The regular meeting of the Board of Electric Commissioners was convened at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, November 14, 2007 at the Burlington Electric Department, Burlington, Vermont.

Commissioners Jennifer Wallace-Brodeur, Scott Johnstone, Jan Harris, Sarah Judd, and Bob Herendeen were present.  Staff members present included:  Barbara Grimes, Tom Buckley, John Irving, Munir Kasti, and Charlie Willette. Other staff members present included:  Ken Nolan.  Patricia Crowley, Clerk, was present. 

Channel 17 was present to tape this meeting.

Commissioner Wallace-Brodeur called the meeting to order at 5:33 p.m.

1.       Agenda

There were no changes to the agenda.

2.   Minutes of the October 10, 2007 meeting:

Commissioner Johnstone moved to accept the minutes for the October 10, 2007 meeting as amended.  The motion was seconded by Commissioner Wallace-Brodeur and unanimously approved by the Commission.

3.   Public Forum

No one was present from the public.

3.5 Commissioners’ Corner

Commissioner Wallace-Brodeur wished Ms. Grimes a happy birthday and a birthday cake was presented to her and the Commission thanked her for all of her hard work and ongoing dedication to BED.

4.    General Manager/Commission Information Items

 Ms. Grimes informed the Commission and Channel 17 that if anyone has a street light that is not working properly, to call BED and we will send someone out to take care of it. 

Commissioner Wallace-Brodeur referred to a letter from a customer’s letter thanking us for work that was done by BED at his residence. 

Ms. Grimes informed the Commission regarding leased lighting.  The Public Service Board (PSB) has indicated to BED that by 12/31/07, we have to give them an indication as to whether we are going to continue our program or move to a tariff.  Ms. Grimes stated that we have customers, both customer and residential, who have specific lighting needs at their property and rather than putting their own pole and a light up, they entered into contract with BED over time and we installed the pole and equipment and then metered their electric needs.  Ms. Grimes stated that the reality of where we are now is that we have over 900 leased lights that are currently under contract.  She stated that the information dates back to the 70’s and are on type-written sheets.  Ms. Grimes let the Commission know that BED is currently in the process of gathering all of the leased light information to put into a database in the computer.  She stated that at that time, we can ultimately determine whether or not to continue the leased light program.

5.    ***CONSENT AGENDA***

5.01          August & September Financial Reports

5.02          Audit Reports

Upon no discussion of the Consent Agenda items, this item was passed with the approval of the agenda at the beginning of the meeting.

6.    General Obligation Bond FY’08 (Discussion & Vote)

In March 2005, Burlington voters approved a City Charter change to allow $1,000,000 of General Obligation Bonds to be issued by the City annually for capital improvements on behalf of BED.

We are asking the Board of Electric Commissioners to recommend to the Board of Finance and the City Council the authorization for and to direct the Chief Administrative Officer to pledge the credit of the City by issuing bonds in an amount of one million dollars ($1,000,000) for the 2008 fiscal year for electric capital improvements.

Upon no further discussion, Commissioner Johnstone moved that the Board of Electric Commissioners recommend to the Board of Finance and the City Council the authorization for and to direct the Chief Administrative Officer to pledge the credit of the City by issuing bonds in an amount of one million dollars ($1,000,000) for the 2008 fiscal year for electric capital improvements.  The motion was seconded by Commissioner Harris and unanimously approved.

7.      2008 McNeil Station Calendar Year Proposed Budget (Discussion)

John Irving presented the 2008 McNeil Station Calendar Year Proposed Budget.  An overview of the budget was discussed with the Commission and Mr. Irving stated that this budget will be back in front of the Commission at the December meeting for a vote.

8.       Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) Discussion

Ken Nolan gave an overview of the power supply scenarios being proposed for inclusion in the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) analysis as well as a brief discussion of how the supply scenarios will inter-relate with the load forecast and Demand-Side Management (DSM) scenarios previously discussed.  The Commission had a broad discussion about the impacts of various options, the importance of looking at both rate and bill impacts to customers under various scenarios, and the impacts that future renewable energy certificate prices will have on supply decisions.  Ken noted that this presentation represents the last overview of data feeding the analysis, and that BED staff will be asking the Commission for sign-off on the assumptions to be utilized in the analysis at the December meeting.  The analysis will then be performed throughout December and January with results being brought forward by the February Commission meeting.  Since Commissioners Wallace-Brodeur and Johnstone are receiving detailed presentations through the IRP Sub-Committee process, Commissioners Harris, Judd and Herendeen were asked to contact BED staff if they want a more detailed presentation prior to the December meeting.

9.       ***EXECUTIVE SESSION***

          9.01       Power Supply Proposal Discussion

Commissioner Johnstone moved that the Board of Electric Commissioners enter into Executive Session at

6:56 p.m. to discuss agenda item #9.01, Power Supply Proposal Discussion a contractual matter; the premature disclosure of which could place the Burlington Electric Department at a substantial disadvantage. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Judd and unanimously approved by the Commission.  The Commission returned to regular session at 7:32 p.m. upon motions of Commissioners Johnstone and Wallace-Brodeur.