Board of Commissioners Meeting Highlights - March 6, 2018
As a public utility, it's important for us to be open and transparent with you—our customer-owners. Here are some highlights from this month's meeting of your citizen-elected Board of Commissioners.
EWEB will lease, eventually sell, downtown headquarters space
EWEB is in the process of relocating approximately 110 employees from our downtown riverfront headquarters to our Roosevelt Operations Center in west Eugene. The moves are intended to deliver cost savings and efficiency improvements. When the staff moves are completed in early 2019, most of the headquarters building will be vacant, leaving the utility with a timing decision—when to put the approximately 100,000 square foot building up for sale. Commissioners directed staff to lease the building for the short-term—around three to five years—anticipating that property and building values will increase in the future as the community's riverfront redevelopment project comes to fruition. In addition to potential economic advantages, temporarily leasing the building buys EWEB some time to decide where to locate our customer service center. The utility will maintain a presence downtown so customers can pay bills and attend to other business, but the location is yet to be determined.
Plans underway for customer service policy update
EWEB staff reviewed the utility's customer service policies and procedures, and proposed several modifications to the Board of Commissioners. Some key proposed changes include creating a Customer Bill of Rights, enhancing customer privacy language, and adding a section about advanced meters that clearly states the customer's right to opt-out of advanced services. This was the first step of a several-month policy review process.
General Manager receives high marks
EWEB commissioners this month provided their evaluation of General Manager Frank Lawson's 2017 performance. The five commissioners praised Lawson for his ability to guide the utility through major change and create a clear strategic direction for EWEB's future. Lawson has worked for EWEB since 2010 and was promoted to general manager in May 2016.
Other agenda items to note
A presentation about preliminary residential electric pricing committee findings was postponed to a later date to be determined.
