MCE BOARD MEETING MINUTES
Thursday, August 18, 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
Eli Beckman, Town of Corte Madera
Tom Butt, City of Richmond
Barbara Coler, Town of Fairfax
Gina Dawson, City of Lafayette
David Fong, Town of Danville
Ford Greene, Town of San Anselmo
Maika Llorens Gulati, City of San Rafael
Kevin Haroff, City of Larkspur
C. William Kircher, Town of Ross
Aaron Meadows, City of Oakley
Katy Miessner, City of Vallejo
Teresa Onoda, Town of Moraga
Doris Panduro, City of Fairfield
Max Perrey, City of Mill Valley
Patricia Ponce, City of San Pablo
Gabriel Quinto, City of El Cerrito
Katie Rice, County of Marin
Matt Rinn, City of Pleasant Hill
Christine Strawbridge, City of Benicia
Holli Thier, Town of Tiburon
Brad Wagenknecht, County of Napa and All Five Napa Cities Sally Wilkinson, City of Belvedere
Brianne Zorn, City of Martinez
Absent: Edi Birsan, City of Concord
Cindy Darling, City of Walnut Creek
John Gioia, Contra Costa County
Janelle Kellman, City of Sausalito
Devin Murphy, City of Pinole
Scott Perkins, City of San Ramon
Shanelle Scales-Preston, City of Pittsburg
DocuSign Envelope ID: 0527405C-D686-4154-A22B-5E21A279547D John Vasquez, County of Solano
Staff
& Others: Jesica Brooks, Assistant Board Clerk
Michael Callahan, Associate General Counsel
Stephanie Chen, Senior Policy Counsel
Alice Havenar-Daughton, Director of Customer Programs
Darlene Jackson, Board Clerk
Vicken Kasarjian, Chief Operating Officer
David Potovsky, Principal Power Procurement Manager
Enyonam Senyo-Mensah, Office Manager
Daniel Settlemyer, Internal Operations Coordinator
Sabrinna Soldavini, Policy Analyst
Jamie Tuckey, Chief of Staff
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)
Comments were made by Directors: Haroff, Quinto, and Rice.
3. Public Open Time (Discussion)
Chair Butt opened the public comment period and there were no comments.
4. Resolution No. 2022-10 Authorizing Continued Remote Teleconference Meetings for the Board of Directors and Every Committee of the Board of Directors Pursuant to Government Code 54953(e) (Discussion/Action) Chair Butt opened the public comment period and there were no comments.
Action: It was M/S/C (Greene/Thier) to adopt proposed Resolution No. 2022-10 Authorizing Continued Remote Teleconference Meetings for the Board of Directors and Every Committee of the Board of Directors Pursuant to Government Code 54953(e). Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote. (Absent: Directors, Birsan, Darling, Gioia, Kellman, Meadows, Murphy, Perkins, Scales-Preston, Vasquez, and Wagenknecht).
DocuSign Envelope ID: 0527405C-D686-4154-A22B-5E21A279547D
5. Report from Chief Executive Officer (Discussion)
CEO, Dawn Weisz, reported the following:
Welcomed MCE’s two new board members, Max Perrey, from the City of Mill Valley, and Eli Beckman (former MCE Alternate) from the Town of Corte Madera. Directors Perrey and Beckman were sworn in just prior to the board meeting.
Shared the bittersweet news that Shalini Swaroop, departed MCE in early August. Catalina Murphy and Mike Callahan have taken on General Counsel functions. Shalini will be continuing her education with courses at Stanford's business school, volunteering with non-profits, and campaigning for candidates in the upcoming mid-term elections.
MCE has distributed Portable Batteries to Medically Vulnerable Residents for the summer season. More information is on our website, and if you are aware of customers in need, please let us know.
MCE will be pausing membership in the Community Choice Power Authority because we have not had a need to participate in joint procurement efforts to-date, and we have been successful in contracting directly on our own. However, this pause is likely to be temporary, and we expect to rejoin in the future subject to market and technology needs.
MCE is beginning to develop some structural elements in the Virtual Power Plant, and we would like to set up an informal working group with a few interested Board members. This working group cannot contain a quorum of the Board or any Board Committee, but otherwise, is open to any Board member. If you are interested, please let me, Darlene or Jesica know.
MCE is signing a 4-year contract for 110 MW of Resource Adequacy.
Governor Newsom announced a proposal to transition California to clean energy along with other climate change measures.
Yesterday, he signed an Executive Order to combat the biodiversity and climate change crises in California using nature-based solutions.
The MCE Board retreat will be virtual again this year, and is set for Thursday, September 29th 9am-3pm.
6. Consent Calendar (Discussion/Action)
C.1 Approval of 7.21.22 Meeting Minutes
DocuSign Envelope ID: 0527405C-D686-4154-A22B-5E21A279547D C.2 Approved Contracts For Energy Update
C.3 2021 Power Source Disclosure
Chair Butt opened the public comment period and there were no comments.
7. Proposal to Default New Accounts to Deep Green Service (Discussion/Action)
Jamie Tuckey, Chief of Staff, introduced this item and addressed questions from Board members.
Chair Butt opened the public comment period and comments were made by member of the public Howdy Goudey.
Action: It was M/S/C (Thier/Haroff) to:
1. Authorize staff to implement the Proposal, as defined herein, by defaulting New Accounts to Deep Green service as long as the incremental procurement targets can be achieved, and financial parameters are met; and
2. Direct staff to bring flexible procurement options for Deep Green to the Board if needed for evaluation at a future meeting.
Motion carried by roll call vote. (Yea: 19, Nay: 4 Directors, Wilkinson, Fong, Greene and Meadows; Absent: Directors, Birsan, Darling, Gioia, Gulati, Kellman, Murphy, Perkins, Scales-Preston, and Vasquez).
8. Public Affairs Update (Discussion)
Jamie Tucky, Chief of Staff, introduced this item and addressed questions from Board members.
Chair Butt opened the public comment period and there were no comments.
Action: No action required.
9. Programs Update (Discussion)
Action: It was M/S/C (Greene/Thier) to approve Consent Calendar items C.1 through C.3. Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote. (Absent:
Directors, Birsan, Darling, Gioia, Gulati, Kircher, Mongan, Scales-Preston, and Thier).
DocuSign Envelope ID: 0527405C-D686-4154-A22B-5E21A279547D Alice Havenar-Daughton, Director of Customer Programs, introduced this item and addressed questions from Board members.
Chair Butt opened the public comment period and there were no comments.
Action: No action required.
10.Policy Update (Discussion)
Michael Callahan, Associate General Counsel, Stephanie Chen, Senior Policy Counsel, and Sabrinna Soldavini, Policy Analyst introduced this 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 no comments.
12.Adjournment
Chair Butt adjourned the meeting at 10:00 p.m. to the next scheduled Board Meeting on September 15, 2022.
___________________________________________
Tom Butt, Chair
Attest:
___________________________________________
Dawn Weisz, Secretary
DocuSign Envelope ID: 0527405C-D686-4154-A22B-5E21A279547D