5/3/2005

Board Members present: Ron Farmer, Sandra Bishop, Mel Menegat, John Simpson, and Patrick Lanning.

Others present: Randy Berggren, Dick Varner, Debra Smith, Tom Buckhouse, Jim Wiley, Terry Bequette, Mark Freeman, Mel Damewood, Ken Beeson, Jim Wiley, and Krista Hince of the EWEB staff; and Joe Sams, City of Eugene Minutes Recorder.

BOARD GOVERNANCE

President Farmer convened the Work Session at 5:30 p.m.

Assistant to the General Manager Deborrah Smith provided an update on the state of the Bylaws. She said the following day advertising would begin for the changes in the board bylaws. She said there would be copies online, at the Utility, and at City Hall. She said the Board could take action on the Bylaws at the May 17 meeting.

Ms. Smith said there were a group of policies mentioned at the March Board retreat that needed small changes that would be presented during the Work Session. She said the next set of policies would be prioritized and worked on at future governance sessions. She said General Manager Randy Berggren and President Farmer could begin work on prioritizing policies for future work. She said after the next batch was approved then she would begin putting formal policies on the website.

President Farmer urged Board members to e-mail him if they had ideas on the order of the policies that he and Mr. Berggren would review.

Ms. Smith said there were six policies included in the meeting packet.

Meetings and Executive Sessions (GP8)

Ms. Smith said this was a new policy but noted that the language was consistent with the Board Bylaws. She said it referenced Oregon Revised Statute 192.610 and provided more detail about what specifically would be covered in an Executive Session. She noted that the topics listed were examples and not a complete list.

President Farmer asked for additional comments/suggestions from the Board members.

Commissioner Menegat said the new policy would address the concerns raised previously by Vice President Bishop.

President Farmer questioned whether there was a need use examples of the kinds of reasons for an Executive Session. He said if examples were used in the Bylaws then they should be taken directly from the ORS language.

Global Board – General manager linkage (BL1)

Commissioner Simpson suggested the following phrase “The General Manager acts as Chief Executive Officer of the operation of the organization” be changed to “The General Manager acts as Chief Executive Officer of the organization.” He also suggested that the statement “. . . recommending that he/she shall also be responsible to prepare reports requested by the Board. . .” should be changed to “. . .he/she shall also be responsible for preparing reports requested by the Board, representing the utility to the public, other agencies and organizations, and performing such other duties as the board directs. . .”

President Farmer said he was comfortable with those changes.

Ms. Smith said the original wording came directly from the Bylaws and questioned whether the Commissioners wanted the wording in the Bylaws changed as well. There was general consensus to make the changes.

Commissioner Farmer said “he/she” should be changed to read “the General Manager”

In response to a question from President Farmer regarding whether the statement “. . .the Board’s sole official connection to EWEB, its achievements and conduct will be through the General Manager” should be changed to “. . .connection to EWEB staff”, Ms. Smith said the statement’s intent was that the Board’s connection to staff was through the General Manager.

Ms. Smith said she would research the stated intent in the wording and try to word the language more clearly.

Commissioner Menegat said there were times when individual Commissioners would represent the Board without going specifically through the General Manager. He said the current wording did not convey that idea.

President Farmer suggested wording calling out the need for the Commissioners to go through the general manager to communicate with staff.

Customer Service Policy (SD3)

Commissioner Farmer called for board comments/questions on the changes suggested by Commissioner Simpson.

Commissioner Simpson said the major change was the addition of the word “social” between “aesthetic” and “environmental.” He added that he wanted to make it very clear that the language was referring to various service classifications and not classifications of consumers.

President Farmer raised concern with the suggested wording of the last paragraph. He said the statement “will provide” rather than stating the intent of providing.

Commissioner Simpson agreed and said he was in favor of having the statement of intent or using the original wording.

Purchasing Policies (SD7)

President Farmer questioned the reason why there was specific reference to the utility’s website for this policy and none of the others.

Ms. Smith said the customer service item was also referenced since those were the two most viewed documents on the website.

President Farmer said all the possible ways to access the material for the general public should be mentioned as well as the website.

Power Cost Recovery Policies (SD10)

Ms. Smith noted that there had been no changes to the text of the policy. She said it was approved every time the rates were approved since it was part of the rate tariff.

President Farmer said the first statement in the Power Cost Recovery Adjustment mentioned the previous calendar year. He noted that under the BPA portion of the text there was no time period mentioned. He questioned what the time period for BPA was.

Mr. Berggren said it was a six-month period.

Public Requests for Board Expenditures (EL3)

Ms. Smith said the policy had been in place a long time. She said she had substituted the word ‘determination’ for the word ‘finding.’

President Farmer said the concept of acting within the budget should be spelled out in the Bylaw language.

Ms. Smith said there could be a third determination that funds were available within the appropriated budget for the current year.

Commissioner Simpson commented that there should be a statement saying that the general practice was first come first served.

