EUGENE WATER & ELECTRIC BOARD
SPECIAL BOARD MEETING
EWEB BOARD ROOM
JANUARY 18, 2005
7:30 P.M.
Board Members present: Sandra Bishop, John Simpson, and Mel Menegat. President Ron Farmer and Commissioner Patrick Lanning were excused.
Others present: Randy Berggren, Jim Wiley, Debra Smith, Dick Helgeson, Tom Buckhouse, Marty Douglass, Ken Beeson, Terry Bequette, Mel Damewood, Tom Williams, and Krista Hince of the EWEB staff; and Joe Sams, Minutes Recorder for the City of Eugene.
AGENDA CHECK
Vice President Bishop convened the meeting at 7:30 p.m.
General Manager Randy Berggren noted that Libby Henry was sick and would not be able to provide a legislative report. He said Public Affairs Manager Marty Douglas would provide a more brief report.
PUBLIC INPUT
David Hinkley, 1350 Lawrence, commented that Transit Access for workers was an issue that needed to be addressed for the proposed new site for the facility. Regarding the possible sale of the EWEB property, Mr. Hinkley said he did not know why the current site was being sold. He estimated that it would cost $58.5 million to move the utility and questioned where the funding would come from. He said the public would not support the cost and suggested that split operations might be the best course to take. He said it would not make sense to sell the property just because the City wanted a hospital on the current site.
Charles Biggs, 540 Antelope Way, said he was surprised to see the alternate offer for the property by Arlie & Company. He said he was skeptical of any development of the riverfront property by that company. He remarked that the public should have first option on all riverfront property.
CONSENT CALENDAR
Commissioner Menegat pulled the December 7, 2004 minutes from the Consent Calendar.
Vice President Bishop pulled the re-submitted minutes from November 17, 2004.
Commissioner Simpson, seconded by Commissioner Menegat, moved to approve the Consent Calendar with the exception of the pulled minutes. The motion passed unanimously.
ITEMS FROM BOARD MEMBERS
Commissioner Menegat said he would be attending an LCOG dinner in place of Commissioner Lanning and said he would circulate a sign-up sheet for other Commissioners that wanted to attend.
In response to a question from Vice President Bishop regarding a recent traffic accident involving EWEB employees, Jim Wylie reported that the employees had suffered bruises and one of them had an arm in a sling. He said they were both on light duty assignments for the time being.
Commissioner Simpson reported that the McKenzie Watershed Council had received presentations on the Lane County Parks Master Plan and added that there had been a presentation by the Oregon Department of State Lands on the “Oregon Removal and Fill Program.”
CORRESPONDENCE
Addressing a letter received about undersized fire flow capabilities, Mr. Berggren said the gentlemen who wrote the letter lived in the Santa Clara Water District which did not come under the administration of EWEB.
Mr. Berggren noted that the EWEB annual health fair was coming up and urged Board members to attend. He said it would run from 7 am. until noon. Mr. Berggren said revised General Manager Goals had been sent out and noted that he had not received feedback from any of the Commissioners yet. He urged the Commissioners to provide feedback since the item was scheduled for action at the beginning of February.
Vice President Bishop said she had received a letter from a person with an offer of land outside the urban growth boundary. She said a copy of the letter should be in the files of all the Commissioners.
BOARD AGENDAS
Mr. Berggren said there were two outstanding background memos; the first was an update on the impacts of the site for the Patterson Street underpass. He said that had been addressed already. The second was a commitment to provide information on regional power organizations, Board liaison suggestions to the 2050 Plan, and general background information on City sustainability work.
Mr. Berggren said there was a future discussion for the February retreat on the procedure for amending minutes. He added that Ms. Bishop had requested a discussion on legislative representation. He said he was not clear whether the legislative discussion was to be scheduled for the February retreat or whether it would take place in August after the legislative session had been completed.
Mr. Berggren said the next Board meeting would be February 1, 2005. He said it was intended to be held in Vida, up the McKenzie. He said there would be five agenda items:
LEGISLATIVE POLICY REVIEW – RESOLUTION NO. 0503
Public Affairs Manager Marty Douglas, sitting in for EWEB’s lobbyist Libby Henry, said the 2005 Legislative Session was underway and key staff had been identified in key subject areas. He said Ms. Henry wished the new Commissioners to spend the day in Salem with her to be educated on the legislative process. He added that any of the Board members were invited to visit her in Salem at any time.
Mr. Douglas said Resolution 0503 was key in the area of preserving local control and being unencumbered by state legislative action. He recommended passing the resolution that evening.
Vice President Bishop noted that the House Water Committee was considering a bill to put fluoride in all water. She distributed written material on water fluoridation and noted that the Board had no official position on that subject. She said the issue was preserving local control of the utility rather than the question of fluoridation of water in general. She said implementing the State plan would be a major impact on the utility’s budget.
Commissioner Menegat, seconded by Commissioner Simpson, moved to approve Resolution 0503. The motion passed unanimously.
SIERRA PINE TRANSFER AGREEMENT – RESOLUTION NO. 0504
Energy Resource Project Manager Ken Beeson provided a power point presentation on the Sierra Pine Electric Service Transfer Springfield Utility Board (SUB). He asked the Board for approval to allow the General Manager to affect the transfer. He provided background material on the project and outlined the terms of the proposed transfer as shown in the meeting packet.
Mr. Beeson said the significant principles for transfer were a fair and adequate compensation coming back to EWEB from the facilities being transferred, compensation for residual investment on conservation work in that area, make sure the transmission wheeling operation integration agreements and terms were in place, making sure that the agreement was not setting any precedents for any future electric service transfer, and complying with the Sierra Pine request to make the transfer as soon as possible.
Mr. Beeson said there were three agreements being made:
In response to a question from Commissioner Simpson regarding whether it was certain that SUB would use EWEB’s transmission towers, Mr. Beeson said it was certain.
In response to a question from Vice President Bishop regarding whether such an agreement had been made before, Mr. Beeson said there was nothing unusual in the agreement.
Commissioner Simpson, seconded by Commissioner Menegat moved to adopt Resolution 0504 authorizing the General Manager to sign the agreement for transfer of Sierra Pine electric service. The motion passed unanimously.
ITEMS REMOVED FROM THE CONSENT CALENDAR
Commissioner Menegat offered a correction to page four of the December 7 minutes. He said tax ability should be ‘taxability’.
Commissioner Simpson, seconded by Commissioner Menegat, moved to approve the December 7, 2004 minutes as amended. The motion passed unanimously.
Regarding the re-submitted November minutes, Vice President Bishop expressed her appreciation of the staff work done. She asked Mr. Hinkley from the audience to offer corrections to those minutes, explaining that the recording had not been functioning correctly during that meeting. He said he had used the term “fire sale” rather than “sale.”
Vice President Bishop expressed her satisfaction with the verbatim transcript that had been provided by the minutes recorder.
Commissioner Simpson, seconded by Commissioner Menegat, moved to adopt the November 17, 2004 re-submitted minutes as corrected. The motion passed unanimously.
The meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m.
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Assistant Secretary President