MCE BOARD MEETING MINUTES
Thursday, February 17, 2022
7:00 P.M.
This Meeting was conducted pursuant to the requirements of Assembly Bill No. 361 (September 16, 2021) which allows a public agency to use teleconferencing during a Governor-proclaimed state of emergency without meeting usual Ralph M. Brown Act teleconference requirements. Committee Members, staff and members of the public were able to participate in the Committee Meeting via teleconference.
Present: Denise Athas, City of Novato
Edi Birsan, City of Concord
Tom Butt, City of Richmond, Board Chair
Barbara Coler, Town of Fairfax
Cindy Darling, City of Walnut Creek
Gina Dawson, City of Lafayette
David Fong, Town of Danville
John Gioia, Contra Costa County
Ford Greene, Town of San Anselmo
Maika Llorens Gulati, City of San Rafael
Kevin Haroff, City of Larkspur
Teresa Onoda, Town of Moraga
Doriss Panduro, City of Fairfield
Aaron Meadows, City of Oakley
Katy Miessner, City of Vallejo
Leila Mongan, Town of Corte Madera
Devin Murphy, City of Pinole
Patricia Ponce, City of San Pablo
Gabriel Quinto, City of El Cerrito
Katie Rice, County of Marin
Matt Rinn, City of Pleasant Hill
Shanelle Scales-Preston, City of Pittsburg
Christina Strawbridge, City of Benicia
Holli Thier, Town of Tiburon
John Vasquez, County of Solano
Brad Wagenknecht, County of Napa
Sally Wilkinson, City of Belvedere and City of Mill Valley Brianne Zorn, City of Martinez
Absent: Janelle Kellman, City of Sausalito
C. William Kircher, Town of Ross
Scott Perkins, City of San Ramon
Staff
DocuSign Envelope ID: 5F5834A5-0DAF-4738-949D-C0371E4BF953 & Others: Sebastian Conn, Community Development Manager Darlene Jackson, Board Clerk
Alice Havenar-Daughton, Director of Customer Programs
Vicken Kasarjian, Chief Operating Officer
Evelyn Reyes, Administrative Services Assistant II
Garth Salisbury, Director of Finance and Treasurer
Daniel Settlemyer, Internal Operations Coordinator
Lindsay Saxby, Director of Power Resources
Dawn Weisz, Chief Executive Officer
1. Roll Call
Chair Butt called the regular meeting to order at 7:01 p.m. with quorum established by roll call.
2. Board Announcements (Discussion)
There were no announcements.
3. Public Open Time (Discussion)
Chair Butt opened the public comment period and there were no comments.
4. Report from Chief Executive Officer (Discussion)
CEO Dawn Weisz, reported the following:
The Pittsburg Unified School District has approved the installation of more than 3 MWh of batteries using MCE’s Energy Storage program and gap funds. The batteries will be installed in 10 different sites, and will be tied to solar power to provide great reliability during emergency outages, and help support a healthy grid in the evening on a regular basis.
The Technical Committee met in the first week of February to approve MCE’s largest battery-storage project so far, located in Kern County, which will provide enough power for an estimated 52,000 homes each year. The Golden Fields Solar project came out of MCE’s Open Season in 2021 and will generate 100 MW of solar energy with 75 MW lithium-ion battery. Feel free to share the press release with your constituents and other stakeholders as you see fit. On February 11 a notice was sent to your board letting you know that the CPUC approved PG&E’s requested rate increase along with a reduction in the PCIA. As your board directed, MCE will implement a 1.7 cent/kWh rate increase to cover increased power supply costs on March 1st. This will be entirely offset by a PCIA DocuSign Envelope ID: 5F5834A5-0DAF-4738-949D-C0371E4BF953 reduction of about 2.5 cent/kWh. When taken with PG&E’s large (3.5 cent/(kWh) increase to its generation rates, MCE service should be $13/mo less for the typical household, providing a total bill discount of 7% compared to PG&E.
