February 9, 2015 - Special Council Meeting

MINUTES
BREWSTER VILLAGE SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING
February 9, 2015
6:00 P.M.

 

Brewster Village Council met in regular session with Mayor Mike Schwab presiding.

6:00 P.M. – CALL TO ORDER

Council Members bowed their heads for the invocation provided by Clerk-Treasurer K. Kris King followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

MEMBERS PRESENT:

Mike Schwab, Mayor

Dale Fox, Council Member                 Chuck Hawk, Council Member         
Tom Hilliard, Council Member           Paul Mackey, Council Member
Steve Tharp, Jr., Council Member      

 

COUNCIL MEMBER THARP MOVED, SECONDED BY COUNCIL MEMBER FOX and motion carried to excuse Council Member Godwin from this evening's meeting due to a scheduling conflict with an educational course he has undertaken.  The vote: All yes.

VILLAGE OFFICIALS PRESENT:

John Anthony, Village Solicitor          K. Kris King, Clerk-Treasurer

EMPLOYEES:

George Radich, Electric Superintendent        Ryan Swan, Lineman

OTHER ATTENDEES:

Jim Barnard, Brewster Dairy              Lonnie Via, Brewster Dairy
Dwight Niederkofler, GPD Group    

 

As this was a Special Meeting dedicated to specific topics, the standard Agenda was set aside tonight to consider the topics advertised.

Council was provided the following items in a packet for consideration of obtaining bids for rental of standby generators for a FirstEnergy electric outage:  

  1. Quotes for Rental of Standby Generators obtained by GPD
  2. From GPD - Electric Outage timeline estimate based on FE contractor’s input       
  3. From GPD – Brewster T-Line Asset Sale Valuation & basis of pending Bid for Sale of these assets
  4. Pending Legislation to Prepare & Advertise for Bids for rental of Electric Generation Units
  5. Copies of Letters from Brewster Dairy & Shearers Foods (2) Reps to Village
  6. Copy of Mayor’s Letter to First Energy                 

GPD/Village Engineer Dwight Niederkofler discussed the following:

  • Outage tentatively scheduled for weekend of April 25-26; severe weather alternate - May 2-3
  • Tentative outage begin times: 5 am Saturday or 12 am Sunday (Saturday midnight)
  • Daytime construction expected to go faster & safer
  • FirstEnergy advises that the outage may last 16 to 24 hours; FE Contractor estimates 14.5 hours with possible 3 hour extension to correct phasing.  Council had a discussion on bringing in our own contractors.  Council Member Tharp thinks the professionals should make a recommendation and allow Council to vote on it.  Council Member Hilliard stated it was crunch time and decisions needed to be made.  He then asked VA Pauley what he recommended.  VA Pauley stated it may not be cost effective for the village to bring in their own contractors.
  • Primary Options:        

           Village goes dark for the duration of the outage & all customers on their own

           Village rents standby generators at Village expense for entire town – residents and businesses

           Various combinations of those two scenarios could be considered            

  • Village Electric Department’s role in providing electric generation

Village Administrator Rob Pauley & Solicitor John Anthony reviewed the following:

  • Required timelines  for the Bidding & Contracting for rental of generation units under the O.R.C.
  • Latest date to reserve generation is March 23rd for the April 25-26 weekend
  • The drop-dead date for Council action on required legislation
  • Village Electric Department’s role in providing electric generation 

Review of letters from Jim Barnard of Brewster Dairy & Scott Weyandt of Shearers Foods.

Mayor’s Letter to FirstEnergy requesting their assistance:

  • Requested FirstEnergy’s assistance in funding/obtaining rental of generation units
  • Requested FirstEnergy’s assistance in expediting/reducing construction duration

Dwight Niederkofler indicated that he had received emails from FE before the meeting indicating that at this time it did not look favorable for financial assistance, with regards to offering an incentive for early completion of the cutover-worksite safety was

#1 priority and the contractor felt comfortable with the 14-1/2 hour estimate; FE suggested that the village may want to consider hiring their own contractor for the last cutover pole if the village assumes the cutover can be accomplished in less than the 14-1/2 hours, FE acknowledged Shearers' letter for FE's assistance through other channels.

At this point, Mayor Schwab asked Council if they would permit the representatives from the Dairy to speak.  Upon acknowledgement, Jim Barnhart, Director of Operations of the Brewster Dairy addressed Council by saying they need a predictability factor.  They feel the Village should use the proceeds from the sale of the transmission line to provide for the rental of standby power generation.

CONSIDERATION OF ORDINANCES:

ORDINANCE 09-2015 - Second Reading: An Ordinance Authorizing the VA to Prepare for and to Advertise for Bids for rental of Backup Electric Generation Units.  

COUNCIL MEMBER THARP MOVED, SECONDED BY COUNCIL MEMBER FOX and motion carried to suspend the rule requiring three separate readings and bring the ordinance forward for passage.  The vote: All yes.

COUNCIL MEMBER THARP MOVED, SECONDED BY COUNCIL MEMBER FOX and motion carried to pass the ordinance as presented.  The vote: All yes.

The timeline for rental of the generation units was discussed.

  • VA advertises for bids for two consecutive weeks on February 12th and 19th opening two weeks after last advertisement
  • Bids are opened on March 5
  • Council can approve Emergency legislation awarding a rental contract on March 16
  • VA reserves the rental units for an April 25-26 weekend outage
  • This timeline does give the VA some slight wiggle room for the bid process

Council then moved on to the second topic: The AMPGS Stranded Cost Issue

Village Administrator Rob Pauley , Village Clerk-Treasurer Kris King, & Dwight Niederkofler reviewed the AMPGS Stranded Cost Issue.  The one-time payment of $197,021 was approved at the last meeting.

The following options were discussed:

  • Pass costs onto the Village electric customers as part of their monthly electric charges based on:

o       A flat fee

o       A percentage of their usage

  • Village absorbs cost from current Electric Fund operational budget 

COUNCIL MEMBER HILLIARD MOVED, SECONDED BY COUNCIL MEMBER FOX and motion carried for the Village to absorb the cost of the AMPGS Stranded Cost of $197,021 from the current Electric Fund operational budget.  The vote: All yes.

Council Member Mackey reiterated that he was concerned the Electric Department would not be able to accomplish other large projects that have been on the books for a couple of years with all these addition costs.

REMINDER: Council of the Whole Work Session on 02/16 at 6 pm – Review of Council Rules

COUNCIL MEMBER THARP MOVED, SECONDED BY COUNCIL MEMBER FOX and motion carried to adjourn the meeting at 7:25pm.  The vote: All yes.

Respectfully submitted,

 

_____________________________________

K. Kris King, Village Clerk-Treasurer

 

 

____________________________________

Mike Schwab, Mayor