MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS' MEETING

LANSING BOARD OF WATER AND LIGHT

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Tuesday, September 23, 2003

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The Board of Commissioners met in the Boardroom of the Administrative Offices, 1232 Haco Drive, Lansing, Michigan.

Present:

Commissioners Ronald C. Callen, Nancy W. Duncan, Tim Haggart, Ifield P. Joseph, Connie Marin, Diane R. Royal, Robin M. Smith and Nancy Wonch

Absent:

None

The Secretary declared a quorum present.

Chairperson Royal called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m.


APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Motion made by Commissioner Joseph, seconded by Commissioner Haggart, to approve the minutes of the Special Board meeting held August 12, 2003.

Carried unanimously.

Motion made by Commissioner Wonch, seconded by Commissioner Smith, to approve the minutes of the Board Retreat held August 26, 2003.

Carried unanimously.


PUBLIC COMMENTS

THE CHAIR ANNOUNCED THAT MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC ARE WELCOME TO SPEAK TO THE BOARD ON ANY AGENDA SUBJECT OR ON ANY OTHER SUBJECT NOW, OR AT THE END OF THE MEETING.

Jim Dravenstatt-Moceri of BWL Customer Field Services read a letter written by Curt Gates, Business Manager of IBEW Local 352, concerning Customer Choice in the City of Lansing.  In his letter, Mr. Gates suggests expanding BWL inspections of water main repairs to include the Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) Project.  (See Attachment C for the complete text of the letter.)  Mr. Dravenstatt-Moceri and Luis Flores of the Water and Steam Distribution Department were prepared to give a presentation to the Board on these issues.  Due to time constraints this topic was placed on the agenda for the next regular meeting.

There were no communications.

HUMAN RESOURCES COMMITTEE

Committee Members Present:  Commissioners Haggart (Chair), Marin, Royal, Wonch, Callen (alternate), and Joseph (alternate).

Staff Present:  General Manager Novick and Acting Human Resources Director Mary Dwyer.

The Human Resources Committee met on September 22, 2003 at 5:30 p.m. to review performance appraisals for the Board staff positions and consider their reappointments.

Upon review and discussion, the Committee recommended the following:

Resolution 2003-9-1
PERFORMANCE APPRAISALS FOR BOARD STAFF POSITIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2002-03

RESOLVED, That Internal Auditor Kellie Willson and Corporate Secretary Mary Sova are hereby eligible to receive salary adjustments effective as of July 1, 2003.

RESOLVED FURTHER, That pay adjustments for the Internal Auditor and the Corporate Secretary based on their performance appraisals for fiscal year 2002-03 are hereby confirmed as filed with Human Resources.  Pay adjustments are to be awarded in accordance with the fiscal year 2002-03 performance increase matrix under which pay for performance is being administered.

Resolution 2003-9-2
APPOINTMENT OF BOARD STAFF POSITIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2003-04

The Board’s Rules of Administrative Procedures specify that the Board is to appoint a Director, Internal Auditor and Corporate Secretary, respectively, at the first regular meeting following July 1st of each year or as soon thereafter as practicable.

RESOLVED, That the Board cast a unanimous vote for the reappointment of the following staff positions for fiscal year 2003-04, or, until a successor is appointed, whichever last occurs:

Internal Auditor – Kellie L. Willson
Corporate Secretary – Mary E. Sova

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Board of Commissioners hereby acknowledges the Board-approved Employment Agreement with Director and General Manager Sanford Novick for a period of one year commencing August 18, 2003.

The meeting adjourned at 6:03 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
/s/ Tim Haggart, Chair
Human Resources Committee

Motion made by Commissioner Callen, seconded by Commissioner Wonch, to receive the report as presented.

Action:  Carried unanimously.

Moved by Commissioner Haggart, seconded by Commissioner Wonch, to approve Resolution #2003-9-1.

Action:  Carried unanimously.

Discussion:  Commissioners Smith and Wonch thanked Kellie Willson, Director of Metrics and Audits, and Mary Sova, Corporate Secretary, for the services they provide to the Commissioners and the Board of Water and Light.

Moved by Commissioner Wonch, seconded by Commissioner Marin, to approve Resolution #2003-9-2.

Action:  Carried unanimously.

 


MANAGER’S RECOMMENDATIONS

Background materials on items presented are on file in the Office of the Corporate Secretary.

Resolution 2003-9-3
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT POLICY AND PROCEDURE

WHEREAS, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), Act No. 442 of 1976, as amended, provides the public with the right of access to certain public documents; and

WHEREAS, in order to more efficiently perform this service, the Board of Water and Light (BWL) may adopt rules of procedure for the inspection and/or reproduction of records; and

WHEREAS, the FOIA provides that a public body shall establish and publish procedures and guidelines for calculating the costs for labor and supplies, copying, and other related costs; and

WHEREAS, The BWL had determined that costs associated with the search, examination, review, and the deletion and separation of exempt from nonexempt information would be unreasonably high if those costs exceeded $50.00, and under certain circumstances, the FOIA Coordinator may determine in writing costs of less than $50.00 to be unreasonably high, including without limitation those instances where they exceed the usual and normal costs of responding to a request.

RESOLVED, That the Board of Commissioners of the Board of Water and Light resolves as follows:

  1. The Board of Commissioners adopts the Freedom of Information Act Policy attached as Exhibit A.
  2. The Board of Commissioners adopts the Freedom of Information Act Procedure attached as Exhibit B.
  3. Any and all resolutions inconsistent with this Resolution are hereby repealed.


