2.2 ERMUSR 11-15-2016 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

was in ERMU service territory. At that time the issue was acknowledged by WH and both parties verbally agreed to identify a territory swap rather than remove the installed facilities. Tom explained that the economic recession delayed any swap because nothing was being platted along our service territory boundary until just recently when the plat was approved for the Villas of Otsego. ERMU and WH have been is discussions and have verbally agreed to allow WH to serve the existing seven residential lots in Mississippi Cove, that are currently in ERMU defined territory, in exchange for ERMU providing electric service to eleven patio home sites that are currently platted to be built in the Wild Flowers Meadows development called the Villas in Otsego. Maps with the proposed territory lines were presented. Staff requested approval to move forward with the filing to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission(MPUC)to change the defined service territory boundary for each development to reflect the outlined changes. Daryl Thompson made a motion to move forward with the MPUC filing to change the defined service territory boundary change. Al Nadeau seconded the motion. Motion carried 3-0. 5.0 NEW BUSINESS 5.1 RFP Auditing Firm The City of Elk River,the Elk River Fire Relief, and Elk River Municipal Utilities recently solicited proposals for auditing services for 2016 through 2020. Through the combined RFP process there were three firms that responded: Redpath& Company (R), CliftonLarsonAllen (CLA), and Abdo, Eick and Meyers (AEM). All three were competent firms that submitted qualifying proposals and interviewed well. Theresa stated that due to the fact that Redpath& Company had no utility experience,they would not be a viable option. Theresa presented a summary of the pricing from the three firms. Although the City and Fire Relief has chosen to contract with CLA for the next five years, Theresa recommended that ERMU continue to contract with AEM. Theresa explained the rationale for keeping the current auditors which was largely dependent on the current transactions we're invested in, which our current auditors have been very involved in helping us plan for the implementation of these transactions and the financial reporting of them. John Dietz stated that he had asked the City Administrator if it would make any difference if the city and ERMU have two different auditing firms; to which he responded that he didn't anticipate any issues. John said that his main concern is that we're leaving approximately $18,000 on the table, and before he would feel comfortable voting for it he would like to see where we're going to reduce other line items to come up with the amount to offset the additional expense. John reached out to the other Commissioners to see if they were in agreement. After discussion, Commission consensus was to table this item until next month's Commission meeting. The Commission directed staff to determine where the line item reduction would come from to cover the $18,000, and to bring that back for consideration. It was noted that$18,000 was the total increase for the five year term; Page 6 Regular Meeting of the Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission October 11,2016 22