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Marshall Municipal Utilities

"Providing Hometown Reliability"

Board Meeting Minutes

September 15, 2009

The Board of Public Works convened the regular session at 8:30 a.m. at the Marshall Municipal Utilities Business Office. Board members present were Charles Hird, President; Mike Mills, Vice President; Jim Heinzler, Secretary; and Spencer Fricke, member.

The agenda was approved as presented. On a motion by Mr. Heinzler, seconded by Mr. Fricke, the minutes of the previous meeting were approved as printed.

Administrative Services Director Ken Gieringer recommended that the amounts of deposits required by MMU be increased in an attempt to reduce losses for bad debts. MMU requires a $150 deposit for electric service ($300 if all electric), and a $25 deposit for water only customers. Currently, there is no deposit required for customers who have Internet service only. On a motion by Mr. Fricke, seconded by Mr. Heinzler, the Board approved setting the base electric deposit at $200 ($400 for all electric), the deposit for water only customers at $75, and the deposit for Internet only customers at $100, effective October 1, 2009.

Director Gieringer reported the amount for the Electric Operating Fund on the summary sheet for the August 15, 2009, cash disbursements was typed incorrectly. Instead of $1,307,452.65, the amount should have read $1,045,017.44. The actual checks were written correctly.

The following bids were opened September 9, 2009, for an aerial device to be installed on the recently purchased cab and chassis.

	Bid	Make and Model	Wks. after del. of chassis – ready for pre-paint inspection
Altec Industries, Inc. St. Joseph, MO	$116,902.00	Altec AM55E	10-12 weeks
Drake Scruggs Grandview, MO	$120,760.00	VO-355-MHI	180 days
Terex Utilities North Little Rock, AR	$111,558.00	Terex HRX-55	180-240 days

Electric Distribution Director Jeff Bergstrom indicated the lowest bid meeting specifications is from Altec Industries, Inc. On a motion by Mr. Mills, seconded by Mr. Heinzler, the Board accepted the bid of $116,902.00 from Altec Industries, Inc.

The following bids were opened September 8, 2009, for the sale of used and junk transformers.

# of Transformers Available = 65	# of Transformers Bid	Lump Sum
B & B Transformer Farmington, MN	65	$ 9,262.50
Jerry’s Electric Coleman, SD	(All or none) 65	$ 12,192.12
Solomon Corp. Solomon, KS	65	$ 12,390.00
T & R Electric Colman, SD	65	$ 10,331.50
Utility Transformer Brokers American Fork, UT	65	$ 9,416.79
City of Slater Slater, MO	65	$ 3,468.44

Director Bergstrom explained that when breaking the bids down according to highest price per transformer, the most money would be realized by splitting the 65 transformers among four bidders, which would result in a total value of $13,911.87. On a motion by Mr. Mills, seconded by Mr. Fricke, the Board rejected all the bids. Management will consider options for the disposition of the transformers.

Director Bergstrom reported the switchgear for the North Street Substation should be delivered the week of September 28. The underground replacement project in the Westport Addition should be completed by the end of September.

Mr. Fricke asked that Director Bergstrom report on the Mutual Aid policy at the next Board meeting.

Employee Relations Manager Megan Baldridge explained three new sections to Part 2 of the Personnel Policy have been drafted to cover use of computers and the Internet; email, voicemail, and other electronic communication; and telephone and cellular phones. These new sections in the Personnel Policy would eliminate the need for Part 6, Section 6 concerning use of cellular phones, and also the Electronic Communications Policy that was approved in 1997. Mr. Mills suggested the use of the word “systems” in the second paragraph of the draft section 19 might imply that the Internet service an employee might have through MMU at their home would not be private and would be subject to monitoring. Ms. Baldridge will revise the wording of this paragraph and bring the revised draft to the Board at the next meeting.

Electric Production Director Jim Johnson reported Unit #5 has been shut down. Personnel from North Point Boiler are working on the water wall tubes at the bottom of the Unit #5 boiler.

Underground Facilities Director Monty Chase reported the annual fire hydrant flushing will begin on Sunday, September 20.

General Manager Kyle Gibbs indicated MMU is planning on submitting an application for a Smart Grid Investment grant for replacing all existing three-phase industrial and commercial meters with smart meters that would allow industries to see their energy and demand in real, or near real, time.

On a motion by Mr. Heinzler, seconded by Mr. Fricke, accounts payable were approved and warrants ordered issued from the following funds:

	WATER OPERATING FUND		$	131,090.16
	ELECTRIC OPERATING FUND		$	835,807.87
	SEWER REVENUE FUND		$	149,879.28
	INTERNET OPERATING FUND		$	  6,650.03
	NATURAL GAS OPERATING FUND	$	     96.16
	ELECTRIC CONSUMER DEPOSIT FUND	$	  2,550.00
	SEWER MAIN REPLACEMENT FUND	$	 90,330.00

The regular meeting adjourned at 9:32 a.m.