MOUNTAIN PARKS ELECTRIC, INC.
Regular Meeting of the Board of Directors
Granby, Colorado
January 14th, 2021
8:00 A.M.
Attendance
Present: Scott Simmons, Jeff Hauck, Carl Trick, Richard Zieff, Mark Volt, Liz McIntyre, Kristen Taddonio, Justin Fosha, Mark Johnston, Joe Palmer, Stacie Dellamano, Rob Taylor, Jessica Rahn, Michelle Kloss, Dave Sardinta and Levi Williamson via Zoom Meetings.
Call to Order
President Jeff Hauck called the meeting to order at 8:05 a.m.
Determination of Quorum
A quorum was declared.
Public Comment
Patrick Brower from Grand and Jackson Enterprise Initiative entered the meeting and presented numbers for Grand and Jackson Counties. There were 32 new clients in Grand County and 5 in Jackson County. Mr. Brower asked that funds be released by Mountain Parks Electric in the amount of $10,000 for Grand County and $5000 for Jackson County.
MOTION: It was properly moved, seconded, and carried to release these funds.
Patrick Brower exited the meeting.
Minutes
Minutes were reviewed by the board, it was discussed that Director Fosha did not attend executive session.
MOTION: It was properly moved, seconded, and carried to approve the minutes with above amendment
Attorney Summary Fees Report
The Board reviewed Attorney Williamson’s summary fees report. There were no questions or comments for open session.
Manager’s Report
General Manager Johnston reported there was an outage this morning, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been due to Mountain Parks Electric learning from the outage on New Year’s Day, which was due to a phone issue. Management is working on a system so that there is always a manager on call for emergencies.
Mountain Parks Electric has changed how it has done its hiring processes for some positions. As resumes come in the hiring manager is reviewing them and getting them down to a workable number, then Human Resources and the Hiring Manager is completing a 30-60 minute phone call to clarify information on the resume. Then a wider swath of people who have interactions with that position complete a zoom interview asking questions regarding various ways the positions work together. After the interview they rank the candidates and discuss why they ranked them in the way that they do. Finally, an in person interview takes place.
An offer was accepted for the Safety Coordinator position. Housing is still an issue that Johnston will talk with the board about in executive session.
Johnston reported fiber partner has reached out and is meeting with investors. Mountain Parks Electric is going forward regardless and has funding set aside for this.
Mountain Parks is working with land owner on a final draft for the solar project so that special use permit can be applied for to be able to build in 2021.
COVID update. Three employees tested positive, however hadn’t been in our offices when they were contagious or showing symptoms so there was no exposure to other employees. Mountain Parks’ employees will have access to the vaccine.
Mountain Parks has signed the exclusivity contract with an alternative power supplier to review and explore alternatives for lower cost and more green power.
A system test was completed at the Kremmling Fairgrounds for the Annual meeting. Manager Taylor will also be testing the PA system as a backup.
General Manager Johnston also explores other insurance options for better property and liability coverage as well as fire coverage. This may take longer than originally thought.
Johnston reported he and Attorney Williamson attended 4-6 calls regarding the FERC process.
Discussion/Action Item A: D-3 Conflicts of Interest
Attorney Williamson reported that this needed more discussion during executive session, and that this may need to be revised if new legislation goes through.
Discussion/Action Item B: D-4 Directors Attendance at Meetings and Compensation
D-4 presented with redlines. Director Trick stated that section 5A changes were not correct and needed to be removed. Under 2A remove each December. Directors will review the calendar each month at meetings to determine who is going. Discussion ensued that the board didn’t want to discourage directors to complete trainings, but that the only ones that they would get paid for were ones that were pre-approved through the board president.
Discussion/Action Item C: D-5 Expense Account Verification
Manager Dellamano and Manger Palmer are working with NISC and through the IPads to figure out a way for Directors to report their expenses. Discussion ensued that this policy be approved with the expense sheet removed.
MOTION: It was properly moved, seconded and carried to approve this policy after removing the expense reporting sheet.
Discussion/Action Item D: D-6 Replacement of Directors
Directors discussed that bylaws need to be looked at to determine this policy. Section A1 receives electric service in your primary residence, in the case that directors have multiple homes, change this to reflect the same as bylaws.
MOTION: It was properly moved, seconded and carried to table this item until February.
Discussion/Action Item E: DOE Grant
First draft was written by Director Taddonio. Taddonio and Manager Taylor will continue to work on this with programs Mountain Parks Electric are already engaged in. Grant request is due in February with full application due in March.
Discussion/ Action Item F. NRTC Voting Delegate
Director McIntyre offered to be the delegate.
MOTION: It was properly moved, seconded and carried to appoint Director McIntyre as voting delegate
Discussion/ Action Item G: Mountain Parks Electric Telecommuting Policy
Manager Rahn and General Manager Johnston presented that business practices are changing. This would be a handbook policy and won’t be implemented until at least April.
Discussion/ Action Item H: North Park Fiber Project
This will be tabled until we hear more from North Park. No cost estimates or plans have been received yet.
Discussion/ Action Item I: Strategic Plan
General Manager Johnston sent director updated plan and matrix. Johnston will email wildfire plan to directors as well. Board asked if SAIDI numbers could be added same as the weather format. Strategic plan will be reviewed quarterly.
Discussion/ Action Item J: Certificate for RUS
This will give General Manger Johnston, Board President Hauck and Secretary Taddonio authority to sign off on pre-approved loans without board approval.
