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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002-11-19-UTIL-min.pdf Minutes of the Electric Utility Ad-hoc Committee November 19, 2002 Members in Attendance Roger Borghesani,Nick Cannalonga, Paul Chemick, Norman Cohen, Peter Enrich, Ingrid Klimoff, David Pavlik, Kelly McKay Zeoli Competitive Supply None of the committee members had heard any updates regarding the Power Options bids, so Dave will follow up with Bill Hadley and Jim McLaughlin about this and report back to the committee. Billing Invoices Ingrid will ask Patrick McDonnell's (NStar) assistant, Elaine Zimmerman, to give her the Town's information in an excel spreadsheet. Ingrid asked if the Town owned the parking lot lights at the high school, and Roger responded that he is almost positive the Town does not. Peter asked if it was too late to buy them? Paul thinks it is, but Nick said that he would take that to the Public Building Committee to be thought of for the elementary schools. Double Poles Paul said that Patrick suggested to him that the committee contact the Communications Advisory Committee (CAC) and ask its members to help put pressure on RCN and AT&T to move their wires quicker. Paul said that 1i •ould contact the chair of the CAC, Jane Gharibian. Citizen Outreach Ingrid reported what municipalization outreach she. and other members of the committee, have conducted. She met with the East Lexington Neighborhood Association, and said that most of the people there were interested and supportive and that they did not like NStar. However, one woman said that she does not think the town would be capable of providing good electric service if municipalization happened. Ingrid said that someone suggested publicizing municipalization in the Patriot Ledger so she contacted its publisher and is working to put something in the publication as soon as space is available. She and Patrick also spoke at a Fiske PTA meeting. Overall, the people were receptive, but they did question what the hurdles would be and what would be tough about the municipalization process. Paul said he is a member of the Meriam Hill Association Board and that he spoke about municipalization at a meeting. People seemed to be interested, but mainly about the details of how a municipal plant would run. He encouraged them to think about it and contact the yahoo e-mail address or the BOS. One concern raised by the association was that if Lexington buys out NStar, NStar's prices would likely rise for other communities, and that could harm people in those communities who are not as wealthy as Lexingtonians. Paul received two e-mail responses in regard to his op-ed piece in the Minuteman. He said one response was from someone asking if he could help and the other was from someone who did not care so much about municipalization, but would like to see green power sources used for electricity Paul answered that a municipal utility could easily respond to constituent views like that. Ingrid said that on December 2 there would be a meeting at Clarke hosted by the Clarke School Association and that Susan Bottan and Joanne Benton would attend. There will also be a meeting at the Senior Center on January 10. Roger suggested that the same set of power point slides be used at all the meetings, so the committee is giving out the same information to everyone and there is no confusion. Ingrid relayed that a friend of hers told her that no one cares about this. Paul said that that was what he tried to tell Dawn McKenna when he presented to the BOS. He tried to explain that it might be hard to get feedback from residents because this is an issue that many people do not feel strongly about. He thinks it is positive and a sign to move forward if the committee does not hear negative feedback from residents. Warrant Article/Town Meeting Peter suggested the committee write a warrant article for Town Meeting, so if nothing else, the committee could present the slide show to Town Meeting Members. The committee members strongly supported this, and Kelly will give Phyllis a heads up. Norman will work on the warrant with other members of the committee. Paul asked if the committee needs a Town Meeting vote on aggregation, as he does not want to get too far in the process only to learn otherwise. Peter believes that would be worth asking Palmer and Dodge about, and he said that he would speak with Rick White about using some of Palmer and Dodge's time. Nick worried that we do not have enough information and details with which to go to Town Meeting. He said that he, and believes that other Town Meeting Members, would like more information and some assurances about a return on any money spent. Legislative Efforts Peter, Paul, Roger, Patrick, and Ken Barna and Don Weitzman, two men from Brookline, met with Rep. Jay Kaufman and Rep. Dan Bosley, the house chair of the government regulations committee last week. The representatives are currently in the process of putting together a large piece of legislation with recognition that they need to do something with the rates before standard offer dies in 2005 Bosley said that municipalization had not been on his radar screen, but he would be in favor of facilitating it. They went through Paul's handout, which he will circulate to the committee, and Bosley did not raise any serious objections. Bosley suggested that the committee file its own bill in December and that he and Jay will also file and co-sponsor a very general piece of legislation, which at this point, would basically be a placeholder. Ken and Paul will put together the committee's draft bill and someone on Bosley's staff will review it. Peter felt very good about the meeting,because the representatives received the committee's ideas so favorably and the committee is no longer hanging out there alone against the utilities. When Peter said that he thought this might be pushed back to the legislative session in FY04, Roger responded that he thinks the utilities will want a decision sooner and try to push it through. Peter believes that early in the new year the committee needs to begin a comprehensive lobbying effort. So in the meantime the committee members should think strategically about 2 who should be in the loop. So far those who have been identified are: teachers' associations, Lincoln, Arlington, Bedford, Brookline, and the MMA. Peter said that although it may be too late, he would see if it is possible to make a presentation on this topic at the MMA annual convention in January Patrick is also contacting Rep. Stanley to become involved in this. Peter suggested framing the lobbying around"clarifying existing rights" and not changing the balance of power. BOS Canital Request Ingrid described the meeting with the Capital Expenditures Committee (CEC). The CEC wanted further information about what good the money requested would do if the legislation would not allow for municipalization anyway They suggested asking for$30,000 for the legal issues and wanted to know what the lawyers on the committee think with regards to the feasibility of municipalization happening under the current legislation. Peter responded that he thinks the town could municipalize within the existing laws,but it could take a lot of time and money due to likely legal dealings with NStar. He said that if Reps Bosley and Kaufman were successful in changing the laws, then it would be much easier and cheaper to municipalize. Peter also thought that there was a misunderstanding about what the $30,000 in legal funds would be used for. He said it was requested not for lobbying efforts, but rather for analysis of legal issues around municipalization. For example, looking at governance models or what approval the town needs to receive for what groups, organizations etc. He does not think we would need to spend money on lobbying/legal efforts,because the lobbying should be grass roots efforts and because we are partnering with Ken Barna and the lawyers on the committee, whose legal expertise we can utilize. Peter also said that he thinks the state legislature is looking for ways to save local governments money, since there will be very little state aid to the locals. Kelly relayed that the CEC would also like to know if any of the other communities looking at municipalization would possibly be willing to chip in some money Peter said that since the $30,000 for legal fees was intended for legal analysis specific to technical issues in Lexington, it would not be something to ask the other communities about. The committee discussed how much money it should ask the BOS for given the tight 2004 fiscal year. Peter said that it might be best to ask for the money in order to keep this on the radar and get more exposure, but it is doubtful any money will be appropriated. Paul then asked how far do we move this forward and do we recognize that we will likely not receive any money? Peter suggested still asking the BOS for the money, saying that we realize we probably will not get it. The request will be made to the BOS on November 20. Peter said he would be willing to explain the request in his role as Selectman Liaison if no one from the committee wanted to come to the meeting. Next Stens The next meeting will be held Wednesday,December 11 at 7.30 a.m. in G-15 of Town Hall. Kelly will also try to schedule the meeting with Patrick McDonnell on the same day 3