It is time again to submit your Form 700s. If you have questions, please feel free to reach out to us.
On the CCA front: The City Council of Atascadero voted unanimously in favor of joining the Central Coast Community Energy Program (3CE). This makes Atascadero the last city in San Luis Obispo County to join 3CE.
5. Consent Calendar (Discussion/Action)
C.1 Approval of 12.16.21 Meeting Minutes
C.2 Approved Contracts for Energy Update
C.3 First Amendment to First Agreement with Evergreen Economics C.4 Resolution 2022-03 Authorizing Continued Remote Teleconference Meetings for the Board of Directors and Every Committee of the Board of Directors Pursuant to Government Code Section 54953(e) Chair Butt opened the public comment period and there were no comments.
6. McGlashan Award – Award Presentation (Discussion)
Director John Gioia presented the McGlashan Award to Contra Costa County Sustainable Contra Costa. The Award was accepted by Sharon Harichandran.
Chair Butt opened the public comment period and there were no comments.
Action: No action required.
7. Addition of Board Members to Committees (Discussion/Action).
CEO Dawn Weisz, presented the item and addressed questions from Board members.
Action: It was M/S/C (Greene/Gioia) to approve Consent Calendar items C.1 – C.4. Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote. (Absent: Directors Kellman, Kircher, and Perkins).
DocuSign Envelope ID: 5F5834A5-0DAF-4738-949D-C0371E4BF953 Chair Butt opened the public comment period and there were no comments.
Action1: It was M/S/C (Coler/Wagenknecht) to establish a 2022 Ad Hoc Audit Committee and a 2022 Ad Hoc Contracts Committee. The following Directors volunteered for the Ad Hoc Audit Committee: Cindy Darling, Kevin Haroff and Katie Rice. The following Directors volunteered for the 2022 Ad Hoc Contracts Committee: Barbara Coler, Ford Greene, Kevin Haroff, Doriss Panduro and Holli Thier.
Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote. (Absent: Directors Kellman, Kircher, and Perkins).
Action 2: It was M/S/C (Llorens-Gulati/Quinto) to approve the addition of Director Holli Thier to the Executive Committee.
Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote. (Absent: Directors Kellman, Kircher, and Perkins).
8. Confirmation Agreement for Bundled Renewable Energy Between Redwood Coast Energy Authority and Marin Clean Energy to Purchase Portfolio Content Category One Energy (Discussion/Action) COO Vicken Kasarjian, presented the item and addressed questions from Board members.
Chair Butt opened the public comment period and there were no comments.
Action: It was M/S/C (Greene/Quinto) to approve the Confirmation Agreement for Bundled Renewable Energy Between Redwood Coast Energy Authority and Marin Clean Energy to Purchase Portfolio Content Category One Energy.
Motion carried by roll call vote. (Abstain: Kellman; Absent: Directors Kircher and Perkins).
9. Debt Management Policy and Master Bond Indenture (Discussion/Action) Garth Salisbury, Director of Finance and Treasurer, presented this item and addressed questions from Board members.
Chair Butt opened the public comment period and there were no comments.
Action: It was M/S/C (Darling/Wagenknecht) to adopt Policy 017 - Debt Management Policy and form of Master Bond Indenture.
Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote. (Absent: Directors Kircher and Perkins).
DocuSign Envelope ID: 5F5834A5-0DAF-4738-949D-C0371E4BF953
10.Customer Programs Update (Discussion)
Director of Customer Programs, Alice Havenar-Daughton presented the item and addressed questions from Board members.
Chair Butt opened the public comment period and there were no comments.
Action: No action required.
11.Board Matters & Staff Matters (Discussion)
There were none.
12.Adjournment
Chair Butt adjourned the meeting at 8:36 p.m. to the next scheduled Board Meeting on March 17, 2022.
___________________________________________
Tom Butt, Chair
Attest:
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Dawn Weisz, Secretary
DocuSign Envelope ID: 5F5834A5-0DAF-4738-949D-C0371E4BF953