MOTION: It was properly moved, seconded and carried to approve this.
Discussion/ Action Item K. Deferred Revenue Plan
Manager Dellamano requested to defer revenue for 2020. Could cause Mountain Parks Electric to raise rate if we didn’t have deferred revenue for the lean years. Discussion ensued on reducing rates, however this would be a short term fix and a greater possibility of having to raise rates again in the future. Less revenue was spent on projects this year due to COVID, which will be addressed in 2021, as work plan is more of a priority.
MOTION: It was properly moved, seconded and carried to approve deferred revenue plan.
Discussion/ Action Item L. Western United Meeting Delegate
Board discussed Director Zieff being the representative
MOTION: It was properly moved, seconded and carried to approve Director Zieff as voting representative.
Engineering Report
The engineering report as prepared by Manager Scott Simmons was reviewed. Director Taddonio questioned why the board doesn’t see items in the strategic plan in the board reports. General Manager Johnston stated that format may be able to be tweaked to show progress towards goals.
Request for costs Mountain Parks Electric has incurred from the East Troublesome Fire.
Operations & Safety Report
The Operations and Safety Report as prepared by Manager Simmons was reviewed. No near misses were reported later in the meeting.
MOTION: It was properly moved, seconded, and carried to table the safety report as presented, near misses will be added.
Finance Report
Manager Dellamano reported that so far with electrify everything Mountain Parks has leant out $205,000 to 15 member with $58,000 in capital credit reimbursements. Mountain Parks Electric has been able to use internally generated capital to pay for the fire expenses so far. Member services is working on the delinquent process as the US Post office has been slow so members are getting their delinquent notices after they have already paid their bill. Encouraging members to look at the date of bill rather than when it is received.
In financial report there is a negative $117,564 which is monies received from the FFCRA credit.
Board will be invited to sit on the Audit Committee when the auditors are here in March. Treasurer Fosha will head the committee and report summary back to the board.
LUNCH 12:04-12:35
General Manager Johnston reported Mountain Parks Electric applied for the CREA Grant which needed to be done by the end of December.
Information Technology Report
The Information Technology Report as prepared by Manager Joe Palmer was reviewed. Manager Palmer reported that outage concern on New Year’s has been addressed, reoccurring holiday box hadn’t been checked. Palmer also reported on purchase of areas of Grand and Jackson County being purchased at auction for providing broadband. Mountain Parks Electric may be asked if they can use our fiber which may be a way to monetize our fiber in a different way if third party vendor doesn’t pan out. Palmer reported February 8th outage management system training with outage map going live after. This will allow Mountain Parks Electric to proactively communicate with members through Smart Hub.
Human Resources and Administration Report
The Human Resources and Administration Report as prepared by Manager Rahn was reviewed. Rahn reviewed the Employee Survey. Mountain Parks has made great strides however still has things to work on. COVID vaccinations will be administered to employees that would like them.
Member Relations and Communications Report
The Member Relations and Communications Report as prepared by Manager Taylor was reviewed. Taylor reported that the West Grand electric bus will be going into the shop for aftermarket work in the next two weeks and will be ready for delivery in February. There are now 54 time of use residential members. Whiskey Hill Solar array data will be sent by Manager Palmer and Manager Taylor will do a press release regarding solar array for members.
General Manager
General Manager Johnston reported Tri-State cost cutting measures include no longer paying members Basin Class C membership. Johnston will send out document lining out what we pay versus what we receive. This will be added to February’s agenda.
Bills for Payment
The Board reviewed the list of cash disbursements for December 2020.
Board Open Forum
Western United: Director Zieff reported next meeting will be the end of January.
Tri-State: Director Trick reported Tri-State is no longer a member of the Trapper Mine. All coal will now be gotten from Colo-Wyo. Tri-State was released with no liabilities because of investments. Tri-State discussed insurance not covering coal plants beyond 2022. Tri-States Annual meeting is scheduled for August 1-6 in Westminster. Open season for participation for partial requirements. FERC approved so there is another 90 day notice period.
Green Power: Director McIntyre reported next meeting will be in March. Can reapply for EV Charger in Walden.
Director Volt discussed meeting with county and Northern water regarding erosion issues after the East Troublesome fire.
Director Taddonio requested a special meeting regarding wildfire mitigation and funding. General Manager suggested meeting in April when he will be in the office to go over these issues to give time to our new Manager of Operations to get involved. Taddonio has been putting together a list of fire related issues to discuss at this meeting.
Next scheduled Strategic planning meeting is tentatively set for January 2022.
CREA: Director Hauck reported next meeting will be at the end of the month. Annual meeting scheduled March 9th and will be virtual.
Director Taddonio reported there may be backlash regarding contributions to political candidates. Requested a breakdown of how NRECA, CARE and ACRE membership money is spent on this.
Old Business
No Old Business Reported
New Business
No New Business Reported
Executive Session
MOTION: It was properly moved, seconded and carried to go into executive session to discuss legal issues, fire cost and restoration, large power rate and member issues. All directors, General Manager Johnston, Managers Rahn and Simmons, and Attorney Williamson were present.
MOTION: It was properly moved, seconded and carried to come out of executive session.
MOTION: It was properly moved, seconded and carried to add $10,000 to the General Managers discretionary contributions line item in the 2021 budget.