Lamar Utilities Board meeting of Tuesday, September 10, 2024

All board members were present at the meeting.  Roger Stagner’s open board position has yet to be filled.  Minutes from the August 27 meeting were approved, as were purchase orders 630233 through 630268.  Payment of bills totaling $103,317.66 was also approved.

Bid #2050 for line materials and hardware in the amount of $15,671.24 was accepted from Border States.  The board then approved Bid #2051 from Bell Lumber and Pole.  This bid includes 30-foot Class 5 and 35-foot Class 2 wooden poles.  These poles are to replenish stock inventory.  The bid amount for these items was $28,450.00.

Also approved was a Construction Agreement between CAMPOS EPC and Lamar Utilities Board for the abandonment of natural gas transmission pipelines.  The board was finally able to finalize the agreement that will allow LUB to decommission approximately 17 miles of 6-inch and 4-inch transmission class natural gas pipelines.  These lines have been a stranded asset after the decommissioning of the Lamar Re-Powering Project and has to be abandoned in place per U.S. DOT and Colorado PUC guidelines.  CAMPOS EPC is a company that specializes in this type of work and will be done as a turnkey (engineering, procurement and construction) project.  Total estimated cost of the project is $429,012.38.  This amount is a 50/50 shared cost with ARPA since their 4-inch line runs parallel to Lamar’s 6-inch line.  Lamar’s portion of the cost will come from contingency and reserve funds.

The Superintendent’s System Operating Report states that sales of electricity through August of 2024 are up approximately 16.17% when compared to the same time period in 2023.  Residential sales are up approximately 15.10%, irrigation is up approximately 72.52% and commercial/industrial sales are up approximately 12%.  These three customer classes represent an estimated 96% of total system sales.  In other news, the line crew completed the installation of 208 feet of 3-phase, 4kv underground feeder at Lamar High School’s new stadium.  The new service will power a 225 kva, 277/480v padmount transformer.  The crew also completed the installation of 15 40-foot Class 2 poles that were damaged during a severe thunderstorm on August 22, 2024 at the following locations:

• 10 poles on the wells circuit S.E. of Lamar
• 3 poles to the south of County Road 8 and Road LL
• 1 pole on 1^st Street South
• 1 pole on the east end circuit by the river crossing

The meeting was adjourned, with the next meeting scheduled for Tuesday, September 24 at 12:00 PM.

By Barbara Crimond