08-16-2005 ERMU MIN - Laserfiche WebLink

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Page 3 Regular meeting of the Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission August 16,2005 6.1 Review 2006 Budget Schedule Staff has started the process of assembling the year 2006 budget. Commission reviewed proposed schedule of Travel&Training along with personnel projections. The Travel& Training budget is similar to 2005 with some minor changes. The personnel projections reflect the addition of two people. The first person is a supervisor for metering, generation, locating,and CAD operator. The second would be locator/CAD operator which is necessitated due to the new rule making,requiring water and waste water utilities to locate their facilities in the public right of way. John Dietz recommends checking with the City to see if we could share an employee. 6.2 Review Large Electric Capital Projects Otsego's growth,potential Target Data Center facility,and normal growth have initiated a number of possible projects for the electric department. A list of projects and costs were discussed along with the reasoning of why we should proceed now instead of wait. Staff is checking into bond rates with MMUA and conventional rates through the City. This will be revisited at the next Commission meeting. 6.3 Review Substation Transformer Purchases Due to the continued growth in Elk River,a$600,000 project was scheduled to upgrade two substations in 2006. The original plan was to purchase a new 15 MVA 69KV transformer for West Substation and the existing 12 MVA 69KV substation transformer would go to the North Substation. Staff is recommending holding off upgrading the North Substation at this time and instead upgrade the Otsego Substation. Bids for this transformer will be received on August 30,2005. This bid also contains an option for an additional 69KV transformer for Station 14 to accommodate the Target project. We will know more after the Target board meeting on September 14,2005. Other Business Bryan Adams reviewed the 2005 Electric Distribution Capital Projects. Staff recommends delaying two rebuild projects worth$245,000 and accelerating the Feeder 97 construction from Station 14 to West Business Park increasing the scope of project from$50,000 to $250,000. James Tralle moved to approve the change of the 2005 Electric Distribution Capital Projects. John Dietz seconded the motion. Motion carried 3-0. John Dietz inquired as to why the lawn at the power plant looks so bad. Glenn Sundeen informed him that the sprinkling system was recently fixed however,he will have it checked again as it still is not working properly.