[0:02] Good good morning everyone. Uh I'd like to welcome you to our September 9th uh

[0:08] late plant board meeting. Uh my name is John Dalton. I'm the chair. Um we will

[0:14] start with uh a roll call. Um Tyson Kubinski

[0:21] » present. >> Nicole Grosner

[0:24] » here. >> Warren Leon

[0:27] » here. And uh I am John Dalton, chair here as

[0:32] well. Um our first uh matter of business is

[0:37] approving the minutes for our August 12th meeting. Um we have two sets of

[0:43] minutes. Uh one for a regular session and one for an executive session. Uh

[0:50] could I hear a motion for approval of those minutes?

[0:53] » And can we do them separately, please? Just

[0:55] » Sure. Please. I move that we vote to approve the

[1:00] regular session minutes from August 12th. And I also

[1:05] um move that we vote to approve but not release the executive session minutes

[1:10] from August 12th.

[1:15] » Could I have a second? >> Yeah,

[1:18] I sorry. I I'll say I I I second both motions.

[1:26] Yes.

[1:32] » Uh, Warren, >> yes.

[1:35] » Tyson, >> yes.

[1:39] » Nicole, >> yes.

[1:42] » And I'm also Yes. So, with that, the meeting minutes for August 12th are

[1:48] approved. Our next agenda item is the director's update. Uh Jason, over to

[1:54] you. >> Thank you everybody. Um so some of the

[1:59] things I want to talk about today. Uh first I just wanted to mention that the

[2:03] agenda for this meeting incorrectly states that our next meeting on

[2:07] September 23rd is a Thursday. It is a Wednesday. So just uh to be clear and

[2:12] we'll make sure that when the notice goes out, it's it's obviously the

[2:15] correct day. But I just this particular agenda listed the next meeting as a

[2:19] Thursday. It is a Wednesday. Um, in your packet on the CMLP updates under the

[2:25] electric side, you'll see that there were some kind of industry updates and

[2:29] one of those I just wanted to call the board's attention to was that the DPU

[2:33] did approve some new basic service rates for the investor own utilities. Um, it

[2:39] was a like a one and a half to two and a half cent increase on about a 15 cent uh

[2:44] supply charge. There's Chris is coming in now. Um and so that does bring their

[2:51] total rate for example national grids to about 39.5 cents. Um when you look at

[2:57] the load shape that we have uh here in conquered for time of day it's obviously

[3:02] hard to know when the average person uses their electricity and what that

[3:05] would mean their their rate would be. But when we look at the average load

[3:09] shape it comes to about 21 a.5 cents. though just to compare with where we are

[3:14] for neighbors and other communities served by National Grid and Eversource

[3:18] is a little bit lower than National Grid but pretty close. Um I wanted to give an

[3:23] update on the middle school solar project. Um we do have a pathway to

[3:27] getting that project done this year which is good news. Um where we are now

[3:32] is we have received a proposed site license from select using the power

[3:37] options uh purchasing methodology and uh that site license is currently

[3:42] with council uh town council and school council for review uh along with school

[3:47] administration for their review. And our hope is that the school committee can um

[3:53] discuss and vote on this at their September uh meeting which I believe is

[3:57] also around the 23rd or um at that time frame. So um and if that happens, we

[4:05] still have a path to getting this done this year. The other um agreement that

[4:09] needs to be signed and executed is the um power purchase agreement. And uh we

[4:14] do we did receive a draft of that as well. And so both documents will be

[4:19] reviewed by uh council prior to uh execution and the site license will be

[4:26] more of a public conversation. But the developer feels very strongly that if we

[4:30] get these things done this month that this project can be completed this year

[4:34] and uh lock in the pricing that we've been exploring. So that's great news. We

[4:39] still have the power options review, but that does not take that much time. And

[4:44] um the developer feels strongly that if we can get these things executed soon,

[4:48] the project can move forward. Um work continues on the landfill solar

[4:54] expansion as well with a lot of those panels coming off. Um we did receive

[4:59] some really good news that the panels will be reused instead of recycled. Um

[5:04] while recycling is you know a a good outcome for re old panels a reuse is

[5:11] much better because it ensures that none of that is going into a landfill. So

[5:15] these panels will most the vast majority of them will be reused um as they are

[5:19] for a long period of time which is great news. Um and we are targeting probably

[5:25] early Q1 of 27 for completion of that. They're really trying to get everything

[5:30] done this year and commissioned I think for some tax purposes. But um things are

[5:35] moving very quickly. We are we have some engineering review with a third party

[5:40] engineer for uh metering equipment and the way that we will be able to

[5:45] interconnect uh and kind of sit between where this um equipment is and our

[5:52] conductors downstream so that we can properly meter it according to the

[5:55] contract. And um and we also have a temporary measure in case the metering

[6:00] equipment doesn't arrive in time. But um we're in we're in good shape on this

[6:03] project and really exciting to have our first uh battery storage here in

[6:07] conquered that we can dispatch. Um I wanted to remind board members that

[6:12] it's about that time of year again for the DPU report. This is an annual return

[6:17] that MLPS must file every year and uh it's a very long document includes a lot

[6:22] of financial information as well as some information about your municipality and

[6:27] about your decision makers like board member lightboard members. The DP report

[6:32] is as of 1231 2025. So there's only actually three members here who were

[6:39] members then and that's Chris, John, and Warren. So, we'll be reaching out to the

[6:44] three of you for signatures on this um report and then Tyson and Nicole, next

[6:48] year you would be uh because you were light would be lightboard members at the

[6:53] end of this year, you would sign the next return. Um and so, thank you to Nan

[6:58] for driving this process and helping collect all the information. Um it

[7:02] includes everything from like system and capital upgrades to a ton of financial

[7:07] information that comes out of our audit. And uh it was one of Nan's goals last

[7:13] year to help document the process because it's one of those things you do

[7:16] once a year and is easy to you know kind of forget and then get drowning in the

[7:22] uh remembering all the different things you had to do. So uh she's done a great

[7:25] job at that and has already made significant headway. So we hope to have

[7:28] that to um the board members in a couple weeks for signature. All the DPU returns

[7:33] get filed on the DPU's website and you can find um past years for all the MLPS

[7:39] there. Uh the engineering and line crews have

[7:43] been supporting a number of projects around town. Uh we have received

[7:46] additional doors for our new SCADA project uh for substation 223. Uh we

[7:52] still have some doors that are backordered for substation 219. The com

[7:57] total completion for that project is probably creeping into early 2027, but a

[8:03] lot of work will happen this fall and winter. And u you know to do some of

[8:07] this work we will have to be tying circuits and feeders together that

[8:11] aren't normally tied so that we can kind of deenergize equipment and then safely

[8:16] replace it. So there's a lot of planning and coordination work that goes into

[8:20] that because you can't just blindly connect things that don't normally get

[8:24] connected. You have to do a lot of analysis and the timing has to be right.

[8:27] which is why this is a fall winter project and not a um you know anytime

[8:32] where we have super heavy demands um and uh or maybe solar saturation issues. So

[8:40] um there's been a lot of coordination on this project and Joe and his team have

[8:44] been meeting with the stakeholders and the manufacturer uh quite often and um

[8:50] so I'm really happy that it's continuing on in this way. And then I wanted to

[8:56] mention um you know the light plant typically celebrates public power week

[9:01] every year which is the first full week in October and every other year or so we

[9:07] tend to do an open house and this year we have been planning our open house uh

[9:13] for the better part of the year. It really started early this year in our

[9:16] planning. So the open house is Saturday October 3rd. Uh it is from 10:00 a.m. to

[9:22] 2 p.m. And this is uh really an event for any resident, business, family in

[9:28] conquered uh or any of the customers that we serve uh who are interested in

[9:32] seeing the light plant and seeing some of the people that run the light plant

[9:36] and seeing the equipment, the trucks, the fiber splicers, the safety

[9:40] equipment. Uh as well as interactive displays on solar, on clean energy, on

[9:45] EVs. Um there'll be, you know, posters and information about time of day,

[9:50] people who can answer questions. There's a lot of activities for kids, including

[9:54] face painting and pumpkin decorating and cider donuts and um local farms are

[10:00] providing uh fresh apple cider and donuts and things. So um if you go to

[10:04] our website, conqueredmma.gov/cmlp,

[10:08] we'll have information up there about it. We'll be setting up uh or sending

[10:12] out news and notices and information blast to the public. We have a banner

[10:16] coming that we'll be hanging both in West Conquer and downtown and we'll be

[10:20] trying to get the word out as best we can. Um on when we celebrated our 125th

[10:25] anniversary a few years ago, we had exactly 125 people come to the open

[10:30] house and we're really trying to uh vastly outnumber that that group of

[10:35] people. Um we're trying to, you know, allow people to come a little earlier in

[10:40] the day and stay a little later in the afternoon. Um, and we have plenty of

[10:44] parking on site, so uh, people don't have to worry about that. And, uh, yeah,

[10:48] we're just really hoping that people can come out. And we'd also like to extend a

[10:52] special invitation for any lightboard members who happen to be around that

[10:55] weekend. If you'd like to stop by and say hello to the team, um, we'd love to

[10:59] have you there. So, uh, anybody watching this, please, please do stop by October

[11:03] 3rd, 10 a.m. to 2 pm. And I'll stop there and see if there's any questions.

[11:09] Any questions from board members? >> Apologies for being late and cider

[11:14] donuts. Sound good? >> Yeah, that October 3rd uh

[11:20] date sounds like an important one. Unfortunately, I'm going to be out of

[11:24] the country and won't be able to to join you, but

[11:27] » we'll save you a donut. >> We'll put it in the freezer.

[11:30] » Excellent. Any any questions, comments?

[11:36] And Jason, I think you'll be doing the broadband update. Yes. Um I will. Uh so

[11:42] just a few updates on broadband. The march continues toward broadband's um

[11:47] completion of their 100 gig router upgrade migration. Um the the current

[11:54] topology is stable. We've even asked um kind of third parties to vet some of

[11:59] this information. Feel very solid with our final plans to replace the backup

[12:03] piece of equipment. And um during that maintenance window, which ordinarily

[12:08] replacing a backup would not impact any service, but we do plan to actually test

[12:13] the failover capabilities of these units because what we don't want to do is feel

[12:17] like we've completed this project and then we think everything is good in the

[12:21] first moment that the we have some sort of issue. The primary router doesn't

[12:25] fail over properly to the backup router. So um they will test that. It should

[12:30] just be a very brief service interruption. Um, routers are really

[12:34] good at um, if if they're up, they can gracefully uh, kind of let people's

[12:39] session finish on whatever they're doing and kind of move over to another one.

[12:43] So, because we're not really losing the router, we can kind of test that

[12:46] failover. It really shouldn't have a big service impact. And we will advertise

[12:50] this to people like we do any um, service impacting maintenance window. It

[12:54] will happen in the middle of the night. Um, usually we prepare around midnight

[12:58] and start these things around 1:00 a.m. And, uh, for something like this, it

[13:02] should really just be a short period of time that we need to do that testing and

[13:05] work. So, um, it will happen sometime in September. We don't have a date yet,

[13:09] but, um, once the team vets everything, we'll push that out and make sure

[13:13] everybody, all the customers are aware, um, of that. And then that project,

[13:18] including the XGS pawn migration and everything else, will be complete. Um

[13:23] and then I think in October Dale might be here to you know announce the new

[13:27] speeds that we'll be offering residential customers at no additional

[13:31] cost. um getting these uh bandwidth upgrades was really important

[13:36] prerequisite to make sure that we could extend these um faster speeds without

[13:41] inc you know um incurring any any congestion issues because uh what other

[13:46] ISPs don't tell you is that they vastly overs subscribe their services and their

[13:52] um their pipes basically their bandwidth options and so that means that you know

[13:57] 95% of the time you might have you might not bump up against any of their limits

[14:01] but that you will occasionally. Uh we don't do that. We currently are not

[14:05] really overs subscribing, especially kind of our main exits to anything. So,

[14:10] um but we what we wanted to do is make sure that if we did offer faster speeds

[14:14] to people that they could always get those faster speeds and that's what um

[14:17] this project enables people to do. Recently, we implemented a survey uh for

[14:23] a street. there was some interest for some people that were their road was

[14:27] being paved um in the next year or so and they were interested in getting uh

[14:31] broadband. One of the models that we've discussed um going back to the fiber

[14:36] broadband completion task force was trying to make datadriven decisions

[14:41] about where we expand conquered broadband access because as you know or

[14:45] could imagine it's very expensive to do these capital projects to bring fiber to

[14:49] homes and what you don't want to see is you spend significant capital to find

[14:53] that there's no customers there waiting for you to to sign up for that service

