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Page 3 <br />Regular meeting of the Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission <br />January 15, 2008 <br />James Tralle moved to approve the proposed Water Service Abandonment Agreement with Elk <br />River United Methodist Church for the three lots. Jerry Takle seconded the motion. Motion <br />carried 2-0. <br />5.4 Review Climate Change Material <br />There is a lot of discussion on climate change and renewable energy in the news media and <br />within our electric industry. Whatever legislation has passed and implemented will have a huge <br />impact on our industry. The included material was reviewed and discussed. <br />6.1 Review Annual Report to City Council <br />On an annual basis, all departments of the City of Elk River provide annual reports to the city <br />council. These reports are also completed in digital format and placed on the Cities website so the <br />general public can view these reports. Bryan Adams reviewed the past years progress and the <br />future goals. <br />6.2 Review Annual Electrical Outage Report <br />The Minnesota Energy, Security and Reliability Act enacted in 2001, contains a distribution <br />reliability section. One section of this legislation requires, on an annual basis, an outage report be <br />submitted to their governing bodies, which in our case, is the Elk River Municipal Utilities <br />Commission. In 2007 there were only 47 outages. The major causes of this year's outages were <br />animals (squirrels), fuse failures, 3`d party dig -ins, trees, and vehicles hitting poles. The fuse <br />failures are caused by a manufacturing material issue on the cutouts. Staff is in the process of <br />acquiring quotes to replace the porcelain cutouts with polymer cutouts. <br />6.3 Review APPA Electric Rate Study <br />On an annual basis APPA completes an electric rate comparison. The information is derived <br />from US Department of Energy form EIA -861, that all utilities file on an annual basis. Elk River <br />Municipal Utilities rates as in previous years are still competitive for the residential and <br />commercial rate, but the demand customer rate remains 8% -10% higher. <br />6.4 Energy Expo Request <br />The Energy Expo will be held at the City Fire department complex on Orono Road on April <br />19'h. Mayor Stefanie Klinzing is asking the Utilities to donate funds for this Energy Expo. Bryan <br />Adams was informed that Connexus was donating $1000. <br />Jerry Takle moved to approve a $1000 contribution to the Energy Expo. James Tralle seconded <br />the motion. Motion carried 2-0. <br />6.5 Review Proposed Flexible Benefit Plan Policy <br />Since 1988, Elk River Municipal Utilities has offered a Flexible Benefits Plan to its <br />employees to be able to exclude from tax the medical and dental premiums, and also participate in <br />dependant care, and medical expense reimbursement plans that offer tax savings. These plans fall <br />under the IRS regulations for Section 125 Cafeteria Plans. In August of 2007 the IRS released a <br />comprehensive set of proposed regulations that apply to Section 125 Cafeteria Plans. These new <br />