MCE BOARD MEETING MINUTES
Thursday, March 20, 2025
6:30 P.M.
Present: Liz Alessio, The County of Napa and Four Napa Cities/Town (American Canyon, Calistoga, St. Helena, and Yountville) Stephanie Andre, City of Larkspur
Mark Belotz, Town of Danville
Monica Brown, County of Solano
Barbara Coler, Town of Fairfax
Cindy Darling, City of Walnut Creek
Gina Dawson, City of Lafayette
Kevin Jacobs, City of Novato
Arlene Kobata, City of Pittsburg
Tarrell Kullaway, Town of San Anselmo
Maika Llorens Gulati, City of San Rafael
Trevor Macenski, Alternate, City of Benicia
Aaron Meadows, City of Oakley
Devin Murphy, City of Pinole
Laura Nakamura, City of Concord
Beth Painter, City of Napa
Elizabeth Pabon-Alvarado, City of San Pablo
Charles Palmares, City of Vallejo
Max Perrey, City of Mill Valley
Gabriel Quinto, City of El Cerrito
Mary Sackett, County of Marin
Mathew Salter, Town of Ross
Manveer Sandhu, City of Fairfield
Holli Thier, Town of Tiburon
Sridhar Verose, City of San Ramon
Alexander Walker-Griffin, Alternate, City of Hercules
Sally Wilkinson, City of Belvedere
Steve Woehleke, Alternate, Town of Moraga
Cesar Zepeda, City of Richmond, joined at 6:40 p.m.
Absent: Eli Beckman, Town of Corte Madera
Melissa Blaustein, City of Sausalito
Shanelle Scales-Preston, County of Contra Costa, Chair
Amanda Szakats, City of Pleasant Hill
Brianne Zorn, City of Martinez
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& Others: Jared Blanton, Vice President of Public Affairs Jesica Brooks, Lead Board Clerk and Executive Assistant Vidhi Chawla, Vice President of Power Resources
Shuvo Chowdhury, Vice President of Technology & Analytics Stephanie Chen, Director of Legislative Affairs
Alice Havenar-Daughton, Vice President of Customer Programs Vicken Kasarjian, Chief Operating Officer
Shaheen Khan, Vice President of Human Resources, Diversity, and Inclusion
Caroline Lavenue, Legal Counsel II
Tanya Lomas, Board Clerk Associate
Alexandra McGee, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives Lindsay Meehan, Director of Human Resources
Catalina Murphy, General Counsel
Ashley Muth, Internal Operations Coordinator
Efren Oxlaj, Finance Manager
Justine Parmelee, Vice President of Internal Operations Zae Perrin, Vice President of Customer Operations
Mike Rodriguez-Vargas, Internal Operations Assistant
Enyonam Senyo-Mensah, Internal Operations Manager
Daniel Settlemyer, Internal Operations Associate
Sabrinna Soldavini, Director of Policy
Maíra Strauss, Vice President of Finance and Treasurer
Lisa Strong, Internal Operations Intern
Greg Tillman, Associate Director of Rates
Jamie Tuckey, Chief Customer Officer
Dawn Weisz, Chief Executive Officer
1. Roll Call
Acting Chair Quinto called the regular meeting to order at 6:33 p.m. with quorum established by roll call.
2. Board Announcements (Discussion)
Acting Chair Quinto opened the floor for board announcements and there were no comments.
3. Public Open Time (Discussion)
Acting Chair Quinto opened the public comment period and there were no comments.
4. Report from Chief Executive Officer (Discussion)
CEO Weisz introduced this item and addressed questions from Board members.
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5. Consent Calendar (Discussion/Action)
C.1 Approval of 2.20.25 Meeting Minutes
C.2 Approved Contracts for Energy Update
C.3. Addition of Board Members to Committees
Acting Chair Quinto opened the public comment period and there were no comments.
6. Proposed Fiscal Year 2025/26 Budget (Discussion/Action) a. Proposed Adjustment to MCE Demand Charges effective April 1, 2025 (Discussion/Action)
b. MCE Investment in Transmission Software Solutions
(Discussion/Action)
Maíra Strauss, Vice President of Finance and Treasurer, introduced this item and several MCE staff, and John Dalessi, PEA, addressed questions from Board members.
Acting Chair Quinto opened the public comment period and there were no comments.
Action: It was M/S/C (Coler/Thier) to approve the proposed Fiscal Year 2025/26 Budget, which includes approval for the following subcomponents of the budgets:
1. the proposed adjustment to MCE Demand Charges to be effective April 1, 2025,
2. continuing the MCE Cares Credit with an allocation of $5,000,000,
3. withdrawing up to $13,000,000 from the Operating Reserve Fund to offset unexpected regulatory costs, and
4. transferring $10,250,000 from MCE Reserves for MCE Investment in Transmission Software Solutions and authorizing staff to execute the necessary contracts to implement these solutions up to the amount transferred from MCE Reserves.
Motion carried by roll call vote. Yays-27; Nos-4; Abstain-1 (Nos: Andre, Pabon-Alvarado, Salter, Wilkinson; Abstain: Woehleke; Absent: Beckman, Blaustein, Nakamura, Scales-Preston, Szakats and Zorn).
Action: It was M/S/C (Thier/Perrey) to approve Consent Calendar Items C.1, C.2, and C.3. Motion carried by roll call vote. (Abstain: Woehleke; Absent:
Beckman, Blaustein, Scales-Preston, Szakats and Zorn). Director Nakamura left after voting on this item.
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7. Legislative Update (Discussion)
Stephanie Chen, Director of Legislative Affairs, introduced this item and addressed questions from Board members.
Acting Chair Quinto opened the public comment period and there were no comments.
Action: No action required.
8. Board & Staff Matters (Discussion)
There were comments made by Directors Murphy and Salter.
9. Adjournment
Acting Chair Quinto adjourned the meeting at 10:14 p.m. to the next scheduled Board Meeting on April 17, 2025.
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Gabriel Quinto, Acting Chair
Attest:
___________________________________________
Vicken Kasarjian, Secretary
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