2026-09-22 - SELCO Commission

00:00Well, good morning everybody. It's

00:01Tuesday, September 22nd, 2026.

00:04It's 8:00 and I'll call the uh Selco

00:07meeting to order. Uh first uh order of

00:12the agenda is review and consider the

00:14approval of the June, July, August, uh

00:182026 bill schedules and morants. I'll

00:21take them each year or each month as a

00:22time. Anybody have any comments or

00:24questions on on June?

00:26>> Not hearing any. Do we have any for

00:28July? No,

00:30>> not hearing any. Do we have any for

00:31August?

00:33>> Nope. With that, do we have a a motion

00:36to accept the bill schedules and

00:38warrants for June, July, and August?

00:40Okay.

00:41>> Second. All in favor? I.

00:43>> Great.

00:44>> Remove and next agenda item is remove

00:47re review and consider approval of the

00:50meeting minutes of June 23rd, 2026.

00:54Oh, it just implies. Do we have any

00:57comments or questions on the minutes?

00:59>> I want to pull them up. Did you update

01:02this? Okay. I when I went to update when

01:04I went to look last night to I didn't

01:06Nothing came up.

01:08>> So, okay.

01:10>> I I reviewed them last night. They

01:11looked good to me, but

01:12>> Okay. So, we have a motion to accept the

01:14minutes of June 23rd. I'll move. So, do

01:16we have a second on that? Okay. All in

01:18favor?

01:18>> I. Okay.

01:20Next agenda item really requires no

01:22action other than me to uh note the fact

01:25that the approval and release of

01:27executive session minutes pursuant to

01:30Mass General Law Chapter 3A section 22

01:33Gulf one uh which are uh four um

01:40minutes uh which are had to deal with

01:44May 27th of 2025 uh union negotiations

01:49June 24th 19 of 2025 which was general

01:53manager contract also uh December 16th

01:572025 purchase of real uh property which

02:00was 218 220 Northwin Sigment and uh May

02:0426th of of this year 26 of the general

02:07manager's contract. So those executive

02:11minutes have been approved and now we're

02:13being released. So, all I'm doing is

02:14notifying the public that they are

02:16available for perusal should somebody

02:17want to obtain a copy. Okay. Any other

02:22questions on that? If not, uh the next

02:24thing we have is election of officers.

02:27Uh normally we have what

02:30we have. We have a

02:32>> Can I nominate you?

02:34>> Damn it.

02:35>> Okay. As chair and as a as a vice chair

02:39would be Mike. Mike and as secretary

02:42would be Tony and that's it I think

02:46right if we have if we have all three of

02:48those folks do we have a nomination of

02:51all three

02:51>> I'd like to nominate Bob Holland for

02:53chair

02:54>> and I'll okay we have that and we'll go

02:57with uh I'll nominate Mike Rafolo as

03:00vice chair

03:01>> second okay and

03:03>> like to nominate Tony Trippy for

03:05secretary

03:05>> yeah then I'll second that okay so all

03:08in favor of those three nominations for

03:10those offices by saying I

03:12>> I Okay,

03:14>> next finan what we all come for the

03:17financials.

03:21>> Oh, and we've got two quarters.

03:23>> Oh boy, this is going to be so

03:25entertaining.

03:25>> Thank you.

03:26>> I'm Jim Zako, the director of finance

03:28and administration at Selco.

03:34And yes, two exciting quarters.

03:40[snorts]

03:42>> Well, for electric, they were very

03:44different quarters. [laughter]

03:45>> Yes.

03:48>> So,

03:49>> we're going to walk through uh

03:51>> we'll walk through Q1 first for both

03:54electric and uh cable, then we'll go

03:56over to Q2. But taking a look at Q1 for

03:59electric, we uh for the first quarter of

04:03the year, the budget to quarter and the

04:05or the uh quarter to date and year to

04:07date are the same. Um but taking a look

04:10at operating revenue, we were about 10%

04:12above plan. And taking a look at

04:15operating expenses, we were about 12%

04:17above plan. If we dive in, one of the

04:21larger costs um that we had and saw in

04:24Q1 was on our generation side. This is

04:27basically from our peaking plant fuel

04:29usage and we had an extremely cold

04:32December through February. So it was

04:35overused in uh in excess. [snorts] Um

04:39jumping down uh if we take a look at our

04:42[clears throat] total uh net income, you

04:45could see we're at a negative at this

04:46point. And

04:48>> that's a question on that.

04:49>> Yes,

04:50>> it ran.

04:51>> Y

04:52>> fuel [clears throat] is expensive.

04:55>> Shouldn't

04:57pricing have been dynamic enough to

04:59capture that?

05:01>> Yes, we we bid in to the market at a

05:05price to try and recapture that.

05:06>> So, what's the net out of out of all of

05:08this?

05:08>> Yeah.

05:09>> Yeah.

05:10>> Uh I'm not sure we have that full

05:13report.

05:14>> We don't have an exact netting of those

05:16numbers. The tough part too is the

05:19difference between when the gas is used,

05:21the peaking price uh revenue comes in.

05:25It's all it can hit at different times.

05:28>> Um we'd have to do a deeper analysis to

05:30actually show you exactly what that

05:31came.

05:32>> Is there a lag in the payments like

05:33what?

05:34>> Yes. Months.

05:35>> So the expenses could have occurred in

05:37quarter one and payments could have come

05:38in quarter two.

05:39>> Exactly. And Mwork helps us run those

05:42calculations. So we have to feed them

05:44the expenses once we know when they come

05:46in.

05:47>> We are in the black. [clears throat]

05:49>> That's what I saw.

05:50>> Yeah.

05:51>> Despite having to do maint

05:57>> we have a rough we have rough numbers

05:59but nothing formal.

06:00>> Yeah. Okay. Thanks. [clears throat]

06:02>> Well, so do um we run with the fuel that

06:07we've already purchased.

06:09>> Yes. So the fuel is purchased in

06:12December would could still be used in

06:14December. It could be used in January

06:17given the amount of how much fuel we

06:20went through um and how many bills we

06:22went through. Um I I have a gut feeling

06:26the majority of the January was used in

06:29January. The majority of what was bought

06:30at the end of January was used in

06:32February. Um [snorts] just because of

06:34how how much extra than we'd see in a

06:37normal year.

06:38>> Yeah. I don't ever remember hearing it

06:39run as much as it did last year.

06:41>> Yeah, it did. Yeah. Yeah. Well, the the

06:43other question I guess looking ahead

06:45here with diesel prices being about

06:47almost almost $7 a gallon now.

06:50>> Um have we already topped off hopefully

06:53for the for the coming season and how

06:55long you know?

06:56>> Yes. So, we always keep a certain um

06:59amount in the peaker. So, as soon as it

07:02gets to a certain level, they will

07:03refresh it. Um but the amount we keep uh

07:08it also can change based on weather as I

07:12learned which is through me because

07:14it'll expand and contract. So that's

07:16something I had to go with the auditors

07:17at some points at the end of a uh month

07:20it might change slightly. Um but we do

07:23keep that full or as full as we can most

07:25of the time. Um but taking a look at our

07:28overall uh return on plant, it is below

07:32um 1%. Spoiler alert, this gets much

07:35better in Q2. Um we don't [laughter]

07:37want to be far ahead, but um taking a

07:41look at year-over-year,

07:43we were about uh 2.3 million or 22% uh

07:48above uh last year for revenue. Um

07:51taking a look at our expenses, they're

07:53about 1.6 6 million over um more than

07:56last year, about 15%. If we dive into

08:00that a little bit, there's about a 14%

08:02or $1.3 million year-over-year um

08:06purchase power cost increase. Um this is

08:09due to the colder weather, the higher

08:11electrical loads, and uh higher natural

08:14gas costs. This is something that the

08:17GTA is designed to help us recapture.

08:20If we also take a look at the

08:22distribution, um, some of our

08:24distribution costs increased, um, or it

08:27looks like it increased quite a bit.

08:29This is due to a massive combo of

08:31things. I listed some of them, but we

08:34had some, uh, substation maintenance for

08:35a tap changer. Um, the guys like tools

08:38and clothing allowances. When you're

08:41budgeting or you're looking at that for

08:42a year, sometimes you could be heavier

08:45in January compared to July or to the

08:48end of the year. So, some of that stuff

08:50kind of came in earlier. We had certain

08:53softwares come online now and we're

08:55paying for the maintenance cost of them.

