Meeting of Commissioners of
Public Utility District No. 1 of Clark County, Washington
January 17, 2023
A meeting of Commissioners of Public Utility District No. 1 of Clark County was held at Clark Public Utilities, 1200 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver, Washington, on Tuesday, January 17, 2023.
Present: President Jane Van Dyke, Vice President Jim Malinowski, Secretary Nancy Barnes Commissioners, CEO/General Manager Lena Wittler, Director of Energy Resources Dan Bedbury, Director of Finance Melissa Ankeny, Director of Employee Resources Nichole Reitzenstein, Director of Engineering Cal Morris, Director of Operations Gene Morris, Director of Communications Erica Erland, Director of Customer Service Lisa Fix, General Counsel John Eldridge, Community Engagement Specialist Morgan Van Fleet, Engineering Manager – Water Russ Knutson, Energy Services Program Manager Matt Babbitts, Power Manager Steve Andersen, Energy Resource Manager Terry Toland, Executive Assistant – Information Services Colleen Mulligan and Assistant to the CEO/General Manager Margaret Anderson.
Staff present via digital conference (phone or video): PIO/Media Specialist Dameon Pesanti and Manager of Energy Services Debbie DePetris.
Others present via digital conference (phone or video) or in person: Nicolas Garcia, George Caan, Liz Anderson, Dave McKenzie, Jean Avery, Cassi Marshall, Larry Keister, Dave Ripp, John Spencer, Roy Koegan, Nancy Helgat, Becca Kempton, Richard Kolber, Tracy Cerevelo, Don Steinke, Alona Steinke, Rick Marshall, Ricio Pedrozo, Cathryn Chudy, Heidi Culbertson, Bobbi Houts, Dorthea Simone, Susan Saul, Aaron Reiter, Tim Emineth, Tom Gordon, Mark Keely, Chris Thobaden, Debbie Thomason, Hannah Amundson, Janet Hodgepath, Laurie Rubin, Marion Ward, Monica Zazueta, Rebecca Small, Sharon Brown and Sharon Bucher.
Press representatives: None
At 9:00 a.m., President Van Dyke called the meeting to order for the transaction of formal business and noted a quorum was present and the agenda was approved (Materials A).
Public Comment
The following represents a brief summary of comments made by members of the public in attendance:
Cathryn Chudy provided comment on the Inflation Reduction Act and her support of the Community Solar project.
Alona Steinke hoped to hear about Clark Public Utilities’ legislative priorities soon and provided comment on electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
Written comments were submitted by Cathryn Chudy and Don Steinke and a copy may be obtained by contacting Margaret Anderson at [email protected] or 360-992-3378.
Consideration of the Minutes of December 20, 2022
The minutes were approved as presented.
Consideration of Accounts Payable
The board, by a unanimous vote, approved the following payment amounts as listed on the Letter of Transmittal dated January 17, 2023 from the District Auditor (Materials C):
Electric Revenue Fund – $49, 888,167.79
Water Revenue Fund – $7,481,993.57
Generating System Fund – $21,684,660.09
For a total of $79,054,821.45
Consideration of Resolutions of Intent to Establish LUD Nos. 1438 and 1444
Director of Engineering Cal Morris addressed the board regarding the Intent to Establish Local Utility District Nos. 1438 and 1444.
Resolution No. 7760 – LUD No. 1438 – Martin Meadow
Resolution No. 7761 – LUD No. 1444 – Villagio Mixed Use
After the presentation by Mr. Morris, Commissioner Van Dyke opened for public comment. There being no comment, a motion was made by Commissioner Malinowski seconded by Commissioner Barnes, and unanimously carried that Resolution Nos. 7760 and 7761 be adopted and a public hearing was set for February 21, 2023 (Materials F).
Consideration of Establishment of LUD Nos. 1447, 1448 and 1457
Director of Engineering Cal Morris addressed the board regarding the Establishment of Local Utility District Nos. 1447, 1448 and 1457.
Resolution No. 7762 – LUD No. 1447 – Royal Glen
Resolution No. 7763 – LUD No. 1448 – Si-Ellen Farms 3&4
Resolution No. 7764 – LUD No. 1457 – Erin’s Meadow
After the presentation by Mr. Morris, Commissioner Van Dyke opened the public hearing for comments. There being none, a motion was made by Commissioner Barnes seconded by Commissioner Malinowski and unanimously carried that Resolution Nos. 7762-7764 be adopted (Materials D).
Consideration of Bid Award No. 641 – HRSG Lower Penetration Seal Replacement
Director of Operations Gene Morris reviewed the memo dated January 17, 2023 detailing the bid results (Materials E). Commissioner Malinowski moved to recommend that Bid No. 641 be awarded to the low evaluated bidder Industrial Air Flow Dynamics Inc. in the amount of $954,948.00 plus applicable taxes. Commissioner Barnes seconded the motion, and it passed unanimously.
Consideration of Bid Award No. 644 – Fluted Decorative Fiberglass Standards
Director of Operations Gene Morris reviewed the memo dated January 17, 2023 detailing the bid results (Materials E). Commissioner Barnes moved to recommend that Bid No. 641 be awarded to the low evaluated bidder GEOTEK LLC for the two year estimated contract amount of $1,050,000.00 (unit price $1,750.00/ea.) plus applicable taxes. Commissioner Malinowski seconded the motion, and it passed unanimously.
