11-17-2015 ERMU MIN - Laserfiche WebLink

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further discussion on Capital Construction Projects. Due to the fact that airline tickets to the APPA Legislative Rally held in Washington,D.C. are currently very inexpensive, Troy Adams asked if the Commission would be in support of sending one or two people to the rally, and if they could make that decision now so that staff could capitalize on the airfare savings. After further discussion,the Commission was in consensus to send both Troy Adams and Tom Sagstetter to the rally next year, and that in moving forward we would most likely send just one person. 5.2 Wage& Benefits Committee Update: Cost of Living Adjustment and Other On November 2,the Wage and Benefit Committee (W&BC)met and reviewed: commissioner compensation,ERMU's electrical contractor license, cost of living adjustment(COLA), and organizational structure and personnel projections. Commission Compensation—The current Commission compensation is $150/month. Troy Adams shared that after conducting a survey of other municipal utilities,the Committee found that a majority of them pay no monthly compensation, and of the ones that do compensate their commissioners,the most common monthly compensation amount was $150. Separate from the mont ly Commissioner compensation,the Commissioners may also be reimbursed for expense due to travel or representation of the utilities for work that falls outside of the regular com ission and committee meetings with an additional stipend of$50/day. Based on survey i formation,the W&BC recommended maintaining the current level of compensation r regular utilities commission meetings at a rate of $150/month, and based on the 1 ss of wages for a Commissioner to take from work to represent ERMU at additional meetings/conferences, increasing the additional stipend to $75/day. Electrical Contractor License—As an electrician's license is required for electrical work performed on the load side of the electric meter, ERMU registered as a licensed electrical contractor a few years ago. This was made possible as one of ERMU's electrical technicians,who is a master electrician, allowed ERMU to become registered through the use of his personal master electrician's license. Troy Adams explained that currently the employee whose master electrician's license we're using, is not being compensated to maintain his license,nor is the master electrician's license a minimum requirement of a position. In order to address both of these issues,the W&BC recommended replacing one of the current Electrical Technician positions with an Electrician/Electrical Technician position which would include as a minimum requirement a master electrician's license. There was further discussion. 2016 Cost of Living Adjustment, Market Adjustment and Total Compensation—On September 8 the W&BC reviewed preliminary 2016 COLA survey numbers from the lineworker market. The preliminary numbers indicated a need for ERMU to have a COLA Page 4 Special meeting of the Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission November 17,2015