2.3 ERMUSR 07-12-2016 - Laserfiche WebLink

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4.2 Governance Manual At the August 2014 Utilities Commission meeting, staff presented a draft of an ERMU Governance Handbook. The intent for this handbook was to be incorporated into an ERMU Governance Manual that would be given to new Commissioners. During discussions about the proposed Governance Handbook and Manual, it was determined that our by-laws were outdated and needed to be revised. And with the expansion of the commission from three to five members,a by-laws update is now required. Troy Adams shared that staff has been researching other utility's by-laws and collecting samples to draw from and during this process Minnesota Municipal Utilities(MMUA)was able to connect staff with experts on the subject manner. One of those experts was John Miner,former General Manager of Rochester Public Utilities. Through a conference call with John Miner, staff discussed the current by-laws and governance polices and discovered that there is far more depth to this project than originally thought.Troy added that the amount of work and the need for subject matter expertise has led way to ERMU potentially contracting with a governance consultant. Troy presented a scope of work to assist in the redevelopment of the ERMU by- laws and governance policies that John Miner had provided;the base proposal reflected an approximate cost of$25,000.As this was not a budgeted expense,Troy explained where the cost could be funded from. As John Miner will be passing though Minnesota on Wednesday, June 15,Troy suggested that he and the Utilities Chair sit down with him to discuss the scope and importance of this work. Staff requested discussion,direction,and conditional approval to contract with John Miner of Collaborative Learning,Inc. Daryl Thompson commented that$25,000 sounded like a lot of money.Peter Beck shared that if he were to do the work on this project it would fall out of the scope of the retainer and would be charged at an hourly rate.As this is a unique area of work,Peter was not uncomfortable with that kind of a dollar amount to get the job done.There was discussion. Daryl Thompson made a motion to authorize the Commission Chair and General Manager to conditionally contract,with a price to not exceed$25,000,with John Miner of Collaborative Learning,Inc.for the revision of ERMU's by-laws and governance policies. Al Neadeau seconded the motion. Motion carried 3-0. 5.0 NEW BUSINESS 5.2 Deposits and Related Services Policies At the May Commission meeting, the Commission directed staff to revise the Deposits and Related Services Policies; in particular the section about the disconnect/trip charge. It was suggested that the language be strengthened to clarify the timeframe in the disconnect/reconnect process that the $50.00 fee be incurred. Jennie Nelson shared that staff worked with legal counsel to revise section 7.0 pertaining to the disconnect/trip charge Page 4 Special Meeting of the Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission June 14,2016 26