EUGENE WATER & ELECTRIC BOARD
SPECIAL BOARD MEETING
EWEB BOARD ROOM
DECEMBER 21, 2004
7:30 P.M.

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

Others present: Randy Berggren, Jim Wiley, Marty Douglass, Mel Damewood, Mat Northway, John Mitchell, Brad Taylor, Terry Bequette, Brenda Sirois, Scott Spettel, Debra Smith, Dick Helgeson, and Krista Hince of the EWEB staff; Ruth Atcherson, City of Eugene Minutes Recorder; and John Simpson, Commissioner-elect.

Vice President Bishop convened the Special Board Meeting of the Eugene Water & Electric Board (EWEB) at 7:40 p.m.

AGENDA CHECK

There were no changes to the agenda.

PUBLIC INPUT

There were no members of the public who wished to speak.

APPROVAL OF CONSENT CALENDAR

Minutes

•  November 1, 2004, Work Session and Regular Board Meeting, and the November 24, 2004, Special Board Meeting.

Business Service Agreements

•  SelecTemp B Temporary Services B Energy Management Services B Power Resources Division - $52,400

•  SelecTemp B Temporary Services B Meter Reading B Finance Division - $25,000

•  SelecTemp B Temporary Services B Systems Developments B Information Services B Corporate Services Division - $19,602

•  Twenty-First Century Communications, Inc. B High Volume Call Taking Services - $180,000

•  Christenson Electric B National Electric Safety Code (NESC) Fitness Crew Services B Electric Division - $3,120,000

•  MWH Americas B Compliance Water Quality Tests B Hayden Bridge Filtration Plant B Water Division - $52,500

•  Public Affairs Counsel B Legislative Representation B Public Affairs B General Manager's Division - $155,000

•  Survalent Technology B Water Scada B Water Division - $38,000

•  Zhone, Technologies, Inc. B Fiber Optic Network Equipment and Services B Electric Division - $650,000

•  Lane Council of Governments B 2005 Water Quality Monitoring Technical Assistance Activities B Environmental Management B Corporate Services Division b- $86,420

•  Devine Tarbell & Associates, Inc. B Engineering & Design Services B Smith Creek Pelton Turbine Repair, Phase 2 B Electric Division - $43,624

Commissioner Menegat moved approval of the Consent Calendar. Commissioner Anderson provided the second. The motion passed unanimously, 3:0. 

ITEMS FROM BOARD MEMBERS

Commissioner Anderson ascertained that all of the Commissioners had received copies of the McKenzie Watershed Council report.

Commissioner Anderson conveyed her wish, given that this was her last meeting, that no further costs to EWEB should be incurred by the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project.

CORRESPONDENCE

General Manager Randy Berggren reported the following:

•  EWEB Lobbyist Libby Henry had been working along with Chuck Dalton, EWEB's Customer Relations Manager, and with the Oregon State Attorney General's office to develop proposals to get some of the monies out of the Williams settlement. He said while the lion's share of the settlement was slated to go to the investor-owned utilities, EWEB had developed and submitted a proposal that it was optimistic about that could result in approximately $500,000 from the El Paso and Duke settlement. It was hoped that this settlement could be applied to the Low Income Energy Assistance Program (LIEAP).

•  All Board members were requested to provide input on the General Manager's goals as it was on the agenda for January 4, 2005.

•  Commissioner Anderson had forwarded mail from Marcy Cauthorn regarding the negotiations with McKenzie-Willamette/Triad to staff. Governmental Affairs Coordinator Deborrah Brewer was making efforts to get in touch with Ms. Cauthorn to provide the information she had requested.

•  Public Affairs Manager Marty Douglass provided a brief memorandum in response to a comment from a Whiteaker neighborhood resident regarding the McKenzie-Willamette/Triad negotiations.

•  Master Plan Project Manager Mel Damewood provided Board members with a December 15 memorandum on the status of the Due Diligence on the Roosevelt Boulevard site as well as the progress in the RFQ and the award of the RFQ for 30 percent of the design costs. A more extensive backgrounder would be submitted to the Board in the next several weeks.

•  Mr. Douglass provided the Board with another memorandum regarding the BRT undergrounding issue. He said the basic thrust of the memorandum was that staff and the Board did not believe that EWEB should bear the cost in its entirety merely because Qwest and ComCast refused to.

