The Board meets on the first and third Monday of each month. Meetings begin at 1:00 p.m. and are held in the department conference room at 65 Lafayette Ave, Littleton. Board meetings are open to the public and time is allotted for public comments at each meeting.
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The regularly scheduled business meeting of the Littleton Water and Light (LWL) Board of Commissioners (BOC) began at 1:00 p.m. on Monday,
March 17, 2025 in the LWL conference room and conference call. Present were Commissioner Peter Cooper (conference call), Commissioner Ralph Ross, Commissioner Linda MacNeil, CEO Lori Hogan, Operations Manager Justen Elliott and Chief Water Operator Kevin Sorrell.
Public in attendance - none
MINUTES REVIEW:
The minutes of the March 3, 2025 regularly scheduled Commissioners meeting were reviewed. Commissioner Ross made a motion to accept the minutes as presented, seconded by Commissioner Cooper.
The vote was in favor of the motion 3-0-0
CUSTOMER & PUBLIC CONCERNS:
None
OPERATIONS MANAGER:
Mr. Elliott discussed the busy weekend with wind-related outages. Additionally, there has been OT related to MJ Electric, but these callouts will be billed directly.
The new digger truck arrived, and we received a quote of $20,000 to paint the truck. There was a lot of discussion with regards to the color of the truck and the cost. Mr. Elliott mentioned that the truck will have the logo installed and that it was recommended to add a 4-6’ stripe of safety green down each side of the truck. This will provide reflective safety and coordinate it with the fleet at a reasonable cost. Additionally, the digger never goes out unaccompanied, so there will always be other LWL vehicles with the digger. Everyone agreed that this was a good compromise. We’ll use the savings to outfit the truck for about $2,000 - $4,000.
Truck 808, the old digger, has been listed for sale as a sealed bid with a 6-week timeline. We’ve already received 2 bids.
CEO & TREASURER
Mrs. Hogan has received final approval for the $1.2m loan and 71% forgiveness from DES. We were also advised that LWL was awarded a $60,000 grant from DES to complete the identification phase of the LCRR program. This was awarded due to our prompt submission and approval for the program.
Mrs. Hogan distributed a revised Capital Improvement Plan for 2025. Replacement of the copier has been added in the amount of $25,000 and the radio has been changed to $30,000. The water department removed the replacement of the galvanized water main on upper Brook & Reardon and added 1st of the 3 phases of Meadow Street from Staples to Irving Propane. The goal is to abandon the old line on the right side and move all connections to the new line on the left side of the road. The reason for the change is due to 2 new leaks in this area, the project would commence in late April 2025. For the electric department we removed the battery storage and confirm that Lafayette Substation project will only be able to pay for steal $110,000 and materials quoted at $335,000 with 20–52-week lead time. Mr. Ross asked when we anticipate being able to complete the project and Mrs. Hogan anticipates it may be in 2027 due to the additional funding needed.
Mr. Sorrell discussed the aspects of Meadow Street and our estimate of $85,000. Still working on a quote for directional boring, hopefully estimate will not change. Mr. Sorrell discussed the timing of spring projects:
April – Meadow Street
May – Potholing
June – Utility LCRR Replacements
Aug – Bethlehem Hollow transmission line repair/replacement
Mrs. Hogan discussed DES compliance, the certification for GRR sampling has been timely submitted, and the water quality report is at the printers and will be included in the April billing.
We are developing 3 contractors who will be prequalified for GRR service line replacement. All contractors must comply with the Federal guidelines of Davis-Bacon Prevailing Wage and the BABA rules for US material. Customers will be able to select which contractor they prefer.
Mrs. Hogan provided an update on the AMI / Tantalus pilot project. The pilot is ongoing and needs some additional testing.
Kearsage Energy has changed the solar array project from 3MW to 2.6MW due to inconsistent terrain at the old landfill. The application with National Grid is being updated for this change. Kearsage has requested a copy of the impact study that was performed for this project. Commissioner Cooper made a motion to provide a copy to Kearsage, seconded by Commissioner Ross.
The vote was in favor of the motion 3-0-0.
Mrs. Hogan provided a reconciliation of the audited financial results of Littleton Water & Light for 2024. The original budget anticipated a transfer to net receipts to the reserves in the amount of $1,076,933. The actual net receipts that can be transferred to the reserves are $1,738,516. Mrs. Hogan recommends a transfer of $164,731 to water reserves, $973,786 to electric reserves and the remaining $600,000 to the electric rate stabilization reserve.
Commissioner Cooper made a motion to fund the reserves as outlined by Mrs. Hogan, seconded by Commissioner Ross.
The vote was in favor of the motion 3-0-0.
The transfers will be made by Mrs. Hogan in addition to transfers for capital spending during 2024. Commissioner Cooper will review and approve these transfers as a mitigating control as suggested by the auditors.
GENERAL/OTHER BUSINESS:
Mrs. MacNeil discussed communication and coordination between the water department and the fire department. Mr. Sorrell noted that with the new mission control equipment over the weekend the water staff received a high flow alarm due to the fire department training.
Mr. Sorrell contacted Chief Miller, and we were able to avoid a 3-hour call-out. Mrs. MacNeil recommended that the fire department training should be communicated with LWL.
A meeting with Daymark has been scheduled for Tuesday, March 18. Mr. Ross discussed the points to be covered at that meeting. We are aligned.
MEETING ADJOURNMENT:
There being no further business to come before the board Commissioner Ross made a motion to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Commissioner Cooper.
The vote was in favor of the motion 3-0-0.
The meeting was adjourned at 2:20 p.m.
The regularly scheduled Commissioner’s meeting is held twice monthly on the first and third Monday, at 1:00 p.m., in the Department’s conference room.