6.1a. ERMUSR 10-21-2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Elk River . Municipal Utilities UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING TO: FROM: Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission Troy Adams, P.E. — General Manager John Dietz — Chair P O W E 0. E D To S E R V E Al Nadeau — Vice Chair 104 Daryl Thompson — Trustee MEETING DATE: AGENDA ITEM NUMBER: October 21, 2014 6.1a SUBJECT: Staff Updates — General Manager DISCUSSION: • Public Power Week was observed October 5 — 11. As in previous years, the City Council unanimously adopted a resolution to recognize the occasion. The celebration of Public Power Week aligns with celebration of the 69th anniversary of the municipalization of Elk River Light & Power which occurred on October 4. • In anticipation of the addition of a second accountant to the Office Department, workspace modifications are being implemented so both accountants can be located adjacent to each other. ERMU participated with the City in a "Fall Wellness Get Together, Flu Shot, and Lunch" event on September 10. The event included a blood drive, donations for the CAER Food Shelf, and games. Theresa Slominski volunteered to take a shift in the dunk tank fundraiser. ERMU's Michelle Martindale and Angela Hauge serve on the Health Rewards Program Committee with the City. As always, the Committee did a great job planning this event and it was well attended by both ERMU and City staff. • In August, the MMUA board of directors created a Solar /Distributed Generation Task Force to help develop a public power approach to solar. The task force will hold its first meeting on October 22. Because of an Energy City obligation Tom Sagstetter will not be able to attend. I will be attending this first meeting. In the future, Tom will be the primary ERMU representative on this task force. On Wednesday October 8, Mark Fuchs and I attended the Altec HiLine open house for their newly expanded facility in Duluth to determine whether or not ERMU will be able to have future trucks manufactured there. Previously this plant manufactured vehicles designed for transmission. With the expansion to their facility they will also be manufacturing trucks designed for distribution voltage electrical systems as well as communication systems. This would have been a great company to have recruited to locate in Elk River. ERMU has purchased their last two bucket trucks through Altec which were assembled at their Indianapolis facility. When ERMU purchases bucket or digger derrick trucks at least one pre - paint inspection is conducted because of the detailed design specifications. We were very impressed with the facility, employees, management, and operations of the facility. There is a big P I I E I E I 1 1 Page 1 of 2 ATUR Reliable Public Power Provider P O W E 0. E D To S E R V E 104