[14:57] because you you're not going to get any return to help you expand in future

[15:01] territories. So, one of the things we wanted to do was um get more detailed

[15:05] information about customers in particular service areas that do not

[15:09] currently have access to broadband and then use that data to help plan the um

[15:14] expansion of the territory. So, we did that. There's the street. It serves

[15:18] really only nine residents. Um and it was an area that had underground um

[15:23] electricity long before broadband existed. So, that's why they don't have

[15:27] conduit, you know, going down the road for for our facilities and broadband. Um

[15:31] we did that survey and we found that eight of the nine were likely or very

[15:35] likely to take broadband as they were unhappy with their current options and

[15:39] ISP. Um which suggests that this is probably a really good market for us to

[15:44] you know consider expanding into especially with the upcoming paving. Um

[15:48] sometimes what we'll do so we do this on the electric side as well is that we may

[15:53] either hire a contractor or ourselves put some conduit in the ground and you

[15:58] know plan where the handholds go but we might not necessarily do all the work

[16:01] and pull all the conductors or the fiber immediately but at least before the

[16:05] paving happens because there is a moratorum after paving occurs. We don't

[16:09] want to see streets sit with no access in the future. So whether we complete it

[16:14] now or we at least get some uh infrastructure in the ground so that we

[16:18] can do it in the you know medium term um we are going to try to proceed with this

[16:23] street but we have to coordinate with uh engineering and and make sure that there

[16:29] uh there's no other facilities that we're going to bump up against as we try

[16:32] to plan the street and and then there's also just the time and we have a small

[16:36] underground crew who does work so we just have to consider their time as

[16:40] well. uh they've recently replaced all those hand holes on uh Gford Lane and uh

[16:45] helped connect that broadband infrastructure that was kind of orphaned

[16:49] and not connected uh then was traveling through the electric space so that we

[16:53] could utilize that and separate it. But they get very busy during the the

[16:58] digging season and there's a lot of underground projects that we have in

[17:01] conquered so we just need to coordinate that. But I'm I'm just really happy that

[17:05] we've been able to connect with customers in this way and you know get a

[17:08] kind of a direct representation of their interest in the service and it seems

[17:12] strong and um oh the last update was just on Gford Lane which I just kind of

[17:17] touched on. So I'll I'll pause there and see if anybody has any questions.

[17:21] » Any questions from board members?

[17:28] » Warren. >> Hi. Um, in the broadband report, there's

[17:33] a box in there that says upcoming maintenance is taking place in on June

[17:38] 11th and June 18th. I assume that's

[17:43] a mistake. >> Yes, that sounds like a mistake. Um, we

[17:48] will get that updated and make sure that um it's not too confusing for people.

[17:54] » Thank you.

[17:57] » Any other questions? for comments.

[18:02] I >> guess just curious um of the you said

[18:05] there are nine people on the street. Were you were you able to get to get

[18:09] input from all nine? >> Yes, we did. So the very interested um

[18:15] party who you know initially contacted us did helped us do some outreach. We

[18:20] did directly outreach to all the customers. Um but I imagine that maybe

[18:25] one or two might have fallen between the cracks. that this sounds like a close

[18:29] neighborhood and this individual reached out directly to all of his neighbors and

[18:32] um encouraged their participation just so that we would have kind of expedient

[18:36] feedback and it it was really I think it was within 3 days we had heard from all

[18:40] nine. So that was great. >> That's great.

[18:46] » Any other questions or comments?

[18:51] » Not seeing any. The uh next agenda item is financial review. Um I think this is

[18:57] in preparation of kind of the um 2027 forecast which we'll be reviewing in

[19:03] greater detail in the coming months. Um and uh Jason turn it over to you.

[19:10] » Great. Thank you John. Um so we're going to kind of handle this conversation in

[19:14] two parts. The first part we're going to talk about the audit and we can pause

[19:18] and uh see if there's questions and then we're going to shift to talk about um

[19:23] some early drivers of the of the forecast for discussion. Um what we

[19:28] envisioned for this forecast cycle was that we would um have this meeting to

[19:34] kind of talk about some of the pressures that we're seeing about the forecast

[19:38] while staff continue to develop the first draft of the forecast and then in

[19:42] October we would be presenting that forecast um and allowing the board to

[19:47] have a little bit of time to to review it beforehand and then get feedback from

[19:51] the board on that and then produce a final draft that would be voted. And

[19:55] just to clarify kind of the responsibility of all the parties um we

[19:59] produce a forecast that tries to capture all of our um estimated costs including

[20:05] you know personnel on and m capital broadband um power supply and the board

[20:12] looks at that and and votes it and that kind of then sets in motion the rate

[20:18] creation. Now, in a typical year historically, we were then flipping

[20:23] immediately to setting rates in December to become effective January 1st. We're

[20:28] kind of in a unique period now because we went live with time of day rates in

[20:32] April of this year with the expectation that there would be a phase two. And

[20:37] there's been some discussion and I think um we are of a mind that the phase 2

[20:42] rates might start exactly one year after the phase 1 rates in April of 27. Um,

[20:48] and in part that would really help with the year-over-year comparisons of going

[20:53] live at the same time with this uh new rate and it might allow for some more of

[20:59] the bill print conversations to take place before then. Uh whether or not

[21:03] that is fully baked or not, we we don't have a crystal ball yet. But I think

[21:07] that it would give us more time to take into consideration some of the requests

[21:10] surrounding billprint um and and and like I said, provide a better comparison

[21:15] year-over-year. But anyway, regardless of that, once the financial forecast is

[21:20] voted by the board, we take that as our revenue requirement to use to configure

[21:25] the rates. Um because these rates were um you know developed in conjunction

[21:30] with a third party. Um we had that third party kind of sitting on retainer with

[21:36] some time and materials hours. So, uh, while Laura and other staff are

[21:41] perfectly capable of running through the revenue requirements or running the

[21:45] revenue requirements through the cost of service study model, um, we would

[21:49] probably re-engage them just because time of day is such a unique uh, beast

[21:53] and we would work with them to look at analysis on what we've seen so far with

[21:58] time of day and then use that to construct the rates that would become

[22:02] effective for phase two. Um the way that the light plant's budget gets voted at

[22:08] town meeting is different from some other departments, not all but some. In

[22:12] that there's not a specific appropriation for the light plant. The

[22:15] light the town meeting is authorizing the light plant to spend all of its

[22:19] money and all the money it might make in that given year. So the forecast is

[22:24] really that it's this is what we think power supply will cost. This is what we

[22:28] think these things will do. And then we we often talk about okay well last year

[22:32] this was our forecast and you know we thought we're going to give out this

[22:35] many rebates but we didn't. We found that things slow down or we found that

[22:38] this rebate program was much more popular. And these conversations allow

[22:42] the board to provide input on kind of where we're focusing. There are

[22:46] obviously some drivers that we have little control over. There are contracts

[22:50] executed by boards long before you that um you know kind of set the stage for

[22:55] for things that we can't change. There are certain uh contracts uh like for

[23:00] example union contracts that we're going to have for the first time. Uh these are

[23:03] kind of looked at as fixed costs but there's a lot of discretion as well and

[23:07] things that you know the board can provide input onto um initiatives that

[23:11] we should focus more on or less on or pivot to. So this is the beginning of

[23:16] that conversation. So I first wanted to talk about the audit. Um I received the

[23:21] audit yesterday morning. I think the auditors might have sent it to Nan on

[23:24] Friday, but um I just got it yesterday, put it in the packet and I realize that

[23:29] board members probably have not had a time to exhaustively read the entire

[23:33] document and that's okay. Um I wanted to talk briefly just about the audit

[23:37] process and what that looks like every year um both from our perspective going

[23:42] through it as well as from the town's perspective. So the first thing that

[23:47] happens is at the end of the year or the very beginning of the new year, the

[23:52] auditors come on site to do an inventory audit. They randomly select items from

[23:56] both the broadband and electric side that are supposed to be in the warehouse

[24:00] and they do spot checks of many of these items to make sure that the counts that

[24:04] we have on the books match the counts that we have physically here. um they

[24:09] they hold on to that information and what they're waiting for is they're

[24:12] waiting for the kind of the close of our financial year which is usually about 60

[24:16] to 90 days after a given month. So in the March April time frame we have

[24:22] closed the previous uh calendar fiscal year for us and um then the auditors

[24:28] kind of engage and they provide us with a list of their requests that they need

[24:32] and we start collecting documents. Then they do on-site visits where they

[24:36] collect and might spot check other documents or look for backup. Uh there's

[24:40] a lot of conversations that happen, questions that we ask, questions that

[24:43] they ask. And then um we our our staff prepare and produce reports for them uh

[24:51] as well as additional backup information. And then the auditors

[24:55] prepare the financial statements uh for the light plant. And then they produce

[24:59] an audit on the findings and of the organization's finances. And you know,

[25:04] basically they're they're telling you and the public um how easy it is to find

[25:08] things, how accurate things are, and basically the general um financial

[25:14] condition of the of the light plant organization. Um once we receive that

[25:18] audit, we obviously share it with the lightboard. But conquer has a unique

[25:22] ether committee that handles audits for the town, and that's the financial audit

[25:26] advisory committee. that committee um receives and reports on the town audit,

[25:32] the CCRSD audit, the regional district audit, and the light plant audit. And um

[25:38] we have a lightboard member, Chris Shaner, who has been appointed by the

[25:41] select board to to that group um after he was voted by you um to represent you.

[25:47] And so what will happen at that meeting is that the auditor, our auditor will

[25:51] show up there and we'll provide a full presentation of the audit and answer any

[25:56] questions that that group might have about the audit. And um that audit

[26:01] contains representatives like I said from the lay plant, from the school

[26:04] district, from the town, from the finance committee and they you know

[26:07] discuss the audits. Eventually, they produce a report about the audit and

[26:11] then they vote it and that becomes kind of like the final record and it's kind

[26:14] of like the town's understanding of the audit and the result of it and any

[26:18] questions or takeaways or action items that that need to happen going forward.

[26:23] The the FAAC um historically would kind of have this

[26:28] dormant um cycle and then come back to life when audits were done and then go

[26:34] away. But in the last year and a half or so, there's been a renewed interest to

[26:38] keep this group active so that they have a better kind of pulse on what's

[26:42] happening um across these different organizations and and also knowing that

[26:47] there's very big timing differences, right? Because we're on a calendar

[26:50] fiscal year, but the town and the district are not. So that means that

[26:55] audits are produced at different times of the year, which necessitates them

[26:59] meeting kind of at different schedules. So um the financial audit advisory

[27:02] committee will be reviewing this audit in great detail. Their meetings are

[27:06] recorded. Their report will be entered into um you know I don't know if it's

[27:11] printed in the town meeting annual report but um it is kind of the official

[27:16] log of this and historically the lightboard has been um you know like

[27:20] okay this is interesting. We'll discuss some key takeaways but you know that's

[27:23] the audit committee and they'll do their thing. But just know that if you have

[27:26] any questions, if you have any concerns or if you would like to talk about this

[27:30] in greater detail, you're welcome to reach out to the chair or to me to, you

[27:34] know, raise that issue. Um, and we we certainly can talk more about it in this

[27:38] setting. And John, do you want to take questions because I'm totally fine

[27:41] taking questions and pausing for a second here?

[27:43] » Yeah, please. I see you got questions from Tyson and Chris.

[27:48] » Yeah. So just real quick on a clarification, is it the responsibility

[27:52] of that committee to look at the findings that are coming out of the

[27:56] audit and then track those through the course of the year to make sure that

[28:00] there's progress being made and then report back to the lightboard on that

[28:04] progress? >> That's a great question. I think that so

[28:08] historically um the the auditors who had been in place for many many years were

[28:13] not producing a lot of findings and so there wasn't as much to track. Last year

[28:17] in the town's audit, there were several material weaknesses and there was one

[28:21] for the light plant associated with the inability to reconcile cash between the

[28:25] town and the light plant. And so that is a fair question to say well like who is

[28:29] tracking these things? Um I think that you know for the town I think between

[28:33] the finance committee and the financial aory committee there is definitely a

[28:38] renewed interest in making sure that those material weaknesses and any other

[28:42] significant findings get discussed and addressed. Um, I think that you, as

[28:46] you'll see when we talk a little bit about our current situation, you'll see

[28:50] that either some of them don't pertain to us. It's not in our control or they

[28:56] are things that have already been resolved. Um, or they were brought up by

[28:59] staff as questions like, "Hey, this is how we've been doing it forever. What do

[29:03] you think?" And they said, "Yeah, no, that's we think you should do it this

[29:06] way instead." So, um, what like it's a fair question, but I I Yeah. So, I don't

[29:12] really know if it's like their responsibility. Chris, do you know if

[29:15] like in terms of the charge, it's their charge to track those and report on

[29:20] them? >> The charge of the um of that audit

[29:24] committee? >> Yeah.

