06-24-2015 HUCMMINUTES
Regular Meeting — Hutchinson Utilities Commission
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
Call to order — 3:00 p.m.
President Hanson called the meeting to order. Members present: President Anthony
Hanson; Vice President Donna Luhring; Commissioner Monty Morrow; Commissioner
Dwight Bordson; Attorney Marc Sebora; General Manager Jeremy Carter.
Members absent: Secretary Mark Girard
1. Conflict of Interest
Vice President Luhring declared a conflict of interest in voting on the Consent
Agenda as she is listed in the Payment of Bills as receiving a rebate.
2. Approve Consent Agenda
a. Approve Minutes
b. Ratify Payment of Bills
A motion was made by Commissioner Bordson, seconded by Commissioner
Morrow to approve the items listed under the consent agenda. Motion was
unanimously carried.
3. Approve Financial Statements
Jared Martig presented the financial statements. After discussion, a motion was
made by Vice President Luhring, seconded by Commissioner Morrow to approve
the financial statements. Motion was unanimously carried.
4. Open Forum
5. Communication
a. City Administrator — Matthew Jaunich was absent.
b. Divisions
i. Randy Blake — Nothing to report.
ii. Dan Lang — There was an outage yesterday in the industrial park due to an
insulator that blew. It was repaired in four minutes.
iii. Jared Martig — Nothing to report.
iv. John Webster —
1 . Working on transportation and interconnect agreements for Greater
Minnesota Gas. They are interested in pipeline capacity to serve the city
of Courtland.
2. Heartland Corn Products in Winthrop is interested in increasing their
plant capacity from 9,000 dekatherms to 25,000 dekatherms per day in
the next 5 years. Their pipe is maxed out so they will need to build a new
pipeline system. They may secure HUC to operate and maintain their
new system.
c. Legal — Attorney Sebora reported the interconnect agreement for the solar
project at the City of Hutchinson's wastewater plant may be available for review
and approval at July's commission meeting. All grant agreements have been
approved by Xcel Energy. The estimated completion date for the solar project is
early Fall 2015.
d. General Manager — GM Carter reported the next Minnesota Pollution Control
Agency (MPCA) stakeholder meeting is this Friday. Will be talking about the
best approach on how to implement the federal regulations. Also, at the State
special session they reintroduced and approved the bill that Municipals and
Coops can recover fixed costs for distributed generation.
GM Carter attended the APPA National Conference and reported the overall
theme was to start looking at running business differently than in the past as
technology is changing our industry and customer preferences are changing
with new technologies such as Smart Homes.
6. Policies
a. Review Policies
i. Employee Handbooks - Offensive Behavior/Sexual Harassment
ii. Employee Handbooks - Retirement
iii. Employee Handbooks - Resignation
iv. Hutchinson Utilities Commission
v. Establishing a New Electric/Natural Gas Account
The policies were reviewed and no changes were recommended. The
Board tabled the Offensive Behavior/Sexual Harassment policy for Brenda
Ewing to revise and present at the July regular commission meeting.
b. Approve Changes
i. Delegation of Authority
GM Carter presented the changes which were based on the current
organizational position. After discussion, a motion was made by
Commissioner Bordson, seconded by Vice President Luhring to approve the
recommended changes to Delegation of Authority. Motion was unanimously
carried. (Changes attached.)
7. Unfinished Business
a. Discuss Commissioner Matrix
President Hanson had previously distributed the Commissioner Matrix with the
compiled assessment of current skill sets represented by the Board. After
receiving feedback from Commissioners of additional skill sets they would like
included on the Matrix, the plan will be to meet with Mayor Forcier in July to
share this information for consideration in selecting a new commissioner. The
Board would like the new commissioner to be part of the upcoming HUC
strategic planning meetings in August and September.
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8. New Business
a. Approve Changes to Language for Minnesota State Retirement System
(MSRS) Memorandum of Agreement between HUC and IBEW Local 949
Brenda Ewing presented the changes to the MSRS Memorandum of
Agreement between HUC and IBEW Local 949.
At HUC's May 27, 2015 regular meeting, the Commission approved a
Memorandum of Agreement between HUC and the bargaining unit IBEW Local
949 to establish a Health Care Savings Plan (HCSP) with the Minnesota State
Retirement System. The language in the agreement regarding contributions to
the HCSP was pursuant to the unit's preferences.
HUC management was contacted on June 3, 2015, by the IBEW Business
Representative and advised that the bargaining unit desired to amend the
language defining what funds were to be contributed to the HCSP which was
previously approved by the unit. Specifically, the unit was proposing to remove
the language regarding the contribution of earned vacation funds to the HCSP.
This change was approved by the unit at a meeting held on June 18, 2015.
With this change, any earned vacation for union employees at the time of
retirement will be paid out to the employee on a cash basis and subject to the
mandatory and customary employer and employee taxes.
Upon Commission approval, the agreement will be signed by the IBEW
Business Representative and forwarded to MSRS to establish the HCSP.
After discussion, a motion was made by Commissioner Bordson, seconded by
Commissioner Morrow to approve the recommended changes to the language
for Minnesota State Retirement System (MSRS) Memorandum of Agreement
between HUC and IBEW Local 949. Motion was unanimously carried.
(Changes attached.)
b. Approve Requisition #006351 for Unit 8 Boiler Wall Replacement
Randy Blake presented requisition #006351 for Unit 8 Boiler Wall Replacement
for Bally Company in the amount of $29,339.70, explaining Bally sent an
updated quote for $2,000 less than the original quote making the new amount
$27,339.70 to be approved.
After discussion, a motion was made by Commissioner Morrow, seconded by
Vice President Luhring to approve requisition #006351 for Unit 8 Boiler Wall
Replacement for Bally Company with the modified amount of $27,339.70.
Motion was unanimously carried. (Requisition attached.)
c. Closed Session to Conduct the 12 -Month Performance Review of Hutchinson
Utilities Commission General Manager Pursuant to Minnesota Statute 13 D .05
Subd. 3(a)
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President Hanson entertained a motion to go into closed session to conduct the
General Manager's 12 -month performance review as permitted under
Minnesota Statute 13D.05, Subdivision 3(a). A motion was made by Vice
President Luhring, seconded by Commissioner Morrow to go into closed
session to conduct the General Manager's performance review. Motion was
unanimously carried. The Commission then proceeded into a closed session at
3:51 p.m.
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Donna Luhring, Vice Pr i nt
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Anthony Hanson, President
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