Lanning, and Sandra Bishop.
Others present: Randy Berggren, Deborrah Brewer, Cathy Bloom, Terry Bequette, Tom Buckhouse, Bert Dunn, Marty Douglass, Charlie Morris, Andrea Mason, Mat Northway, Steve Read, Steve Still, Dick Varner, Pat Ventura, Jim Wiley, and Krista Hince of the EWEB staff; and Joe Sams, City of Eugene Minutes Recorder.
President Anderson called the Regular Session Meeting of the Eugene Water & Electric Board (EWEB) to order at 8:30 p.m. due to the lengthy Work Session.
AGENDA CHECK
Items 6 and 10 were removed from the evening's agenda.
CONSENT CALENDAR
1. Minutes: April 3, 2001, Executive Session, Work Session, and Regular Session. June 5, 2001, Work Session, June 19, Work Session.2. Load Curtailment Contracts:
- A. Pennington Cross Arm
- B. Zip-o-Lumber
Business Service Contracts
3. Delta Sand and Gravel - Annual Aggregate, (gravel), purchases - Water Division - $400,0004. Egge Sand and Gravel - Annual Aggregate, (gravel), purchases - Water Division - $50,000
5. University of Oregon - Eugene and Regional Solar Radiation and Meteorological Data Monitoring - Energy Management Services - Electric Division - $42,735.
Vice President Bartel, seconded by Commissioner Smith, moved to approve the items on the consent calendar. The motion passed unanimously.
ITEMS FROM BOARD MEMBERS
President Anderson said she had received a call from Jerry Tenell who was upset about not getting to bid to print the utility's new bills. She said that Mr. Tenell wanted to come before the Board and make a presentation.
Commissioner Bishop said that there was no time to make it an agenda item during a regular session but suggested that he make his presentation during the allotted public input time. There was general consensus.
Vice President Bartel noted that he had attended a city council work session on EWEB's telecommunications project with Debra Wright. He said that the session had gone extremely well and noted that there was going to be a joint resolution regarding the project.
Commissioner Bishop noted that the House Bill on energy restructuring had passed and that there would be low income support for the winter months. She complimented Libby Henry on her work toward getting the Bill passed.
CORRESPONDENCE
General Manager Randy Berggren said that no date had been planned for the Board governance meeting and called for input from the Board in choosing a date. There was general consensus for July 13.
Mr. Berggren reminded the Board about the telecom public hearing to be held in the McNutt Room at 6:30 p.m. the following week.
Mr. Berggren reported that the there had been an open house on the Hayden Bridge filtration project with over 100 in attendance. He noted that staff was still working on a date for a tour by the Springfield City Council.
Vice President Bartel raised concern over EWEB's ability to serve the new Sacred Heart Hospital location. He called for a Board discussion on the issue so there was a clear policy.
Mr. Berggren noted that Sacred Heart already had a an existing load contract. Dick Varner, Fiscal Services Supervisor, said that he did not know what their additional load requirements would be but opined that it would be on a special contract.
Mr. Berggren said he would schedule an agenda item.
PUBLIC INPUT
Jerry Eggar, Mid-Valley Presort and Mailing, Salem Oregon, spoke as the President of the Fair Competition Alliance. He raised concern over that, in his opinion, EWEB was not complying with ORS 279.845 and ignoring key statutory provisions designed to protect disabled individuals.
David Hinkley, 1313 Lawrence, submitted written material to the Board. He questioned the legality of EWEB's janitorial service contract with Garten Services Inc. and opined that the contract was not legally drafted.
GARTEN SERVICES INC. - JANITORIAL SERVICE CONTRACT & LAUREL HILL MAINTENANCE CONTRACT
Tom Buckhouse, Director of Facilities Services, noted that, at the last meeting, the Board had instructed staff to obtain a legal opinion regarding the janitorial and maintenance contracts. He introduced Win Calkins, EWEB's General Council, and asked for questions from Board members.
In response to a question from Commissioner Smith regarding how Mr. Calkins responded to the assertions made in the public input portion of the meeting, Mr. Calkins said EWEB's decision in awarding the contracts was in keeping with the Department of Administrative Service's interpretation of the Oregon Revised Statute. He added that EWEB had gone beyond that by providing a request for proposal process that was not required by law.
In response to a question from Vice President Bartel regarding whether EWEB was meeting the intent of its contract, Mr. Calkins noted that 75 percent of the employees in the contracted agency, in general, needed to be disabled, but added that it was possible to have a contract where 75 percent of the employees fulfilling the contract were not disabled. He said that the organization and not the individual contract needed to be examined.
