recording in progress. We're um 559. We can go ahead and get started. Call the RMLD board of commissioners to order. >> Call the CP to order. >> Uh the meeting is being audio recorded, held remotely on Zoom, and live streamed
on RCTV. Um, RMLD Board of Commissioners recognizes the importance of hearing public comment at the discretion of the chair on items on the official agenda. Once recognized by the chair, all persons addressing the board shall state their name and address prior to speaking. It is the role of the chair to maintain order in all public comment or
ensuing discussion. Do we have any public comment? >> We do have a member of the public. It looks like um Sally Daniel. like to say something maybe just raise your hand on Zoom. Um
uh do we have any liaison to the board or cab in attendance or with any updates? >> Okay. Um it would you like to do brief? >> Yep. Um so Jason and Erica are
continuing to work on some draft materials and um I had I was unable to do the meeting on the 11th so we put it off. We'll schedule one in the next probably about the next month and bring a number of things in front of the policy committee but not any other details than that. It's kind of a
background task. Oh yeah. >> So I think um we're targeting August to come back with a more >> I I think so. But we are we going to have a meeting a full board meeting in August? So if there's no meeting in August, then we would do September. >> Yeah, I think so. Yeah. >> Okay. >> But obviously have to go through the I don't know how many rounds the committee
would want to have. >> Okay. All right. So maybe we just put placeholder if we have an August meeting or September meeting. >> Yeah. I would more likely September I would say just to be realistic. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> So actually on this matter Yeah. Uh David, one thing we have not discussed
is like most boards have nowadays have a formal AI policy and I know Jason and his team are working on how AI
should be handled. But as I've looked at I'm part of this policy subcommittee with Dave and others. It's something that we have not discussed in the past on and and it is
co considered a procedural matter and it's typically handled it was going to be handled as a procedure but at least what I would recommend and I don't know if the rest of the cab also feels I think AI is something that there's a
procedure and then there can be also a policy from a board so I think we would like to encourage RMLD to have a policy on AI and there'll be procedures that can be implemented. So I I think you know if you have any
thoughts Pam >> I I would agree with that. I think I know you're going to provide an update um during the GM update regarding this some of this work but I would just ask the policy committee to stay close and include that in the more detailed conversation um and plan to come back
with a recommendation there. So I think it'll be good for us to have a very visible AI policy and procedures. You can figure out what you want to disclose but as a policy we should be very public with our AI policy
>> hasn't come up until now. So >> no that's right David I just mentioned it's something we have not discovered Jason I know if you're doing something internally to whatever your thoughts about >> yeah my gym update I'm going to touch on what we've done internally for like an AI procedure um but there are parts of that I think we could peel off to give
to the policy committee to to have that discussion about what the policy should look like um and we'd have a good starting base for that something we could probably try >> hopefully quickly with the policy festival committee they may push off a couple other things if we want to get ahead of just so we can roll out this
procedure internally, make sure meets the policy that the board sets and the subsets and then we can roll out the procedure um fairly quickly. >> Okay. Um anything else on policy? >> Sorry, no robots.
>> Good luck with that. Um so we're gonna move to an IT update. Mr. health here. >> All right. So, hello everybody. It's uh this is John. You know, John Bit here. I'm the director of IT 2026 IT update. When I put this together, I
was just I pulled out some of the the more interesting uh topics that you know will be general general interest to to the rate payers and and the board. the next page. All right. So, the first topic is cyber
security tools and services. This is um something that we do very frequently with all the tools and services that we have. We take a look at the marketplace and and see what's out there, right? So um in the most recent case of that it's a a significant change from a vendor who
uh gave us you know good service and um for three or four years at least over four years since I've been here anyways and uh but we're still looking is there something out there better something that can give us a better dashboard that better features and uh we settled on one
and in this case it happens to be savings of $10,000 a year so all the better for us. Um, so we're going with that. But that's just the general best, you know, business practice. We look at, you know, what we're spending. Is there a way to get something better or, you
know, better features, better technology, to save money, any of those things, they come into play when we come up with a decision like that. And we follow the uh, of course, you know, the procurement rules. So, we're going to look at more than one vendor. And um, and that's that's just an example of that. That's the first slide. So the