08:57Um, we are also fully staffed in Q1 this

09:00year compared to to last year. So, that

09:04plus some other stuff helped uh

09:06contribute to that, but as you'll see in

09:08Q2, that number kind of uh normalizes a

09:11little bit. Um, oop, sorry. So, just

09:14taking a look at net income

09:16year-over-year, we are about um uh

09:20600,000 over from last year. Jumping

09:23over to the balance sheet, um current

09:26assets increased to uh uh 22.4 million,

09:30[cough]

09:31which [clears throat] is about a $1.4

09:32million increase over last year. Um

09:36taking a look at the non-current assets,

09:38they increased to 59.8 8 million, which

09:40is about a $600,000 increase, bringing

09:43total assets to about 8, sorry, 82.3

09:47million and about a 2 million increase

09:49year-over-year. Now, if we jump in for

09:52what [clears throat] contributed to some

09:54of this, if you take a look at our

09:56operating cash, we did transfer about

09:582.5 million from rate sta uh stab into

10:02operating cash. And you can see that

10:05switched [clears throat] from the

10:06non-current to current assets. um some

10:09of which was used in the operating cash

10:11but as well the rate stab uh roughly

10:13earned about 330k in interest. So that's

10:16why you don't see the the full 2.5

10:19million coming out.

10:22Um also I just wanted to point out we

10:25have both a uh net pension and net oped

10:29asset. So this kind of means that we're

10:31about 100% funded out of what our

10:34current requirements are on the electric

10:36side.

10:39Jumping over to liabilities, our

10:41liabilities uh increased very slightly

10:44to um 37.2

10:46uh million, which is about a $200,000

10:49increase. Our earned surplus increased

10:52to uh 45 million, which is about a 1.7

10:55million increase, bringing our total

10:58liabilities and earned surplus to 82

11:00million, which is an increase of 2

11:02million year-over-year.

11:04And I was just going to point out, you

11:06can see here, this is where if we owed

11:08money, you'd have the uh the pension

11:11obligation or the OPED obligations.

11:15Taking a look at our cash flow, we

11:18started the uh year with about uh 7.7

11:24million in operating cash and through Q3

11:27we have about 6.1 million. This brings

11:31our total uh operating cash to or total

11:34I'll say uh available funds to 13.3

11:38million for Q1.

11:40Any questions?

11:42Okay, we'll move on to Cable's Q1.

11:46Taking a look at cable um year to date

11:50we are uh above plan by 2% on revenue

11:55and we are uh below plan about 8% on

11:59operating expenses.

12:01This uh brings our operating income to

12:06about uh 800 a little over 800,000

12:09um with a a uh 99% above plan number.

12:14Now I went over operating income first

12:16because the net income is uh affected

12:21heavily and I we'll walk through it by

12:23both the other income and the other

12:25deductions. So if we take a look I

12:29included the retirements for the coax um

12:32plant and I had to spread them through

12:34the year budgeting because we didn't

12:36know exactly when or if the project

12:39would end and when certain retirements

12:41would hit. So included in this uh 9

12:4431,000 is um retirements for the coax

12:49plant. Taking a look at the other income

12:52for actuals, this included about 486k of

12:56it payments from 2025. So this is

13:00because we have the calendar versus

13:03fiscal year and we're trying to carry

13:05over some stuff so that we can make it

13:07part of our pilot contribution.

13:10We also had a uh 410 uh K of expenses

13:16coming from 2025 that hit the other

13:19deductions. So this brings the net

13:21income um actuals to about 841,000.

13:29Taking a look year-over-year, the uh

13:32revenue is about 1% below plan while

13:35expenses are about nine I'm sorry uh

13:38over year-over-year um while the

13:40expenses are about 9% of an increase. Um

13:43if we take a look at this, the uh one

13:45area that's the highest is the uh

13:48administration in general and some of

13:50this has to do with uh employee

13:52retirement contributions that were

13:54needed in 2026. Um, so when we get to

13:57the U balance sheet, I'll show you how

13:59it's a little bit different than on the

14:01electric side. Um, this brings us to a

14:05net income from operations um that is

14:08down about um 275,000

14:12uh year-over-year. One thing to note is

14:15we're looking at some of the cable

14:16financials. Uh some of the percents are

14:19a little weird and that's because we're

14:21using negative numbers. Um, so I will

14:23hit the actual uh overunders in dollars

14:27um just because there's not a good way

14:28at points to represent some of this. But

14:31if we take a look at how the IT service

14:35in town um is going

14:39through Q1, we are looking at a deficit

14:42about 51,000.

14:45If we take a look uh for the um fiscal

14:48year, we're at a little bit of a surplus

14:51of 25,000. And I'll go over that more um

14:56in uh Q2. Taking a look at the balance

15:00sheet.

15:00>> Can I ask you one question? Yes.

15:02>> What happened in February? Because the

15:03expenses like kind of out of whack.

15:06>> Uh

15:07for [snorts] February, it may have just

15:10been timing of um uh certain renewals.

15:14Um, I'm not a 100% sure which renewal

15:17would have come in, but it's with a lot

15:19of the IT stuff at one point in the

15:22year, you get the uh maintenance or the

15:25refresh for different things that

15:27specifically may have

15:31may have. No, actually, it wouldn't be

15:32because that was just on the other

15:34warrant. I was going to think it was

15:35potentially Artic Wolf, but that comes

15:37in, I believe, in August. Um,

15:40>> yeah, there were all those fences in

15:42there. Yes. Yeah. That was over the

15:45summer.

15:46>> Yes. Yeah.

15:47>> So, you're saying it's mostly timing as

15:49to when different charges came in.

15:51That's why there's a

15:52>> Yes, you're always going to see the IT

15:54one kind of flow differently with from a

15:57budget perspective um just based on when

15:59they come in on this sheet. We do put

16:03that stuff on our side under prepaids,

16:06but we charge the town when it hits and

16:08then they could, you know, put that in

16:10their prepaids. There's a bump in July

16:12and February each year is almost twice

16:15as much.

16:16>> Yes. Yeah. So there's definitely a

16:18bigger renewal. Um

16:22>> Okay.

16:23>> Uh taking a look at the balance sheet,

16:27uh assets decreased to 44.5

16:31million. This is a $2.9 million

16:33decrease. This is somewhat expected

16:36because if we take a look at the um

16:38operating cash, we do expect it to

16:40decrease with the fiber project because

16:42that's currently where we've been just

16:44using funds from. Um looking at the

16:47non-current assets, they've increased to

16:50uh 34.7 million, which is about $3.7

16:54million more than uh 2025, bringing

16:57total assets to 79.2 2 million which is

17:01about $700,000

17:04more than 2025.

17:06Um and if you note uh we do not have on

17:09this side a um pension asset. Um we just

17:14have a pension uh oped asset. So this is

17:17why we had to um uh place money into the

17:22pension this year. If you see there,

17:26taking a look at the total liabilities,

17:28they've decreased to 13.8 million, which

17:31is about a $700,000 decrease. Um, you

17:35can notice here that the net pension

17:37obligation um is dropping as we go. This

17:41could be due to a variety of things. Um,

17:43some of it could be people who are

17:45receiving their pension have um either

17:48passed away. It could be certain

17:50employees have left the company that

17:52were at a certain range and it's not

17:54increasing. It's also us paying into it.

17:58Um as well as as new employees uh come

18:01in, I believe they don't really affect

18:03the liability until they are vested. Um

18:06so as we get turnover, this changes

18:10um jumping [snorts] down to the earned

18:12surplus, this increased to 65.4 million,

18:16which is about a $ 1.4 4 million

18:18increase year-over-year, bringing our

18:20total uh liabilities and earn surplus to

18:2479.2 million, about a $700,000 increase

18:28year-over-year.

18:30>> Yeah. How do the how do the pensions

18:32work? Yeah, somebody works for us, let's

18:34say, for 15 years, vested, we've been

18:37putting money aside, [clears throat] and

18:38then they jump ship and go to another

18:41state

18:42>> retirement position somewhere else or

18:44even in town because now they left Celo

18:47and go, does that does that amount of

18:49pension travel with them or do we hold

18:51on to that or how does that work?