Mr. Calkins noted that there was an Attorney General decision that said that did not require a public agency, as part of its contract, to go out and count how many disabled versus non-disabled employees there were on a particular job. He said that once the contracting agency made the general employment requirement, there was no requirement for EWEB to police it.
Commissioner Bishop said that the statute required that 75 percent of the man hours provided in the contract needed to be completed by disabled persons. She opined that it was the utility's responsibility to police its contracts.
In response to a question from Commissioner Bishop regarding whether EWEB was fulfilling its legal requirements, Mr. Calkins said that the utility was fulfilling its requirements.
In response to a question from Commissioner Bishop regarding whether the Department of Administrative Services was asked to set a price for the contact, Ed Case, EWEB's Purchasing/Risk Manager, said that it had not.
Commissioner Bishop opined that the contracts were legally challengeable.
In response to a question from Commissioner Smith regarding whether EWEB was legally challengeable, Mr. Calkins said that the contracts being used had no specific lists of jobs and therefore could not have a price put on them by the Department of Administrative Services.
Commissioner Bishop raised concern that since that department had not been asked to set a price the utility could be taking a legal risk.
Mr. Berggren stressed that there was no legal precedent, case law, or legal decision handed down that the utility was breaking the law in any way.
Commissioner Bishop reiterated her concerns over legal risks.
Vice President Bartel reiterated to Mr. Berggren that the utility was not violating any laws according to existing precedent.
Vice President Bartel, seconded by Commissioner Smith, moved to approve the contacts awarded to Garten Services Inc. for the janitorial service contract.
In response to a question from Commissioner Bishop regarding where Garten Services Inc. was located, Mr. Case said that the business was headquartered in Salem Oregon, but that the employees fulfilling the contract lived in Eugene.
Vice President Bartel, seconded by Commissioner Smith, moved to approve the contract awarded to Garten Services Inc.
The motion passed 4:1 with Commissioner Bishop voting in opposition.
LAUREL HILL LIGHT MAINTENANCE CONTRACT
In response to a question from Commissioner Bishop regarding how many positions were involved, Mr. Case said that there were two FTE positions in the contract.
In response to a question from Commissioner Bishop regarding what the wages were for those positions, Mr. Case said the lead position was $12.75 hourly and the other position was $11.80 hourly.
Commissioner Smith raised concern that staff was being micro-managed.
Commissioner Smith stated, for the record, that the Board was not acknowledging any breaking of contract law by the utility.
The motion passed unanimously.
BONNEVILLE POWER ADMINISTRATION TRANSMISSION CONTRACT
Burt Dunn, Power Resource Analyst, provided a presentation on new power contracts. He noted that the utility was just coming to the end of a 20 year contract with the Bonneville Power Administration, (BPA), and noted that, for future contracts, BPA had separated power and transmission costs into two business lines. He said that there needed to be separate contracts for transmission, where in the past, they had been bundled together with the power contract.
Mr. Dunn recommended buying "point to point" transmission for "slice and block".
Vice President Bartel, seconded by Commissioner Bishop, moved to approve the staff recommendation. The motion passed unanimously.
President Anderson complimented staff work on the item.
BORROWING AUTHORITY FOR POWER SUPPLY
Jim Origliosso, Treasurer, provided a presentation on power resources. He stressed that there had been tremendous volatility in the power market and that EWEB would continue to be exposed to that volatility into the future. He recommended that the process be started to line up $60 million in credit that would support power trading and power supply activity. He stressed that the line of credit would only be used if needed but needed to be lined up in advance. He added that EWEB's current $8 million line of credit was not sufficient to support the utility in volatile market conditions.
In response to a question from Vice President Bartel regarding how the proposal would affect rates, Mr. Origliosso said that there would be no rate impact until the credit was drawn upon. He added that the credit drawn upon would be repaid with surcharges and purchase power adjustments. He stressed that the credit line was an insurance policy.
In response to a question from President Anderson regarding the utility's bond rating, Mr. Origliosso said that the utility's bond rating was AA.
In response to a question from Commissioner Lanning regarding the cost of setting up the line of credit, Mr. Origliosso said that there was a fee to the bank of one percent.
In response to a question from Commissioner Lanning regarding whether there were any plans to use the credit line, Mr. Origliosso said there were no immediate plans to use it.
LAUREL HILL LIGHT MAINTENANCE CONTRACT (REVISITED)
Commissioner Bishop, seconded by Vice President Bartel, moved to reconsider the vote on the contract for Laurel Hill Light Maintenance. The motion had passed unanimously.
Vice President Bartel, seconded by Commissioner Smith, moved to approve the contract for Laurel Hill Light Maintenance. The motion passed 4:1 with Commissioner Bishop voting in opposition.
The meeting adjourned at 11 p.m.
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Assistant Secretary President