next one I put in there because it's uh again it's it's money related. PC and cell phone prices have gone up about 50% because of of uh primarily because of memory. That's a global issue. It's not just our MLDD. So um in this particular
case though we benefited from our larger uh tech refresh finished in 2024 of all of our laptops. So now we're on a fiveyear cycle. So in this case we this year I think we bought uh eight or nine and five of those were for either new
hires or interns. So we don't have to look at a big expenditure uh at the at the current prices. So we benefit from that uh having been done in 2024. uh this year two of us attended the NEPA IT round table which interestingly
enough it that the many topics came up but one that was that's pertinent to the conversation we're just having is an AI policy and everybody uh that was there was in the same boat you know I know I've been working that you know worked with Jason on one on a procedure and uh
it's it's pretty clear I think it's it's a very good foundation and he'll he'll expand on that but uh everyone's in the same boat you know what do we do we don't want to stop people from using it but we have to protect our data in in the organization right so that's kind of
the balancing act and um I I think we have a certainly a good first step in that direction on that IC or OT networking tech refresh this is a another common uh issue if you want operational
maintenance item uh when equipment is no longer supported by the vendor you know you can't get patches you can't get software updates ates it's end of life you know it's has to be replaced so when those things are coming up we come up with a plan I work with with Jason and the other departments uh and say okay in
this case it's uh mostly engineering uh we have to replace all of those switches that are in the field so it's it is um that network so I mean it takes a lot of planning coordination because when you you're interrupting services on on the
ICO network so uh so far it's been going very well. Um we have some locations that have already been cut over. We have some more to do but that is uh that that's going along quite well. So for the MDM uh solution that is we've
been in the past we were doing a much more of a manual process for managing uh cell phones, tablets and those kinds of things and it it just becomes cumbersome. You know what I mean? It's it's it's it's very time consuming. Um, so we're going with an MDM solution which will help automate to some degree
that process. It'll give us some forensics and more cyber security capabilities and it's an efficiency gain for us. So we don't have to we have a automated system, we we can do it, you know, we can provision devices much more quickly. Something gets lost, we can
wipe it out. um it's just the it's just the way to go and it's just an improvement in the overall uh operation for IT AMI infrastructure support. So the part of for it is is was designing and building out the infrastructure along
with our vendors that are that are involved in that and then provisioning the VCs programming wise and then it goes to uh Peter's group and then through Peter to subsid Nick uh and they deploy them. So
right now about 50% of the VCs or collectors because that's what they are uh are in the field for the project. Uh that's going well and I don't know if Jason's going to give you an update on the meters but my understanding is the meters are going going very well as well.
So the next topic is the APA cap assessment. That's a third party assessment of a lot of it is like is NIST which is a framework for but a lot of it is uh cyber security focused right so it's one thing to do your own to you
know to have your procedures and to to look at your own work and say hey you know we're doing pretty good you go to um the NEP IT round table you can listen to the common problems and see where we kind of fit in what are we doing is it the same as someone else doing something we should be looking at but having a third party assessment
is uh is always a good thing. You know, it's not that you you're you're a rockstar, you stink. It's let's have someone else look at it and give the honest, you know, constructive feedback. So, that um has been submitted and we should be I don't believe we're supposed to be getting something around the
middle of June as far as a score goes. So, that that's done. Um the next topic is US cellular T-Mobile migration. So, we use cellular uh as far as it goes more than the way you think, oh, it's
cell phones. Well, we we use it for a lot more than that. We have uh secure private built networks, two of them that provide connectivity to one of them is is built out for the AMI infrastructure. So, if we don't have fiber to it, we're
going to use cellular. And the other one is for some switching equipment that we have uh all over our territory. So at the switching we have about I don't know 28 28 to 30 of them in the field and the uh on the AMI we have 22 or so so far in
the field. So those are going to be migrated to T-Mobile because T-Mobile bought us. So that's all been, you know, in in coordination with the two departments that'll be affected and of course the carrier, the new carrier, you know, to set up the infrastructure, get ready to roll them over. All the SIM
cards have to be changed out, but um you know, it's just something you we don't we don't have a lot of choice there, right? So we got to we got to get that done and uh we're in a good place. We're going to get the SIM cards and uh that'll be kicking off probably the actual roll out in the next 30 days or so.