18:53>> If they go to another um municipal

18:56entity or another pension entity, I'm

18:58not 100% sure. If they were to just

19:00leave completely, their liability stops

19:03growing, I believe, after a certain

19:05percentage. So, it it it um slows it. I

19:09was actually curious about it myself

19:11because people like myself, Chris, and

19:13others in the room have moved from

19:15utility to utility. Does that mean the

19:17obligations that were either paid or not

19:20paid at other utilities? How do those

19:22work? I don't really have a great answer

19:24for you on that one. Um I was thinking

19:26about that the other day. Um and I'd

19:28have to talk to retirement.

19:30It does from an [clears throat] employee

19:32standpoint that

19:35pool of funds does move between

19:38retirement systems. So

19:39>> yeah, because the check doesn't come

19:41from each of the communities, right? The

19:42check actually comes from the state.

19:44>> Correct. Retirement. So they they've

19:45kind of kept track of who's what pools

19:47of money or

19:49>> it's where you end up. So you know, a

19:52place like Shrewsbury that's fully

19:54funded would be a desirable location for

19:56someone to retire from. The thing I

19:59don't know though is if you came from a

20:01utility that wasn't funded and we are

20:03fully funded, do we absorb the

20:06obligation from the other utility? I

20:08don't know.

20:09>> I don't have answers like that.

20:11>> Um I was curious myself.

20:13>> I think it's yes.

20:14>> Yeah. I I I had heard I'm not a scholar

20:16in it, but I had heard that it's your

20:17last your last employer has the

20:20responsibility

20:21>> for all of it.

20:22>> Yeah.

20:23>> Which like that makes sense too.

20:25>> Yeah.

20:26>> Um

20:27Okay, so moving on to our cash flow, we

20:31began the year with about 18.3 in

20:34operating cash. Um, and through Q1, we

20:37are down to 17 uh.2 million. Um, and

20:41this is expected as we're trying to uh

20:43spend funds uh and finish off the uh

20:45Fiverr project. This brings the total

20:48available cable funds to 42.3 billion.

20:53Any questions?

20:57Then we will jump over

20:59>> Jim and then jump in the big purchase at

21:02the end of J.

21:03>> Use the mic. Identify yourself please.

21:06>> Nice try.

21:07>> Yeah.

21:08>> Sorry. Lex Coldwell, [clears throat] IT

21:10infrastructure manager. I was looking at

21:11the expense we had at the end of

21:13January, end of February. We purchased

21:15um replacement for some of the nutanics

21:16infrastructure. So So the the big

21:19virtual clusters we have that run all

21:21the service for town in Selco, there was

21:23a big spike on the hardware, right? that

21:25was about to happen in February because

21:26of the AI data center boom. So we bought

21:30just just at the cutoff before that

21:32spike happened. So we bought some of

21:34that harbor for town and so I'll go.

21:36>> Thank you.

21:37>> Y

21:40taking a look [clears throat] at uh 2026

21:43Q2. We'll go in the same order starting

21:46with the electric. Um taking a look at

21:50the uh budget to actuals um Q2

21:54uh quarter to date we are above plan

21:57about 6% and year-to date about 8%.

22:02Uh on revenue to looking at operating

22:04expenses quarter to date we're below

22:06plan about 1% and taking a look at

22:09year-to- date it's about 6%. And if we

22:12take a look now at the generating costs,

22:14you can see they are below plan Q2 and

22:18as you look year-to date, the uh total

22:21amount is dropping. Um

22:26>> were the rate increases included? Their

22:29rate increases in the second.

22:31>> So they uh the GTA increase did um touch

22:36the revenue in Q2. Yes.

22:38>> So that's why you'll see some of the

22:40revenue leveling out. Are you not?

22:44>> Who are you?

22:46>> It was the B. Oh, so the base rate

22:48increase was during quarter two.

22:51>> It was March. Okay.

22:54>> Was this?

22:56>> Uh, it goes through uh June.

22:58>> June. Okay. So, there's two months in

23:00there. April and May.

23:02>> And the GTA didn't come in until the

23:05summer, right?

23:06>> July 1st.

23:06>> July 1st. So, it was there was already

23:09increase that was incorporated. Okay.

23:12Um taking a look at the net income um we

23:16are about um uh 56% above plan uh and it

23:22brings us to about 1.9 million. This

23:25brings our [clears throat] return on

23:27plant to about 4 and a.5% which is more

23:30on target.

23:32Taking a look at year-over-year,

23:35um the both uh quarter to date and

23:38year-to- date were about 22% uh above

23:42last year. Um for operating revenue and

23:45operating expenses, quarter to date are

23:48about 1% over last year and about 8% uh

23:52year-to- date. Um

23:55jumping down to the net income from

23:58operations,

23:59um we are about 1.4 4, I'm sorry, we're

24:03about uh half a million dollars uh

24:05growth year-over-year about 39%.

24:09And if you take a look at the

24:11distribution expense, you can notice it

24:13is um going down uh year-over-year, it's

24:18it's not staying as high as it was. Um

24:20so this is like I was saying with some

24:22of the timing stuff um for like

24:24refreshes of things and operating costs

24:27like that.

24:29When we jump over to the balance sheet,

24:32um current assets uh have um decreased

24:36slightly to uh 23.5 million and this is

24:41about a $200,000 decrease. Non-current

24:44assets have increased to about 60

24:47million and this is a $3.3 million

24:50increase. This brings total assets up to

24:5283.6 million or an overall uh 3% growth

24:57from last year.

24:59Taking a look at the liabilities, uh,

25:01total liabilities are at 36.5 million

25:05and they increased about 1.3 over last

25:07year. Earned surplus is up to, uh, 47

25:12million and this is about a $1.7 million

25:15increase, bringing total liabilities and

25:17earned surplus to 83.6 million, which is

25:21a $3 million increase.

25:23Taking a look at our cash flow, um we

25:26started the year with about seven uh.7

25:29million and through Q um six or through

25:34uh Q2 um we are down to about 5 million.

25:38Some of the GTA stuff will help collect

25:42uh the 1.3 million um that we um had

25:46overages on in the purchase power. So,

25:49we should see this kind of settle off

25:51coming the next quarter. Um, this brings

25:54our total available uh electric funds to

25:58about 12.3 million.

26:01Any questions?

26:04Okay, we'll jump over to cable Q2.

26:08Uh taking a look at the um budget to

26:10actuals for the operating revenue for

26:13the uh second quarter, we are about 1%

26:16above plan as well as 1% above plan for

26:19year-to date. Looking at the operating

26:22expenses, we are about 17% below on the

26:25quarter um and about 13% below on the um

26:31year-to-ate numbers. Taking a look at

26:33just the operating income, we are about

26:3617 I'm sorry uh one 1.2 million over um

26:43what we had planned for operating

26:45income. And I point out operating income

26:47because again the other income and other

26:49deductions kind of look a little

26:51different and they'll be explained a

26:53little more on the um IT page. But if we

26:58take a look, there was a removal of uh

27:02953K

27:03in revenue and uh 901 in expenses. And

27:08this is timed with the um town's fiscal

27:12year. So that money moves over to either

27:15pilot or retained earnings. Um and uh

27:19we'll get into that a little more on the

27:21in two slides.

27:23>> [snorts]

27:23>> Looking at the year-over-year,

27:25operating revenue is uh about one has

27:28declined about 1% both quarter and

27:31year-to- date. Operating expenses

27:34declined 1% in the quarter and have

27:36increased about 4% uh year to date.

27:40Jumping down to the net income from

27:43operations, um this has declined

27:45slightly about 200K.

27:49Now, if we take a look at the IT town

27:52services, um this is the uh first time

27:55that we've had kind of a surplus when

27:58we've ended the fiscal year. This is due

28:01to um there was six months of budgeted

28:05uh director salary costs that we did not

28:07incur. Had those been incurred, we would

28:11have uh we would have still been in a

28:13deficit to add this to pilot. Um this is

28:17due to the the loss of our director

28:19unexpectedly last year.