[29:25] » Yeah. I mean, I think they they serve uh you know at the at we serve the

[29:32] selectmen basically. So I think it's ultimately the select men who have that

[29:36] responsibility, not not us. But that's a good question. I don't I don't know the

[29:40] answer exactly. >> It's really hard to hear it, Chris.

[29:42] » Yeah, I'm sorry. I I got the wrong mic going here. Um

[29:48] » but I think he was saying it's the responsibility of the select board um

[29:51] ultimately which the financial audit advisory serves at the request of. Um so

[29:57] yeah, I I I guess that's something we can certainly ask u maybe Jennifer

[30:01] Barrett the town. >> Yeah, it it would be helpful to

[30:04] understand what the governance process is on those now that you sounds like

[30:08] have improved your auditors. So you'll you'll probably have findings going

[30:12] forward that uh folks need to have an understanding around and and ensure that

[30:16] we're making progress on

[30:23] » Chris. >> Yeah. Um but you know we probably will

[30:26] have findings but I'm looking through this I am I missing something? I'm not

[30:30] seeing any any findings or uh deficiencies in this

[30:35] maybe maybe it's on the wrong page >> internal control report. There are two

[30:39] significant findings and I'm going to touch on those in my conversation in a

[30:43] minute. So, >> okay, fair enough. I'll wait for that.

[30:47] » Yeah, there's there are some items identified on page 80 of the PDF, I

[30:51] think. >> All right, it didn't make it to page 80

[30:53] yet. >> How dare you, Chris.

[30:57] To his credit, he was on page 78, so he was almost

[31:01] » No, I you know, if I was writing a report and there was something

[31:04] important, it would be on page one. >> Well, it's true. material weaknesses are

[31:08] required to appear in the financial statements, right? So like to your

[31:12] point, Chris, like if there was something seriously wrong, you probably

[31:15] would have seen it before then. Um the internal control report is intended to

[31:19] capture less significant events than material weaknesses. And so the good

[31:24] news is we did not have a material weakness on this audit. Um and uh so

[31:29] since we're talking about it, let me just talk about the two um significant

[31:32] findings that they had. So every auditor who is asked to prepare financial

[31:38] statements as well um has a potential uh has identified a potential uh control

[31:46] issue which is that there could be the situation that the organization does not

[31:51] have the qualified staff necessary to produce the financial statements which

[31:55] in itself could be a problem right so imagine an organization and they've

[31:59] fired their CFO and they've fired their finance director and they've got uh you

[32:03] an AP specialist and an AR specialist and they're saying somebody says you

[32:08] know we'll produce your financial statements and they say well we can't so

[32:10] let's ask the auditor to do that in that case there could be a problem right so

[32:14] the governmental accounting standards say that if the auditor does the

[32:19] financial statements then they need to disclose that um and they can decide

[32:24] whether it's a finding a significant finding a weakness or something else the

[32:29] previous auditor would always mention this if you go back and watch the um the

[32:35] for example the CCRSD audit that was presented to the financial audit

[32:39] advisory committee you'll see that the auditor um from CBIZ that was used by

[32:44] the town for that audit very clearly discloses that they produced the

[32:48] financial statements and what their relationship was for the audit and and

[32:53] the creation of those financial statements and that but that auditor

[32:56] just did not flag that as a significant finding. Gule Salvidian and Associates

[33:01] our new auditor u does always make this as a significant finding and it's in

[33:06] every single internal control report for every MLP that they audit and uh for

[33:11] whom they also create the financial statements and I think they said they

[33:15] only have one of their more than one dozen uh clients who they who who

[33:21] produces their own financial statements and it's probably a very large MLP who

[33:24] has probably a much larger finance team than we do. Um, but it really is not a

[33:30] qualification thing as uh Nan is a CPA and and well within uh her capability to

[33:35] produce financial statements, but um historically conquered has appreciated a

[33:39] third party taking that information and vetting it and displaying it. And it

[33:43] also is a time thing because the audit is very labor intensive for staff and

[33:48] having to do both of those functions may delay the ultimate completion. So

[33:52] anyway, um that finding will always be there. it will never go away unless we

[33:57] prepare our own financial statements. But um as you can see they talk a lot

[34:01] about the creation of the financial statements and they have to raise any

[34:05] issues with that process that they find. So in other words if we don't have

[34:08] information for them or they don't feel certain about the data that we're

[34:12] presenting or they find u quality issues with the data that we're giving them

[34:16] then obviously they can't create the financial statements and they would you

[34:20] know also identify that as a a different kind of issue. That's one of the

[34:24] significant findings. The other one was um and I don't have the language in

[34:28] front of me, but it's something like account issues and the following 12

[34:31] account issues were identified and these are um

[34:36] more granular uh suggestions that they have for best practices on how accounts

[34:41] are handled and there were 12 of them. Um examples of them include and I'll

[34:46] just run through them. The first one was the depreciation fund. So we pay money

[34:52] into an account called depreciation for our assets, right? They depreciate at a

[34:56] particular rate and we are putting that money away to replace those items when

[35:00] they need to be replaced. Um we do not handle our cash. That is all handled by

[35:07] the town treasurer and that arrangement is like that in every MLP in the state

[35:11] because the law requires that they are the treasurer for the light plants in

[35:15] their communities. So when cash comes into the light plant, it comes into the

[35:19] town treasurer and is deposited in an account for the light plant. Um that

[35:24] account is one account and the auditors would prefer to see depreciation appear

[35:28] in a separate account. And so that is not something that's within our control,

[35:32] but it's certainly a best practice that we can pass along to the town treasur's

[35:36] office and say, "Hey, our auditors would prefer to see a separate account just to

[35:40] make sure cash is not comingled with other functions." So those are the types

[35:44] of um findings that we had. The other one was the cash reconciliation with the

[35:48] town which has been an issue but because we've been able to do it um it was not a

[35:52] material weakness right but I think there's still delays and the regular uh

[35:57] reporting of cash and something that town staff will have to work closely

[36:01] with CMLP staff to um make sure that in a timely manner within X days after

[36:07] close both sides can reconcile cash and as I mentioned the co-mingling is

[36:11] definitely makes things a challenge because the town has one account for

[36:16] everything for tax receipts and excise and you know water sewer other

[36:20] enterprise funds. Um so you know typically if you had your own bank

[36:23] account you could use the bank statement as a reconciliation tool. We don't have

[36:27] that at our disposal and our system does not have you know history of all those

[36:33] other transactions. So it's inherently complicated and there are timing delays

[36:37] and etc etc but we've made significant strides in addressing cash

[36:41] reconciliation um with the town and I think we'll

[36:44] continue to work on that. so that we feel like we can do a more regular

[36:48] reporting of the cash wreck. Go ahead Tyson or Don if you are okay with it.

[36:56] » Tyson, please. >> Yeah, just a quick question on the

[36:59] drafting financial statements. Is there a reason why you don't use two different

[37:04] firms uh to try and separate the the the the responsibility there?

[37:09] » I don't know the answer to that question. And I know that the town and

[37:12] many towns in Massachusetts um use the same auditor to prepare the financial

[37:17] statements as to perform the audit. They are technically done by different

[37:21] individuals within the auditing firm. Um and I know that you know there are

[37:26] standards that they are are held to, but I don't know the answer to that

[37:30] question. But I can certainly look into it to see if that's a reasonable thing

[37:33] or if it creates um overhead or if there's some, you know, cost issue. I I

[37:38] really don't know. >> Okay. I was just curious because when

[37:40] I've dealt with that situation before, usually you separate two firms.

[37:44] » Yeah. >> Thanks,

[37:47] » John. Do you think it would be helpful to run through the other 10 specific

[37:52] recommendations for accounts under that or is that too much level of detail for

[37:56] the lightboard? I just I'm happy to do it, but I I don't want to waste time if

[38:00] that if there's >> I mean, from my perspective, I'm

[38:04] comfortable with what we've heard. I don't know if others uh would like to

[38:08] hear greater detail.

[38:12] » We will be preparing um a summary document. Um it has a table. I'm I'm

[38:18] looking at it right now as I'm reading off these notes, but it will have the

[38:21] topic and the description from the auditors. It will have the owner of like

[38:24] who's in charge of implementing that. It will have notes on where we are today.

[38:28] And it will have the status whether it's already complete, whether it's going to

[38:31] be complete and then any next steps that are required. And so that document will

[38:35] be circulated, you know, in the future. But I prepared that just in case we

[38:40] needed to talk about it. But, you know, if the board is happy with that, we can

[38:44] do that. Or if again, uh, Chris, do you want to answer John's question?

[38:49] » No, I I was going to ask that I meet with Jason before I go to the next

[38:55] financial a committee meeting with this so that I fully briefed on it, but I

[38:59] don't think we need to cover anymore today.

[39:03] » Yeah. the the document that you mentioned, Chris, would be immensely

[39:06] helpful going forward to have that type of material.

[39:11] » Um, >> and we can expect that, Jason, at kind

[39:13] of the October or November board meetings.

[39:15] » Oh, yeah, for sure. I mean, even by the September meeting. Um, yeah, I mean,

[39:21] it's nearly sharable. we just have internal notes on what we need to do for

[39:25] certain things and I would just you know so but yeah I mean literally it could be

[39:29] sent out today if if you know anyway but we will get it to the board soon just so

[39:34] we can identify and as I said several of these are already resolved several of

[39:38] these were raised by staff because they were you know asking you know hey this

[39:42] is something we've done for 20 years like this the other auditor uh said that

[39:46] this was fine and dandy and can you just like tell us from your perspective

[39:50] knowing that you've completed way more light plant audits like is this the way

[39:53] other people do it? No, not really. And uh you know, you should probably do it

[39:57] this way. So, uh anyway, that does segue nicely into the just the reiteration of

[40:03] the fact that we do have new auditors. They do specialize in light plant

[40:06] audits. They did find things that we asked them to look at that have been

[40:10] nagging us and staff for a while. And I'm really grateful for their expertise.

[40:14] We had some really um deep, engaging conversations about process and history.

[40:19] um they get into the weeds of all of your meetings. Next year's audit, they

[40:23] will be reading the minutes from this meeting and my words right now. So, um

[40:27] they they look at really everything in in totality and what the board does and

[40:31] its actions and and looking at laws and recommendations. So, they they've done a

[40:35] great job and uh first audits can be very challenging. And so I in addition

[40:40] to thanking the auditors, I need to thank all the staff who really spent a

[40:43] lot of their time um preparing for this, especially Nan, but all of her staff,

[40:47] Sandy and Beverly and Rebecca as well, as well as Karen and other staff and

[40:52] other departments. I mean, this audits like this spread far and wide. It goes

[40:56] into power supply and Laura's team. It goes into operations and Joe's team. It

[41:01] goes into customer service and rates. So um really everybody at the light plant

[41:05] has helped and contributed to the production of this this document and u

[41:10] you know I think our goals in addition to um addressing some of these

[41:13] individual account issues is also to um continue to hone down our monthly close

[41:19] process so that it's a little bit shorter to reconcile more items on a on

[41:23] a regular monthly basis and then um hopefully next year's audit will be a

[41:27] little bit faster because we won't be dealing with a new auditor. We know what

[41:30] they're going to ask for. Um it was kind of funny. They showed up and they forgot

[41:34] to send us the list of things that they needed. So we were kind of scrambling at

[41:37] the last minute, but you know, having all that information just makes things

[41:40] more um expedient in the future. So we're looking forward to that. Um just

[41:45] some key takeaways. I think you know the the short version of the of the story

[41:51] from our overall audit and the financial condition is that the foundation is

[41:55] extremely solid. cash on hand and um incoming payments alone more are more

[42:01] than enough to cover um all of our total debts and uh we don't have an issue with

[42:05] liquidity. Um and then long-term obligations, deferred outflows um are

[42:11] handled proactively and we have um you know no issues with future budgets uh

[42:16] that won't kind of be caught off guard by some of these commitments whether

[42:18] it's power supply, oped, pension, things like that. Um, some key takeaways. I

[42:23] think another good read is the uh management discussion analysis section,

[42:27] which kind of tells you in plain text what some of these numbers mean. Um,

[42:31] plant net worth increased 9.88% year-over-year from 24 to 25. Net income

[42:37] was 6.7 million. Operating revenues were 17.6% higher in 2025 than 24. Um that

[42:45] was driven by commercial sales that were uh 7% higher than 24 uh with residential

[42:50] sales increasing 5%. Operating expenses increased by 12.6%

[42:56] mostly due to increased power supply but also uh additional expenses being uh

[43:01] maintenance and tree trimming. Uh we did a big tree trimming job in 25. Um we

[43:06] purchased 3.4 4 million kilowatt hours more in 25 than the year before which

[43:12] indicates that electrification is increasing especially heat pumps and

[43:16] EVs. Uh but it was also a hotter summer and a colder winter uh than the previous

[43:21] year and debt decreased about half a million dollars from the previous year.