Comments:  The policy establishes procedures to formalize the manner in which Freedom of Information Act requests are processed at the Board of Water and Light.

Moved by Commissioner Wonch, seconded by Commissioner Duncan, to approve Resolution #2003-9-3.

Action:  Carried unanimously.

 


GENERAL MANAGER’S REMARKS

Energy Blackout Briefing.  Doug Wood, BWL System Integrity and Customer Projects Manager, provided a detailed report of the August 14th power blackout, how it affected the Board of Water and Light, and how the system recovered.  He reported that the first BWL customers were back in service at 10:19 p.m., approximately six hours after the blackout began.  Power was restored for the last customers at 4:21 a.m. on Friday, August 15, approximately 12 hours after the blackout began.  Mr. Wood stated that the International Transmission Company (ITC) has narrowed the origins of the August 14th blackout on events that occurred that day at First Energy, an investor-owned utility serving Cleveland and northern Ohio.  Approximately three hours before the blackout, a power plant tripped off-line, followed by a series of transmission lines.  First Energy has admitted to those events, but has denied it was the origin of the blackout, insisting that other problems were also being experienced on the grid that day.  The blackout affected 50 million people in seven states plus the Canadian Province of Ontario.  Approximately 100 power plants representing 62,000 megawatts of capacity were knocked off line by the cascading blackout that began in northern Ohio.  Mr. Wood reviewed potential areas of improvements and reported that more analysis will be conducted in an effort to determine if and how the BWL system can be protected from future blackouts.

[Commissioner Wonch left the meeting at 6:20 p.m.]

Policy Manual.  General Manager Novick referred to the BWL Policy Manual and noted that this document addresses many of the issues discussed at the Board Retreat held on August 26th related to strategy and expectations for the General Manager’s fulfillment of duty.  Clearly stated policies and regular communication about policy matters will be helpful to establish the delineation between the role of the Board and the General Manager.  The Commissioners were asked to review the Board Policy Manual and to submit any recommendations or changes to Mr. Novick. FY 2004 Budget Status Report.  General Manager Novick reported that the utility performed close to budget for the first month of the new fiscal year.  Income before capital contributions totaled $2.7 million, approximately $200,000 lower than the projected $2.9 million.  A $1.1 million drop in non-operating income skewed the bottom line result.  The decrease was mainly on fixed income investments, which decline as interest rates rise.  Retail unit sales in all three utilities were lower than projected for the month of July 2003 due to a cooler summer, one less day in the water wholesale billing cycle for July 2003, and General Motors except for the Lansing Grand River Assembly Plant was shut down for additional weeks in July 2003.  The $400,000 decrease in revenue was more than offset by a $1.2 million decrease in expenses for July.  Mr. Novick noted that the format of financial reporting would be improved in the near future to provide more meaningful information that is easy to understand.

Cross Connection Program.  General Manager Novick reported that approximately 500 BWL commercial and industrial water customers would be inspected in the new water cross connection program.  The program will include inspections of all commercial and industrial water customers to look for instances where the water system is plumbed to areas that could create problems if a loss of system pressure allowed backflow to occur.  All such cross connections require backflow prevention devices.  Commissioner Haggart noted that the City of Lansing does not currently have a cross connection ordinance.

 


COMMISSIONERS’ COMMENTS

Commissioner Callen reported that he is very pleased with the minimal listing on the sole-source report as compared to previous years.  He also extended his appreciation to BWL staff for their hard work over the past challenging year.

Commissioner Joseph thanked all BWL employees for their role in restoring the power in a timely manner during the recent blackout.

Commissioner Duncan commended BWL employees for good planning and hard work in keeping our water safe during the recent energy blackout.

Commissioner Smith expressed her appreciation to BWL employees for the great job in promptly responding to the recent blackout.  She noted that she was able to get valuable information quickly at the beginning of the blackout.

Commissioner Marin joined the Commissioners by praising BWL employees for their excellent emergency coordination efforts and working so diligently to restore the power within hours after the beginning of the blackout.

 


EXCUSED ABSENCE

There were no absences.


PUBLIC COMMENTS

There were no public comments.

[Commissioner Smith left the meeting at 6:45 p.m.]


CLOSED SESSION

Moved by Commissioner Marin, seconded by Commissioner Haggart, that the Board convene in closed session for a briefing on union contract negotiations. (6:45 p.m.).

Action:  Adopted by roll call vote:

Yeas:

Commissioners Callen, Duncan, Haggart, Joseph, Marin, and Royal

Nays:

None

Abstentions:

None

Absent:

Commissioners Smith and Wonch

OPEN SESSION

The Board returned to open session at 7:15 p.m.


CLOSED SESSION

Moved by Commissioner Marin, seconded by Commissioner Haggart, that the Board convene in closed session to meet with outside counsel to discuss pending litigation (7:16 p.m.).

Action:  Adopted by roll call vote:

Yeas:

Commissioners Callen, Duncan, Haggart, Joseph, Marin, Royal

Nays:

None

Abstentions:

None

Absent:

Commissioners Smith and Wonch


OPEN SESSION

The Board returned to open session at 7:40 p.m.

No action was taken as the result of the closed sessions.

 


APPROVAL OF CLOSED MEETING MINUTES

Moved by Commissioner Duncan, seconded by Commissioner Haggart to approve the minutes of the closed meeting held August 12, 2003.

Action:  Carried unanimously

 

ADJOURNMENT

On motion by Commissioner Callen, seconded by Commissioner Duncan, the meeting adjourned at 7:44 p.m.

/s/ Mary E. Sova, Secretary
Filed with Lansing City Clerk
September 30, 2003