28:22Moving over to the balance sheet, um the

28:25uh current assets have decreased uh to

28:29um 44.8 million, which is about a uh

28:33$2.3 million decrease. Um total

28:36non-current assets have increased to

28:3935.3 million, bringing total assets to

28:4482 uh.2 2 million, which is about a

28:46$700,000 increase. And a lot of this is

28:49due to spending for the uh fiber

28:52project. So, you're seeing um the uh

28:56cash go down, but distribution assets go

28:59up.

29:01Taking a look at your total liabilities,

29:04they have decreased to 13.9 million,

29:07which is about an $800,000 decrease. Our

29:10total earned surplus has uh increased to

29:1466.2 million, which is about a $ 1.5

29:17million increase, bringing total

29:19liabilities to 80.2 million or about a

29:22$700,000 increase.

29:25Looking at our cash flow, we started the

29:27year with about 18.3 million and through

29:30uh Q2, we're down to 17.6 million. This

29:35brings our total available funds to 42.8

29:38million. Any

29:41questions?

29:43>> Well, now you get to hear me stop

29:44talking. Thank you.

29:47>> Very good.

29:54>> The bond we have on the electric, what

29:56was that? 5.2 million. What is that

29:58part? That was the scent

30:02>> largely.

30:03>> Yes, [clears throat] it's scent and the

30:05uh solar

30:06>> and solar and the solar.

30:14Need a bond for scent.

30:15>> Sentech pe the peaker.

30:17>> Oh, the peaker. Okay,

30:20>> okay, that makes sense.

30:25>> That's it for me.

30:26>> No, thank you very much.

30:27>> Thank you.

30:31>> Uh, next we have uh the general manager

30:35highlights.

30:36>> Turn it over to you, sir.

30:38people tune in only to hear you.

30:40>> Thanks.

30:42>> Uh my goal is to just uh talk longer

30:44than Jim.

30:46>> Um

30:48>> not faster, just

30:49>> yeah.

30:52Um uh so since we had uh our meeting was

30:56a couple months ago, this is slightly

30:59longer than usual. We wrapped in uh some

31:02of our summer updates, if you will, to

31:05cover what has gone on over the last

31:07couple months. Um and uh and I couldn't

31:11help myself by I included some

31:13additional articles uh for your reading

31:16pleasure. Um so certainly I will not go

31:20through each one. Um

31:23>> Oh, yes. [laughter]

31:25Uh I try not to. At least I leave off

31:27one so I can

31:29>> But each one is very important.

31:31>> Yes. They wouldn't be there if they

31:32weren't there.

31:33>> Yes, exactly. Uh just some context for

31:37things to come as well. Uh I won't cover

31:40the um high energy bill articles in here

31:43only because I I think we know the

31:46story. Um just each one of there's

31:49certain things that catch my eye on

31:51these um especially in this one just

31:54natural gas. So we monitor that similar

31:57to the point made about the peaking

31:58plant and buying fuel. Um so we we watch

32:03that for trends with power supply costs.

32:06Um so but I'll I'll uh go to the next

32:09one. So you have the the vineyard wind

32:12um offshore wind project. Just an

32:15interesting article in the Globe about

32:16that uh not too long ago. Um nothing

32:22significant uh there aside from the fact

32:24that it is an a project that's is built

32:28uh which then dubtales with the um

32:32discussion to come on the next agenda

32:33item. So I just threw that in there

32:36because it pertained to the project that

32:38we'll be discussing.

32:40Um, and then, uh, just some other

32:43articles about regional reliability,

32:46uh, that also have foreshadowings for

32:49cost.

32:50So, I threw some articles in about it

32:53performed well over the summer, just as

32:54you can see, because we had our our

32:56summer break in there. Uh, the lights

32:59stayed on as we all know. So, that

33:01that's good. Um

33:04and uh some other energy news that I I

33:07think uh just again provides background

33:11for future agenda topics. Um some

33:15interesting uh politics between

33:19uh this region and Canada. Uh so you can

33:23see that we don't escape unscathed with

33:26any type of tension between um our

33:29friends to the north. uh that does have

33:32an impact with energy flows into this

33:36region and so costs or lack of power in

33:39general could um have detrimental impact

33:43to us. So I throw some articles in there

33:45just to see some of the things we keep

33:48an eye on for our forecasting.

33:51Um,

33:53if you don't have uh Selco electric

33:57heat, well, get ready for some high oil

34:00prices. Um, so I threw that one in

34:02there. Um,

34:05and then wind power. Again, just

34:07context. Uh, you know, I think we have a

34:11pretty interesting wind um opportunity

34:16to come to be discussed in the next

34:18agenda item. uh and so we try and look

34:21at just the data as opposed to anything

34:25else out there and um there is a

34:28significant amount of wind. Um so this

34:32is you know

34:35context for us to uh look at

34:37incorporating some of that in our

34:39portfolio in terms of diversification.

34:43Um,

34:46let's see. Uh, what else should I go

34:49through to

34:51interest of time? Uh, batteries. So,

34:54that that's a big one I'll get to. Uh,

34:56with the summer update, if you will, on

35:00the electric side,

35:02uh, we have a couple of pretty

35:05significant battery developments that

35:07happened over the summer. Uh, and so

35:10this was an interesting supporting

35:12article that shows the role of battery

35:14storage in the evolving grid. Um,

35:18basically they're they're helpful.

35:21And then um

35:24I think the other ones are pretty

35:26self-explanatory.

35:28um

35:30you know more uh more batteries

35:34um you know looking at uh demand for

35:37batteries has skyrocketed so you can see

35:40that's partly why you'll you know when I

35:42get to that part uh you know we're

35:45seeing an acceleration of our own

35:47projects here so that's pretty good uh

35:51and then I'll close with this I thought

35:54um

35:56was the most interesting

35:57article of the bunch is from the New

36:00York Times last month. Uh what if

36:02America went completely dark? I would

36:05encourage you to uh read that one if you

36:08haven't already. Um just an interesting

36:11take on grid security. We put a lot of

36:13time as you pointed out with the uh IT

36:17budgets. You know, we put a lot of time

36:19into cyber security

36:22and this was an interesting reminder of

36:25physical security and how important that

36:29is and how uh quite candidly how easy it

36:33is to bring down certain parts of the

36:36region uh which is

36:39interesting and somewhat disturbing at

36:41the same time. So that that article is

36:44uh I think deserving of a read. And then

36:48uh just wanted to throw in a fiber

36:50article uh that's not too far from us.

36:53East Long Meadow, they're uh a city form

36:57of government, their council passed a 4

37:00to3 million fiber network built. So um

37:05and that one is our uh fellow MLP out in

37:09Westfield was the recipient of that bid.

37:12So, Westville will be building that out

37:15for their neighbor to the east, East

37:18Long Meadow.

37:20So, that was just a another noteworthy

37:23project.

37:24So, uh here's our list of uh HR related

37:28activities that happened over the last

37:31couple months. Uh we welcome Kevin who's

37:34in the back over there.

37:36>> Welcome Kevin. Um, speaking of cyber

37:38security, I didn't even do that on

37:40purpose, but he's our guru that's uh

37:43coming in to protect us from the

37:45nefarious operators out there. Um, and

37:49so that that's a great addition to the

37:50team.

37:52>> I had a question for Kevin when we're

37:54done.

37:54>> Oh, very good. [laughter] There we go. I

37:56bet he's ready.

37:57>> Yeah.

37:58>> Um, so then we had Christina start uh

38:01helping out Olivia. Um, so those that's

38:05our dynamic duo for communications.

38:08So we welcome Christina in the audience.

38:12Uh, Ellie, we was promoted to credit and

38:14collections supervisor.

38:16Um, she's great. Michelle is now the

38:19credit and collection specialist. So

38:20that's the the team uh that works on

38:24credit and collections, you know.

38:26>> And Michelle was promoted from the

38:27service.

38:28>> She was a customer service rep growing

38:30within

38:31>> Yep. as was Ellie when she first

38:32started. So that is a good uh career

38:35path for

38:36>> we know collections is that staying

38:39about the same

38:40>> uh yeah I think

38:42>> you know I have

38:44>> yep no news is generally good news and I

38:46don't know I haven't heard anything so

38:51>> and uh okay so then on the broadband

38:53side just to keep going through the list

38:56Mike Lawler um longtime help desk

38:59employee he's the broadband services

39:01manager Um, generally looks like our

39:05broadband folks are in that side of the

39:06room. Um, so congrats to him. He's done

39:10a great job for I don't know how many

39:13years off the top of my head, but he's

39:14been here for a while and he's great.