[43:26] So, um, I think I'll just pause there, see if there's any last questions, but

[43:30] just know that A, we'll be following up with the board on some of those, uh,

[43:33] open items, and B, the financial audit advisory committee will be doing a much

[43:37] deeper dive into the audit along with the audit presentation, which will be

[43:41] recorded, and Goule and Salvo and Associates will be out to to offer that

[43:45] presentation directly. And um, yeah, so I'll just see John if there's any other

[43:50] questions before I kind of pivot into talking about the other half of the

[43:53] financial discussion. Any questions from board members?

[44:00] Thanks, Jason. That was a very comprehensive review and uh look forward

[44:04] to seeing the uh um summary of issues and intended response.

[44:10] » Great. Um all right, so I'm going to share my screen. Um,

[44:24] okay.

[44:29] So, I've kind of already talked about the process, so I'm going to jump right

[44:33] into some key um financial drivers for what we're seeing for 27. Um, and the

[44:39] first slide, the first two slides actually are about power supply. And

[44:43] Laura, if you have any other things to add about um transmission. I know we

[44:46] received a little bit of information on that, but we hadn't had time to put a

[44:50] slide on it. But whatever you feel you have some degree of certainty about,

[44:55] I'll turn it over to you. >> Well, good morning everyone. How is

[44:59] everybody doing today? Uh this first busy slide, um I'll don't

[45:04] worry, I'll walk you through it. Um the two points you want to focus on are the

[45:08] two black circles. Um the darker blue line

[45:15] uh is what the cost of forward power delivered at the mass hub around the

[45:23] clock in an even manner would have cost one year ago today. So back when we were

[45:29] setting the budget for 2026 2027 power was trading about $70 for the year.

[45:36] Now, as we approach the budget cycle, you can see the latest date here in

[45:41] August, uh, calendar 2027 deliveries cost about $87.

[45:47] So, take away from this, power supply expense is expected to be up.

[45:54] This is the cost of energy. Any questions about this slide? The other

[45:59] colors are for different ears. Um, but the the dark darker blue line is the

[46:06] one we're looking at for calendar 2027. >> Any any questions from board members? I

[46:13] mean, obviously we have a portfolio of power supplies which so we're not ex

[46:17] exposed to the full $87 per megawatt hour.

[46:21] » That's correct. So, as you may recall, about 20%

[46:25] um of our needs are typically met in the spot market, and it's only that 20% that

[46:30] would be exposed to this increasing pricing. Um, as John mentioned, the

[46:35] other 80% are covered under long-term agreements. Um, the prices on those

[46:41] contracts do change. Um, so they the cost of power can increase somewhat, but

[46:47] it's not going to be um it's like two it might be a 2% escalator a year. it's not

[46:51] going to be the $70 to $87.

[46:57] So energy is one component of power supplied. If you go to the next slide,

[47:02] um capacity is another component and uh look to the far right column, that was

[47:08] the clearing price for capacity in different auctions. So for um capacity

[47:16] the year runs from July 1st to June 30th and uh for the 25 26 year

[47:25] um the

[47:29] zone to which CMLP is subject uh to is rest of pool which was trading

[47:35] at $259. That was also the clearing price for the

[47:40] second half of 2026 and the first part of 2027. But you can see starting in

[47:45] July of 2027 that rate is expected to increase from 259 to $3.58.

[47:54] And then we don't, as Jason said, have a slide on it, but another significant

[47:57] component of power supply expense about 6 or 7 million worth is in fact

[48:02] transmission. And a good chunk of that 6 million is attributable to the schedule

[48:07] 9 RNS rate we pay to the ISO New England. And due to um capacity

[48:14] additions, buildouts, um various projects to reinforce the grid, um those

[48:21] costs are expected to increase in 2027 versus 2026. Um we don't have an exact

[48:27] percentage right now but the bottom line is all three legs of power supply costs

[48:34] that is energy capacity and transmission are expected to increase in 2027

[48:40] um versus 2026. Exactly how much um remains to be seen when we put the full

[48:46] forecast together. But we want to give you a heads up that these increased

[48:50] costs um may put pressure uh upward pressure on rates.

[48:57] » Laura, could you talk a little bit about Oh, sorry. Maybe Tyson can go first, but

[49:00] I was just going to ask after he's gone, could you talk a little bit about your

[49:04] process in developing the load forecast and then working with E& on getting kind

[49:08] of estimates and just what you do there? But um let's pause and if you want to

[49:13] call in, Tyson.

[49:17] If me call on Ty Tyson, please speak. >> Um Laura, do you do you know what the um

[49:25] underlying kind of macro drivers are for the increase in pricing?

[49:29] » I'm sorry. Can you repeat it? I didn't hear you.

[49:32] » Can you uh Yeah. What are the Do you know what the back the back like the

[49:35] macro drivers are for the increase in pricing that are driving it?

[49:39] the back road drivers >> macro like high level high level

[49:43] » the drivers the macrolevel drivers that are that are increasing

[49:47] » for the energy cost >> yes

[49:50] » yes it you want to go back to the previous slide Jason um that would be

[49:55] oil the cost of oil which you may have seen Brent just passed $100 a barrel

[50:01] » uh recently so the the major driver there is world global oil supply you

[50:08] know you see the the market increase once the war started. If you look, can

[50:13] you see my cursor? >> No. No.

[50:16] » Okay. So, we went from like a $75 go to about, you know, January March uh

[50:21] February March of 2026. Jason, you can see it was trading around $75.

[50:27] Um yeah, go up to the blue line. Go down a little bit. Yeah. So, but

[50:33] right before the war, it was trading at 75 and it immediately jumped up to 85 to

[50:38] $90. Um, there was a still a little upward pressure even before the war

[50:44] started. You can see we went from 70 up to 75 in this period. Um, but the major

[50:50] factor here is uh is oil. >> Okay, that's helpful to understand.

[51:00] Warren. >> Oh, and so about the process.

[51:04] » Sorry, Warren had a question. >> Oh, I'm sorry.

[51:05] » Yeah. Um, given that there's very little um electricity generation for oil, why

[51:14] is it having such a big impact on electricity prices?

[51:19] um because oil um is fairly tightly correlated with natural gas and it's

[51:28] natural gas that's really driving um the cost of electricity. Now there's there's

[51:35] a couple different dynamics going on with natural gas

[51:38] worldwide. Natural gas is trending closely with oil. As oil gets shut in,

[51:44] natural gas production also gets shut in globally. But in the US, we're kind of

[51:49] having a bit of a boom in oil production and increased drilling over here coupled

[51:55] with the delay in um coming online of several LNG export trains. And so the

[52:03] price like down at the Gulf Coast at Henry Hub has been somewhat disconnected

[52:08] from worldwide worldwide um natural gas prices. It's been fairly cheap at the

[52:13] Gulf, whereas it's trading very expensive in Europe and the Far East.

[52:18] Um, but we're up here in New England and as you may recall me saying in the past,

[52:23] we have um limited pipeline capacity to deliver the supply we need in the

[52:28] winter. And so there's also a disconnect between the Gulf Coast and the

[52:31] Northeast. The basis or the difference between the two of those locations is

[52:35] huge, particularly in the winter. Um so several different market dynamics

[52:42] happening in natural gas but really the oil is tied to natural gas which is tied

[52:46] to electricity. >> Thank you.

[52:52] » So the process for um for preparing the budget the first thing we do is prepare

[52:59] the load forecast. Um, and we do that by examining

[53:05] uh recent trends in um in our sales compared to degree days. We

[53:15] always start the budget with an assumption that we're going to

[53:18] experience normal weather during a year. So, we base our load forecast on normal

[53:23] degree days. Um

[53:28] and then uh once we have a load forecast uh ENE develops the integrated portfolio

[53:36] cost. They figure okay here's how much is going to come from each of the

[53:40] contracts. Here's what the cost is for each one of those. Here how here's how

[53:44] much we'll have to buy from the spot market and here's the cost of that. And

[53:47] they send us back what they believe the purchase power supply expense is going

[53:52] to be based on our load forecast. and that's what we put into the budget. And

[53:58] then as Jason mentioned, a lot of other um expenses and both capital and

[54:03] operating are then assumed for the upcoming year um to to develop a full

[54:08] revenue requirement for calendar 2027.

[54:15] » All right. Any other questions on power supply before we move on?

[54:20] Okay. Um so thank you Laura. Um the next thing I wanted to talk about was

[54:27] personnel. It's one of the first sections in the forecast. Um we do have

[54:30] two collective bargaining units um here at the light plant for the first time

[54:35] and those agreements will be executed soon. The inception of the contract date

[54:41] is going to be January 1st, 2025. So there's still some uh questions and

[54:46] uncertainty around the exact dollar figures of impact, but hopefully we know

[54:50] those figures soon and we'll be incorporating that into the forecast so

[54:55] that we have um some certainty. That is only about 11 uh or so staff of the 41

[55:02] or so who work at the light plant. So it's not, you know, the the majority um

[55:06] by any stretch, but it is a significant change in in the way that we address

[55:11] that. for the other employees in the light plant. Um, you know, all light

[55:15] plant employees are town staff and the non-union staff follow the personnel

[55:19] bylaw and the salary um compensation plan voted by the town and uh you know

[55:27] which I I think includes the personnel board and other staff um and and goes

[55:32] through the regular budgeting process for their salary reserves and all that.

[55:36] But basically that is um if you are eligible to move up a step if you're not

[55:41] at the top you go up a step which is a 2% increase. Um and then there is a 1.2%

[55:47] cola that was given in um July of this year. Uh again we're we're trying to um

[55:55] take the town which has a fiscal year of July 1st to June 30th and the light

[55:59] plant which has one from January 1st to December 31st and marry those. So

[56:03] there's always some level of uncertainty because what we don't know is for the

[56:07] period of July 1st of next year through the end of you know 2027. Um and so

[56:13] we're we're trying to use this as an indicator of what might happen for uh

[56:17] the other salaries. There is a one-time merit payment eligible for people who

[56:22] complete uh goals that are um expressly documented and approved by their uh

[56:28] supervisor and department head. and they they get a percent for each of those

[56:32] significant goals they complete. Um and then uh in terms of vacancies and

[56:38] positions, we still do have a couple vacant positions that we have been

[56:42] trying to fill. We have a senior network engineer that's vacant right now. We

[56:46] have a meter supervisor that's vacant right now. We also, you know, have to

[56:50] always think about um continuity and uh planning around potential retirements.

[56:56] Um several years ago the light board had suggested that staff um plan for a

[57:03] project manager role and we've been planning to fund that um for several

[57:07] forecast cycles. Now the thought process here was that whether it was the

[57:12] advanced metering project, time of day rates, large solar arrays, there is

[57:17] always a project that's large that's going on at the light plant and that

[57:21] maybe a a project manager could help with both the project as well as

[57:26] outreach as well as coordination with other departments. Um we also have near

[57:32] single FTE, you know, requirements among several departments that we we're trying

[57:36] to juggle. And so um we're still thinking about the application of that

[57:41] over the coming year. And I will mention that you know with the um increased

[57:46] reliance on the advanced metering system, we did create a new position for

[57:50] an advanced metering infrastructure analyst that's been filled um with the

[57:56] expected retirement of other individuals in the metering department. And that did

[58:00] come to fruition. So, we're still down um or sorry, no, I think right now we

[58:05] we're kind of net even with where we were with metering, but we're still

[58:09] finding a need that we need a supervisor to oversee the metering uh team in terms

[58:14] of the safety and coordination and service orders and all that. So, we're

[58:17] just trying to take a look at that and um and see if we think we need to add an

[58:22] FTE or if we think that the one that we had is sufficient or anyway, that's just

[58:27] a a note that we have here to talk about. um as we go through the process

[58:32] and as we kind of work with staff and department heads and I think I probably

[58:35] should have started by talking about our own internal process which um Laura

[58:40] mentioned it for the power supply. We do that for kind of nearly every major

[58:44] budget driver. Um we sit down with the operations teams and we talk about

[58:48] projects that are coming down the road both ones that we can and cannot

[58:51] control. Um for example the 40B projects where we're going to see hundreds of

[58:55] units of housing come on board. you know, we we don't have a say in whether

[58:59] that happens or not. It just happens and we have to be able to respond. Other

[59:02] projects are ones that we might initiate like an undergrounding project. So, um

[59:07] we sit down and we talk about those and we figure out what we can get done, what

[59:10] we have to get done in a particular year and what that translates to for costs.

