Lamar Utilities Board meeting of October 15, 2024

 

Board members Jay Brooke and Patrick Leonard were present in person, with Jill Bellomy attending via phone call.  Absent was Doug Thrall who was out of town.  Minutes were approved from the September 24 meeting.  Purchase orders 630308 through 630358 totaling $1,120,916.36 were approved.   The largest dollar amount in these was $1,084,516.24 to ARPA for purchase of September power (this is an estimate).   Other large purchase orders were $2,422.07 to Wex Bank for fuel purchases and miscellaneous charges for necessary parts and supplies.  All bills presented for payment were also approved.  Payments to the City of Lamar, PERA contributions and the county health pool remain among the largest bills each month.

Bid #2052 from Western United in the amount of $19,434.94 for pole enforcers to replace stock was approved.  5 bids were submitted and of the 4 that were returned, the board approved this lowest bid.

In a letter to the Mayor and City Council of Lamar, the proposed Utilities Board Budget for 2025 was presented in writing, in accordance with Article XI of the Charter.  The proposed budget determines the revenue requirements needed from electric retail rates, consisting primarily of transmission, distribution and wind power generation activities.  The budget includes total revenues in excess of $16.1 million – $14.4 million from retail electric sales and the remaining amount primarily from wind turbine production.  The 2025 budget is proposing total operating expenses of $15.1 million, which includes $9.4 million for power supply.  Additional expenditures include:

  • $1.5 million for personnel costs
  • $2.8 million for repairs and maintenance
  • Charter Appropriation of $1,698,186, which is the full 12% of retail sales as allowed by the Charter.
  • $1,293,000 in capital outlays which includes $100,000 in contingency funding, $435,000 in substation and distribution line work, $175,000 for wind turbine parts, $105,000 for vehicles and $478,000 for miscellaneous other equipment that includes completion of the advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) system upgrade, 4kv feeder protection relays, and distribution system transformers.

The letter went on to say “The proposed 2025 budget reflects costs of maintaining Lamar’s wind turbines, electric distribution substations and transmission systems.  We are continuing our efforts in exploring options to improve electric system reliability and resiliency by planning and implementing system upgrades that will improve the system efficiency”.

The board approved the 2024 write-offs.  The uncollectible amounts written off for 2023 are a total of $23,876.71 that represents .17% of the 2023 electric sales revenue of $14,349,097.  The budget for such write-offs is $50,000.  These accounts have been turned over to a collection agency, but have not yet been collected.

The Superintendent’s system operating report states that the department is upgrading one mile of the east end 25kv circuit, between County Roads 16 and 17 on Highway 196.  The upgrades include replacing old wooden poles with 40-ft class II ductile iron poles, 10 ft fiberglass crossarms, and insulators.  This upgrade will help improve system reliability.  CLP Engineering has completed a distribution system study which is funded by ARPA for all member cities.  The study documented various improvement projects related to the substations that will be used to apply for federally-matched grant funding.  ARPA has also hired the Ferguson Group for grant writing services.  CAMPOS EPC surveyors completed 17 miles of natural gas pipeline mapping.  They will mobilize on October 16 to start the abandonment process.

In final business, the board voted unanimously to accept the application of Elmer Grett to fill the vacancy of Board Member Roger Stagner, who resigned due to his election as a County Commissioner.

By Barbara Crimond

Filed Under: City of LamarFeaturedUtilities

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