39:16So, so that's good. Uh, similar team,

39:19Chris Carlo, senior broadband technology

39:22system administrator. Um, what's, you

39:25know, it's great to see as folks grow

39:26their knowledge base and experience. Uh

39:30so he's now a senior uh system

39:33administrator.

39:34Um Robin is now gone from Jim's team um

39:39basically making sure our enterprise

39:41systems are functioning up to snuff.

39:44She's transitioned to the broadband team

39:47and now is the business operations

39:49specialist to help support their

39:52plethora of systems to keep uh our

39:55communication system running. Now, does

39:57she does she move physically from the

40:00garage up to uh school?

40:02>> Yes, she's now at Parker Road.

40:05>> Yep. Which was helpful because uh we

40:09were short on seats, so now we were able

40:11to shuffle things things around.

40:14>> Uh Sean [clears throat] Dohy, help desk,

40:16promoted to help desk specialist. Uh

40:19someone you may have talked to on the

40:20phone. Um Lucas

40:24Carter, we have a um new employee as of

40:28today.

40:29>> So, he's our utility operations

40:32administrator

40:33uh which is dovetailing with the next

40:36bullet point uh to to backfill Karen

40:38Kennedy's retirement as of Thursday. So,

40:41Karen uh we congratulate Karen on her

40:44retirement. Uh you can see she basically

40:47touched the 40 years service.

40:50>> She's starting kindergarten or

40:51something?

40:51>> Yep.

40:52>> Yep. [clears throat]

40:54So, uh, so we have Lucas starting today.

40:56Karen is retiring on Thursday. So,

40:59there's a couple days of overlap there.

41:01>> It says Lucas comes from UMass. Is that

41:03a new hire college graduate or is that

41:05somebody who was working at UMass who

41:07brings experience

41:07>> in the office of the president?

41:09>> Okay. Yep. Okay. Good. So, he excuse me.

41:12>> Yes. [laughter]

41:15>> Uh, and then we have an active

41:18recruitment. Well, I think we we got a

41:20decent candidate pool um for these two

41:24roles here, security applications

41:26analyst and a product and sales

41:27marketing lead. So, that'll be on a

41:30future uh report. So, fairly busy summer

41:34with uh a lot of uh different uh hiring

41:38activity. So, um I think the team's in

41:42in a good spot. The idea is to make sure

41:46we have

41:48knowledge overlap, cover our gaps, don't

41:51have single contingency failure risk.

41:53Um, and so I I think we're in a really

41:56good spot there for

41:59across the board.

42:01Uh, communications,

42:03couple of noteworthy things there. You

42:05can, um, see, you know, we attended a a

42:10number of events. Um the uh um community

42:16night on September 16th was just the

42:19other night. That was um a well attended

42:23event that um took up all the parking.

42:26So that was difficult if you're coming

42:28back here at the wrong time. Just

42:29speaking for myself.

42:31>> Um

42:33but uh again, you know, you can see the

42:36same uh same theme with the events every

42:40year. We have the spirit of Shrewsbury

42:43uh coming up not too in just few days

42:46actually.

42:48>> Um we have uh just a couple of new items

42:51I'll cover. Uh there's a a statewide

42:54with all MLPS the stronger together

42:57community engagement playbook and

42:59toolkit. Um so we want uh the meme the

43:03organization that represents all MLPS

43:06and mass was awarded a grant to

43:09basically get out and educate not only

43:13external stakeholders but also internal.

43:16So, it's really just getting the word

43:18out about public power, what we stand

43:21for, how we are here to serve the

43:25community, um, and [clears throat] make

43:27sure anyone from a line worker who might

43:30be engaged by a customer while working

43:33at their property to, um, a town meeting

43:38member who might be, you know, voting on

43:40a a warrant. Uh, is, you know, educated.

43:45since we're going to be the statewide

43:47case.

43:49>> Uh yes. So there's there's case studies

43:54to study how this outreach works and um

43:58effectiveness of it. So we've opted to

44:00participate as one of the case studies.

44:02>> Okay.

44:04>> So our communications folks will be the

44:06point for that.

44:07>> Yeah.

44:08Um, and then the last bullet point,

44:11which I cannot skip over, uh, this year

44:15we won a gold level public power

44:18customer satisfaction award for the

44:20second year in a row. So, uh, that's a

44:23kudos to the team. That's a really good

44:25one. Gold level is difficult to achieve.

44:29Uh, that's second year in the row in a

44:31row. Um, going for three Pete, but um,

44:36but that's great. So, Um we're excited

44:39for the team and uh

44:42you know it's nice to be recognized like

44:44that.

44:46>> Uh a couple other things to go through

44:48integrated resources. Um

44:52so I'll skip over the wind one uh

44:56because we'll um have that as a a

44:59specific agenda item to come.

45:03We have the DOER uh zloan program. So,

45:07that's another financing option for

45:09folks. The library EV charges are

45:12operational.

45:13And I did want to cover this is what I

45:16was alluding to in the legislative bits.

45:19Uh we signed two energy storage

45:21agreements

45:23uh that have been in the planning phases

45:25for a while. There was some uncertainty

45:27with supply chain for uh for a while in

45:30there. Um both are five megawatt

45:33installations. their shared sav the

45:35shared savings model which is pretty

45:38neat uh because that is uh really the

45:42the developer and Celco share in the I

45:46know I'm repeating what the title is but

45:47they share in the savings and the

45:49revenue that that project generates and

45:53so there's no capital outlay on our part

45:56and uh and so it's really just a a

45:59contract to agree to the percentage

46:02share of the benefit

46:04Uh those ones is

46:06>> I'm sorry

46:07>> where

46:07>> oh well there we go. Uh one is uh the

46:10Warthingington Warthing A. It's the um

46:14empty substation yard uh that was once a

46:17National Grid substation

46:18>> across from Worcester City Motel Motel.

46:22>> Yep. Uh and then the other one is the uh

46:26it's a private parking lot on Hartford

46:28Turnpike. So it's not a towned parcel.

46:31It's part of that uh scent techch office

46:33park.

46:34>> Were we going to do charging stations at

46:36Warington? Whatever happened to that?

46:38>> We were those were proposed to be DC

46:40fast chargers and we were going for a

46:42grant. We didn't get the grant.

46:43>> Okay.

46:44>> So, we opted to just

46:46see what future opportunities would

46:48come.

46:49>> Is there a rent associated with the

46:51private lot?

46:53>> Uh no. that is that's owned by

46:58>> that developer and so they work out.

47:01>> So it's just it's them.

47:02>> It's just them

47:03>> and they pay for the battery and then we

47:05just share in the profit.

47:06>> Yes. They Yeah. So that that contract is

47:10just with the only contractual

47:13relationship is our shared savings of

47:17with revenue of the battery.

47:21Um,

47:22and and those are mostly there for

47:24peaking purposes. We charge during the

47:27day. They're there for the four to nine

47:29o'clock at night peak and

47:32>> and whatever else. But the bottom line

47:34is that they're there to help us and

47:35save us money overall.

47:37>> Exactly.

47:40Do you know like tech like on on the

47:44>> I guess from their finance side how um

47:49>> to that point is it more of like

47:51capacity obligate capacity payments

47:55>> capacity uh there I think transmission

47:57will be the the primary driver

48:00>> transmission

48:01>> um

48:01>> because it's internal

48:02>> does it qualify it would qualify for

48:04capacity too right

48:05>> yes I don't think that's as much but

48:08transmission's the Target. Interesting.

48:09Okay.

48:11>> Um and so

48:14yeah, so we're excited. I think those

48:16will be two good contracts. Um they're

48:20both speaking of scent earlier, they're

48:22both on the scene substation area. So

48:26we're monitoring that for storage

48:30to use the reword to reuse the word

48:32capacity, but the storage capacity for

48:34that substation. So, we're look, it'd be

48:36nice to have some other developments in

48:38other parts of town to balance that out.

