This is the public utilities commission meeting held on Tuesday, March 24th, 2026. Our first item is the agenda item or the consent agenda. I'll make a motion to approve the consent agenda.
>> Second. >> And you had some notes. >> Yeah. Um uh commission, I wanted to note from the something that didn't quite make it into the director's report is that this past Friday, there was a brief power outage at the hospital. Um the hospital needed
the PUC to uh take a transformer offline to do some work. Um the work tripped a switch in the redundant power feed which was obviously not expected. Um power was restored um rather quickly. An engineering firm has drafted up a report
a brief report advising and some changes to settings within those switches to to try to prevent this. And staff is meeting with um hospital staff tomorrow to discuss um what exactly they believe happened and um how to attempt to prevent this in the future. But I just
wanted to let you know that um power was briefly um lost to the hospital. >> And that's it. >> Need a motion. >> You already have a motion. Second. >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> Um we've got a motion and a second and a passed.
>> We didn't I'm sorry. >> All in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed? Motion passes. Second item is employee of the month recognition. Um
>> yes of course so the commission members employee of the month is Jared Lansteiner. Um Jared has been employed with the new wastewater plant since October of 2002. He started his career uh as a maintenance helper and has worked his
way up to a class B wastewater license with a type four land application license. Jared's a reliable employee that gets along well with his colleagues. He likes to keep busy and his mechanical skills are definitely beneficial to keeping the wastewater plant uh operating efficiently, kind of
doing what whatever needs to be done. So, with that, I'd like to um recognize employee of the month, Jared Lanciner. >> I'll uh make the motion to recognize Jared Lsteiner as employee of the month for February 2026. >> I'll second.
>> We got a motion and a second. Any more discussion? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppos. >> Motion passes. Next item is year end carryovers for the year ended December 31st, 2025. Good afternoon, commissioners. Um, last
month we brought to you a whole list of carryovers um for budget that we were requesting. Um, and we do have one additional carryover that we are requesting this year. Um, and that would or I'm sorry, this month. Um, and that is to request $24,840
um for the steam department to complete a steam meter replacement parts project. >> I'll make a motion to approve year-end budget carryovers uh for the year ended December 31st, 2025. And I'll second.
>> We have a motion and a second. Any more discussion? Those in favor say I. >> I. >> Opposed. Motion passes. Next item is Windows Server 2025 data center licensing. Yeah. And I'll be taking that one on
behalf of Brennan Words who had a family conflict and couldn't make it. So, um, right now the PUC is needing to upgrade its Microsoft Server, um, operating system licensing for the 2025 version. It was originally budgeted at
21,000. Uh, the bid came in at 17,000, which is good to hear, always. Um, like I said, this is a server operating system upgrading from either 2019 or 2022, depending on which server, to the latest 2025. Um, they'll be migrating
the system this summer and fall. Um, and it's pretty straightforward. So, want to recommend um, uh, approving the server licensing. >> I'll make the motion to receive an order filed the quote for Microsoft Windows
Server 2025 5 data center licensing from SHI in the amount of $17,856.64. >> I'll second it. >> We have a motion and a second. Any more discussion? Those in favor say I. >> I. >> I.
>> Opposed. Motion passes. >> Minnesota Public Facilities Authority loan andor grant. Commissioners, my name is Owen Todd with Bolton and Mink. We have been assisting city staff with the uh investigation and
replacement of lead service lines. Uh we've been working with the city the last two years. Staff has been working for the last five to eight to determine uh which services in town are led and or galvanized. So the resolution uh before you tonight is really pretty straightforward, but it is the culmination of of that effort. Uh it's a
request, a formal request from uh Minnesota PFA for $1 million. It's combination of of grant and forgivable loans. So at the end of the project, there'll be zero cost to the city for the project, including our services. and a million dollars uh as estimated by the department of health will replace 40
services in town. Uh new alm falls between 40 and 400. So the maximum amount that they're giving out to towns in that category is a million dollars. So this is the maximum amount to be requested and it was already pre-approved. Now we just need to go after those dollars. And that's what this resolution is is the formal request
for that million dollar grant/forgivable loan. Uh it's about 40 services. Working with uh staff at the water department, we've identified about 70 that we're going to bid and we're going to get everything we can done for that first million dollars with the priority being the known lead and the daycarees that
have those services. So again, the resolution is pretty straightforward. It is the formal ask along with some other documentation that the city manager has been providing to us. So you think for that million dollar there'll be 70 services you can the the
estimates put out by the department of health is $25,000 each assuming you have to do both the private side and the public side. So they're allocating $25,000 per service. >> We don't think that all of them need to be replaced on both sides. So working with water staff we've identified 70
priority. That's basically uh German to Jefferson, 10th north to 10th south in the old part of town that that's the area they're targeting first. So if we don't get to all 73 this year, the ones we don't will be first in line next year. Sure. >> And and as mentioned in the in the memo,
this is a multi-year project. So if there's 288, it's going to be about seven years depending on how far the money goes. So okay. >> All right. I I'll offer the resolution to approve submitting the application to the Minnesota Public Facilities
Authority for a loan and/or a grant from the drinking water revolving loan fund uh for lead service line replacement project. >> I'll second. We have a motion and a second. Is there any other discussion?