[59:15] Um and then uh we also estimate revenues and figure out you know what we plan to

[59:20] raise from uh merchandising and jobbing and uh other uh contract kind of work

[59:24] that we do where we make revenue on that. Um and then uh we put together

[59:30] this overarching document that you will all see in a month that kind of outlines

[59:34] where we expect to spend money and make money. Um so this is personnel. So, I'll

[59:39] stop here and just kind of see with each slide if there's any questions that

[59:42] people have before I move on. >> Any questions from board members on

[59:47] this?

[59:50] » Um, one question. So, you're talking about um a vacant project manager role.

[59:57] Um, so I guess the question is whether um you're typically looking to hire for

[1:00:07] full-time um staff or, you know, are are there

[1:00:13] situations where you might consider um hiring for a a limited time like a

[1:00:19] contract position for a specific project?

[1:00:24] » Yep. Yeah, we absolutely do that. Um so for example the middle school solar when

[1:00:28] we were undergoing construction we hired a limited status um employee who was

[1:00:34] non-benefited position and uh had the expertise necessary and had done many

[1:00:39] projects like that before public projects and so uh she was able to help

[1:00:43] do coordination meetings and you know on-site visits and bring back

[1:00:47] information to the team and coordinate. So we've done that. We also have a lot

[1:00:51] of consultants that help us um and there are for example at our uh NISC our

[1:00:57] software vendor um they have project managers that help with certain

[1:01:01] implementations right so like there there are project managers either at

[1:01:05] some of our consulting firms that we use regularly or some of our vendors um I

[1:01:10] think this when the board conceived of it was kind of um there was an

[1:01:15] overarching need not just to manage a project well and help with the staff

[1:01:19] that were already overburdened with other jobs, but also help communicate

[1:01:23] from the community's perspective um what some of these things were and then work

[1:01:27] interdep departmentally. And I think that's where some of those relationships

[1:01:30] sometimes aren't as productive with third parties is um understanding maybe

[1:01:35] the particular community's needs and then working closely with other

[1:01:38] departments. So, for example, like public works and paving, right? So like

[1:01:42] I think sometimes um long-term relationships like that are harder to do

[1:01:47] with brief engagements with but if there's a particular big project we've

[1:01:52] absolutely done that in the past. >> Okay.

[1:01:56] » Any other questions on personnel?

[1:02:02] » All right. I'll shift to capital. Um this is the project that is coming and

[1:02:08] going. We're not really sure what's happening here, but Eversource has been

[1:02:11] working with us on feasibility of a a large substation upgrade that would help

[1:02:16] us participate in transmission. Um, and so we're not sure exactly if this is

[1:02:21] happening. It's planned for, you know, early to mid 2030s, but it's something

[1:02:25] that you have to plan for 8 to 10 years. And so we've we've had several

[1:02:29] discussions with them. obviously is not going to require us to build anything

[1:02:33] this upcoming year, but it may require um planning and some of that planning is

[1:02:39] pretty serious and when it surrounds transmission and capital then it may be

[1:02:43] capitalized. It just depends on what it is. Um so there's that project coming.

[1:02:48] Uh we have a SCADA system as I mentioned that will be going online soon. Um, but

[1:02:53] we also would want to look at next steps, right? There's there's a lot of

[1:02:57] questions and conversations about distributed energy management uh or

[1:03:01] resource management systems as well as virtual peaker or virtual um power

[1:03:06] plants um as well as just the extension of the SCADA system. The initial SCADA

[1:03:11] deployment is really going to be focused at the substations. We have several

[1:03:15] other pieces of equipment in our territory that are already uh kind of

[1:03:19] could be connected to this data system, but there are many more that could be

[1:03:23] replaced. And all of that is providing much more concrete data that will help

[1:03:28] people troubleshoot and understand how our system is operating. And where you

[1:03:32] have a territory that's 50% underground, that can be incredibly useful to help

[1:03:37] diagnose issues, which I can tell you when we have an underground failure, it

[1:03:41] is it takes a very long time to identify specifically where that failure is. And

[1:03:47] these manhole systems can be completely filled with water and require to be

[1:03:50] pumped before you can enter. And it is like finding a needle in a hay stack. So

[1:03:55] the more visibility we have for some of these outside resources uh the more

[1:04:00] useful that SCADA system will be. This will be very useful for looking at uh

[1:04:04] you know feeder data and and live uh usage across different pieces of

[1:04:10] infrastructure at the substations. But um you know we want to think about the

[1:04:14] next level which is kind of going out in a in a circle um from the center from

[1:04:19] these substations which is you know seeing what visibility we can have for

[1:04:22] things like reclosers and switches and relays and uh other power protection

[1:04:27] devices out in the field. So that's going on. And then we also have you know

[1:04:32] we have a lot of um buildings. We have uh three substations one kind of

[1:04:36] dormant. We have uh municipal office space and warehouse garage space. We

[1:04:41] have a roof that is in a failed state that needs imminent replacement. We have

[1:04:45] parking lots. We have a lot of infrastructure. And so, uh, figuring out

[1:04:49] the timing of that, what staff can do, what consultants can do, what's

[1:04:53] reasonable, and what schedule we need to replace these things on. So, those were

[1:04:56] big kind of drivers. Um, we also have on the battery energy storage. We received

[1:05:03] borrowing authorization from town meeting a couple of years ago to to

[1:05:07] purchase and own ourselves a large battery in town. Um, our first battery,

[1:05:13] we were able to use that authorization to our advantage to negotiate a very

[1:05:17] favorable deal with very little risk for rateayers on our first battery. But the

[1:05:22] question still remains, which is that that battery still has a lot of

[1:05:26] limitations. It's not our battery. we have contractual rights to, you know,

[1:05:30] say when that battery may be charged or discharged, but it's very different than

[1:05:33] if it's our battery, right? So, we'd like to have some conversations about

[1:05:37] that and about when the timing is right to pull the trigger on um ownership of a

[1:05:42] battery and connection, you know, to our SCADA system and so that if in real time

[1:05:47] we have a problem, the battery could be used to dispatch, which would probably

[1:05:51] be a little different than how a vendor battery might work. or a vendor battery,

[1:05:55] we might be able to say stop charging or stop discharging, but only under certain

[1:06:00] emergency circumstances. But if we wanted to more smooth things out or

[1:06:03] regulate voltage or um get into different markets, uh then you know we

[1:06:08] would need our own battery to do that. I think sighting is a question. The WR

[1:06:13] Grace site is something we've talked about. Substations is something we've

[1:06:17] talked about. So um the timing of that is obviously germaine to the budget

[1:06:21] conversation. Um where we decide to underground next and what our plans are

[1:06:26] for the next few years is a relevant conversation. Remember that the

[1:06:30] underground fund is a restricted fund. Uh it's a percent and a half we collect

[1:06:34] on every bill and it's reserved specifically for the undergrounding of

[1:06:38] existing overhead territories. And um but that's it's always a conversation.

[1:06:44] and then things like EV charging stations or other um capital

[1:06:48] infrastructure that can be deployed. So, you know, it's we we know that these

[1:06:52] things get built out over time. It's a question of what's happening in in this

[1:06:55] particular year. Uh we typically project capital out. Uh we try to do 10 years.

[1:07:01] It's pretty um you know, you can predict certain things that far especially like

[1:07:06] buildings and roofs and HVAC, but other things it's hard to know. you know

[1:07:10] certain transformers should have a life of 30 to sometimes 60 or 70 years but

[1:07:16] other times um you know you find you have to repurpose a transformer and

[1:07:20] purchase a new one to go there because of uh changing requirements of that

[1:07:24] particular customer. So, um I think I'll pause there and just see um if people

[1:07:29] have any questions, >> any questions, comments? I mean, Jason,

[1:07:34] are any of these items in essence discretionary where you're kind of

[1:07:38] looking for some board perspective on them or is this just really more of an

[1:07:42] up for us? >> Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I guess if like if

[1:07:46] people have high level like this seems important, we should do it sooner than

[1:07:50] later, we can certainly take those comments now. But I think in the next

[1:07:54] conversation that we have when we actually start getting into the

[1:07:56] forecast, we can start talking about know because like the hard part is the

[1:08:01] board doesn't know the the full picture and the requirements and so they might

[1:08:05] say well this seems important but we're like well this is more important. The

[1:08:07] board's like oh you're right. So we want feedback like yes this is a good idea to

[1:08:12] pursue but I think once we get everything on the piece of paper then

[1:08:16] you can look at the totality and say well actually this is more important

[1:08:19] than this thing because you'll have more at your disposal but so welcome to take

[1:08:23] comments on things like this you know like yes or no we don't really like that

[1:08:27] but it's hard to just weigh in on you know everything at this point.

[1:08:32] » Any questions or comments?

[1:08:38] Warren, please. >> Yeah, I have a general comment.

[1:08:41] Listening to all of this, and it's two interconnected comments. It seems like

[1:08:48] there is going to be pressure on rates and likely

[1:08:55] a need to increase rates. As we know, there's great public concern about

[1:09:02] affordability, and I think we should be taking that

[1:09:06] seriously, and we should be looking at things that

[1:09:11] really I mean, if something we don't want to hobble the light plant, but if

[1:09:17] something is discretionary, next year might not be the year to do it. The one

[1:09:22] thing I was hearing so far that falls into that category was the project

[1:09:28] manager position, which seems like a good idea, but next year might not be

[1:09:32] the year to do it. Um, and then another somewhat related comment going back to

[1:09:39] what you said right at the beginning about delaying the increase in rates

[1:09:47] until April. I understand the logic of that. But if we're going to need to

[1:09:54] increase rates, are we going to end up in a situation where there's sticker

[1:09:59] shock in rates in April because you're trying to

[1:10:05] recover a year's worth of cost increases over just nine months?

[1:10:15] » Okay. Yeah, that's that's a fair question. I I mean I think we do need to

[1:10:19] know probably pretty soon um you know what the board's feeling is on the

[1:10:24] timing of phase two or any adjustments in rates. I think we're going to

[1:10:29] hopefully be discussing at the second September meeting um the PCA charge that

[1:10:35] I mentioned at the last not the last meeting because that was the OML

[1:10:39] discussion but the one before that um and so that might be uh the true up that

[1:10:44] can happen separate from the time of day rates so that people don't conflate

[1:10:49] phase two with being higher rates but yeah I think we do need some guidance on

[1:10:54] the timing and what board members feel >> well at least in my opin I it's hard to

[1:10:59] give guidance without talking of knowing what's the level of additional revenue

[1:11:05] you need. That that's really seems like >> the crux of the matter. If the revenue

[1:11:14] needs are modest, then recovering them over 9 months is okay. If the revenue

[1:11:21] need increases are significant, then it's a problem only covering them in

[1:11:28] nine months, >> right?

[1:11:32] » Thank Thank you, Warren. Chris, >> yeah, building on that, I certainly from

[1:11:37] an execution side of things, it's nice to just do a rate change once. Uh but uh

[1:11:44] I worry that if we've got a big bump in rates happening along with the roll out

[1:11:48] of the phase two of time of day that people just think it's raising because

[1:11:52] of the time of day and we get pushed back on time of day. Um, so, um, it

[1:12:00] there's that. I guess I'm not sure what I I guess the best answer, but but I

[1:12:04] think we want to think about making sure we're not,

[1:12:08] um, turning sentiment against time of day in advertently.

[1:12:16] Agreed and understood. I think that was has been a message from the board for a

[1:12:20] long time, which is that we want to be careful about how we do things

[1:12:25] surrounding time of day because we want to give it a fair shot and not have

[1:12:28] people um incorrectly conflate time of day rates existence with, you know,

[1:12:35] higher electricity costs.

[1:12:40] All right. Well, I'll keep I'll keep going. Um

[1:12:44] see here so the next uh budget driver I've got is operations and maintenance.