48:41Um, but those are good. Um, those are

48:45good projects in there. So, those

48:46contracts have been a long time in the

48:49making, so it' be nice to get those up

48:51and running. That is I don't remember

48:54the exact month, but that is a 20 is

48:56that June, do you think? I don't think

48:58we're going to hit the summer.

49:03>> Yeah. So, I think it Realistically, it's

49:06probably next fall. It'd be nice to hit

49:09next summer, but I think with supply,

49:12it's just that's not a reasonable

49:17um

49:19going to uh electric uh engineering and

49:23operations. Um just the AMI project is

49:27the one we kind of report on on a

49:28recurring basis. We have less than 40

49:31meetings uh meetings meters uh

49:34outstanding. So that gets us as you

49:37[snorts] can tell it's engineering. So

49:38we have two decimal points 99.75%

49:41deployed.

49:42>> So if they don't want to

49:45be deployed how do we read their meter

49:47just still has the old way or is it

49:50>> uh special thing you have to do

49:53>> that we don't have an opt out. No meter.

49:58>> Yeah, we may not have to read a meter if

49:59they don't have power.

50:01>> That's right.

50:02>> Yeah. So, um some of these are there's

50:06uh 10 or so that um are not enthusiastic

50:13about the change. Uh and then the

50:16remaining balance is some kind of meter

50:18issue whether it be electrical safety

50:21issue or

50:23>> otherwise.

50:24>> [clears throat]

50:26>> So you can see that. So we're right

50:29there, right there at the finish line.

50:31We achieved the substantial completion

50:33milestone. That's an important

50:34contractual term. Um so it's it's really

50:38just closing that out with the these

50:41last 40.

50:44Um,

50:46I do believe just a it's not in here,

50:48but something noteworthy is uh we'll be

50:51sending those letters out next week as

50:54just one more reminder to say, "Hey, we

50:56need to change these out." Um,

50:59please contact our office.

51:03Uh,

51:05so let's see

51:07what Oh, mapping project. Uh that's just

51:11in case you see folks out there walking

51:13around. Uh again, that's another one.

51:15We're just um going through every nook

51:18and cranny of the system and getting the

51:20most robust GIS model of our

51:23infrastructure as possible. So that uh

51:26is ongoing. You'll see that that's going

51:29to carry over into the spring of 2027.

51:33there's a lot of detail into the system.

51:36So, you know, we're taking our time and

51:38and making sure we get all the details

51:42uploaded into the map. Um, the other big

51:46one, the substation transformer failure.

51:49Uh, that one I think the team's done a

51:52great job with that unexpected

51:55uh situation.

51:57So, they um they have done the temporary

52:02engineering. We have um successfully

52:05negotiated the transformer purchase with

52:08National Grid which conveniently had one

52:11um down the street

52:14in Wville.

52:16Um we did the testing as uh on that unit

52:20to make sure that uh the unit they had

52:23in storage was

52:25uh you know sound and ready for

52:27deployment. Uh and so now that's

52:30Thursday. Uh we are if you see a very

52:34big gray metal box being transported

52:36down the street that is our transformer.

52:39Um quite a bit goes into the permitting

52:42and everything to move uh

52:44>> one of those units.

52:45>> This says it's temporary. So that's not

52:47our transformer.

52:47>> It's temporary. It's ours because uh I

52:51don't think I put an article in there,

52:53but um substation transformer lead times

52:57at a minimum are three years. Um, so we

53:00didn't want to go three years. Um,

53:02essentially one leg. Um, and so this

53:05this transformer is going to get us

53:09through the three-year or more window

53:11depending on when these transformers

53:13arrive. And then the idea is once the

53:17permanent replacement is manufactured

53:19and installed, we'll now have an actual

53:22backup. Okay.

53:23>> Backup to be deployed if it's ever

53:25needed again. Um, couple questions.

53:29Well, uh, how how long does the install

53:31swap take? And is there a possibility to

53:35refurbish the, uh, the one that failed?

53:38>> Yep. Great questions. Uh, the swap, do

53:41you know that? That's probably

53:44>> Yeah. Two weeks. Okay. All in. So,

53:47>> we're putting in there. We wrote mid

53:49October just in case.

53:52>> Yeah.

53:54>> We are investigating rewinding

53:57because wants us to

54:00>> who wants us to insurance. Insurance

54:03>> we don't think that's a viable option

54:05>> like ourselves.

54:07>> Oh no.

54:08>> Oh what [laughter]

54:11>> in terms of instead of buying a new one

54:15>> that's just more of a

54:17>> viable solution. We are

54:21right now. Now that transformer was

54:24under warranty, correct?

54:26>> It was It was like your car. It was one

54:28year out,

54:30>> but he ended the driveway. Whichever

54:32>> it was. It was a 10year warranty and it

54:35was 11 year.

54:36>> We were in the 11th year

54:38>> and I think someone negotiated it to be

54:39a longer warranty.

54:41>> Yeah.

54:44>> Yeah.

54:45Um we did [clears throat] I believe I

54:48know Jim just stepped out but uh um

54:51insurance has actually been very

54:53helpful. You know these failures are

54:56very rare and so they have been

54:58supportive to to say you know to help us

55:01through and be like whoa this isn't

55:02supposed to happen. So we did receive uh

55:05a $ 1.5 million sure insurance um check

55:11>> I think that came in earlier this week.

55:14Um so that'll that'll help to prey a

55:17bunch of these. [cough]

55:18[clears throat]

55:20Um so tough situation uh but there's a

55:25lot of silver lining which the fact that

55:27there is a spare unit grid was willing

55:30to work with us and it's right down the

55:32street so we're not trying to truck it

55:34across the country. Um so

55:36>> once it's all done I mean like they

55:38total that transformer we still have it.

55:40We could look into rewinding it. Another

55:48just curiosity in the this age of

55:52transformer nonavailability why why was

55:55national grid

55:58>> helpful why didn't they just hold on to

55:59it any sense of that

56:01>> I don't know

56:03>> probably didn't need it

56:04>> but we thank national grid supporting

56:06this

56:07>> yes

56:07>> publicly

56:10>> it's a

56:12yeah you know I'm Not entirely sure. I I

56:15thought about that myself. Um,

56:18you know, it's a 2012 unit. It's never

56:20been in service, so it's been a reserve

56:22unit of theirs. Um, you know, it tested

56:26great, so it's been stored properly.

56:30>> So, um, you know, maybe they're looking

56:33for a refresh.

56:34>> Yeah. [snorts]

56:35So,

56:35>> okay.

56:36>> Don't we have friends over there now?

56:37Like insiders?

56:38>> Yes.

56:39>> Former employees?

56:40>> Yeah.

56:41>> Maybe they're looking out for us.

56:42Exactly.

56:44>> Um

56:44>> it's a saying don't look at gift to us

56:46in the mouth.

56:46>> Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Right. [laughter]

56:50So, um

56:53yeah. Uh so let's see. Moving to the

56:55next one. Um we're pursuing a grid

56:58resilience grant to help with some of

57:00our infrastructure projects on the 5KV

57:02conversion. Um we hope we we get that

57:06one. Those are um nice to get from time

57:10to time to help defay some of the costs

57:12with these infrastructure improvements.

57:15Um and then in the interest of time, you

57:18know, there this is just a list of other

57:21more specific

57:23projects throughout the town. Um so the

57:27crews have been hard at work. They've

57:29got quite a bit on their plate and have

57:32knocked off a bunch too.

57:34Um shifting [clears throat] gears to

57:36broadband

57:38um on our other big project the fiber

57:41project. So there's 95% of the town uh

57:45is has the fiber coverage and as you can

57:49see there 9 thou we'll call it you know

57:529,900

57:53fiber connections out of 12,500

57:56locations. So

57:59and then I thought this was an

58:00interesting stat myself. the fiber

58:02customers now make up 69% of the total

58:05broadband customer base. So making a lot

58:08of progress there. Um and it's nice to

58:11to get on the a modern [snorts]

58:14infrastructure.

58:15The coax is you know done its job.

58:19>> When we say 95% of the town that's

58:21geographically based on but then the

58:25amount of customers affected maybe three

58:27quarters. Is that what we're saying?

58:28>> Exactly. So you're there's some areas of

58:30concentration, geographical

58:33concentration where you have some work

58:34to do.