And uh you know in closing, we have a lot of things going on. Um things are going well. I think uh for the most part we're we're not lacking for support from Jason or anyone else other the other teams. Um so I really uh have no
complaints but only good news. >> John, thank you. Um I think would be helpful when we get an update like this to know what that means in terms of how we are doing towards the
capital spent because here you say at a high level you know certain things are moving up and down. So, uh, are there any surprises in terms of what you budgeted and because like you're saying we we we had a budget at
the end of last in October and now the prices I guess are higher than what you had budgeted for. Is that correct? >> That that is correct. So, what I also uh said was that we because we we did a major tech refresh and we end up 23 into 24. So, we replaced all of our laptops,
right? So, and we just replaced our recently we bought our tablets. Uh, but because we did that, it's not like we're up against the wall and we have to buy 50 or 60 laptops at today's prices. So, we we benefit from that. And I will
adjust the budget for next year at, you know, at the current prices or maybe a little bit more. Hoping, of course, that the prices settle back to to a little bit, you know, back to normal. Uh but yeah, we we you know, we're okay with that budget-wise because we got the bulk
of it out of the way and we're not we're not, you know, under the gun kind of to order a lot of equipment this year. >> Okay. So So you have the budget to do what you need and but you're not going to do everything that you originally planned or >> No, no, no. We we have the budget to do what we need and because we're on a
fiveyear cycle, those devices that were bought in 23 24, they won't be due for five years. you know, so they they're not and we're not just do them all at once. And >> but the capital budget we build was for this year. >> Yes. Yes. >> Next month we'll have a next month's agenda to review both the operating and
capital budget of where we are to date versus what was budgeted for actuals. Um we'll give that update next month. Um but I think what John's trying to get at is even though those went up, we only had a few that we were planning on purchasing this year. So >> got it.
>> So it's on a rolling fiveyear kind of thing. we don't have to we don't have to replace them all. Anything that in 23 24 was not 5 years old was not replaced. So what was replaced was 5 years old and then the next you just keep rolling through and then of course if you have
new hires or or interns or need right then then we >> okay I have a question on cyber security >> it's something because I was out of the country it's something that impacted me. I'm just curious uh what is our policy
on access outside the US access of RMLD information outside the US if someone is outside the US is that blocked right now? >> Yeah. Well well we block we block those right and as far as far as an actual
policy around I don't think we've really had a request for that. Um, >> you mean like taking an RMLD device out of >> No, but like if even receiving emails like because I I couldn't receive emails and I couldn't respond when I was out of the country.
>> Oh, email. I mean, I I when you said access, I I was thinking you want to VPN in here, >> but that's not something we do. But, uh, email is I I thought we looked at the the country block. We have a country block for several countries and you were India, right?
>> Yeah. Yeah. And so that's one of them that was blocked. So, uh, I could talk to Jason and certainly we can we can look. >> Okay. Yeah. It's just that I I just want to know what the policy is. Yeah. >> Yeah. We don't right now we we don't allow it. So I I don't know if there's
necessarily a policy or a part of a policy that that references that, but if not, you know, maybe. >> But but there's some there's a practice that's blocking. >> Got it. All right. Thank you. >> But just more of a a comment. I know you're not responsible for AMI, you
know, with your group, but you you do the fan project with the AMI with Nick's group, >> right? >> Jason, we did get like a slide >> that has has like a a multi chart, right? How you doing, right? How many got in the total percentage, you know,
and some just some fun numbers, right? Tell us where you are, where you're at, you know, how many installs by type, res commercial, number of you purchased, right? I'm I'm ahead of the game buying them. I got this many installed. You know, we're looking at this. This is our run rate. You know, multi-chart, you know, number of fan units deployed,
right? I got this got this many in stock. I got this many programs. I got this many going out this month. >> You know, percentage of the total. This is where I'm at. You know, >> just some just some numbers in there. You know, you don't have to get go crazy on, but it would be it would be good to know because it because you you guys are
marching full speed ahead on that project and we could see the see the progress month over month. I I think it would be great great to see. >> So that's um a monthly tracker. >> Yeah. Yeah. A tracker. >> Maybe that could be part of the GM update each month. >> Okay.
>> Yeah. Just you know if you guys okay with monthly it could be bim monthly. It could be monthly. It's >> I mean we're moving quickly so hopefully seems reasonable to me. >> Yes. It just triggered because I know you guys have to build a fan. You got to program it. You got to put it out there. You got to test it. So that that's the
back. You can't go any faster than you can go. >> Right. Right. Did you have other questions? >> Thank you. >> Um, the topics that we have here, I'm trying to connect these to the goals that you might have for the function for the
year. So, like which which of these would you consider part of like your top goals? Um the IoT uh IST tech uh refresh networking tech refresh the MDM I believe is on there for a goal.
>> Uh the AMI infrastructure is a goal and I think I have the APA cap assessment and US Cellular. So maybe 60% of them. >> So are these green versus your objectives for the end of the year? Are there any that are at risk to achieving what I >> I don't see I don't see any that that
are at risk. When I when I gave my goals to Jason, I added like a section where I you know where I just between us that I said you know some things if I or my department has 100% control over right then then I can manage the risk. If I have to work with vendors or you know
supply chain that those kinds of things there's always that risk. So I just make a note of it which is not to say well if I don't make it then I'm going to point to it. No it's just sort of we we have a common understanding. Okay. Um, you talked about the changing of the cyber security tools and the cost
reduction which is which is great. How did you assess though the quality of the tool? Like is it the types of things that it catches the reports like the response rate? >> The I I looked at you know our current tool. I looked at the Gottner magic
quadrant. I said okay who's who's the leaders in this in this you know this particular tool set. I don't want to say what it is, but um I said, "Okay, then let's let's look at those products." So, we had a demo uh from the vendors first. So, we didn't we didn't go right to like price wasn't the necessarily the the
single biggest determining factor. So, we looked at the three different products and we said, "Okay, you know, what are the the pros and and cons of this? What is better? Are we getting what are we getting that is actually better than our current solution?" And what it really came down to is they were both comparable. They're both good.