Mr. Berggren noted that projects still had to be approved. He stressed that it would be first come first served only if he gave approval.

President Farmer suggested a statement that said applications would be considered as they were submitted.

There was general discussion over the amount of donations given. Mr. Berggren said there was usually $10,000 allotted for donations during the year.

Commissioner Simpson said he would appreciate knowing about any donations. He stressed that he was not trying to second guess the general manager but stressed that he wanted to be informed of donations given.

There was general consensus to keep the $2,000 contribution amount for each individual project.

Board-Staff Working Relationship (BL6)

Ms. Smith said there had been a desire to discuss this policy among board members. She said there was desire to discuss how the value of requests for staff work was assessed. She added that there was desire to discuss how Commissioners should bring problems/conflicts with staff members to the General Manager. She raised concern that staff members would not come to the general manager with problems they had with board members if those concerns was then shared with the entire Board.

President Farmer questioned the statement about the Board President and the General Manager being responsible for resolution of concerns being raised by board members or employees. Ms. Smith said the intent was to limit the policy to working relationships between staff and board members.

Commissioner Lanning said he would phrase the wording as “If the Board or an individual commissioner made a request of staff that staff knew or believed would be overly time consuming the General Manager was empowered to notify the Board of Commissioners and to review the value of the request.”

Mr. Berggren suggested changing the word ‘value’ to ‘priority’.

Ms. Smith said the intent was that staff had that ability to review Board requests with the General Manager without making board members angry.

There was general consensus from the Board.

Ms. Smith said she would make the suggested changes and send out a new draft the following week. She said the item could receive final approval as a consent calendar item.

BOARD PARTICIPATION ON REGIONAL POWER ORGANIZATION

Power Resources Division Director Dick Helgeson made himself available to answer Board comments/questions.

Commissioner Simpson complimented the background material Mr. Helgeson had supplied to the Board.

Commissioner Lanning said it was important to engage the Board in regional activities to develop a depth of understanding of regional issues that could be brought back to the Board but commented that staff were better positioned to represent EWEB to other organizations.

Commissioner Menegat agreed and said staff had the expertise and credibility to represent the utility on a regional level. He said Board members could attend meetings but staff had the history of working with other organizations. He said elected Board members would not be with the utility forever and staff could represent the organization on an ongoing basis. He said he appreciated being made more aware of relationships but stressed that primary contact should rest with staff in those situations.

Commissioner Bishop said she was the only member of the Board that wanted a higher profile for elected Board members. She said she did not want any changes and urged caution when making changes about representation of the utility. She expressed her pleasure to see what the utility was participating in and complimented the comprehensive manner of the report furnished by Mr. Helgeson. She reiterated that there was no need for changes in the current practice but stressed the need for updates being furnished to Board members. She stressed the need for the board being very aware of what was happening at the regional level. She said there were positions that the Board would have to take on State and Federal issues and added that the board could help to put emphasis behind staff representation.

President Farmer said he did not have any objection to Board members being a representative of the utility with any organization. He said he was most interested in knowing the top issues that regional organizations would be dealing with in the future and having the Board of Commissioners weigh in on those issues. He expressed an interest in meshing those efforts with lobbying efforts in Salem.

Mr. Helgeson said there was value in quarterly reports on regional issues to the Board. He said some regional issues such as deregulation and the BPA allocation had strategic impacts on the utility’s interests and its ability to meet its goals. He said his outline was a preliminary thought on what he might do differently. He said he would develop a method to provide appropriate background information before Board discussions as well as providing staff recommendations on issues.

Using Libby Henry’s report process as an example, President Farmer said that was not what he wanted to see. He said those legislative issues did not receive a fair hearing from the Board. He suggested detailed background reports followed by a Work Session with discussion of the position of the Board. He said he did not want to see a large list of issues and suggested approximately 6-7 issues per year that would be brought before the Board of Commissioners.

Mr. Helgeson said that was consistent with his sense of what would be of value to the Board. He said staff and the board could work together to develop a list of issues that the board wanted to be kept apprized of.

President Farmer stressed that the Board needed to be cognizant of the complexity of the issues and to know that they could not become experts by reading a background memo. He said his preference would be to be kept apprized at a very high level rather be asked to provide input on decisions.

Commissioner Bishop said the person representing the utility should be able to provide a policy statement to the board that was general enough to allow some freedom of movement. She said that was a well-established process.

Commissioner Bishop said some of the organizations at the regional level that were designed to interact with employees. She said she was happy with the level of information provided by staff and stressed that there were many things happening at the regional level that the Board did not have an interest in.

President Farmer agreed and said he was more interested in major issues that the Board needed to understand and possibly take a position on.

Mr. Helgeson said, from a governance perspective, it was necessary for the Board to be kept informed/engaged on major regional issues.

Commissioner Simpson expressed his appreciation of the memo provided by Mr. Helgeson. He said it would be helpful for him if EWEB staff made the determination of what major issues the Board should be informed on.

