3.0 ERMUSR 02-20-2007 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Page 2 Regular meeting of the Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission Ja,iuary 9, 2007 Troy Adams informed the Commission of the mapping updates that are being done and bringing the mapping in house. Staff continues to change out the old electric and water meters to replace with the new radio read meters. The accuracy of the new meters are approximately 1 % more efficient than the old mechanical meters. There were 11 security system sales in December and 14 installs. David Berg said the summer help workers are here from winter break and assisting with the meter change-outs, hydrant flushing, and computer updates. Theresa Slominski informed of the staff changes and job duty changes that were being implemented in the office. Interviewing is taking place this week to fill the clerk/receptionist position with hopes of having it filled by month end. 5.2 Review Tobacco Cessation Policy At the December 2006 Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission meeting, Tobacco Cessation and a utility tobacco policy was discussed. The commission directed staff to draft a tobacco policy similar to the City of Elk River. Our current policy is NO Smoking in utilities buildings. Smoking is allowed in utility vehicles unless an employee objects. Chewing tobacco is not directly addressed, but employees do use good judgment and do not offend anybody. To date the existing policy has worked well. The proposed policy is as follows and is more in line with the City policy: Smoke and Tobacco Free Policy In an effort to provide a healthy, comfortable and productive working environment for Utility employees, the Elk River Municipal Utilities provides anon-smoking/non-tobacco work environment. All utility facilities, including vehicles, shall be smoke and tobacco free. Employees violating the above policy may be subject to disciplinary action. Discussion followed regarding the need for changing the existing policy when there have been no complaints. James Tralle said if it is currently not a problem he felt the issue should be put on hold till the need arises for further restrictions. Motion by Jerry Gumphrey to table the Tobacco Cessation Policy. James Tralle seconded the motion. Motion carved 3-0. 5.3 Review Electrical Outage Report The Minnesota Energy, Security and Reliability Act enacted in 2001, contains a distribution reliability section. One section of this legislation requires us to do an outage report yearly and present to the governing body, which in our case, is the Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission. Outage statistics and the causes were discussed. James Tralle commended staff on maintaining a good system with minimal outages.