That's why I said, you know, we've had good support and and the tool works. The difference is on the tool we have now, you really the amount of time that you have to spend to read the alerts because it's not like it's not a dashboard. It's not summarized to you. You have to go through it. It's just it's like a this
long string of text just boom here you go and you've got to sit there and you got to read them and understand them and break them down. Um whereas the new tool that's done for you for the most part you know they can they they give you a summary they give you a score of a rating a severity to you know to get your attention of you know what is what
is a what is critical what is not uh it's just a much more user friendly I think it's a you know it's an efficiency kind of gain for us as well and uh and that that was one of the big points >> um what other one the MDM so we as we're
think about the AI policy one of things that I think about is just the devices that are provided by RMLD and the different apps that might be allowed to be downloaded or not. Is the MDM tool going to give you visibility or does it currently give you visibility to like what apps on each of your devices?
>> What can be installed? Yes, it does. So, those will be those will be provisioned that they're purpose-built. They'll be locked down and those are workflows, right? So, you can't you know you shouldn't be installing you know you have to be able to install apps as you like to. you have to get a ticket come to it and if there's any question of the
of of it you know my typical question is what's the business need for this >> like what and if that's something that you can you can articulate and say there's a business need it's going to help me this way or that way this a conversation with Jason and then if it's something that you know we feel that that person >> can use and then we do the background to
check on it to make sure it's secure and it's safe to use then then we'll do it but in general those are locked down there's an image created and that's how you provision them all they're all the same Okay. So, and then on the devices that might have like access to email but that
aren't provisioned devices, do you have any visibility those like if somebody has Outlook downloaded on their phone and >> Yeah, >> that's that's that's one of the kind of areas that's a little bit of a gray area. Um because not everyone has a an
RMLD phone. >> So, and I know that people have not not Outlook, but well, they're using it's it's a cloud app, right? they're not using they're not using Outlook as a as you would think of Outlook use Office 365 to get to their email. So there's not they're not installing necessarily
like a like a Gmail client kind of thing. So, but um but I would say it's definitely something that that we should look at and if there's any the problem is for us is how do you control somebody's you know personal phone right that's that's the only kind of the balancing
act for us the same thing like with Duo most people are fine you put it on your phone but some people it's my personal phone you know they don't want Duo on I guess you you're getting an RMLD phone you know Okay,
>> other questions. >> Okay, thanks. >> All right, thank you. >> Appreciate it. >> DraftKings is out. >> Draftings not on your phone. >> Probably good.
>> All right, next agenda item will be marketing updates. Go. >> Nope, that works. Um, hi everyone. Melissa Jley, marketing manager. I believe I've met everybody, but if not, hello. Nice to see you all. Um, I'll give a quick overview and talk over some
highlight points and then give you guys a chance to ask some questions. Um, overall it's been a really nice and busy winter into spring. Um, a lot of finishing up of the logo roll out and the new brand updates. Um, adding some AMI education and updates and engagement
with the community. Um, promoting the key updates such as rebates and other pieces that happened over the winter. Um, we've also really really dove into a lot of the community events, coming different ways to connect, both attending pre-existing events, ones that we've done in the past, and introducing
some new ones, trying to expand a little bit further into Lynfield and Wilmington because we hadn't done as many of those in the past. Um, as well as um coming up with some um programs, re um workshops for uh CNI customers as well as residential customers that we can use then for models in future so we can
start to have the content ready and be able to plug and play those. So, not as much lift. So, it was a big part of the last couple months. It seems like on the outside sometimes the winter seems slow, but it's really not. Um, there's a lot of planning that goes into things like
the art contest um ceremony, which Pam and Bob attended. Thank you very much. It was lovely. Um, as well as the bike swap and some other big events that take a lot of manpower to get moving. Um, so I'll kind of tick through some of these. The highlighted ones channel up into some of Jason's goals that we've
talked about to make sure that we're touching on some of the pieces that he's responsible for. Um, and I know there's a lot of talk around goals, too. Mine trickle up into Megan's. So, I know you guys are with her on that, but most of what I do will support all of those. >> Yeah. Um, stuff that is is has been we
feel like is really strong completed. Updates on the website, the rates pages in particular, we reinvisioned those. We moved them. We made them much more customerf facing. Um, we're working on additional media for that right now. Um, looking at a kind of I don't want to say interactive because I don't want to overpromise, but at least an animated or
video type explainer of the bills and the charges and how they are just for people that are more um, sit and watch learners versus read learners. >> Yes, jump in there. I think the town did a an excellent job of um, putting together a video for the town budget this year. Um, I don't know if you saw
that, but um, that might be a great thing. I don't know if it's on the town website, but kind of breaking down for every dollar like where does it go and um and what does it cover that might be a nice >> Yeah, absolutely for communication.
