MCE BOARD MEETING MINUTES
Thursday, August 17, 2023
7:00 P.M.
Present: Eli Beckman, Town of Corte Madera
Kari Birdseye, City of Benicia
Barbara Coler, Town of Fairfax
Cindy Darling, City of Walnut Creek
Tarrell Kullaway, Alternate, Town of San Anselmo
David Fong, Town of Danville
Ryan Gregory, The County of Napa and Four Napa Cities
Maika Llorens Gulati, City of San Rafael
Kerry Hillis, Town of Moraga
Caroline Joaquim, Alternate, City of Mill Valley
Janelle Kellman, City of Sausalito
C. William Kircher, Town of Ross
Eduardo Martinez, City of Richmond
Aaron Meadows, City of Oakley
Devin Murphy, City of Pinole
Laura Nakamura, Alternate, City of Concord
Beth Painter, City of Napa
Scott Perkins, City of San Ramon
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
Holli Thier, Town of Tiburon
K. Patrice Williams, City of Fairfield
Brianne Zorn, City of Martinez
Absent: Gina Dawson, City of Lafayette
John Gioia, Contra Costa County
Gabe Paulson, City of Larkspur
Charles Palmares, City of Vallejo
John Vasquez, County of Solano
Susan Wernick, City of Novato
Sally Wilkinson, City of Belvedere
Staff
& Others: JB Ackemann, Vice President of Public Affairs Jesica Brooks, Board Clerk
Vidhi Chawla, Interim Vice President of Power Resources Stephanie Chen, Director of Legislative Affairs
DocuSign Envelope ID: F7A2059E-2ECE-4A85-9DBD-5923E2905466 John Dalessi, Consultant, Pacific Energy Advisors
Darlene Jackson, Lead Board Clerk
Vicken Kasarjian, COO
Caroline Lavenue, Legal Counsel
Tanya Lomas, Internal Operations Coordinator
Catalina Murphy, General Counsel
Ashley Muth, Internal Operations Coordinator
Zae Perrin, Director of Customer Operations
Garth Salisbury, Chief Financial Officer & Treasurer
Daniel Settlemyer, Internal Operations Coordinator
Jamie Tuckey, Chief of Staff
Dawn Weisz, CEO
1. Roll Call
Chair Scales-Preston called the regular meeting to order at 7:04 p.m. with quorum established by roll call.
2. Board Announcements (Discussion)
There were no comments.
3. Public Open Time (Discussion)
Chair Scales-Preston opened the public comment period and there were no comments.
4. Report from Chief Executive Officer (Discussion)
CEO Dawn Weisz introduced this item and addressed questions from Board members.
Chair Scales-Preston opened the public comment period and there were no comments.
5. Consent Calendar (Discussion/Action)
C.1 Approval of 6.15.23 Meeting Minutes
C.2 Approved Contracts for Energy Update
Chair Scales-Preston opened the public comment period and there were no comments.
Action: It was M/S/C (Rinn/Darling) to approve Consent Calendar items C.1 and C.2. Motion carried by roll call vote. (Abstained: Kullaway, Gulati, Joaquim, Perrey, Ponce, Thier, and Zorn). (Absent: Dawson, Gioia, Painter, Palmares, Paulson, Vasquez, Wernick, and Wilkinson).
DocuSign Envelope ID: F7A2059E-2ECE-4A85-9DBD-5923E2905466
6. Deep Green Update and Adjustment to Default (Discussion/Action) Vidhi Chawla, Interim Vice President of Power Resources and John Dalessi, Consultant, Pacific Energy Advisors, introduced this item and addressed questions from Board members.
Chair Scales-Preston opened the public comment period and there were no comments.
Action: It was M/S/C (Perkins/Coler) to:
1. Pause Deep Green auto enrollments and make Light Green the default service option at the end of the current billing cycle.
2. Direct Staff to explore a new service offering - 100% GHG-Free product that will match hourly customer load with supply. Motion carried by roll call vote. (Absent: Dawson, Gioia, Palmares, Paulson, Vasquez, Wernick, and Wilkinson).
7. Approval of Amendment to the MCE Operating Rules and Regulations (Discussion/Action)
Caroline Lavenue, Legal Counsel, introduced this item and addressed questions from Board members.
Chair Scales-Preston opened the public comment period and there were no comments.
Action: It was M/S/C (Murphy/Thier) to approve the Proposed Amendment to MCE Operating Rules and Regulations for final adoption.
Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote. (Absent: Dawson, Gioia, Palmares, Paulson, Vasquez, Wernick, and Wilkinson).
8. MCE Climate Action Leadership Award Nomination (Discussion/Action) Stephanie Chen, Director of Legislative Affairs, introduced this item and addressed questions from Board members.
Chair Scales-Preston opened the public comment period and there were no comments.
Action: It was M/S/C (Beckman/Thier) to approve staff’s recommendation to present 2023 Climate Action Leadership Award to Assemblymember Damon Connolly at the annual Board Retreat. Motion carried by roll call vote. (Abstained: Martinez and Kullaway). (Absent:
Dawson, Gioia, Palmares, Paulson, Vasquez, Wernick, and Wilkinson).
DocuSign Envelope ID: F7A2059E-2ECE-4A85-9DBD-5923E2905466
9. Resolution No. 2023-09 Accepting Congressionally Directed Spending Project from the Golden Gate Fields Office of the U.S. Department of Energy (Discussion/Action)
Catalina Murphy, General Counsel, introduced this item and addressed questions from Board members.
Chair Scales-Preston opened the public comment period and there were no comments.
Action: It was M/S/C (Rice/Quinto) to approve Proposed Resolution No. 2023-09 Accepting Congressionally Directed Spending Project from the Golden Fields Office of the U.S. Department of Energy. Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote. (Absent: Dawson, Gioia, Murphy, Palmares, Paulson, Vasquez, Wernick, and Wilkinson).
10.Proposed Fiscal Year 2022/23 Deposit to MCE’s Operating Reserve Fund (Discussion/Action)
Garth Salisbury, Chief Financial Officer & Treasurer, introduced this item and addressed questions from Board members.
Chair Scales-Preston opened the public comment period and there were no comments.
Action: It was M/S/C (Perkins/Darling) to approve a deferral of $15 million in Fiscal Year 2022/23 revenues into the Operating Reserve Fund.
Motion carried by unanimous roll call vote. (Absent: Dawson, Gioia, Murphy, Palmares, Paulson, Vasquez, Wernick, and Wilkinson).
11.Board Matters & Staff Matters (Discussion)
There were no comments.
12.Adjournment
Chair Scales-Preston adjourned the meeting at 8:49 p.m. to the next scheduled Board Meeting on September 21, 2023.
___________________________________________
Shanelle Scales-Preston, Chair
Attest:
___________________________________________
Dawn Weisz, Secretary
DocuSign Envelope ID: F7A2059E-2ECE-4A85-9DBD-5923E2905466