Board Members present: Patrick Lanning, Ron Farmer, Dorothy Anderson, Sandra Bishop, and Mel Menegat.

Others present: Randy Berggren, Tom Buckhouse, Debra Smith, Roseanna McArthur, Jim Origliosso, Jim Wiley, Dick Helgeson, John Yanov, Scott Spettel, Dick Varner, and Krista Hince of the EWEB staff; and Joe Sams, City of Eugene Minutes Recorder.

President Lanning called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.

AGENDA CHECK

General Manager Randy Berggren noted that there was a correction to a background memo. He said the evaluation of consultants had a number of respondents that were incorrectly identified in the distributed backgrounder. He also apologized for the confusion about the agenda from January 6, 2004 and the consent calendar items.

Mr. Berggren said he had not had a chance to speak with President Lanning about the public comment section. He noted that Public Input would be moved forward in future meetings if there were no objections from Board members.

APPROVAL OF CONSENT CALENDAR

Minutes

• November 18, 2003 Work Session and Special Board Meeting, the December 16, 2003 Executive Session, Work Session, and Special Board Meeting

Business Service Agreements

• Cornforth Consultants - 2003 Carmen Smith FERC Part 12, Inspection and Safety Report - Electric Division - increase the value of the contract by $94,501
• Nixon Peabody LLP - Bond Counsel Services - Financial Services Division - $200,000 for each year up to a total of five possible years
• RSCI (Meridian Idaho) - Carmen Turbine Cavitation Repairs and Butterfly Valve Upgrades - Electric Division - $54,600
• Devine Tarbell & Associates, Inc. - Stone Creek Hydroelectric Project Environmental Monitoring and Compliance - Environmental Management and Electric Division - $100,000 for two years
• Mid-State Industrial Service Inc. - Parking Lot Sweeping and Sump Cleaning Services - Facilities Services - Corporate Services Division - $72,500/year or $145,000 for the remaining two years on the contract
• Pioneer Power Systems - Coburg Substation Bid - Electric Division - $154,345
• Lane County Human Service Commission - USP/Reach Low Income Programs - General Manager's Division - $240,000

Commissioner Menegat, seconded by Vice President Farmer, moved to approve the items in the consent calendar.

Commissioner Bishop pulled Agenda Item 7 from the Consent Calendar list.

Commissioner Bishop raised concern over ratifying Board consultants as a consent calendar item. She asked that the Consent Calendar item be flagged as a discussion item at the next Board Governance meeting.

The remaining items on the Consent Calendar passed unanimously.

ITEMS FROM BOARD MEMBERS

Vice President Farmer said he had a discussion with EWEB Treasurer Jim Origliosso about Consent Calendar items. He stressed the importance of having more than one reviewer.

Commissioner Bishop said she was planning to attend a power sales conference in Seattle but noted that she could not attend due to a change of date. She urged other members to attend the conference. She said she would order the notebook of materials from the conference.

President Lanning said the letter to the editor clarifying the telecom issue had not appeared in the Register Guard.

President Lanning said the Board meeting packet had a letter to the editor thanking EWEB employees for their work during the recent winter storm.

Vice President Farmer suggested posting the letter on bulletin boards around the utility so employees could see it.

CORRESPONDENCE

Mr. Berggren said the GM performance evaluation work sheet would be distributed the following day and requested that it be handed back before February 6, 2004. He said he would send out his self-evaluation as soon as possible.

Mr. Berggren said the Board retreats were scheduled for February 13, and April 20, 2004. He noted that there would also be a Regular Board Meeting also on April 20 at the regular evening time.

BOARD AGENDAS

Mr. Berggren noted that there had been some confusion over when to start Special Board meetings. He noted that they would not usually last more than two hours.

There was general consensus to try a 7:00 p.m. as a start time.

January 1, 2004 Snow Storm Update

Electric Operations Manager Dave Koski provided an update on the costs of the recent winter storm from January 1, 2004. He said there was total number of 12,000 customers out of service during the storm. He said by Monday there were only ten customers still without power. All ten were awaiting repairs to their facilities before EWEB could reconnect them to the system. He said the cost of the storm was $445,000 with 42,000 in lost revenue due to not generating from Carmen Smith Project.

Mr. Koski said customer communications went much better than the February 2, 2002, storm. He said public service announcements about downed power lines had all been prepared in advance. He noted the difficulty of providing information in the level of storm detail customers wished but stressed that EWEB's customer communications had gone extremely well during the outages.

Mr. Koski said there were aging parts of the system that have a high exposure to tree damage during storms. A potential use of the aging infrastructure funds could be to underground the lines in these chronic outage areas.

Vice President Farmer suggested discussion of a ranking order for essential services in the City to be restored.

There was general discussion around better ways information could be supplied to callers during storm events.

BOARD AGENDAS

Mr. Berggren said updated Board Agendas show the full annual draft calendar. He said he needed to do some more formatting between Work Sessions and Regular Board Meetings.

