MOUNTAIN PARKS ELECTRIC, INC.
Regular Meeting of the Board of Directors
Granby, Colorado
March 11, 2021
8:00 A.M.
Attendance
Present: Scott Simmons, Jeff Hauck, Carl Trick, Richard Zieff, Mark Volt, Liz McIntyre, Justin Fosha, Mark Johnston, Joe Palmer, Rob Taylor, Jessica Rahn, Michelle Kloss, Donn Finn, Brian Lee and Levi Williamson via Zoom Meetings.
Call to Order
President Jeff Hauck called the meeting to order at 8:04 a.m.
Determination of Quorum
A quorum was declared.
Public Comment
No public comment this month. Request from Slope Side was cancelled.
Minutes
Minutes were reviewed by the board.
MOTION: It was properly moved, seconded, and carried to approve the minutes as is.
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 the final draft of lease for community solar has been drafted for review on April 1st and action to approve April 8th. Originally the leaser was going to build their own, however is now considering subscribing to Mountain Park Electric’s. Mountain Parks Electric will file with Grand County once lease is approved with potential construction starting in May or June.
Wildfire Mitigation meeting scheduled Monday March 22nd through March 24th Don Finn and Mark will be attending.
Fiber project is moving forward with a May 1st start date. Mountain Parks Electric is still looking at other partners for this project. There will be a presentation during executive session where questions can be asked.
OMS system went live and was tested with Granby outage. After action meeting was completed to identify tweaks to the system that needed to be made.
Ribbon cutting for the Electric Bus in Kremmling is tentatively scheduled for March 18th at 10:15 am.
Check presentation with CREA went well. DOE grant application has been worked on by Rob. There was an extension to turn in the application.
Jessica and Mark are working on the Medical plan and should have information in April for options for the plan. There have been some hiccups with the new plan that are being resolved.
All employee breakfast was held on March 4th where Jeff was the first board member to be introduced to staff. Each breakfast a new board member will be featured and given an opportunity to introduce themselves and answer questions.
Exit audit meeting is scheduled March 18th at 10am. Invitation will be sent to all board members for them to attend via ZOOM. This meeting will take approximately 1-2 hours.
Safety report will now be under Mark. Safety Coordinator Lee is doing a good job using any incidents to be used as teaching moments.
Safety Report
The Safety Report as prepared by Safety Coordinator Lee was reviewed.
MOTION: It was properly moved, seconded, and carried to approve safety report.
Discussion/Action Item A: D-8
Discussion that the deadline for the secure ballot box should be posted on the website. Change MPEI to credential committee in section III D-5. Legal advice regarding this policy will be given during executive session.
Discussion/Action Item B: D-10
Legal advice regarding this policy will be given during executive session.
Discussion/Action Item C: D-11
MOTION: It was properly moved, seconded and carried to approve this policy
Discussion/Action Item D: Ratify MPEI Deferred Revenue
MOTION: It was properly moved, seconded and carried to ratify decision approving Deferred Revenue Plan approved at the February board meeting.
Discussion/Action Item E: Tri-State Policy 125
Only 3 cooperatives can get their buy out number in a year and can’t leave for three years. This will become policy 60 days after it is approved by FERC. Mountain Parks Electric asked for a buyout number in November before a policy regarding this was in place. Shoshone numbers will come out in March. It was recommended that the Mountain Parks Board review this policy and discuss this during executive session. Policy 125 will be sent by General Manager Johnston for review by the board to be discussed next month.
Engineering Report
Managers Finn and Simmons are working with FEMA. No questions asked of Manager Simmons
Operations Report
The Operations report reviewed Manager Finn reported having a good meeting with FEMA and that things are going as good as possible. Finn also reported Leah McClain passed her Merchant Journeyman Lineman test.
Finance Report
Manager Dellamano’s financial report was reviewed. Board requested training on the 990’s and expense reports as well as help with iPad’s.
Information Technology Report
The Information Technology Report as prepared by Manager Joe Palmer was reviewed. Manager Palmer reported NISC, NRECA, CREA patched their system after hack reported to the public that their systems were not impacted.
Human Resources and Administration Report
Manager Rahn is still reviewing pricing for insurance programs going forward and working towards getting back to a calendar year. ELAP auditor is going to be holding a meeting for employees on March 25th regarding balance billing. Manger Rahn will be more involved with the auditing process. If the insurance program doesn’t work Mountain Parks Electric will revisit our options. Human Resources is going to start using Employer’s Council to conduct our employee surveys to ensure confidentiality and looking at other programs that NRECA offers for employees that Mountain Parks doesn’t use yet.
Member Relations and Communications Report
The Member Relations and Communications Report as prepared by Manager Taylor was reviewed. Taylor reported that March 18th there will be a ribbon cutting event for the electric bus. Taylor also reported that the scholarship committee will be meeting Friday March 19th. Next board meeting date of record will need to be set for annual meeting as well as approval of the supervisory committee and scholarship recipients.
Bills for Payment
The Board reviewed the list of cash disbursements for February 2021.
Board Open Forum
Western United: Director Zieff reported Western United had their annual meeting. He was elected to the CARE Committee.
Tri-State: Director Trick reported new policy 317 about interlocking directorships need to be in before next month’s meeting. FERC needs to approve these board members since there can be a conflict of interest if they are on multiple boards. Tri-State found themselves below national average on safety report partially due to employee morale. After Texas winter storm Tri-State looked at their business practices. No one expected the wind power problems due to blade icing issue. Renewable wind sources not geographically diversified and can cause problems due to this. There is a new CEO at Basin Electric.
Green Power: Director McIntyre reported that Green Power had a follow up call with NWCOG and Tri-State regarding weatherization rebate program. McIntyre asked for an acknowledgement from the board that we would like them to do weatherization in the area. Board acknowledged that this is something they would like to do.
CREA: Director Hauck reported annual meeting took place on Tuesday. Fire mitigation is ready for its first reading.
Justin asked that net metering policy be looked at again.
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 after lunch to discuss policies D-8 and D-10, employee housing, Conexon, and received legal advice. All directors, General Manager Johnston, Manager Rahn, Manager Finn, Manager Simmons and Attorney Williamson were present.
The Board came out of executive session with the Board, Don, Scott, Mark and Attorney in attendance.
MOTION: It was properly moved, seconded and carried to approve Policy D-8 as presented and further revised to change “MPEI” in Article III. Section D.5. to “the Credentials Committee”