03-11-2008 ERMU MIN - Laserfiche WebLink

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Page 2 Regular meeting of the Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission March 11,2008 printing the numerous bills. John Dietz asked of the cost associated with purchasing new machines and bringing the bills in house versus having them out-sourced. Staff responded. John Dietz also asked if there were many bank pay customers and if thought was ever given to offer an incentive for customers to sign up. Jerry Takle asked the status of the final bill from Billflash. Staff responded that final payment has not been made. The barcode on the payment stub is still in the testing stages but seems to be working well. A new part time accountant started Monday and will be a great asset to the Utilities. David Berg informed of the progress of Well#9. A pumping test will be performed this week and the building contractor should be on site next week. Staff is checking irrigation meters prior to them being installed this spring. John Dietz questioned the status of the customers who have not hooked up to the Municipal water supply. Bryan Adams responded a list will be compiled and it will be noted on the abstract of the property with the County. Prior to the property selling,the owner would have to connect to the municipal water supply. Troy Adams reported 13 security system sales for the month of February. Staff is converting meters in apartment buildings to radio read. Water tie cards that diagram the water line to the customers building in the past have been documented on a recipe card and put in a file. They will now be scanned and documented on the computer for future use. A new handheld reader was recently purchased to cover an area that has had problems in the past with radio reads. The new handheld can read this area without problems. John Dietz asked why security system sales are down. Troy responded a lot of the systems are installed during home construction through another company in joint venture with the builder. The monitoring fees of the other companies are higher. With the advertising that is being done,more customers are transferring over to our services after their monitoring contract runs out. Glenn Sundeen said crews continue to trim trees along with addressing maintenance issues that arise. USG recently performed an infrared study on our electrical lines and equipment. Some pictures of their findings were reviewed. John Dietz asked how often this service is performed. Glenn responded every three years. John Dietz also asked about the status of the street lights on the Hwy 10 corridor downtown. Staff responded they are scheduled to be installed by a contractor this year,and the utility would change bulbs when needed. Jerry Takle recently met with Steve McDonald,auditor for Abdo Eick&Meyers,LLP. A list of information was shared with the commissioners. 5.2 Review Arc Flash Requirements Approximately 20 years ago OSHA adopted 1910.269 which states clothes worn by linepersons cannot make the injuries worse from arc flash. Arc flash is the light and heat energy given off in an unintentional electrical contact between two energized conductors or an energized conductor and ground. Section 410 of the National Electric Safety Code(NESC)requires employers to do an arc flash assessment by January 1,2009. The employer shall require employees to wear clothing or a clothing system that has an effective arc rating not less than the anticipated level of energy. NESC is more focused on the primary electrical current,however,most incidents occur with the