>> Thank you. Um we also uh looked at updating as I mentioned earlier the um the rebates, the commercial rebates as well as the solar rebates and looking at promotions for those. Um we added two customer success stories, one um commercial and one residential. um with
a Wilmington business owner as well as a a running resident and have done some cross promotion of that. Um we've expanded the brand roll out to vehicles. You see the trucks around with a new logo out. Um we've done some additional
AMI education. Um updating the web page. We update it every time they expanded to new areas. We send we have an opt-in list for folks that want specific updates that we send a follow-up email to with the areas that we're installing. Um we have um prepped everybody that
attends events to talk about AMI as well as prepped customer service to respond to folks that call in and have questions. Um and we've come done a handy PDF and a handout that we can bring to events as well. So trying to make sure that we're as clear as possible. Um we've also did a social
series. um took some photos of luckily Mallerie on my team um her meter was installed so we targeted the guys there took some photos and a little campaign together and got a a lot of nice social traction that um the CNI workshop that I mentioned
happened in early January. We partnered with the IRD team. We had a small group of businesses but very engaged um and working on trying to enroll them in some of the commercial PDR programs and other incentive programs. And then we had a great residential workshop at the Lakefield Library just last month where
we had it was um a pre-register and it ended up with a wait list. Um we ended up with a full room, lots of really engaged. We went I think almost an hour over people asking questions. So it was really nice event and we'll use that format to host um an event in Reading in the fall at their library. Um and we're
in outreach to the Wilmington library and North Reading as well. We put those kinds of things on our board calendar maybe just to get visibility to it even if it's just like a little reminder that meeting invite
>> the the residential workshop with don't want to get too sidetracked with it but what were some of the main questions that people were >> sure the um original discussion with the library was to do a workshop around solar and we kind of doubled it up with solar and then resources in general. So
there were a lot of people that came in with installation around solar questions and how we can be involved, what incentives we have, recommendations we might um have for them and then a lot of people that led to questions around time of use um as well as peak demand. So it was a really robust conversation with
some very educated folks and then for our good measure we had a bunch of heat pump questions that jumped in after well if I don't do solar should I do a heat pump and so it was a really nice engaged. >> So so like more of those would be a good thing. It was definitely >> 100%. Yeah, I think um summer is a tough time because you don't tend to get as
much. I think we hit it perfectly in May right before people were starting to get into end of the year stuff um for schools and kids, etc. Um and we might we definitely have one on the books for running for October 5th, I believe. Um and then we'll look to see if we can get
into Wilmington maybe in September if we can get it in earlier, but use that same model. Um, currently right now we're working on some additional website updates, looking at other pages such as the Shred the Peak pages. They're in need of an update and a refresh um uh looking at the
analytics now that we at least have a couple months of live site and live tracking to look at. Um, we're continuing with the brand roll out um with signage. So, uh, looking at our payment boxes that are both on our campus here as well as out in some of the other towns. um looking at things
like the board sign out front, etc. Trying to pick off those little pieces that are left. Um the large building signage will be something that'll be a later date. I'm working with facilities about that. But I think that's pretty much towards the end of our list of brand rollout pieces, so we're in good
shape. Um event planning, we have our EV show coming up in August. It's August 23rd, so everybody can see the date. Uh already reaching out to dealerships. We have already got approval from the town of Wilmington. Um we are hoping to offer um test drives. We're waiting on the
town to sign off on that. Um and if that's the case, that'll be a new offering. Um looking at some additional webinars as I mentioned, we want to work on once we refresh the shred the peak pages on the website. We want to look at some education, maybe an on demand webinar around peak demand, etc. if that's on
our list. Um we are in contact with the North Reading and Reading Chamber to do a small business. Um, it's still in development, so I don't want to promise too much, but to do a small business offering in the fall. Um, we're deciding kind of how what the scope of that will be and how
many other organizations will be involved besides us. But whether it's a resource fair or a one-to-one workshop, but um, but they've been a great partner so far. Um, and continuing to try to grow social and um, share our platforms um, so I'm sorry, share our promotion um, for our
energy efficiency programs across events and other pieces. um what we're looking at as well as continuing the rest of that. I know it's a lot. Um we're still trying to button stuff up internally now that our today is the anniversary of Mallerie who's on
my team. So, she's been here a year. We really work very well together. She's been a great addition to the team. Um so, buttoning up our SOP is just our internal keeping us all, you know, on task. Um developing more customer resources. That's been a big conversation around what we do when we add a new customer besides just send
them an email. is there more that we could do to reach out to them and adopt them um or you know bring them on board as as to programs etc and start that connection um per discussions as well as looking at some of the demographics from our the survey that we did last year
we're exploring doing some I want to say targeted mail and print we don't want to mail 30,000 to all of our customers but at certain points maybe once somebody has gotten a rebate or whether when they join as a new customer those are smaller chunks should we be sending a packet or a welcome kit or other pieces like that.