58:35>> Exactly. [clears throat] And

58:36>> and our customer service repres uh are

58:39doing the outreach uh help desk, you

58:41know, to notify folks that fiber is

58:45available, that coax is, you know,

58:48eventually being retired and to

58:51encourage folks to make the swap.

58:53>> Do we have a game plan on actually

58:55retirement? Like is there a drop dead

58:56date for co-ex? that is node by node. So

58:59we have already on certain nodes called

59:02folks and said this node is going away

59:05on coax you really need to swap. Usually

59:07it's down to a couple

59:09>> um and so as the fiber project

59:12progressed and fiber was available we

59:15started retiring

59:16>> again

59:18>> node by node.

59:19>> Okay.

59:20Now these um new projects multi-dwelling

59:24units that going in when do they or do

59:28we have to reach out to them or do they

59:30come into us when they design and when

59:33before they even go to the planning

59:34board for permission to build to get our

59:37concurrence that we're going to you know

59:39they meet our standards for wiring from

59:42initial construction.

59:44>> Yeah. just say they they reach out to

59:47us.

59:48[laughter]

59:49>> I'll stand out because I'll answer the

59:50other question. Uh Rick Maxi and I'm

59:53director of broadband. Um they uh reach

59:57out when they reach out to electric for

59:59that uh for any type of new builds, we

1:00:02kind of time it with that and say,

1:00:04"Okay, throw conduit in for the

1:00:06broadband side of things, too." Um to

1:00:09fill in most of the stuff left on the

1:00:11fiber buildout is multi-dwelling. So

1:00:14that's where the concentration is. So uh

1:00:17but we did start shutting down nodes for

1:00:19the fiber project. So

1:00:21>> we're uh we're getting there.

1:00:23>> Okay.

1:00:25>> Thank you.

1:00:25>> Are we leaving the cable up and taking

1:00:27it down or what's

1:00:28>> uh we'll we'll be taking it down for the

1:00:32most part. Yeah, there's not really a

1:00:33use for it at all. We've we've explored

1:00:36sometimes, but it it makes more sense to

1:00:39shut the whole thing down.

1:00:43And that uh just to add to that, not

1:00:47necessarily for you, but um uh

1:00:50>> just stay there the whole rest of the

1:00:51year.

1:00:51>> Yeah,

1:00:53>> you'll see that in the future because

1:00:54there's some financial

1:00:57um reporting challenges with those

1:00:59retirements because you'll see

1:01:02>> right we are installing and replacing

1:01:04coax right up right through the fiber

1:01:07project. Uh and so there's still capital

1:01:10value in that. So there'll be retirement

1:01:13expense, if you will, that will hit the

1:01:15books once that retirement.

1:01:16>> Yeah.

1:01:16>> Now, does some of those cable systems

1:01:18affect our grounding?

1:01:21>> Uh, no, the cable systems won't. No,

1:01:26>> and fiber doesn't need it. So,

1:01:30>> it's a good question though. We have

1:01:32found locations where [clears throat]

1:01:33uh the coax was supplementing the ground

1:01:36for the electric system. um unknowingly.

1:01:40It wasn't intended to be that way. Um

1:01:43but uh but that has helped us identify

1:01:46those locations and provide the

1:01:48appropriate grounding on the electric.

1:01:50>> I just remember remember a few years ago

1:01:51we had a problem with people cutting the

1:01:52the actual copper Yes. Grounding off of

1:01:55our utility utility poles and

1:01:57>> yeah,

1:01:58>> there's that.

1:01:59>> Okay.

1:02:00>> Even in your home, if your home uh isn't

1:02:03properly grounded, it could use the coax

1:02:05lines as a return. So, as we, you know,

1:02:08>> we typically, I will say, and I think

1:02:10I'm loud enough, but when a power outage

1:02:13happens, a lot of times the old coax

1:02:16modems take the hit because they ground

1:02:20for whatever reason. So, luckily fiber

1:02:22does not.

1:02:24>> Okay.

1:02:27>> Uh, yep. There's the map to illustrate

1:02:30what we just covered.

1:02:32uh the MDU.

1:02:34Um

1:02:36so

1:02:38uh well we'll cover the other one which

1:02:40is all I don't know I find it all

1:02:42interesting but uh completed the 400G

1:02:44network upgrade. So um

1:02:49>> okay I don't know you know

1:02:52>> what does that mean?

1:02:52>> I'm trying not to use technical terms.

1:02:54>> Can somebody network somebody explain

1:02:56that?

1:02:59>> It was dying.

1:03:00>> I know. And who are you?

1:03:02>> Hi, Marin McCoyer, broadband uh network

1:03:04and system operations manager.

1:03:07>> Yeah, so we upgraded our collocation

1:03:09pipe to support 400 gigs of bandwidth.

1:03:12>> So for the future to give you

1:03:14perspective, we're under 100 total usage

1:03:17right now. So this really sets us up

1:03:20going forward. And this is our link from

1:03:22Parker Road to Boston.

1:03:26>> So exciting. [snorts]

1:03:27>> See?

1:03:28>> Yeah.

1:03:28>> Yeah. Biggest thing is we really can't

1:03:30offer it because people's equipment

1:03:31can't handle it yet.

1:03:32>> Yeah. Yeah, for sure. The connection uh

1:03:34that's, you know, that's our core back

1:03:36to us, but to get out to subscribers,

1:03:38that's 400 is a long way off.

1:03:41>> Mhm.

1:03:41>> As far as what's available technology to

1:03:43us,

1:03:43>> do you think so? Is that a fivey year or

1:03:45a 10 year? What's a long way in your

1:03:47mind?

1:03:47>> For [clears throat] our capacity usage?

1:03:49Um, yeah. I mean, based on our

1:03:52year-over-year, we're 10 years, maybe

1:03:56more, to be honest. I mean, could it all

1:03:58change with

1:03:59>> So, half that.

1:04:01>> Yeah. Could it change with, you know,

1:04:03>> it'll be back next month?

1:04:04>> Yeah. [laughter]

1:04:05>> If there's a if there's a huge uh shift

1:04:07in, you know, our AK or AI or anything

1:04:10virtual that really pushes bandwidth

1:04:12usage, then potentially, but that's

1:04:14unforeseen right now.

1:04:16>> Thank you.

1:04:16>> Yeah.

1:04:18>> But what you uh soon will be able to get

1:04:21uh connectivity to is the Dean Park

1:04:24Smarttown project.

1:04:25>> Yes.

1:04:27Um, so these same folks are working on

1:04:30um a uh

1:04:33basically public connectivity project

1:04:35for Dean Park and that can serve as a um

1:04:39well it'll be a good pilot not not a

1:04:41pilot project because it'll be official

1:04:43commercial deployment but it'll be a

1:04:45good model. There's the word for good

1:04:46model for other public spaces around

1:04:49Shrewsbury. So, do we set up a Selco

1:04:52coffee shop so people can go down to

1:04:54Dean Park and hang out and

1:04:55>> the possibilities?

1:04:57>> Yeah, there might be some money in

1:04:59there.

1:04:59>> Learn how to make.

1:05:00>> Okay, but the bottom line is that's

1:05:01going to give what? Connectivity at Dean

1:05:03Park for anybody that's down there,

1:05:04right?

1:05:05>> Amazing.

1:05:05>> All of Shoesbury Little League thanks

1:05:07you for that. Well, and I think it also

1:05:08helps people may correct me if I'm

1:05:10wrong, but people's telephone

1:05:13connectivity, their cell phone

1:05:15connectivity, which really stinks down

1:05:17in that neck of the woods.

1:05:18>> Will they be able to use that to by

1:05:20Wi-Fi local access to be able to

1:05:23potentially help themselves out?

1:05:24>> Yeah, whether it's web or Wi-Fi calling,

1:05:28all of the above.

1:05:29>> And it's expandable. So, the model we're

1:05:31building is designed to, you know,

1:05:35branch out into other town

1:05:37When is that set to deploy?

1:05:41>> Is no uh we're running through the

1:05:45testing right now for the smart town and

1:05:47then once we have that complete so I

1:05:49would say sometime in October we'll have

1:05:51the testing complete and then our field

1:05:54staff will put it it'll be on their

1:05:56short list to put it out there.