All in favor say I. >> Roll call. >> Roll call. >> Commissioner Skiillings? >> Yes. >> Commissioner Williams? Yes. >> Commissioner Bugler. >> Yes. >> And uh Commissioner Shaughness. >> Yes. >> Motion passes. Resolution passes.
>> Thank you. >> Next item is replacement valve for the water treatment plant. Good afternoon, commissioners. Um before you is just a receive an order file for a replacement valve that's on one of our high service pumps at the water
treatment plant. During some recent maintenance, we discovered that this was leaking back um and we need to replace that. I don't have an estimate as far as the the cost to um install the valve yet. We're hoping that we can possibly
do that ourselves or as as you recall, we're doing multiple other valve projects within the facility. Um, we might be able to just tag it right along with one of them depending upon when this comes in. But this particular valve is about uh 4 weeks out once we get it
ordered. So, this is an unbudgeted item. I I I realize that. Um but again, the the valve is leaking back into our clear well. So, uh we do have some money identified in in our maintenance budgets
that we can use to to take care of this. I'll make the motion to receive an order filed the quote from Vesco, Inc. in the amount of $7,142.86 86 cents for the purchase of one replacement valve in the water treatment
plant. >> I'll second that. >> Got a motion in a second. Any other discussion? >> Those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. >> Opposed? Motion carries.
Bridge Street lift lift station pump. Commissioners, uh, Dan Oconor, no wastewater. Uh, we have a receive order filed to replace a a 1998 lift pump at right on site at the wastewater plant, Bridge Street. It's actually about our fourth largest lift station in our
system right now. Um, uh, one of the reasons for replacing it, uh, a lot of the parts are obsolete. we could get a impeller to to replace uh to get it running but then uh seal kits and bearings and other things are also obsolete. So this is also an unbudgeted
project um but uh we have been aggressive putting money into our EPA syncing fund until the last couple years um and it'll get budgeted to our maintenance account. One note is we replaced the other pump last June for
the tune of $28,700 and seven months later it's now $34,33. So >> same pump, >> same pump. 15 15 horsepower flight pump. Uh one only one quote with this project as well. All of our lift stations we uh
sort of put the Cadillac pumps in the flight pump which is uh is uh the best pump in the wastewater industry. Um but uh yeah, we're looking at about a 20% increase in 7 months on a bike like piece of equipment we bought uh back in June of 25.
>> This is for the pump and the labor, right? >> This is everything electrical. Yep. I'll make a po I'll make a motion to receive an order filed the quote from electric pump for the Bridge Street lift station pump in the amount of $34,33.
>> I'll second them. Thank you. >> We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. >> Opposed. Motion passes. Next item is purchase a Caterpillar 265
compact tracked loader. >> Yeah. Commission. The natural gas department is requesting uh to purchase a Caterpillar 265 compact track loader, also known as a skid steer loader in common parliament. The gas department staff has have been sharing a skid steer
with the water department um to assess the how they could utilize it and you know not to dive in right away and buying a new piece of equipment. Um they found it very effective in alleyways and small work sites which is their typical work location. Um this asset ensures the necessary equipment is always available
so they can maximize staff time when they need to be out there and minimize impact to customers. Um, with this purchase, uh, the gas department will have a backhoe loader, a compact excavator, and a skid steer loader to complete a a wide variety of tasks in house. And, um, if you're wondering what
that looks like, there's a picture of this skid steer loader in your packet. I'll make a motion to authorize the city manager to accept the state bid from Ziegler Incorporated for a Caterpillar 265 compact track loader in the amount
of 91,33.33. >> I'll second them. >> We have a motion and a second. Any more discussion? Those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. >> Opposed? Motion passes. Next item is the 2026 capacity sale.
>> Good afternoon, commissioners. Uh you see before your receive order file item. Um Hartland approached us several weeks ago about buying some of our excess capacity. We had excess in all four seasons. They were interested in five,
so we thought we'll sell five to them. We had an internal discussion what price to agree to. We just basically took an average of the last last year's auction over all four seasons and they came back with a number. We like I say negotiated with them and they came up with $6.50
per megawatt month. So it was a 23% increase over last year's auction. Um like I say the auction that capacity market is really a hot item right now. So we still have basically almost half of our other capacity left to go into
the auction come here end of March. So, um, I think it was a wise and it's basically hedging because you don't know exactly what the auction's going to do. It could be down, could be up considerably. We don't know, but I thought it was a good hedge to to do.
Any questions? >> Make a motion to receive an order filed the contract for the 2026 capacity sale to Hartland Energy in the amount of $390,000. >> Second. We have a motion and a second. Any more
discussion? Those in favor say I. Opposed. Motion passes. >> Thank you. >> Claims and estimates. >> I'll make the motion to accept the list of claims in the amount of 3,922,138.64.
I'll second. >> We have a motion and a second. Any more discussion? Those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. Opposed. Motion passes. Anyone have anything else?
Meetings adjourned.