MCE BOARD MEETING MINUTES
Thursday, November 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: Edi Birsan, City of Concord
Tom Butt, City of Richmond, Chair
Barbara Coler, Town of Fairfax
Cindy Darling, City of Walnut Creek
Gina Dawson, City of Lafayette
David Fong, Town of Danville
Ford Greene, Town of San Anselmo
Kevin Haroff, City of Larkspur
Janelle Kellman, City of Sausalito
C. William Kircher, Town of Ross
Aaron Meadows, City of Oakley
Katy Miessner, City of Vallejo
Devin Murphy, City of Pinole
Teresa Onoda, Town of Moraga
Doriss Panduro, City of Fairfield
Scott Perkins, City of San Ramon
Max Perrey, City of Mill Valley
Patricia Ponce, City of San Pablo
Gabriel Quinto, City of El Cerrito
Matt Rinn, City of Pleasant Hill
Shanelle Scales-Preston, City of Pittsburg
Holli Thier, Town of Tiburon
Brad Wagenknecht, County of Napa and All Five Napa Cities Brianne Zorn, City of Martinez
Absent: Denise Athas, City of Novato
Eli Beckman, Town of Corte Madera
John Gioia, Contra Costa County
Maika Llorens Gulati, City of San Rafael
Katie Rice, County of Marin
Christina Strawbridge, City of Benicia
John Vasquez, County of Solano
DocuSign Envelope ID: CEFEE515-A96B-4B63-81AE-C3BAB4AA1769 Sally Wilkinson, City of Belvedere
Staff
& Others: Jesica Brooks, Assistant Board Clerk
Sebastian Conn, Community Development Manager
Vicken Kasarjian, Chief Operating Officer
Justin Kudo, Senior Strategic Analysis and Rates Manager Catalina Murphy, Associate General Counsel
David Potovsky, Principal Power Procurement Manager
Evelyn Reyes, Internal Operations Coordinator
Garth Salisbury, Chief Financial Officer & Treasurer
Daniel Settlemeyer, Internal Operations Coordinator
Jamie Tuckey, Chief of Staff
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 comments.
3. Public Open Time (Discussion)
Chair Butt opened the public comment period and there were no comments.
4. Resolution No. 2022-13 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)
(Discussion/Action)
Chair Butt opened the public comment period and there were no comments.
Action: It was M/S/C (Quinto/Birsan) adopt proposed Resolution No. 2022-09 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). Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote. (Absent: Directors: Athas, Beckman, Gioia, Gulati, Rice, Strawbridge, Vasquez, Wilkinson).
5. Report from Chief Executive Officer (Discussion)
DocuSign Envelope ID: CEFEE515-A96B-4B63-81AE-C3BAB4AA1769 COO Vicken Kasarjian, reported the following:
MCE has received “Climate Bond” certification for the prepayment transaction we completed in 2021. That means our transaction is officially designated a “Green Bond” and is “Climate Certified”. This is the official designation that renders the bonds eligible for ongoing investment by “green” investment funds and other investor groups and categories that only make investments in companies and entities that are fighting climate change.
The Cost of Living Adjustment for the new year has been released and it came in at 6%. MCE calculates COLA using the US Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI index for the San Francisco Bay Area and is either October’s 12-month CPI percent change (6%) or the average of January – April – July – October, (5.74%) whichever is higher. Save the Date for a Virtual Holiday party set for the evening of December 9th starting at 6:30 pm.
Introduced JB Ackemann, MCE’s new Director of Public Affairs. She joined us in October and comes to us with deep experience in the public sector and more than twenty years in communications.
Before joining MCE, JB led Communications, Marketing, Research, Government Relations, and Community Outreach teams for San Jose Water, Santa Cruz Metro, Caltrain, the San Mateo County Transit District, and Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority. JB also serves in an elected role as Vice President of the San Lorenzo Valley Water District Board of Directors and as a member of the Santa Margarita Groundwater Agency Board of Directors in North Santa Cruz County. We’re very happy to have her join us and I know she looks forward to engaging with your Board and
communities as well.
We plan to hold our regularly scheduled board meeting on December 15th.
6. Consent Calendar (Discussion/Action)
C.1 Approval of 10.20.22 Meeting Minutes
C.2 Approved Contracts For Energy Update
C.3 Extension of Existing Revolving Credit Facility Agreement with JPMorgan
Chase Bank
Chair Butt opened the public comment period and there were no comments.
DocuSign Envelope ID: CEFEE515-A96B-4B63-81AE-C3BAB4AA1769
7. Electrification Reach Code Adoption Model (Discussion) Sebastian Conn, Community Development Manager introduced this item, and guest, Brian Reyes, Sustainability Planner with County of Marin presented this item and addressed questions from Board members.
Chair Butt opened the public comment period and there were no comments.
Action: No action required.
8. Proposed MCE Rate Adjustment Effective January 1st, 2023 (Discussion/Action)
Garth Salisbury, Chief Financial Officer & Treasurer, and Justin Kudo, Senior Strategic Analysis and Rates Manager, introduced 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 (Haroff/Perrey) that the Board of Directors introduce a proposed increase to system average rates of $0.04/kWh, for final approval at the next meeting of the Board of Directors, to take effect on January 1, 2023. Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote. (Absent:
Athas, Beckman, Birsan, Gioia, Gulati, Rice, Strawbridge, Vasquez, Wilkinson).
9. Resolution 2022-14 Amending MCE’s Conflict of Interest Code (Discussion/Action)
Catalina Murphy, Associate General Counsel introduced 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 (Greene/Perkins) to approve Consent Calendar items C.1, C.2 and C.3. Motion carried by roll call vote. (Absent: Directors:
Athas, Beckman, Gioia, Gulati, Rice, Strawbridge, Vasquez, Wilkinson).
DocuSign Envelope ID: CEFEE515-A96B-4B63-81AE-C3BAB4AA1769 Action: It was M/S/C (Darling/Panduro) to adopt Resolution 2022-14 Amending MCE’s Conflict of Interest Code. Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote. (Absent: Athas, Beckman, Birsan, Gioia, Gulati, Rice, Strawbridge, Vasquez, Wilkinson).
10.Power Purchase Agreement with Humboldt House Geothermal LLC (Discussion/Action)
David Potovsky, Principal Power Procurement Manager introduced 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 (Coler/Quinto) authorize execution of the Power Purchase Agreement with Humboldt House LLC for supply of bundled renewable energy and resource adequacy. Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote. (Absent: Athas, Beckman, Birsan, Gioia, Gulati, Rice, Strawbridge, Vasquez, Wilkinson).
11.Board Matters & Staff Matters (Discussion)
There were comments made by Directors: Butt, Greene, Miessner, Coler, Murphy, Perkins, Quinto, Haroff, Thier, Scales-Preston, and Wagenknecht.
12.Adjournment
Chair Butt adjourned the meeting at 8:56 p.m. to the next scheduled Board Meeting on December 15, 2022.
___________________________________________
Tom Butt, Chair
Attest:
___________________________________________
Dawn Weisz, Secretary
DocuSign Envelope ID: CEFEE515-A96B-4B63-81AE-C3BAB4AA1769