[1:12:49] We are seeing um higher costs for transformers and other distribution

[1:12:54] system resources. Um they are climbing at higher than the the rate of inflation

[1:12:58] and this is really uh probably a supply and demand issue. We saw this during

[1:13:03] COVID. there were some um relaxing of um of quantities of product that helped um

[1:13:11] kind of bring costs or at least not have them continue to rise astronomically. Uh

[1:13:16] but we are seeing more people uh whether stockpiling or places building out as

[1:13:22] electrification continues. There's just more and more of a need and there are

[1:13:25] not a lot of manufacturers of some of this equipment. Uh further we're seeing

[1:13:29] tariffs. Um and tariffs implemented at kind of the last minute because a tariff

[1:13:34] is a tax. A lot of agreements say that taxes can be passed on to customers. And

[1:13:38] so we're seeing situations where we've ordered equipment and then after we

[1:13:42] receive it, we get a additional bill for a tariff that was levied on that um in

[1:13:47] the process of delivery. So um you know it is a tight time. We do try to um kind

[1:13:53] of purchase what we need, keep on on hand enough uh material and stock to

[1:14:00] address issues as well as respond expediently to, you know, requests for

[1:14:05] new service or upgrades. Uh and we also try to occasionally purchase um larger

[1:14:10] amounts of things to kind of get better pricing. Uh I know there's a a bid out

[1:14:15] there right now to get some of that equipment. Um I mentioned the 40B. So

[1:14:19] Novo, um this project there at U 292 or something Baker AB has broken ground.

[1:14:26] Their building permit was issued. Uh there's going to be a couple hundred new

[1:14:30] units out there. Um we've ordered meters for that already. There's going to be

[1:14:35] another one Alta at the on Forest Ridge right next to one of our substations.

[1:14:40] That's a few hundred units. Um there's going to be uh that that might be a next

[1:14:46] year purchase. Obviously the um the prison and MCI conquered property

[1:14:51] probably won't be developed you know next calendar year probably won't drive

[1:14:54] the budget then but obviously as you see this growth that's that is a pretty

[1:14:58] large purchase not just for meters but all the supporting equipment and

[1:15:02] installation and it is new load is new customers it does kind of have an

[1:15:06] overall downward pressure on rates but in the more short term it's equipment

[1:15:11] and materials we have to buy um we have not done tree trimming at

[1:15:17] this year. We did a good amount last year. We're we're thinking about doing

[1:15:21] something similar to what public works does and what some other communities do,

[1:15:24] which is get a three-year agreement. The tree bid process is a lot of work on

[1:15:28] staff. And if we could identify um kind of a rotating plan of a three-year

[1:15:35] trimming where because historically we had a four-year plan and um we did see

[1:15:41] several outages this year as a result of limbs falling on lines even though we

[1:15:46] just did exhaustive tree trimming over about half the town. um it might help

[1:15:51] lower costs, especially administrative costs on doing some of these agreements

[1:15:55] and will definitely lead to um more higher reliability of service. Um and

[1:16:01] then you know last year, oh I forgot to in parenthesis here, but last year our

[1:16:06] rebates um were forecasted to be about $770,000.

[1:16:10] And we are trying to help um or at least prepare for a more detailed discussion

[1:16:16] with the board about our rebate program so that we can have better um data to

[1:16:21] support what our rebates are doing in terms of decarbonization

[1:16:25] and um and what kind of impact we think that they're having on decision-m among

[1:16:30] our customers who are are using the rebates. So, we want to make sure that

[1:16:34] the board can help us prioritize rebates that they think are particularly

[1:16:38] effective and uh maybe, you know, divert more money toward those rebates that

[1:16:43] seem to be popular and super effective at achieving uh light plant, light board

[1:16:48] or town goals. And then, you know, maybe if we find some that are underperforming

[1:16:52] expectations, we need to shift money out of there. Um,

[1:16:56] so I'll pause there and see if there's any questions about some of these O andM

[1:17:00] categories. Any questions or comments from board members?

[1:17:09] » I guess Jason, I really encourage you to um as you suggested for these rebate

[1:17:13] programs, I think the board would benefit from some additional analysis in

[1:17:18] terms of their effectiveness. Um who's benefiting from them? Um you know, what

[1:17:23] are the specific objectives that are being furthered? So

[1:17:27] » yeah, agreed. Um and then last

[1:17:31] » I was just going to sorry before you move on um when are you expecting that

[1:17:35] discussion to happen? >> Um that's a good question. I think that

[1:17:40] uh it really depends on what we can fit in at the this kind of tail end of the

[1:17:46] year with the financial um requirements that we have and the rates. like if if

[1:17:50] rates are going to get set this year then it might be tight but u we can

[1:17:55] certainly have more conversation about it and we can certainly also work

[1:17:59] offline collaboratively. I just don't know how much time the board will have

[1:18:03] to engage in collaborative discussion, but um we're certainly happy to bring

[1:18:08] some folks into the fold and um you know start having those conversations with

[1:18:13] maybe one or two board members similar to the um bill redesign.

[1:18:23] » Can I chip in here? >> Yes, he called on you. No. Well,

[1:18:30] » sorry. Um, yeah. So, you're >> just because we are trying to move on

[1:18:35] and we are going to have an opportunity for kind of liaison comments, but go

[1:18:39] ahead. >> I I just have something that's like

[1:18:41] relevant to the comment at the the topic at the time and coming back to it at at

[1:18:46] the end of the meeting or whatever just seems like out of step. So, I'm just

[1:18:50] going to try to kick it in here. Um, as far as the the uh rebate programs,

[1:18:56] anybody who's operating, you know, in an Eversource region sees a bill and they

[1:19:02] see the Massave, you know, regulatory framework cost and they they see that on

[1:19:07] their bill, would it be a thing as you're doing billing redesign to just

[1:19:12] indicate that this much of our budget or this much of what your bill is paying

[1:19:16] for right now today is going towards our rebate program so that people see that

[1:19:22] that the money that we are allocating in a big chunk in our budget $770,000

[1:19:28] shows up on your bill as a buck or whatever whatever it is. This is your

[1:19:33] you know this is your contribution to uh to our our energy goals. So they they

[1:19:39] see a number on their bill and and it's broken out for the customer. That's just

[1:19:44] a thought. I'm I'm just kicking that out.

[1:19:47] » Yeah. I don't want to go too far down the rabbit hole, but we did have that

[1:19:50] before. It was called the CARES charge. Um, it's like conservation and something

[1:19:55] and Laura could probably speak as to when it appeared and when it went away,

[1:19:58] but it was a I believe it was a board decision to stop, you know, delay

[1:20:04] charge, but we can certainly have that conversation as we come through the

[1:20:07] build redesign process to see what people want to see.

[1:20:11] » And and Jason, just just looking at time, um, seems we need to

[1:20:15] » Yeah. Yeah, I agree. I I can be very brief on this just that um the there's

[1:20:20] not a lot of capital for broadband in the upcoming year with the exception of

[1:20:24] maybe a vehicle replacement. Uh not certain exactly what year but and then

[1:20:29] you know planning their uh capital expansion projects into new service

[1:20:33] territories similar to the one that we discussed earlier. Uh but really that

[1:20:36] was all I was going to cover on on broadband. So, um, so with that, John,

[1:20:42] do you feel ready to move on or do you >> Yeah, if there's any other comments or

[1:20:47] questions from board members in general, it's it's been a really useful

[1:20:51] discussion. Thank you for this, Jason. And um, you know, I feel like board

[1:20:56] members have offered some really good comments which hopefully have helped you

[1:21:00] with providing some direction. >> Yeah, extremely helpful.

[1:21:06] All right. So, are you ready, John, to share?

[1:21:09] » Yes. Next agenda item we have is essentially um lightboard governance. Um

[1:21:15] I know Warren has been uh meeting with uh select board and other members on

[1:21:21] this matter. Um and it's obviously something that uh you know affects us as

[1:21:26] lightboard members. Um my understanding is Jason, you're going to be performing

[1:21:30] a presentation. >> Yes. Um and and that was a good segue,

[1:21:34] John, and to mention that um the the the governance structure for the light plant

[1:21:39] and light board in conquered is somewhat unique and um it was uh the town manager

[1:21:45] brought that to the attention of the select board a few years ago, a few

[1:21:49] years ago and created a goal uh for herself or the select board created a

[1:21:53] goal for her to study that topic and uh kind of make recommendations toward a

[1:21:58] resolution for it. So, it's been a a very public goal of hers for a few

[1:22:03] years. And um one of the things that she did was asked a task force of people to

[1:22:08] help advise her um through that process. And to do that, she used a current and

[1:22:13] former light board member, a current and former select board member, a retired

[1:22:17] general manager from another light plant, um, who also had been an a deputy

[1:22:21] town manager, uh, and myself to help do the research and look at the background,

[1:22:26] figure out how we got where we are, what other people do, and kind of what we can

[1:22:30] do to maybe standardize and reduce some of the liabilities that we have in our

[1:22:34] current governance structure. So um the presentation I'm going to give is very

[1:22:38] similar to the one that was given to the select board and for that reason I may

[1:22:42] abridge a little bit but u please raise your hand if you have questions in a

[1:22:46] particular area. I think the point of this is to present an overview of the

[1:22:50] governance to talk about the process that's underway and then to allow the

[1:22:55] board to offer feedback and uh maybe address a few specific questions that uh

[1:23:00] would be useful for staff and for the town manager during this time.

[1:23:04] Um so uh turning to state law chapter 164 um it's very clear about the the

[1:23:12] governance structure for light plants and it says that um a dedicated

[1:23:17] lightboard and a general manager will have the operational authorities to kind

[1:23:21] of run a light plant. Um and you're going to see those those two sections in

[1:23:26] a second, but just know that uh it it says, you know, if there's a light

[1:23:31] board, they're going to appoint the general manager. the general manager is

[1:23:33] going to run the plant and it's a distinct, you know, quasi commercial

[1:23:37] operation that exists as both a town department and a completely separate uh

[1:23:42] enterprise fund that should not be comingling funds with the town. The town

[1:23:46] charter, however, um says that there's a a moderator who can appoint a fincom,

[1:23:53] there's a select board who can appoint these few committees and boards, and

[1:23:57] then there's a town manager who appoints everyone else. and that everyone else

[1:24:01] language um leaves it open to interpretation that that includes uh

[1:24:06] whoever leads the light plant and including the light board. So that is

[1:24:10] kind of the the discrepancy or the concern that that we have in our current

[1:24:16] structure is that uh state law says one thing and the town charter which is

[1:24:20] adopted as a special act of the legislature says another thing and

[1:24:23] there's a bit of ambiguity and conflict because the charter itself doesn't

[1:24:27] mention the late plant or the light board in any way.

[1:24:30] So the specific statute um says that a town that has established or votes to

[1:24:36] establish a gas or electric plant may elect a municipal light board consisting

[1:24:41] of three or five members. So the may elect um means that you do not have to

[1:24:47] have a lightboard. You can certainly have a select board who operates as a

[1:24:50] lightboard because as you can imagine >> you want to share your screen on your

[1:24:54] presentation. I I I've seen this presentation so I

[1:24:59] know oh he's going through his presentation but we're not seeing it.

[1:25:02] » Please forgive me. Please forgive me. I I failed to share the screen. So yes. Um

[1:25:08] so that was the first slide. We're here. Um so uh yes uh anyway the the May says

[1:25:16] that a town may elect a lightboard. Um in contrast you can imagine there are

[1:25:22] very small communities some that have four to 600 meters um who have their

[1:25:29] select board act as their lightboard and that is an option as well. So um that

[1:25:35] lightboard has the authority to construct purchase or lease a gas or

[1:25:38] electric plant in accordance with the town and maintain and operate it. So

[1:25:42] after that it says that either the mayor of a city, the selectman or a municipal

[1:25:48] light board if there is one um appoints a manager and that manager has certain

[1:25:53] responsibilities and that includes the complete operation of the plant. It

[1:25:58] includes the purchase of supplies so procurement. It includes the employment

[1:26:03] of attorneys and agents and staff um and a lot of other responsibilities. Now in

[1:26:09] in conquered those other responsibilities like procurement,

[1:26:13] hiring and firing all rest with the town manager and and it states that clearly

[1:26:16] in the charter. So basically you've now got the town manager who can do all

[1:26:21] these things and the general manager of a light plant who can do these things.

[1:26:24] And so conquered had to find a way to reconcile these things. And I'll tell

[1:26:27] you what they did in a second, but just as a brief history, know that the light

[1:26:32] the light plant was established by the town in 1898 after two successive votes.