So, those are all things we're investigating. Um, and then the fall workshops and events. Power week planning starts this month, believe it or not. Um, art contest prep starts in the next month. Um, and when working with the Ird team and the customer service team for a direct customer
follow-up. So, again, thinking about lowcost ways to when someone has an EV, um, they they for example, they get one of our EV rebates, what do we do next besides just send them the check? Do we send them more information about their time of use that they're now on and other resources they may have or could
access as a new EV owner? Are there other things that we can share as a good partner to build that trust relationship with them like that's a lot questions to comment? Thank you. I looked at the
websites and look nice. I mean I think you provided a lot more clarity around the bills, right? See, I think you've given two examples. One is the standard bill and one is time of use. And you
provided more clarity than there was in the past. Thank you. >> And we're going to continue to update that in particular. I feel like rates are a curious thing for folks that are not in our business. It's, you know, we see our bill, but we don't always know where it all comes from, and then we see the list of all the charges, and we
start to get frustrated. Um, so being able to explain that a little bit clearer and in customer speak, not our speak, would be is great. Um, we're looking investigating into things like rate calculators and things we might be able to embed into the website at some point. Right now there isn't anything. So again, I don't want to overpromise,
but is something we would love to do for our customers to be able to say um, and also to be able to we do offer when people talk to us about time of use, please call in. we can look at your your usage in the portal and tell you what you would be on time of use and whether it would be a good move for you or what you could do to make it a good move for
you. So, we do that very active. It'd be great if we had an online tool that would also do that, too. So, investigating. There's just unfortunately not a ton out there right now that's compatible with our website, but we're still we're digging. >> And I was looking at some of the links
also under AMI and I think you guys cleaned some of those up, but >> we did. We cleaned it. We added a kind of what to expect section. so that folks when they came on um we we do follow and monitor. We don't respond when people are com complimenting or complaining about stuff within social channels, but
we do watch and save and try to make adjustments to our communications based on that. So, um you'll see in the newsletter there'll be some more AMI information, a little bit more of a what to expect, um a link to the the PDF, some of those pieces, too. So on the AMI communication that's out
there, this is more like a question for Jason actually I think because you you highlight that parts of Wilmington and parts of Reading have AMI rolled out right now, right? and you you indicate which towns uh sorry which streets it's
going to be on and and and and maybe Bob did you ask a question about you know what's going to be the rest of it all out or that that was your question right >> yeah yeah yeah because because we we we can only go as fast as the backbone the fan backbone will allow you right so so
as they build that out so but you also at the same time want to know how many meters because you got you got to buy the meters you got to be ready yeah how many did you have installed you know are you staying and on track and they might slow down in the summer, they might speed up, but but all all those fun stuff just like a like a pace that like
I like slides with all sorts of colors up. I like a lot of reading. >> So So just some indication as to when will North Reading get stuff, when will Lynfield get >> Yeah. First we'll build out that dashboard that you'll have something for that next month. Um
and then whatever feedback we get, we can expand on it. Um, I'll talk to the team about how far out they've planned from where they are now. Um, and we can try to get as much visibility as possible. >> Okay. So, I don't know how you guys feel about, you know, because because right
now it's in Wilmington and it's in Reading. So, like North Reading and Lfield don't have coverage right now. >> Any other questions? Comment? >> No question. But yeah, could your team's doing a great job. I've enjoyed the quality of the stuff you cut out the week.
>> Sport we had for the bike thing certainly was very good and so yeah team's doing really well. >> Thank you. >> And you're everywhere. >> Yeah, everyone doing a great job of getting out there answering questions people have. Thank you for that.