1:05:59So it'll be more it'll be before the

1:06:02winter time that it finally

1:06:03>> cool

1:06:03>> comes up and then

1:06:04>> next spring next little league season.

1:06:06>> No, I think it'll be

1:06:08>> I think a general longer date. I think

1:06:10it'll be before winter happens for Dean

1:06:12Park and then

1:06:15um other uh areas around town will be

1:06:19very quick to deploy because this is

1:06:22going to be a repeatable

1:06:23>> Cool. What other locations around town?

1:06:25uh any maple fields maybe like we can

1:06:28put a bunch of stuff around. So

1:06:30>> they're all hardened outdoor units so

1:06:32they are designed to pop up and then

1:06:34they're good to go.

1:06:35>> Dean Park's the best because it's sell

1:06:37like you were saying sell

1:06:38>> service. Yeah, we're identifying

1:06:39wherever cell is kind of the worst

1:06:41spots. We'll [clears throat] throw in

1:06:43some of these.

1:06:44>> Cool. Didn't we kind of use a prototype

1:06:46of that a couple years ago up at the the

1:06:49center during the Christmas?

1:06:51>> Yep. during the yield tide market. We

1:06:53That was the initial one, but it um this

1:06:57is a little bit more robust back. Yep.

1:07:00So, it's

1:07:01>> a good That was the pilot I would say.

1:07:03This is going to be the actual release.

1:07:06>> This gives us a software capacity to

1:07:09manage it like expandable. So, before it

1:07:12was just oneoffs, this is designed to be

1:07:15a communitywide.

1:07:17>> Great. [snorts]

1:07:20Uh, and then it, you know, we make sure,

1:07:24uh, last but not least, um, they worked

1:07:28on security cameras. That one's, um, I

1:07:32will admit less exciting than Dean Park

1:07:34Wi-Fi. Um, so I won't spend a lot of

1:07:38time on that one. Um, but you can see,

1:07:41uh, a lot of workstation patching, our

1:07:43cyber security gap assessment. That one

1:07:45I actually, that one's pretty exciting.

1:07:48Um, we had uh a gap assessment done just

1:07:53to why why not try and poke holes in how

1:07:56we operate, find our vulnerabilities,

1:07:58give us a road map on things we need to

1:08:00address. Uh, and it did just that. Um,

1:08:04so we've been using that as guidance to

1:08:09look at areas that we need to address um

1:08:14and um continue hardening our system. Um

1:08:19so we have that. Um and then um couple

1:08:24of just you know you can see software

1:08:27software adjustments that we've made uh

1:08:30just for um

1:08:34you know general operations.

1:08:36Um and then I think you know as the

1:08:39graphs illustrate uh the IT support

1:08:41metrics we try and publish uh

1:08:44monthtomonth.

1:08:46Um and these this team does a great job.

1:08:48You can see the tickets come in, they're

1:08:51addressed quickly um and we capture the

1:08:54statistics

1:08:56um by the different categories,

1:08:59different departments and month-to-month

1:09:01um

1:09:03ticket quantity.

1:09:07>> Okay, with that well thanks.

1:09:11Well, looking ahead to today's meeting,

1:09:13uh the first thing let's on the agenda,

1:09:16it says to set the schedule for the next

1:09:18meeting, which is uh established for

1:09:20Tuesday, October 27th

1:09:23at 8:00 a.m. Does everyone concur with

1:09:26Tuesday, October 27th

1:09:29at 8 a.m.

1:09:31>> I would think that we may not be able to

1:09:33meet in this room unless because I think

1:09:36that the town will be doing early

1:09:38voting. Oh,

1:09:40>> and this room is probably going to be

1:09:42the place when you early vote you come

1:09:44to the town hall.

1:09:45>> And this is where it's normally set up.

1:09:47So, I don't know whether we'll be in

1:09:50another location or not.

1:09:51>> I have a schedule for conference from a

1:09:53>> which is across the are okay.

1:09:56>> Oh, good.

1:09:57>> I uh unfortunately have to travel all

1:09:59that week for work.

1:10:00>> Okay.

1:10:02>> Anybody else have an issue with that?

1:10:04>> No. 27th.

1:10:05>> 27th work. Okay. Okay, we'll set it the

1:10:0727th and we understand Matt. Appreciate

1:10:10it though. Okay, with that, uh, what

1:10:14remains is for us to go into executive

1:10:16session and then after that executive

1:10:20session, come back out to vote on what

1:10:23we discussed in executive session and

1:10:25then adjourn. So, we will come we're

1:10:27going to we'll go ahead and I'll read

1:10:29all the stuff that goes with it. Um but

1:10:32then just so for the game plan here is

1:10:35we'll go in executive session then come

1:10:36back. So the reason we're going to go

1:10:38into executive session is to we're going

1:10:41to enter into executive sess session

1:10:44pursuant to mass general law chapter 30

1:10:47alpha section 2110

1:10:50to discuss trade secrets or confidential

1:10:53competitively sensitive or other

1:10:55proprietary information provided in the

1:10:58course of activities conducted by a

1:11:00governmental body as an energy supplier

1:11:02under a license granted by the

1:11:04Department of Public Utilities pursuant

1:11:06to to general law chapter 164 paragraph

1:11:111 foxtrot uh which is uh mick special

1:11:15project 2026 alpha.

1:11:19So with that I would like to entertain a

1:11:21motion because we have to do a voice

1:11:22vote to roll call to go into um

1:11:26executive to to go into executive

1:11:28session and then to come back out from

1:11:30executive session following

1:11:33>> said session.

1:11:35>> Second. Okay, roll call. Mike,

1:11:37>> yes.

1:11:38>> Maria,

1:11:38>> yes.

1:11:38>> Bob Holland, yes.

1:11:40>> Tony,

1:11:40>> yes.

1:11:41>> Yes.

1:11:42>> Yes. Okay. So, as of um

1:11:469 12, we'll go hope the meeting has been

1:11:49closed and we'll go into executive

1:11:51session.

1:11:53>> Okay, great. Thank you very much.

1:11:57Okay, welcome back. It's uh still

1:11:59September 22nd. It's uh now 9:32 in the

1:12:03morning. We've come out of executive

1:12:04session in order to uh vote on um an

1:12:09MWIC special project 2026.

1:12:13We have a certificate of uh of vote for

1:12:17this uh project which is a just a quick

1:12:21background is a wind

1:12:24vineyard wind project which has already

1:12:26been built and has power available which

1:12:28we're going to uh agree to over 20 over

1:12:3325 years to purchase uh approximately

1:12:3620% of the output of that wind project

1:12:39uh from Vignyan wind and for an agreed

1:12:42on price and so with fixed price over

1:12:46the next 25 years. So with that and

1:12:49that'll give us about 1%

1:12:52uh of it'll be 1% of our actual

1:12:55portfolio currently but it'll be uh

1:12:59non-carbon. It will be uh you know we

1:13:02comes with a class one wreck as well

1:13:05which is important to us. So anyways,

1:13:07with that said, um what we're going to

1:13:10vote for is that we want to allow the

1:13:12manager to authorize and direct the

1:13:14execution of the particip participation

1:13:16acknowledgement, which is the agreement

1:13:18we have with Emwick. A copy of which has

1:13:20been presented at this meeting is filed

1:13:22with permanent records thereof to allow

1:13:25town man the uh the general manager to

1:13:29sign for for us to be a participant in

1:13:32this project which is project 2026A

1:13:35again. Okay. Have I covered as much as

1:13:39the bases I can? So with that do we have

1:13:41a motion to to allow the town the uh the

1:13:46general manager to sign set agreement?

1:13:48So move

1:13:49>> second.

1:13:50>> Okay. Uh we'll just take a roll call

1:13:51vote on that again to to in favor Mike.

1:13:55>> Yes.

1:13:56>> Maria.

1:13:57>> Yes.

1:13:57>> Yes. Bob. Yes.

1:13:58>> Yes.

1:13:59>> M. Yes.

1:14:00>> Okay. Five to zero. With that said, um I

1:14:04think we have a motion entertain motion

1:14:07to adjurnn. We've already set the time

1:14:08for the next meeting. So move. Second.

1:14:10Okay. All in favor? I we jouring at time

1:14:139:35. Wow. You have to sign. You have a

1:14:17button.