[1:26:38] And at that time there was a three member elected lightboard all the way

[1:26:42] until the 1950s. Um the mid-50s it shifted and what happened was in the 40s

[1:26:49] after the second world war conquer's number of elected officials had

[1:26:53] skyrocketed. There were something like 60 elected officials in total because

[1:26:59] you had weights and measures. You had tree wardens. You had all these people

[1:27:02] that were elected. And conquered was growing. And all of these people, the

[1:27:07] board of health, they were hiring staff. They were setting employment policies

[1:27:11] and pay schedules and rules and accounting of their funds and all of it

[1:27:16] was separate. And so there was a strong desire to centralize and increase

[1:27:20] efficiency. So the town said, "You know what? let's figure out what committees

[1:27:24] have to be elected and what what roles have to be elected and let's really pair

[1:27:28] this down. They saw the may elect and they said well it looks like the light

[1:27:32] board can be elected or not. So we'll just leave them on this list over here

[1:27:36] and they left it with the town moderator the school committee and the select

[1:27:39] board as the only elected officials in conquered and everybody else was

[1:27:43] appointed. So um at that time in the 50s after the charter was formally adopted

[1:27:50] and the town manager form of government was set here in conquered um the light

[1:27:55] board flipped to an appointed board and they were appointed by the town manager

[1:27:58] and they have been ever since. In the early 80s you know people were pointing

[1:28:03] out that there were some of these issues that it says state law says this but

[1:28:07] we're doing something a little different. So to kind of smooth things

[1:28:10] over, the town adopts an administrative code which just says, "Well, we have a

[1:28:14] good solution for this. The town manager has all these authorities. The general

[1:28:17] manager has all these authorities. They're actually just the same person.

[1:28:20] We'll just call the town manager the general manager and we'll create an

[1:28:24] agreement between the light board, between the select board, and between

[1:28:26] the town manager to kind of, you know, understand what everybody's

[1:28:29] responsibilities are here in conquered because they're unique. So the

[1:28:34] administrative code exists for a while but um it did ruffle some feathers. In

[1:28:40] the early 90s there was a charter review and so there was a committee called by

[1:28:45] the select board to open up the charter and say okay we're going to look at this

[1:28:48] and let's figure out all the things we want to do all the changes we might need

[1:28:51] to make. And one of the big things that came out of it was that the light board

[1:28:54] at the time expressed serious concerns about the governance structure and

[1:28:58] objections that some of their statutory rights as a lightboard were being um

[1:29:04] taken away in this governance structure we had in conquered. And while those

[1:29:08] concerns were documented, nothing really changed. the charter or the um the

[1:29:13] administrative code was amended and it has been amended a few times as recently

[1:29:17] as 2008. But the issue of governance was really never fully resolved in that

[1:29:22] discrepancy about who is appointing and how the two different groups are um

[1:29:27] separated or connected was was never fully resolved. So um what what we see

[1:29:34] here is some snippets from the administrative code. And a couple key

[1:29:38] ones to point out was it says that the municipal lightboard is responsible to

[1:29:42] the town manager and has the authority and responsibility delegated to it by

[1:29:46] the town manager. But somewhere else there's a state law that says they

[1:29:50] actually have these particular requirements. And we've got a code which

[1:29:54] is a document signed by nobody here today that says that no in fact the

[1:29:59] board has these responsibilities. So there's a bit of a discrepancy there.

[1:30:02] And then the second one was even though the light board is responsible for um

[1:30:06] appointing a general manager who has the authority to manage staff um the

[1:30:12] administrative code says that the uh town manager agrees to consult with the

[1:30:17] light board prior to uh and during the course of selection of a permanent

[1:30:20] director. So you know instead of the board doing it the board can certainly

[1:30:24] advise the town manager but the town manager has appointing authority. So

[1:30:28] what is happening around us? So what you'll see here is if you look at that

[1:30:32] pie chart in the middle um there are about 40 MLPS in the state

[1:30:38] and 35 out of 40 have at least a majority elected lightboard. They're

[1:30:42] either fully elected or they're majority elected and then there are five who are

[1:30:47] appointed. Conquered is one of those five. It's really important to note that

[1:30:51] the other four uh to talk about those two of them have mayors um and the mayor

[1:30:57] is the appointing authority and the other two have specific mentions in

[1:31:02] their charter um or separate legislation of how the appointing will work in those

[1:31:09] communities. So the town manager is the appointing authority. Those two

[1:31:12] communities are Danvers and Shrewsbury. and it very explicitly lays out that the

[1:31:17] town those towns have voted to say we don't want to do the elected thing even

[1:31:22] though the state law says it we want to adopt a different law and we want to say

[1:31:25] that the town manager is the appointing authority so Cochran is singular in that

[1:31:30] we we are appointing but we have never really received explicit word from the

[1:31:34] town that that is their preferred method of appointing the lightboard um

[1:31:38] » excuse me Jason you've never conquer's never received explicit authority from

[1:31:44] the state. >> Correct.

[1:31:48] » Right. Because there's never been special legislation.

[1:31:51] » Yeah. >> Yeah. You could argue that by adopting

[1:31:55] the town charter, um even though it was ambiguous, that there was an intention

[1:32:00] by the the people at the time. Um but we don't really know that for certain. Um

[1:32:08] and then you can just see here a couple other metrics in terms of the number of

[1:32:12] um board members. You see they're vastly the vast majority is three or five

[1:32:16] members. Um this is a snippet from that charter

[1:32:22] review in the 1990s and it this is a a memo from the charter review committee

[1:32:27] to the select board at the time board of selectmen. um basically letting them

[1:32:32] know that the board's position is that the administrative code um is illegally

[1:32:37] preempting many of the obligations and responsibility that's given to the light

[1:32:41] board in chapter 164 of uh math general law. Um and so there there's a whole

[1:32:47] history here. Um some of these documents we've put on a governance page on our

[1:32:51] website. So if you go to conquer.govlp /tlp and then look for governance on the

[1:32:56] lefth hand side there. Some of these documents are there and we'll be posting

[1:33:01] more um as time goes on as well. So there's a couple slides about like

[1:33:07] why is this conversation happening? Um we can certainly read these but in the

[1:33:11] interest of time I'll just say that um the light plant has very different

[1:33:15] requirements from town departments. Um the light plant is a commercial utility

[1:33:19] that competes with other utilities. The town can decide at any time that the

[1:33:24] utility is not meeting its needs and decide to sell the plant. It does belong

[1:33:27] to the people of conquered and so as such we we can we have different pools

[1:33:32] of competition of personnel. Uh and we really are competing with other light

[1:33:36] plants and investor own utilities which operate all very distinctly from their

[1:33:41] towns. Um and so uh that is one of the biggest reasons and again as I stated

[1:33:46] it's been a select board and town manager goal for a few years to look at

[1:33:49] this and try to bring some permanent resolution.

[1:33:53] Um and here is talking about the labor market and the size of the light plant.

[1:33:57] Um which uh though power supply makes up the vast majority of our budget um you

[1:34:04] know 20ome million dollars our the size of our budget in our organization you

[1:34:08] know is larger than the general government appropriation which includes

[1:34:12] police, fire, public works um and all the other town departments. Uh so

[1:34:19] in terms of where we are today and what the town manager has done, I mentioned

[1:34:23] that working group and I kind of mentioned their uh the the people on it

[1:34:27] and they were asked to basically let's look at what other people are doing.

[1:34:31] Let's look at the charter. Let's talk to legal counsel and let's understand um

[1:34:35] some of the pitfalls and some of the benefits of the way that we do things

[1:34:38] and let's make a recommendation. So that group um did issue a recommendation and

[1:34:43] this is what it was. It was a suggestion to ask town meeting to um vote to

[1:34:51] solidify a new governance structure and and what they would be doing is asking

[1:34:55] the legislature to adopt uh special legislation that would solidify the

[1:35:00] method of appointment of the light board and then allowing the lightboard to have

[1:35:04] the full statuto responsibility in chapter 164. And the recommendation was

[1:35:09] a five member board that's majority elected with the other two members being

[1:35:14] appointed by the town manager. Um if that passes town meeting then it would

[1:35:20] go through the special legislation process which can take a year or two

[1:35:23] depending on the legislature and then once certified then there would be at

[1:35:27] the next town election the three lightboard members would be on the

[1:35:31] docket to be elected. Um I'll pause here.

[1:35:36] Chris. >> Yeah. Yeah. I'm wondering, we have a lot

[1:35:40] of overlap between the light board and the town now and all kinds of things,

[1:35:43] you know, just for example, the uh stormwater charges are on our bills and

[1:35:50] uh so does this change any of those kinds of relationships?

[1:35:54] um the light plant incurs a lot of um you know uh services on behalf of the

[1:36:01] town or from the town and and pays for them and I think that all of that is

[1:36:05] completely permissible and something you see in all other municipal light plants

[1:36:09] where uh any indirect costs borne by the utility are paid by the utility and any

[1:36:14] support that the utility gives to other town departments is also compensated in

[1:36:18] in reverse. So um today we bill the public works departments for the

[1:36:22] services that we offer and I would think that this would have no impact on that.

[1:36:27] Um as Dean mentioned in a previous meeting about the billprint there are

[1:36:30] conversations for other reasons entirely which is really just more um questions

[1:36:35] about cost and complexity as well as um maybe some of the systems that are in

[1:36:41] place with the different fiscal years and the financial obligations for

[1:36:44] reporting. questions of what, you know, whether it makes sense to continue a

[1:36:47] consolidated utility bill. But there would be no concern with, you know,

[1:36:52] light plants that are operating more independent from the town having um

[1:36:56] shared resources and shared interest. That will always be the case. We will

[1:37:00] always be owned by the town. We will always be considered a municipal

[1:37:03] department, right? We are a department of the town. We just operate different

[1:37:06] from every other department because of the statute.

[1:37:12] Um so in terms of that governance structure and what it specifically looks

[1:37:17] like um this is an illustration that we put together. So on the left hand side

[1:37:21] you can see the different levels of responsibility. You've got the citizens

[1:37:24] who elect a select board. The select board hires or appoints a town manager.

[1:37:29] And today that town manager is appointing both the light board as well

[1:37:33] as the director of the utility. That's me today. Under the proposed governance

[1:37:38] structure, the citizens would elect the select board who would appoint the town

[1:37:42] manager. The citizen would also elect three of the five lightboard members and

[1:37:47] then the other two lightboard members would be appointed by the town manager.

[1:37:51] And um then that combined lightboard, all five members would appoint a general

[1:37:56] manager. And the general manager and the lightboard in terms of what their

[1:38:00] responsibilities would be, it's exactly what the statute says. They have the

[1:38:03] authority to run the plant. The general manager has the authority to hire agents

[1:38:07] and staff and um you know the board sets rates that many of the responsibilities

[1:38:12] that the board has today are the responsibilities that the board would

[1:38:15] have. You have to file a DPU return. You have to vote rates. Um you have to vote

[1:38:20] a forecast. Uh you know those types of responsibilities those are inherent in a

[1:38:24] lightboard and that's what happens in every other community. The difference

[1:38:29] here is that there's some direct representation on the lightboard from

[1:38:32] the rateayers and the citizens of the town.

[1:38:36] So the question is, you know, well, why a blended board? There's only a small

[1:38:40] handful of other blended boards out there. Um, is this a unique structure?

[1:38:45] Um, we argue that, you know, the vast majority have elected um or elected a

[1:38:50] majority elected light boards and so we would be moving into the majority. Um,

[1:38:56] and I think that one of the important things that the working group uh had for

[1:39:01] its recommendations was that whatever we do should be in line with the statute.

[1:39:05] So even though they could recommend a fully appointed board and the town could

[1:39:08] certainly vote on that, they felt like there was definitely a trend and and a

[1:39:13] and a path that other light plants and light boards have been going through

[1:39:17] toward more direct representation. And the law says a three or five member

[1:39:21] elected board and this would be three elected members as well as two

[1:39:25] appointed. And then the reason for that split and the appointment at all is that

[1:39:31] being an elected position there's not any requirement on somebody's expertise

[1:39:36] in the utility field or financial expertise uh which are all really

[1:39:40] important members for a high functioning lightboard. And so the thought process

[1:39:44] there was that the town manager with those two appointments could help ensure

[1:39:48] that there is some utility or financial engineering expertise on the lightboard

[1:39:54] um to to you know be kind of some technical resources for for people who

[1:39:58] may be elected um onto the board and and the elected members may have all those

[1:40:03] qualifications as well. There just is less of a guarantee. Um

[1:40:07] » and then I just have one more slide uh yeah one more slide and then the

[1:40:11] questions. So in terms of like what the process is

[1:40:17] um the goal here is having these discussions, ensuring that the public um

[1:40:24] know what what the need for this change is. Um offering things like recorded

[1:40:28] interviews or explanations and workshops to talk about the governance structure.

[1:40:33] uh working with council to draft a warrant article and then you know

[1:40:38] bringing it up at the hearing through the hearing process and then a town

[1:40:41] meeting vote and again the town meeting vote does not make an instant change.

