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<br /> <br />Page 1 of 2 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING <br /> <br />TO: <br />Elk River Municipal Utilities Commission <br />John Dietz – Chair <br />Al Nadeau – Vice Chair <br />Daryl Thompson – Trustee <br />FROM: <br />Troy Adams, P.E. – General Manager <br />MEETING DATE: <br />July 2, 2013 <br />AGENDA ITEM NUMBER: <br />6.1 <br />SUBJECT: <br />Staff Updates – General Manager <br /> <br />DISCUSSION: <br />On June 12 I attended the Great River Energy Annual Meeting. The highlights include plans to <br />bring their Spiritwood Station on line in late 2014, earlier than previously planned. This is due <br />to a second steam customer on site. Also, GRE now anticipate they will have a 0% wholesale <br />power cost increase for 2014. This is good news, unless of course costs get passed along in a <br />Power Cost Adjustment (PCA) instead of a base rate increase. Now that a 0% wholesale power <br />cost increase for 2014 has been announced, it would be difficult for GRE to go back to their <br />members with anything different. However, we will not know until their budgets and rates are <br />finalized in late 2013. <br /> <br />I continue to spend a significant amount of time working with cellular companies regarding <br />attachment to our water towers. Sprint is finishing up work on upgrades to their equipment at <br />our Auburn Street Water Tower and has begun work on the upgrades at our Gary Street Water <br />Tower. They have revised their plans for the Johnson Street Water Tower upgrades and those <br />plans have been sent out for structural and engineering review. We have also executed Right of <br />Entry agreements with Verizon for the Gary and Johnson Street Water Towers so they can <br />determine if they will want to enter into an agreement with us for attachments. <br /> <br />We continue to work through the easement issues associated with the old Hardies property. The <br />property corners have been surveyed and our facilities have been located. <br /> <br />On June 25, Commissioner Nadeau and I attended our first Minnesota Municipal Power Agency <br />(MMPA) board of directors meeting as agency members. The MMPA annual meeting will be <br />held on Tuesday July 23 at Hazeltine in Chaska, MN. Invitations have already been sent and the <br />RSVP deadline is July 8. I encourage all of our Commissioners to attend as this will be our first <br />opportunity to be introduced to the agency as new members. <br /> <br />Representatives from MMPA attended the June 28 Elk River Rotary meeting to introduce the <br />agency and answer questions. <br />79