Regarding Board involvement at the local level, Commissioner Bishop said it would be beneficial for the Board to have the same process of being informed as at the regional level. She said there were a lot of issues around preservation of the river and local land use policies that meshed with EWEB’s issues and interests. She suggested having a staff report on the utility’s relationships with local agencies.

Commissioner Simpson agreed and said he would like to see a list of local agencies EWEB communicated with.

Mr. Helgeson said staff could create a list. He said the McKenzie Watershed Council could be an example of relationships with local groups.

President Farmer expressed his preference for updates/reports from local relationships with organizations related to power issues.

Since there was time left over in the Work Session, Mr. Berggren suggested covering items 4, 5, and 6 from the regular session agenda. There was general consensus.

ITEMS FROM BOARD MEMBERS (Item 4 on the Regular Session Agenda)

Commissioner Simpson said he had attended a meeting at the Vida Community Center to talk about the raising of the water level at Leaburg Lake. He said the raise in water level would take place on May 16 provided that there was enough stream flow. He said he wished to be present to see the water level raised.

Commissioner Menegat said the compensation subcommittee met and started on activities for the year regarding meeting times and setting parameters of discussion. He said it was an informational meeting where the members began gathering information.

Commissioner Menegat said he had attended the Downtown Neighborhood Association meeting the previous Thursday. He said there had been excellent presenters at the meeting who provided a balanced perspective on what could happen in the neighborhood. He said the association would keep that issue active. He said EWEB had been involved by making presentations on the status of negotiations with McKenzie Willamette.

Commissioner Menegat reported that the Western Generation Agency had its quarterly meeting in Portland. He said Ken Beeson was the Chairman and remarked that he had conducted the meeting in a very efficient manner. He said there had been an issue raised on an ongoing basis regarding whether James River/Georgia Pacific had been overpaid on the steam efficiency table and remarked that attorneys had been present at the meeting. The concern was that the accounting method use had not been appropriate and had created an overpayment. He said more information was being gathered. He said there was another issue with WGA and that was the transfer of accounting functions from EWEB to Clatskanie.

Commissioner Bishop said she had attended a meeting of the Northwest Energy Coalition in Boise Idaho. She said it was an organization made up of members representing varying organizations. She said it was a very valuable experience to attend the meeting. She said two things that were discussed were the predominance of coal in IERP’s being coming out of IOUs. She said coal was predominant and noted that the Northwest Energy Coalition was putting together a coal campaign. She said she was able to say that EWEB was not interested in coal energy but was not willing to speak against it. She said most of EWEB’s customers did not know that a substantial amount of EWEB’s power came from coal plants. She said she would share any information she obtained regarding new studies with the rest of the Board. She added that there was discussion of liquefied natural gas and its possibilities.

In response to a question from Commissioner Simpson regarding whether there had been any discussion of the Energy Matters Campaign, Commissioner Bishop said the Energy Matters Campaign had been concluded and was very successful. She said the coalition was looking at what to do next. She said the public education piece on coal power was likely the next project to be undertaken.

President Farmer said he would like to be present at the raising the level of Leaburg Lake. He said he wanted to see what the level of the lake was before and after the lake raise. He said he had made arrangements to have a boat on the lake when the water was raised.

Commissioner Simpson noted that there would be private citizens in communication with EWEB staff during the raising of the water. He said the water would be raised by increments and then the lake would be lowered to its current level for at least 18 months while the data gathered was assessed.

CORRESPONDENCE (Item 5 on the regular Session Agenda)

Mr. Berggren said the APPA national conference was happening soon. He said he had heard from Commissioners Lanning and Farmer who wanted to attend the conference. He said if other members wanted to attend they should let him know by the following week.

Mr. Berggren said there would be a celebration on May 11 regarding safety priorities for the utility. He said there would be an afternoon event with booths and safety related activities. He encouraged Commissioners to attend.

Mr. Berggren said distributed copies of a book published by the Public Power Council that explained power issues in the Northwest.

Mr. Berggren referred the board to the memo on the College Hill Reservoir Access Request. He said there was strong staff direction on the issue and stressed the importance of the Board understanding the position taken by staff.

Commissioner Lanning said he was still wrestling with the issue and requested an individual discussion with Marty Douglas.

President Farmer suggested e-mailing concerns or questions on the issue to Mr. Berggren with the possibility of having an agenda item on the issue at a future meeting.

Mr. Berggren said the statements of legacy had been posted around the utility.

BOARD AGENDAS (Item 6 on the regular session agenda)

Mr. Berggren said there had been no substantial changes in agenda items. He said May 17 would be the next meeting and would feature an item on estimates and time period impacts on the 30 percent design process. He added that the first quarter budget financial process would also be discussed.

In response to a question from Commissioner Menegat regarding whether there would be any information on the costs of maintaining operations at the current site, Mr. Berggren said he would address that at the May 17 meeting.

The meeting adjourned at 7:15 p.m.