[1:40:45] The change happens once the legislature adopts what town meeting has asked it to

[1:40:50] do and then a town meeting or a town election cycle happens. uh the board

[1:40:54] would be elected all three members at once but in staggered terms so that in

[1:40:58] the future you would have each year a different member would be coming off the

[1:41:02] board. Um and so some of the key questions that we'd like to ask in

[1:41:06] addition to answering questions the board might have about this process or

[1:41:09] about the governance structure in general is you know additional guidance

[1:41:14] about outreach. You know Dean had a good suggestion about using things like bill

[1:41:17] inserts or um online messages you know news and notices podcasts. We've had

[1:41:23] ideas like this, but if if anybody has ideas, and they it doesn't have to be at

[1:41:27] this moment. You can always email staff, but you know, what kind of additional

[1:41:30] outreach, this is a complicated topic that um gets deep into the weeds of, you

[1:41:36] know, competing uh legal documents and um and does require a bit of a a deeper

[1:41:42] understanding before maybe some people can form an opinion. So, how do we get

[1:41:46] to a lot of people with this topic? uh you know are there certain

[1:41:50] vulnerabilities in the current current governance structure that you feel like

[1:41:54] really deserve to be highlighted as we talk about this? Um and then you know

[1:41:58] what are some of the concerns that you think people might have um if we propose

[1:42:04] a governance structure change like this? And so those are kind of the questions

[1:42:08] that I had and um you know maybe John we can have a brief discussion.

[1:42:15] » Yeah. Any any board members uh want to weigh in here or have additional

[1:42:19] questions they would like to to propose?

[1:42:26] » I was thinking a little bit about um you know kind of the best way to communicate

[1:42:32] the the material this this topic um to the public because I think that is

[1:42:39] important. Um, and you had the chart slide, which I think is great. Like

[1:42:46] people always like visuals. Um, I would I would say maybe on the current part of

[1:42:53] it, um, you might want to add the general manager, basically indicating

[1:42:59] that the town manager is the general manager. So having that word

[1:43:04] um or or that label town man or general manager

[1:43:09] kind of highlights the the potential conflict.

[1:43:15] Um but I I would say like just kind of listening to everything that you talked

[1:43:21] through um there would be a need to have like a

[1:43:27] really concise sort of highlevel these are the these are the like big

[1:43:33] reasons why we're proposing this change. um you know, consistency, alignment with

[1:43:39] the Massachusetts general law, um and you know, the ability to separate the

[1:43:48] you know, the roles town of town manager and general manager of the light plant,

[1:43:53] things like that. Um to kind of start the conversation and then people who

[1:43:58] want to get into the weeds, there's there's a lot of great content um you

[1:44:04] know that you have here. Yeah, that's a great suggestion. Thank you.

[1:44:09] » Any other questions or comments?

[1:44:14] I guess one I would offer would be um what's our role and responsibility in

[1:44:20] terms of moving this forward versus the select board or town managers?

[1:44:26] » Yeah, I know that the you know the select board can put more articles on. I

[1:44:31] know um you know there at the last select board meeting when this was

[1:44:36] discussed there was conversation and um comments made by Wendy Rall who's the

[1:44:42] chair of the select board right now and who is a former lightboard member as

[1:44:46] well who understands the the light plant light board a lot and um you know I

[1:44:51] think the select board would be the one advancing the article but I think that

[1:44:56] people would be probably pretty interested in the lightboard's

[1:44:59] perspective since they um work more closely with the light plant and staff

[1:45:03] and um so yeah I I it's a good question you know and and also as we seek to do

[1:45:09] outreach like how does that um how how can we leverage some of the layboard

[1:45:15] expertise and having some of those conversations that's a good question I

[1:45:20] know Warren being more involved in the in that working group I mean maybe he

[1:45:24] has a perspective and you know Warren you could certainly join me on Zoom for

[1:45:29] some of the meetings or podcasts, you know, we might have with outreach for

[1:45:33] people or or others if if time allows. >> Yeah, I'd be happy to do that. But I

[1:45:39] also think this is a case where the role of the select board and endorsing this

[1:45:46] is going to be crucial because it can't be perceived as an effort by the light

[1:45:53] board to um execute a queue taking away authority from the town manager. Right.

[1:46:01] It's a good point.

[1:46:05] » In terms of outreach, I think a variety of of different kind of modes is always

[1:46:11] a good idea, but um I I'm a proponent of the bridge. I feel like

[1:46:16] » that's a good way for kind of a wide, you know, cast of people to to read

[1:46:23] about the the topic. um in-person workshops and things like that are

[1:46:29] great, but you know would probably be attended by a very small minority.

[1:46:35] » Yeah. And the bridge did do a great article after the select board meeting

[1:46:38] um a few weeks ago and um you know their continued coverage on topics does really

[1:46:43] help inform the public especially since it goes to every home um and business

[1:46:48] here in conquered. So that I agree that is a great way to get the word out and I

[1:46:52] think um it'd be interesting to see how much appetite there is for continued

[1:46:57] discussions on this topic because I think that uh people may just decide ah

[1:47:02] I don't not really I don't have a horse in this race you know I doesn't seem

[1:47:05] interesting to me or or they're already insiders and they've already heard these

[1:47:09] presentations now multiple times you know so like um that's that's what

[1:47:15] that's where your ex your information and perspective is really helpful for us

[1:47:19] because you, you know, have neighbors and friends and family members who all

[1:47:23] live in town and can kind of see through their lens much better than than we as

[1:47:27] staff can because we're living this every day.

[1:47:32] Yeah, I agree with um that about the bridge and I also agree with what Nicole

[1:47:38] was saying before that it's crucial that we have boiled down this issue to like

[1:47:46] one slide that we could present and present over

[1:47:50] and over again. This is why this is an issue. This is why we have to do

[1:47:56] something and here's what we're proposing to do and got to fit it on one

[1:48:00] slide.

[1:48:04] » Chris, >> I I got to ask here. So, we're going to

[1:48:07] end up asking the legislature to endorse some scheme. Why don't we just ask him

[1:48:12] to endorse what we do now? >> Um, right. So, there's two basic

[1:48:18] options. one is we can just simply accept the provisions of chapter 164 and

[1:48:25] be done with it. Um or we can do something different. And if we're going

[1:48:29] to do something different, we can do what we do now or we can do something

[1:48:33] more similar to what the statute says already. And I think the um as I pointed

[1:48:39] out on that one slide, I think there was a goal to say that if we're going to go

[1:48:42] ask the town, we're going to go ask the legislature to do something, it should

[1:48:46] be rooted in the statute and what the legislature did when they created this

[1:48:51] legislation for light plants to exist in the first place and that a departure um

[1:48:56] is harder to justify than something that's in line with the law and what the

[1:49:01] vast majority of other light plants are doing. So that that was the motivation

[1:49:05] of the group and I don't know Warren if you have any other thoughts on that.

[1:49:09] » Yeah I think that's the case. Well, there are really two issues, you know.

[1:49:14] One is how is the light board selected? The other is the issue of who's the

[1:49:19] general manager and um and who appoints the general

[1:49:24] manager. And I think

[1:49:31] moving more in the direction of what the legislation says in both of those makes

[1:49:37] good sense. And if we ask the legislature, can you endorse something

[1:49:43] that we've been doing, but really doesn't match

[1:49:47] what the legislation says? You run the risk of the legislature just turning

[1:49:52] around and saying, "No, we're not going to do that."

[1:50:01] » Uh, just looking at the time, any other questions or comments? And uh you know

[1:50:05] I'd like to thank Warren and and Jason for kind of their work here. I feel like

[1:50:10] what they've come up with is in the broader group is a real workable

[1:50:14] solution that kind of uh would serve conquered well.

[1:50:19] Any other comments, questions?

[1:50:23] Um I guess right now uh open it up for liaison and public comment.

[1:50:31] Um, since I'm the liaison, I'll I'll go first and then you can take public

[1:50:35] comment. Um, I just want to thank Jason and Warren for all the work they've done

[1:50:40] to sort of bring that whole thing forward. Um, that that was a year in the

[1:50:45] making and uh and it's a long hall to get it over the line at at town meeting.

[1:50:50] So, um, you know, we've got we've got work to do to get the public to at least

[1:50:55] understand what the complexities of that are. Uh Warren's comment about trying to

[1:51:00] get it on one slide is germaine because when you end up in front of town

[1:51:04] meeting, you're not going to get more than five minutes to uh make your case.

[1:51:09] Uh so it's got to be pretty crisp. Um and and uh we'll need to we'll need to

[1:51:15] hone that over time if we want to make this fly. So thanks for all of that. Um

[1:51:20] I do want to comment one one comment on on the CMS solar. I uh I made some

[1:51:24] comments as we were setting our select board goals. Um, I made some comments at

[1:51:29] the uh, select board meeting that were somewhat pessimistic about this and

[1:51:33] Jason has kind of started to turn my view a little more optimistic that we

[1:51:38] can get this over the line this year. Um, I I was lobbying at the select board

[1:51:43] level that maybe we just take it off our goals because it seems so remote at this

[1:51:48] point, but it's sounding a little more uh, optimistic. So, so thank you for uh,

[1:51:54] you bringing me around, Jason, on that. Uh I'm I'm still I'm still concerned

[1:52:00] that that you know we got to have one shot at this point which is the

[1:52:03] September 23rd meeting of the school committee uh to get this done. Um so

[1:52:09] that's that's an important date on the calendar now for the CMS solar project.

[1:52:13] And that that's that's my uh that's my comment from the liaison perspective for

[1:52:17] now and thank you. >> Thank you Dan.

[1:52:21] Not seeing other any other liaison. Um here Pamela Dre.

[1:52:29] Pamela, do you come off mute and offer your question or comment?

[1:52:35] » Yes, please. Uh let me find my notes. Come back. Uh

[1:52:44] » and if you if you can recognize that we are fast approaching our 9:30 uh

[1:52:49] scheduled uh closing of the meeting. >> Um

[1:52:56] where'd they go? Well,

[1:53:02] the the danger of I I haven't found them. I'll off the cuff. I'm sorry. I

[1:53:08] apologize. The the danger of

[1:53:14] a fully elected board is that we could elect someone who is a fiscal

[1:53:18] conservative cost cutter who doesn't who believes climate change is a hoax who

[1:53:24] could obstruct the board um in the interest of saving costs on the

[1:53:31] investments that we're paying for the entire community in the long term. Um

[1:53:38] I On the other hand,

[1:53:43] elections are always good because they involve the community and

[1:53:50] and

[1:53:54] when we're making

[1:54:01] when we're making the the uh

[1:54:07] the

[1:54:10] We need to the way we put our costs has to do more than just uh be a fair

[1:54:18] thing. It has to also incentivize the behavior that people we want people to

[1:54:24] do. I if we want we need to decarbonize our energy supply and people will not

[1:54:32] switch from gas or oil uh heating systems to heat pumps if it's going to

[1:54:40] be more expensive for them. You have to make it cheaper to do that. And if that

[1:54:47] means subsidizing the the people who use all electric uh heat pumps,

[1:54:56] then that's what we must do. make it more expensive to do the wrong thing by

[1:55:03] placing the the major uh uh payment on those people that are doing the wrong

[1:55:11] thing by sub by giving uh uh that's what incentives for battery and solar

[1:55:20] adoption is. >> Thank you. because we want to end at

[1:55:25] » the virtual power plant. >> Appreciate your comments there. Um Fran

[1:55:30] Cummings,

[1:55:33] » hi. Thanks uh for taking a comment. The I have a couple things. One is in

[1:55:38] general, I think you might anticipate uh town meetings saying, "Wait a minute,

[1:55:43] we're going to have less control over the light plant." um you know that that

[1:55:47] it it goes more to the uh people who elect the light plant compared with like

[1:55:52] town meeting working through the town manager affecting the the policies at

[1:55:57] the light plant. It sounds like it may be necessary and and a good proposal

[1:56:02] anyway, but I think that's a that might come up. I have a separate point small

[1:56:07] one about the rebate discussion. Um I think we should be looking for ways to

[1:56:12] encourage ground source seed pumps as much as possible going forward and try

[1:56:16] to you know highlight that in the in the analysis and uh discussion going forward

[1:56:22] as compared with the obvious need to continue supporting air source heat

[1:56:26] pumps. But we need to try to find a way of encouraging the mix to shift toward

[1:56:30] ground source for various reasons including keeping the light plant peaks

[1:56:34] and costs uh moderated. Thank you. Thank you, Fran.

[1:56:41] Um, any other comments from from the public?

[1:56:48] » Not seeing any. Um, can I have a motion to adjourn the meeting?

[1:56:52] » Move to adjurnn. >> I second.

[1:56:56] » Beat you to it. >> Nicole,

[1:57:00] » yes. >> Tyson,

[1:57:02] » yes. >> Warren,

[1:57:03] » yes. >> Chris,

[1:57:05] » yes. >> And I'm also Yes. Thank you all. With

[1:57:08] that, we'll adjourn the meeting. >> Thank you.

Concord Municipal Light Board Meeting - September 9, 2026

Transcript