TDPUD’s marathon seven-hour meeting on April 4 addressed 12 agenda items, leaving the Board and audience with bleary eyes and tired minds for the post-midnight presentations on the PUD’s Public Benefits Program and budding conservation program.
Broadband is still coming…Earlier in the evening, Telecommunications Director Alan Harry presented to a bright and bushy-tailed board the PUD’s early broadband discussions with Roseville based SureWest. Harry said SureWest could provide phone, television and internet services. The board approved further discussions with SureWest and requested specific costs be reportedat the next meeting. So far the district has spent $2 million over some six years pursuing broadband, said Harry, and none of it will be coming from existing customer revenues, nor will electric and water customers pay for any of that.
Let’s Be Nice. Board President Tim Taylor provided the public and the Board with copies of a draft of a formal code of conduct aimed at eliminating infighting, sniping, and grueling 5 to 7 hour meetings common to the last four months. Director Pat Sutton expressed concerns that freedom of speech not be abridged, as did members of the public. President Taylor said that was not his intent; rather he wished to lay down a code, as there was not yet one in place. Director Hemig said, ‘Our inherent problem is that we are falling behind – we get tired, the public leaves, and we get further behind.’ The code was unanimously approved after board discussion and the striking of two clauses. Copies are available at the TDPUD.
What to pay the General Manager? The board also adopted a formal pay scale for the district’s general manager position. Director Sutton cast the lone dissenting vote, saying the scale was ‘too high.’ The approved scale has six steps, the lowest being $147,000, the highest being $179,000. These wages do not include use of a company vehicle and benefits.
The board then discussed General Manager Peter Holzmeister’s wage and placement within that scale. Three Truckee residents provided public comment, with two citizens explicitly opposing any raise in light of the recent ‘coal contract’ debacle. Bob Johnston, UC Davis Professor Emeritus and current Truckee Planning Commissioner, said that he ‘will never forget that the General manager lied to us,’ referring to statements made in December. Mr. Johnston was referring specifically to statements Holzmeister made in TDPUD meetings, in various articles newspaper articles, and in a letter the district sent to ratepayers. Holzmeister is cited as claiming 1) cheap coal power would ‘free up money to invest in more renewable energy sources’ and 2) if he has to go to the open market to buy power when Truckee’s current contract runs out in 2009, the utility rates would increase by 30 percent.’ The former statement was based on projected power costs of $35/megawatt hour, which UAMPS later said could not in any way be guaranteed. The latter statement implies that the ‘coal contract’ would have begun in April 2009, but it would not have begun until 2012. A third false statement came in the November 28, 2006 Truckee Today. Holzmeister is quoted as saying, ‘the only options out there are from coal fired plants anyway.’ This was in fact disproved during this April 4 meeting with Steve Hollabaugh’s successful attainment of Stampede Dam power and, earlier in the year, UAMPS electricity offerings from various pools brimming with renewable energy options.
After board discussion, Director Thomason and Vice President Sutton voted against a raise beyond Holzmeister’s current $138,000 annual salary while Directors Aguera and Hemig voted for a Step Two pay scale placement (equal to 12.5 percent, or approximately $15,000). President Taylor, with the deciding vote, opted to make a motion for a Step One placement in the scale (a 7.4 percent increase, or approximately $11,000), to which Hemig and Aguera agreed and the motion was passed 3-2, with Thomason and Sutton voting no. Pat Sutton closed Board discussion by saying that ‘(Holzmeister) is being compared [to other Genergal Managers] out of his realm.’ But it was General Manager Holzmeister with the last word on the raise, and he directed his comment to Bob Johnston, saying ‘I never lied.’
Dam, that’s Good Power. By July 2007, Stampede Dam finally will send its power equally to Truckee and the city of Fallon, Nevada. TDPUD has sought this ‘since the early 70s,’ said Director Sutton, who has served on the TDPUD Board for more than 20 years. Power Supply Engineer Steve Hollabaugh explained the complex negotiations involved and how the power fits in to TDPUD’s recently formed Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS). Two generators at Stampede Dam generate a maximum 3 megawatts and .6 megawatts during high season, March to June. Hollabaugh expects the district will pay from $35 to $40 per megawatt, which is ‘very reasonable,’ he said.
Public Benefits Money: After midnight, Northern California Power Agency (NCPA) representative Scott Thomashefsky, Regulatory Affairs Manager, bid everyone ‘good morning’ and proceeded to explain the ten core pieces of legislation affecting Utility Districts’ reporting and spending requirements on public benefit money. His analysis of the PUD’s compliance with Public Benefit Program (PBP) funding requirements dovetailed a legal analysis by TDPUD Counsel Steve Gross.Thomashefsky’s findings, based on ‘untested’ data (observed Director Thomason and confirmed by Thomashefsky) provided by the TDPUD, shows compliance with PBP spending, which has been interpreted by Gross to be around 2.85 percent of PUD revenues from any year since 1994. For Thomashefsky’s complete PowerPoint presentation, contact Steve Hollabaugh at 582-3934.
Saving Money Through Efficiency Rebates: At around 12:45 a.m., Conservation Director Scott Terrell presented the TDPUD’s ‘Enhanced Energy Conservation Program,’ which features funding of lighting, appliance, water heating, space heating, and building efficiency improvement rebates to the sum of $83,500. Marketing will require $35,000, totaling $118,500 for the Conservation Public Benefit program. This is $156,500 less than originally scheduled in the original conservation budget, said Terrell, because he and staff agreed that the PUD’s Citizen’s Advisory Committee will be advising the Board on spending Conservation Program dollars after its formation and deliberation.
Contact the PUD at 582-3906.
