Shedding Some Light June 18, 2013

Shedding Some Light June 18, 2013

Last night’s Light and Water meeting was well attended. The discussion with the sewer commissioners has the first item discussed. The sewer commissioners are looking for cooperation is shutting off water service for the most delinquent or customers who blatantly refuse to pay their sewer bills.

The other alternative for the sewer commission to pursue is installing a sewer shutoff valve, which will entail BOH declaring the homes uninhabitable. The L+W commissioners cited the legal opinion, which does not allow them to turn off water service for sewer scofflaws. The Sewer commissioners requested that legal opinion and the L+W commissioners voted to release that opinion to the Sewer commissioners.

BUDGET –

The L+W commissioners voted a new budget figure for FY 14 for $1,413,000. According the GM Driscoll, this figure includes $30,000 in maintenance that will be enough to cover the water improvements at the intersection of Baldwinville Rd and Maple St. These improvements will be part of the Bald. Rd project and paid for by the water department( $15,000 approximately).

It is interesting to note that the citizen petition for the STM submitted by Ed McClure is the exact same figure that was adopted last night by the commissioners.

GM Driscoll asserted that the increase in the budget was minimal as a percentage. There was no discussion about the sharp loss in revenue for the water department or the necessity to double the service fee from $28/quarter ($112/year) to $56/quarter ($224/year) in order to achieve a balanced budget.

Water Rate Study-

The water rate study by Tighe & Bond is expected to be completed by next month.  We won’t know if the customer service charge will be part of the new water rates. The customer service charge is not an optional fee, therefore in my opinion, I  believe it should be included as part of the water rate.

STM Articles-

The articles for the STM were discussed. It is the opinion of the GM that article 7 will not be a useful solution to the water budget appropriation. Article 6 was discussed by the GM as well – the new bylaw for the water enterprise fund. The GM stated the water enterprise fund does not operate under Chapter 44 section 53F1/2 of the Mass General Laws.

Questions -

The question was raised that if the water enterprise does not operate under Chapter 44 53F1/2 then what section of Chapter 164 deals with enterprise funds? Let’s hope there is an answer to that question by June 27^th!

Mr. Smart asked about contracts over $5,000. He left a copy of Chapter 164 section 56C, which states:

“Section 56C. Every municipal light commission or manager thereof, who makes or executes a contract on behalf of a municipal lighting plant, where the amount involved is five thousand dollars or more, shall furnish said contract or a copy thereof to the city or town auditor within one week after its execution. Said city or town auditor shall keep such contract or copy on file, open to public inspection during business hours. Such contracts or copies shall be kept in a separate book, arranged according to the subject of the contract, or in other convenient form. An index of the subject matter of the contracts and to the names of the contractors shall be made semi-annually, and shall also be open to public inspection in some convenient form. All allowances under and additions to such contracts, or copies thereof, shall be filed with the city or town auditor, together with a sworn statement of the officer making such allowances or additions that the same are correct and in accordance with the contract. A city or town auditor, municipal light commissioner or manager wilfully failing to comply with this section shall be punished by a fine of not less than ten nor more than one hundred dollars.”

There was no discussion on this topic.

Frank Moschetti thanked the Light and Water commissioners for their support of the Senior Center project and asked for support and cooperation when the foundation borings are scheduled…again. Mr. Moschetti was assured that the L+W department would cooperate.

Light Department Meeting

Bald. Rd project –

All the poles except for 2 have been moved.

Rate Study-

In discussion about the rate the GM Driscoll vented about the increase in arrears from about $18,000 in 2003/2004 to about $66,000 currently. The lost revenue stems from people leaving apartments with large bills unpaid. Electricity cannot be turned off in the winter months, so some people leave their apartments with large unpaid electric balances. An prior increase in deposits for renters (from $200 to $500) was enacted in the hopes to curtail this activity that ALL ratepayers must cover.

OPEB Discussion-

OPEB- other postemployment benefits were briefly discussed.  MMWEC is reviewing OPEB figures for TMLWP. No decision has been made to use MMWEC to administer OPEB or a private entity.

FOIA/Public Records request –

GM Driscoll notified the TMLWP Commissioners that his/their public record request had been fulfilled by the BOS. GM Driscoll notified the TMLWP Commissioners that he will exhaustively comb though the records provided on a pen drive to locate a vote allowing one selectman to pull invoices. (See future blog – Would YOU pay this invoice?)

GM Driscoll then went on a lengthy diatribe of all the faults of the BOS, specifically Julie Farrell. Apparently “it’s not over yet”. Couldn’t agree more.

Then GM Driscoll proceeded to rant about the advisory board and an unpaid bill from FY 2012. While rambling on about unpaid local vendors because of the BOS office, I felt some clarity was needed.

The unpaid bill from FY 2012 will be addressed at the STM on June 27^th (Article 9). Because this item is an unpaid bill from a prior year, it needs Town meeting approval. ACTUAL town meeting approval; not the advisory or non-binding kind of approval TMLWP are so fond of stating. It will also require a 9/10’s vote. Because those are the rules for an unpaid bill from a prior year…not because the BOS are trying to make your miserable life more miserable.

When questioned about pulling local vendor invoices, GM Driscoll backed off …BECAUSE no local vendor invoices have EVER been pulled from either the Light department nor the Water department vendor warrants. GM Driscoll is very unhappy about the vendor warrant process.

What GM Driscoll fails to realize is that the reduction in hours and the closing of town offices on Fridays has had a major impact on the process and procedures for ‘doing business’ in town. This reduction in force coupled with staff turnover and new software systems has had an impact on the warrant process. The alternative is to process your payroll and vendor warrants by YOUR staff.

Customer questions –

Wind turbine cost certification should be ready by the end of July.

Mr. Smart asked about nuclear contracts and debt. 40% of TMLWP portfolio is nuclear. The debt should be paid off by 2017. Decommissioning costs for nuclear PSAs are variable. The department does receive RECs from Brodie MT wind farm and the solar array at the TMLWP cost $58,000 (no debt) and does generate some solar RECs.

Mr. Driscoll did agree to attend the pre-town meeting tonight (Wednesday) at 690 Patriots Rd. at 6:00 p.m.

TMLWP Commissioners voted to go into executive session.

My opinions…supported by FACTS ! ! !

Julie Farrell