5.6. ERMUSR 09-08-2015 - 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 Al Nadeau—Vice Chair Daryl Thompson—Trustee MEETING DATE: AGENDA ITEM NUMBER: September 8, 2015 5.6 SUBJECT: Expansion of the Elk River Municipal Utilities Board of Commissioners BACKGROUND: Shortly after the Village of Elk River purchased Elk River Power&Light,the council by the provision of Minnesota Statute 412.331 created through resolution the Water,Light,Power and Building Commission. This commission is now the Elk River Public Utilities Commission with responsibility for the municipal electric and water departments.The commission's membership is in accordance with Statue 412.341 "consisting of three members appointed by council." DISCUSSION: With the recent electric service territory agreement with Connexus Energy,ERMU will be growing by approximately 2,000 electric meters over the next five years. If you factor in normal growth,ERMU will likely experience a 20%growth over the next five years. When territory acquisition discussions began a few years ago,there was discussion on expanding the commission to provide better representation of the growing customer base. For statutory cities,the number of commissioner for a public utility commission is specified as three. To expand beyond three,it requires legislation for an exception for the requesting city to expand to more that the specified three. Of the Minnesota municipal utilities with separate commissions,Minnesota Municipal Utilities Association (MMUA)indicated that 50%have three commissioners. The rest now have five commissioners with the exception of one community that expanded to seven. If the ERMU commission where to expand,five members would be an appropriate size for ERMU. This type of legislation has typically been non-controversial. It has been recommended by MMUA that if a statutory city desires to expand their public utility membership,that a local legislator carry the bill. That request should be made by the city council. A revision to the city ordinance to accept the expansion should also be completed. The steps to expand the commission would be as follows: 1. Commission action to request council to request the expansion of the Elk River Public Utilities Commission from three members to five. • re- w E n E ® 1 1 Page 1 of 2 ATURE Reliable Public Power Provider P P O W E R E D T O S E R V E 171