A couple of minutes before the 3:00 p.m. start of the January 19 Grand Marais Public Utilities (PUC) Commission meeting, Karl Hansen was sworn in as a citizen representative. He joins Chair Hal Greenwood and City Councilor Tim Kennedy. With no other fanfare, the regular meeting started and staff reports proceeded as usual.
Water/Wastewater Superintendent Tom Nelson reported that the city is now required to analyze sewer samples for mercury. The test is so sensitive that the one performing it must keep his or her mouth closed to avoid contamination of the test results by the presence of mercury in his or her fillings.
The first test revealed 1.1 parts per trillion, just under the limit of 1.3 parts per trillion. Nelson held up a square piece of paper about four inches by four inches and said that 1.3 parts per trillion is like something the size of that piece of paper compared to the entire square mileage of Cook County.
Tim Kennedy wondered what they would do if they were over the limit. Nelson said about the only thing they could do would be to go to common sources of mercury discharge—the school, the hospital, and the dentist office—and look for practices that could be changed. Nelson said the school’s science department no longer works with mercury and the hospital says it puts no mercury into the sewer system.
Weekend repair charges
Electric Superintendent Mike Taylor reported that a homeowner had been charged for a power outage resulting from attempts to clear trees that had been blown over by the wind. A tree was cut and landed on another tree already leaning against a power line. This was the second time this had happened.
A memo from Taylor to the PUC commissioners stated that after the first incident, he had told the homeowner he would not charge for the first call-out—something the PUC could do—and that they should call when they need assistance.
The outage happened on a weekend, when PUC line workers are paid a minimum of two hours per call-out. A mistake was made on the bill sent to the homeowner, and the PUC voted to reduce the bill to $274.90—$80 for use of the bucket truck for one hour and $189.90 for two hours of two workers’ time.
For the safety of the workers, PUC’s policy is to never send workers out alone.
In his memo, Taylor said, “After any wind storm there could be hazard trees near our power line. For the safety of the customer they are advised to call us for assistance.”
Shadow billing
In February, the PUC’s electric cooperative, the Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Authority (SMMPA), will start “shadow billing” Grand Marais for the new electric rate structure it will implement in 2012. The new structure will charge more per kilowatt-hour during hours of peak and “super peak” usage.
Jan Smith anticipates that the Grand Marais PUC may at some point start reading meters remotely and eventually be able to monitor amount of individual use throughout the week, charging customers various rates for usage at various times throughout the week and in different seasons.
Open house with doughnuts
The PUC discussed the possibility of having an open house at the electric plant just west of town. Mike Taylor urged them to schedule it during the summer so they could serve doughnuts from the Donut Shop.
Good customer
At the next meeting on February 2, the board forgave a Grand Marais Municipal Pool sewer charge of $841.92. During its annual cleaning, the pool was emptied of its 96,000 gallons of water. The water was discharged into a ditch outside rather than into the sewer system, however, which is how the drainage is handled every year.
Refilling the pool cost the Grand Marais Recreation Area $513.60. City Administrator Mike Roth said, “Thanks, No. 1 customer!”
Annual electric report
Electric Superintendent Mike Taylor gave his annual report to the board, referring as he talked to a detailed, mural-size, color-coded map he had prepared, which showed the various upgrades that had been done throughout the year.
The Electric Department accomplished a lot of right-of-way clearing in 2010, Taylor reported, which is important since a lot of problems are caused by trees damaging secondary lines leading into homes. Ten of the power outages in 2010 were caused by trees falling on lines. Four were caused by equipment failure, two were caused by animals, and one was caused by a person.
Taylor’s written report states, “Safety is very important in the Electric Department. Annual tests on equipment and hot-line tools are required. Rubber gloves also need to be tested on a regular time schedule. With the assistance of MMUA [Minnesota Municipal Utilities Association], required monthly safety meetings are held. The Electric Department also has tailgate meetings before working on projects. No accidents were reported in 2010.”
The power plant generated its own power for 28 hours in 2010 and went through 12,158 gallons of diesel fuel, paid for by the Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency. Taylor’s report noted, “Engines are exercised monthly the first Wednesday of each month.” During scheduled maintenance, the generators provide power, Taylor indicated, and “when generating on island mode when transmission line is down, a brief outage is needed for start-up and shutdown procedures.” A few switches need to be flipped manually, he said, and this takes a few minutes.
Improvements to the system continue to be made, Taylor said, to improve safety and to keep the system from overloading. People used to have cabins with one light bulb, Taylor said, but now they are building second homes with electric heat, greatly increasing demand on the system. “I’m pretty proud of what we’ve accomplished in a pretty short period of time,” he said.
Leave a Reply