>> The testimonials look good, too. >> Great. Yeah, we're working on another. We're looking at a small business one. I'm trying to um Bailey from the IRD team works on those in partnership with us. So yeah, it's been a nice team effort. >> Great. Thank you for the update.
>> Okay, we're going to move along to approval of meeting minutes. Yeah. >> First motion >> move that the RMLD board of commissioners approve the following 2026 open session
in its as presented on the recommendation of the general manager and the board secretary. >> Sorry. >> Yeah. >> That's the correct >> Yeah, that's correct. >> Okay. All in favor?
>> Move that the board of commissioners approve the following 2026 open session meeting minutes as presented on the recommendation of the general manager and board secretary May 19th. >> Second. >> Any discussion?
All those in favor? Motion carries 5. Okay. Um, so we are now going to move into executive session. So if you could please >> Yeah. Can you read it? >> Yeah. Move that the RMLD Citizens Advisory Board go into executive session
presenting to Massachusetts General Law C164 section 47D. Exemption from public records and opening meeting requirements certain instances under purpose number 10 to discuss trade secrets confidential or proprietary information regarding
activities information provided by municipal aggregator or energy cooperative and return to open session for the continuation of our regular session. >> Second. All in favor? >> I
>> All right. Move that the RMLD board of commissioners go into executive session pursuant to MGL 164 chapter 47D exemption for public records and the open meeting requirements certain instances under the purpose number 10 to discuss trade secrets confidential or proprietary information regarding
activities and information provided by municipal aggregator or energy cooperative as well as for the approval of executive session minutes and return to open session for the continuation of the regular session. >> Second. All those in favor I zero out.
Okay. Uh but we will be back to continue the agenda after conclusion of executive session. who's going to read it from the cab. >> So, we'll return to Okay, we're returning to regular session now.
>> Yep. Um, so just it exactly as written, but eight and 12 in the blank spaces. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, I think we're ready for
>> the move that the RMLD citizens advisory board recommends that the RMLD board of commissioners vote to accept the general manager's recommendation to execute a contract with NEC Brook Nuclear for Energy, including associated
certificates not to exceed 8 millatt hours. Sorry. uh ATC's in 2035 and 12 megawws around the clock in 2040. >> Second.
>> All in favor? >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> All right. move that the RMLD board of commissioners on the recommendation of the RMLD citizens advisory board vote to accept the general manager's recommendation to execute a contract
with next seabbrook nuclear for energy including associated certificates not to exceed 8 megawws in 2035 in 12 megawatts hours in around the clock in 2040. >> Second.
>> All those in favor? Motion carries 5-0. Great. Thank you. Okay. Uh travel approval. >> So um you know uh the NEPA you know conf
um oh I like um people to attend that that conference. Um we also have on here um both boards we invite both boards to attend the conference. I know sort of been in the past two motions to approve
the board to approve whatever >> estimated cost for this is already in the budget. >> Yes. >> Any questions? >> Okay. >> Any of you guys planning to attend? >> I'm planning to watch stuff.
>> I I welcome to No. Um, okay. Um, so this is just a board commissioners. So would you like >> Yeah, I'll read it. >> Thanks. >> Move that the Armad border of commissioners approved for Jason Smalls travel to and attendance at the
Northeast Public Power Association's annual conference to take place August 16th to 19th, 2026 at Margarita Resort, Cape Cod in Hyannis, Mass. All those in favor
motion carries 5. Okay. And then we have one for BC as well. Move that the Arby Border Commission is approved for all commissioners that are interested in attending travel to and attendance at the Northeast Public Power Association's annual conference to take place August
16 through 19, 2026 at the exciting uh and marvelous Margaritavville Resort Cape Cod in Hyenas, Mass. >> Second. >> Enthusiasm. We're on that. Second from board here. >> All those in favor? I
>> right zero planning to attend you are you are >> I'm not going to be able to >> make planning attending >> I'm going separately any
>> yes >> okay excellent okay so then we just need a motion from the cab on this >> motion Can you read it? I'll read the motion. Yes, please. >> It's on the top of the next page.
