Laserfiche WebLink
• MEETING OF THE ELK RIVER <br /> ENERGY CITIY COMMISSION <br /> HELD AT THE ELK RIVER CITY HALL <br /> WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2012 <br /> Members Present: Chair Setala,Commissioners Dennis Chuba,Bruce Sayler,Ryan Setterholm, <br /> Tim Steinbeck,Matt Westgaard and Vance Zehringer <br /> Members Absent: Scott Hagen,Stephen Rohlf,Tim Rybak <br /> Staff Present: Environmental Administrator Rebecca Haug,Assistant Director of <br /> Economic Development Clay Wilfahrt,Environmental Assistant Rachel <br /> King,ERMU Representatives Tom Sagsetter,Troy Adams,Recording <br /> Secretary Lisa Kelleher <br /> 1. Call Meeting To Order <br /> Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, the meeting of the Elk River Energy City <br /> Commission was called to order at 8:37a.m. by Chair Setala. <br /> 2. Consider September 19,2012,Energy City Commission Agenda <br /> MOVED BY COMMISSIONER WESTGAAARD AND SECONDED BY <br /> COMMISSIONER STEINBECK TO APPROVE THE AGENDA. <br /> 3. Minutes <br /> • MOVED BY COMMISSIONER WESTGAARD AND SECONDED BY <br /> COMMISSIONER CHUBA TO APPROVE THE JUNE 20,2012 MINUTES WITH <br /> THE CHANGE OF COMMISSIONER RYBAK ARRIVING AT 9:26 A.M. <br /> INSTEAD OF COMMISSIONER SETTERHOLM. MOTION CARRIED . <br /> 4.1 Guest Speaker—Daryl Stang—operates the St. Cloud Hydro Dam <br /> The St. Cloud Hydro Dam went online June 1988. The dam only employees 2 full-time <br /> employees and 1 part-time. It takes very little staff to make the dam run. The average <br /> output is 48 million kilowatts per year. The dam is owned by the city and it generates up to <br /> $2.5 million of revenue per year. The plant gets heated by the generators used for running <br /> the dam. The original cost to build this plant back in 1988 was $21 million. All the cleaning <br /> and maintaining of the dam is done by staff. Over the past 20 years,there has been little <br /> wear on the turbines. Major maintenance includes cleaning out the trash racks in spring and <br /> fall. All of the equipment was custom built. Every 5 years the equipment is thoroughly <br /> inspected but there have been no issues in the past 20 years. It is anticipated that the <br /> equipment will last 50 years before needing a major overhaul. There are 55 gates across the <br /> top of the dam. In the winter,ice causes problems as the hinges rust out and the gates fall <br /> off. This is the 6th Hydro Plant on the river. The City budgets $400,000/year with a <br /> majority of that going for insurance and licensing as the operating costs are about 1/3 of the <br /> budget. In the beginning flushing was done with river water,it was determined that the river <br /> water was causing the seals to deteriorate in 3 years so they switched to using city water and <br /> now seals last 13 years. Mr. Stang worked with a local company to make the seals and now <br /> pays $3,000 versus having them shipped from Germany. This has saved the City a lot of <br /> money. <br /> • The dam is licensed through FERC. There are different requirements for each site and the <br /> requirements are dependent upon how many people are below the dam. They are also <br />