Consideration of Declaring Property Surplus – Portion of Well 105
Engineering Manager – Water, Russ Knutson reviewed the memo dated January 10, 2023 (Materials F). Commissioner Malinowski moved to declare a portion of Well 105 as surplus to facilitate the sale of the property to Urban Landings, LLC for the appraised amount of $29,488.20. The cost of the previous easement in the amount of $1,090.80 will be deducted from this price. Commissioner Barnes seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.
Consideration of the Community Solar East Project
Energy Services Project Manager Matt Babbitts introduce the CEO of the Port of Camas-Washougal David Ripp. Mr. Ripp introduced his Commissioners in attendance Cassi Marshall, Larry Keister and John Spencer and thanked staff and Clark Public Utilities Commissioners for the Community Solar partnership opportunity. He noted the Port staff and the community are looking forward to getting started.
Mr. Babbitts provided the board with a summary of the project, background on the potential Port of Camas Washougal partnership, and proposed system size and design (Materials G). Mr. Babbitts outlined in detail the four customer participant classes, Low-Income, Residential, Business and Government.
Total project costs are estimated to be near $1.4 million, which includes in-kind matching staff costs with Clark Public Utilities and the Port of Camas Washougal. Project subscription strategy and estimated project timeline was shared which has the installation phase completed by December 2023.
The following members of the public provided comments in support of the project moving forward: Jean Avery, Don Steinke, Tracy Ceravolo, Susan Saul, Tim Emineth and Monica Zazueta. Rebecca Small with the City of Vancouver shared that she looked forward to potentially working with Clark Public Utilities on the next Community Solar Project.
Commissioner Barnes moved to approve the Community Solar East project as presented, Commissioner Malinowski seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.
The board thanked staff for the work put into the project to prepare for this decision.
Consideration of the Clean Energy Implementation Appendix Update
Energy Service Program Manager Matt Babbitts reviewed the presentation outlining the request to update the Clean Energy Implementation Plan Climate Commitment Act cost burden appendix for years 2023-2025 (Materials H). This update clarifies the information the Department of Ecology will use to make an accurate no-cost allowance allocation decision.
Commissioner Malinowski moved to approve the Resolution amending Clark Public Utilities Clean Energy Implementation Plan for the years 2023-2025 (Climate Commitment Act Appendix). Commissioner Barnes seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.
Washington PUD Association Presentation
Dave McKenzie, Vice President WPUDA and Skamania PUD Commissioner thanked the board for the time on the agenda noting Commissioner Van Dyke as the current WPUDA Secretary and Commissioner Barnes as a past President. He went on to thank Clark Public Utilities for its commitment to WPUDA; he then introduced Executive Director of WPUDA George Caan. Mr. Caan echoed Commissioner McKenzie’s comments and provided a brief history of the PUD Association and the value of membership for PUD’s in the Association. Mr. Caan went on the introduce Liz Anderson as the Deputy Executive Director of WPUDA.
Ms. Anderson reviewed the mission of WPUDA and outlined the support the Association can provide to PUD’s in Advocacy, Training/Education, Collaboration/Information Sharing, and Policy Research and Analysis (Materials I). Policy Director Nicolas Garcia provided a brief summary of advocacy sevices provided by WPUDA to its members.
Commissioners thanked the WPUDA team for attending and commended them for the goal of visiting each Association member this year.
November Financials
Director of Finance Melissa Ankeny addressed the board (Materials J). Weather was colder and drier than normal, which resulted in electric revenues and off system sales coming in above budget. October residential sales were 119.5% of budget, commercial sales were 107.5% and industrial sales were 101.7% of budget. November ended with a net income $6.8 million compared to budgeted net income of $2.4 million. Year-to-date net income is $32.5 million compared to a budgeted net income of $9.5 million.
The Water System ended November with 742 new customers year-to-date, which is a growth rate of 2.04%. November ended with a net income of $257,000 compared to a budgeted net income loss of $119,000. Year-to-date net income is $2.6 million compared to a budgeted net income of $1.3 million.
November Wholesale Operations
Power Manager Steve Andersen addressed the board (Materials K). Mr. Andersen provided an update on power supply noting that Slice generation was 20 aMW above budget and loads in November were 77 aMW above budget.
Mr. Anderson reviewed November daily and month-to-date purchases and sales in addition to providing a market-pricing outlook, River Road Generating Plant outlook and an update on the Utility’s year-to-date savings of $38.4 million due to its gas-hedging program.
Commissioner Reports and Comments
Commissioner Van Dyke thanked staff for the hard work with the outages over the holidays and she reported on her attendance at the Washington PUD Association meetings.
Commissioner Malinowski reported on his virtual attendance at the Washington PUD Association meetings.
Commissioner Barnes reported on her attendance at the Pacific Northwest Utilities Conference Committee meeting and congratulated CEO/General Manager Lena Wittler on her appointment as Board of Directors Vice-Chair.
Staff Reports
There were no staff reports.
Public Comment
There were no additional public comments.
Other Business before the Board
There being no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 12:09 p.m.