•  Board packets included a backgrounder on the contract with the Sierra Pine company.

BOARD AGENDAS

Mr. Berggren reviewed the Eugene Water & Electric Board: Board Agenda Report dated December 21 .

Vice President Bishop objected to the reference in the report to the item for the November 16 meeting. She wished to clarify that it dealt with a negotiation for a Apossible@ sale and not a definite contract for the sale of the headquarters site to McKenzie-Willamette/Triad Medical Center. Mr. Berggren said it was a moot issue as it was being pulled from the report. Vice President Bishop asked why it was being pulled. Mr. Berggren replied that it was because the item had been addressed and voted upon.

Vice President Bishop acknowledged it was Commissioner Anderson's last meeting and thanked her for her long service. The room erupted in applause and standing ovation.

WATER MASTER PLAN B RESOLUTION NO. 0704

Engineering Manager Mel Damewood said Water Resource & System Planner Brad Taylor would provide a brief overview of the memorandum dated December 21, 2004, and entitled Additional Information which sought to answer questions the Board had raised.

Mr. Taylor reviewed the housing unit projections per service zones outlined in a table on page one of the memorandum. He provided background on the capital plan infrastructure expenditures, per a request from President Lanning. He stressed that most projects were on the list because the need was immediate and extreme. He also addressed concerns expressed about the debt service in relation to the equity, delineated in a table entitled Water Utility Financial Ratios . He stated that the utility currently had a debt to total asset ratio which was less than the benchmark, derived from the best practices of other utilities.

Commissioner Menegat, seconded by Commissioner Anderson, moved to approve Resolution No. 0704, a resolution concerning adoption of the 2004 Water Master Plan. The motion passed unanimously, 3:0.

PUBLIC HEARING ON THE INTEGRATED ELECTRIC RESOURCE PLAN (IERP)

Vice President Bishop opened the public hearing.

Charles Biggs , an EWEB customer, pointed out that page 2 of the IERP Executive Summary discussed the five-year span of below average precipitation while page 9, under the portfolio strategy model, extended out 20 years. He wondered why, if the drought was projected to be five years in duration, the strategy model went out to 20 years. Otherwise, he felt the IERP was guided by EWEB's principles. He wished the public was better educated regarding the IERP.

Vice President Bishop closed the public hearing.

INTEGRATED ELECTRIC RESOURCE PLAN

Resource Planning Analyst Brenda Sirois said that, while there was no formal staff presentation planned, staff was willing to meet with anyone who wished to learn more about the plan, developed over the course of an 18-month process, and was willing to answer any remaining questions. She reported that the citizen input received at the recent open house had been favorable. She asked the Board to adopt the plan.

Vice President Bishop asked staff to address the question raised in the public hearing. New Resource Project Manager Jim Maloney responded that most resource plans were projected over 20 years because it was important to look far ahead to ascertain the need for future facilities and plan accordingly. He thought the confusion lay in that the organization had a five-year monthly cash flow model that it used to govern its power trading. He said 20-year models had been used in the past for planning, but they had not previously been correlated with the model for the near-term. He further explained that, while it was not assumed that the drought would continue, it did affect long-term assumptions about what the water resources would be for the next 20 years.

Mr. Maloney pointed out, from an issue of the Willamette Week from April, 1994, that EWEB had been ranked number one at that time in regard to energy conservation on a load basis. He predicted that EWEB would continue to be number one.

Commissioner Menegat commended the staff members and the volunteers who worked on the IERP. He thanked staff for being responsive to the Board's concerns and directions.

Vice President Bishop asked if there was any way to acknowledge the citizen members of the IERP Work Group. Ms. Sirois replied that staff planned to add an acknowledgment of the staff and citizen members who worked on the plan that would identify them all. She also planned to write an executive summary to highlight all the different parts of the plan. She said another open house was planned for January 11, 2005. In addition, she indicated that staff would be attending neighborhood meetings to share the plan with citizens of Eugene.

Vice President Bishop thanked Ms. Sirois for leading the process.

The motion passed unanimously, 3-0.

ITEMS REMOVED FROM THE CONSENT CALENDAR

There were no items removed from the Consent Calendar.

Vice President Bishop adjourned the meeting at 8:20 p.m.