Regarding outstanding items, Mr. Berggren noted that background information had been distributed regarding EWEB's contract with Sanipac.

Mr. Berggren said there were three issues for future meetings.

1. Consent Calendar Content

2. Board notification of key staff changes in the organization

3. Policy discussion about light pollution from yard lights.

In response to a question from Commissioner Anderson regarding the issue of Board representation outside of City limits, Mr. Berggren said 30 minutes could be added to the next Governance meeting so the issue could be discussed.

PUBLIC INPUT

There were no members of the public wishing to speak.

ELECTION OF OFFICERS FOR 2004

Commissioner Anderson suggested continuing with the present Board Officers.

Commissioner Anderson, seconded by Vice President Farmer, moved to continue with Commissioner Lanning as President and Commissioner Farmer as Vice President.

In response to a question from Commissioner Menegat regarding other commitments that would take up significant amounts of his time, Vice President Farmer said he would serve as Vice President but would prefer not to be President in 2004. He commented that all Commissioners should serve a term as Board president.

Commissioner Bishop said she had also been willing to serve as Vice President if Vice President Farmer was unwilling. She noted that she had not served as Vice President in all of her time on the Board. She stressed her willingness to contribute to the Board.

Commissioner Anderson indicated that Vice President Bishop had served as Vice President in 2000 for a period of time.

Commissioner Menegat reiterated Vice President Farmer's comment on all Board members serving as officers. He said he would not feel comfortable doing so until the following year.

The motion failed 4:1 with Commissioner Anderson voting in favor.

Commissioner Bishop, seconded by Vice President Farmer, moved for Commissioner Lanning to serve as President for 2004. The motion passed unanimously.

Commissioner Menegat, seconded by Vice President Farmer, moved that Commissioner Bishop serve as Board Vice President during 2004. The motion passed 4:1 with Commissioner Anderson voting in opposition.

APPOINTMENT OF COMMISSIONERS TO BOARD LIAISON ASSIGNMENTS AND COMMITTEES

President Lanning said he was open to serving on the Lane Council of Governments again.

Vice President Bishop encouraged Commissioners Menegat and Farmer to participate in LCOG as well. Commissioner Menegat said he would serve as LCOG alternate.

There was general consensus for Commissioner Lanning to continue as LCOG liaison.

There was general consensus for Commissioner Menegat to replace Vice President Bishop as WGA liaison. Vice President Bishop felt she was not doing the utility a service by missing meetings scheduled during the day which were hard to attend due to her schedule. Commissioner Menegat agreed to become the liaison.

There was general consensus for Commissioner Anderson to continue to be the Northwest Energy Coalition liaison with Commissioner Bishop as an alternate.

Commissioner Anderson expressed her willingness to continue as liaison for the McKenzie Watershed Council, but encouraged other Board members to attend McKenzie Watershed Council meetings as well. There was general consensus for Commissioner Anderson to continue with Commissioner Farmer as alternate.

There was general consensus for President Lanning to continue as liaison to Special Districts.

Commissioner Farmer stressed the Board had a fiduciary responsibility to do a management audit. There was general consensus.

Vice President Bishop, seconded by Commissioner Farmer, moved to approve the liaison assignments as listed . The motion passed unanimously.

COMMISSIONERS' PRIORITY ISSUES FOR 2004

Mr. Berggren said the discussion of the General Manager's goals for 2004 had a suggestion to get an idea of individual Board priorities for the upcoming year. He said there had been an assignment to come to this meeting with priorities for issues for the year. He stressed that priority issues needed to reflect an overall Board priority.

Issues were cited such as:

• The Image of the Utility as to Responding to Customers and Public Issues
• Infrastructure/Reliability
• Financial Plan Developed for Carmen Smith Relicensing
• Pro-active Management of McKenzie River Issues
• Develop/Implement an Inclusive Communication Plan/Promote EWEB's Message
• Complete Union Negotiations
• Master Plan Site Development
• Develop a System for Measuring Progress Replacing Aging Infrastructure
• Develop More Internet Solutions
• Wanapa Process
• University of Oregon Co-generation Project
• Post 2006 BPA roles
• Performance Metrics/Call Availability, Work Lost, and
• Water Rights
• Rate Stabilization
• Decrease Dependence on Non-Renewable Resources
• Continue Work on Low Income Assistance
• Continue Customer Service Improvement
• IERP
• Communication with Rate Payers in Unincorporated Areas
• Completing Process of Board Governance Work/ Move Into Content aspect
• Actively Seeking Collaboration within the Community/Region
• Light Pollution Issue
• Continue to work at being an employer of choice to attract the best and brightest employees

ITEMS REMOVED FROM THE CONSENT CALENDAR

Commissioner Bishop, seconded by Commissioner Farmer, moved to approve item seven on the consent calendar. The motion passed unanimously.

The meeting adjourned at 9:30 p.m.

_____________ ______________________________________

Assistant Secretary President