>> Yeah. Move that the RMLD Citizens Advisory Board approved for all board members that are interested in attending travel to an attendance at the Northeast Public Power Association annual conference to take place August 16th through the 19th,
2026 at the Margaritavville Resort, Cape Cod in Hyannas Bass. >> Second. Okay. >> All in favor? I thank you. Do you >> have update Jason? So for the update, I just want to start off the personnel update. Um I've
offered Patty Cameron the permanent, she was the active director of finance and accounting. I offered her the position um permanent for the director of finance accounting and she accepted this week. Um so it'll take effect next week. I just uh she's done a great job in the six months that I've been here. Um
really great job during her interview and we're happy to keep her on in that role. Just want to put that out there. Um next up, we have applied for a safety training grant that we're going to as part of the grant we're going to try to attend two different driver training
tech courses for all those that drive our multi vehicles. So one uh NEPA just created a defensive driving course the four course with the current site and um one of the benefits of that is they're certified with transplant committee and we get additional insurance if we have a
lot of people attend that so that training and then there's another uh training in control prevention training it's actually way um you kind of go to an old air force base and they teach you defensive driving techniques and a car at their speeds um to give you the sense
of what it's like. I I have actually I've done that training myself and it was one of the best dollar trainings I think I've I've been so get the grant. We'll use that money to help fund sending our employers to both of these because I think they're going to be slightly different in what
they kind of cover and uh help increase the safety overall our workforce. Um for our new station six in Wilmington, uh most of the steel structures are up, the 115 switches are installed. Um obviously the transformer
is there. The switch the switch secure is there. Um they've done some wiring between the switches and the control house. Um we're going to be attending uh we're going to have send an employee down to do some factory accept testing of the 113 KB breakers this week and next week depending on when they're
ready. Um so hopefully we'll be getting those soon. Um both petitions for both of the street as well as the duck being passed. And so that um the decid worked on it and should go soon. Um so we're
well on our way to getting that going and uh I think National Grid is going to start doing some transmission line work in the near future. Um so I think we're in good shape there. Um as far we've talked a lot about the AMI meter replacement project. We are now at about
6,800 meters replaced out of just under 32,000. Um so good progress. uh will fall off next month dashboard that gives you a little information but um it's been a lot of meters in place in a short amount of time. So it's um well uh the
cost of service study uh we have received some questions back from our consultant um to clarify a couple things. We're working to get those answers back. So they're definitely working on it and we're on progress to you know to be in that 12week time range which would put us in the end of July early August.
Um earlier we did talk about the AI procedure. So we did have one drafted that talks about what what AI use is allowed at RLD. Um what certain things you can use it for and what you can't use it for. Um certain things that might be blocked etc. Um we um based on the
feedback earlier, we will take that and um take the portions of it that are more policy related to procedure related and we'll get that over to the policy subcommittee for review. Be sure to get that policy going before we test on the ERP project. Um, we did have a a
request for a proposal out to bring on a consultant to help us walk uh work through the development of the RFP for the software as well as looking at our internal current internal processes, what our new processes might need to look like with newer software. Um, help
us project manage that once we award the software vendor and work us through the development, testing and implementation and post implementation phases. Those proposals were due last week. We got five proposals. Uh we are the proposal team is internally is currently
reviewing all five proposals and scoring to determine a short list of two to three consultants we want to bring in for interviews. Um and then uh once we get those in, we can start on the RFP project. Um we're probably not going to
make the July meeting for our bid to do that. Um, so if we do need if we when we end that um it's looking likely that we might need an oxygen um to be able to get that awarded. Uh we're going to do our best to get it for July. I'm not
saying that we won't, but um the proposals uh some of them were up around the 90 to 100 page uh range. So just to give people time to read all that um and be able to score it um they need a couple weeks to do that. So
Tim, go ahead. >> Have you heard any rumblings about a data center being considered for this area? >> Uh, not outside of like an uh article I where I guess I got mentioned at a Wington meeting. >> Yes. >> Um, outside of that I haven't heard yet.
>> Okay. What have you? >> Well, we built that new uh station up there in Wilmington and then forget the name of the company that moved out and they have a huge footprint up there and they just kind of be like, well, they just built a new power station. They got
this over here. So, >> they need the other one. >> Oh, that's just a grump thing. >> The substation's under cylinder construction, so we don't quite have that available yet. Um there is um like you said an industrial customer there that is looking to redevelop the
property. I that's all I know. I don't know the specifics of what they plan to do with the property and they got to keep buildings themselves and do something else but I I haven't heard if it's going to be data or a data center or not. Okay.
>> Yeah. So my question was about the ERP project. How long would that take to be implemented? Um I've read through three of the five proposals so far and they all have proposed schedules. Um I would say uh
they all have put out there um from when we bring them on board to go through all the subtle process about in 18 months to two years till implementation and go live. >> Okay. So, so our budget again this year would be like an Excel budget or something because last year I I I just
flag it because there were there were errors in the information that was shared with us. So So I just think just more eyes on it just I'm just looking at the budget because like you know >> if a person like me could find mistakes
you know I don't know what I'm missing. So, so just just please plan for, you know, and Patty was in the middle of that. So, just want her to know that. >> Yeah, we're um we're currently getting ready to go over uh the budget process
what that looks like and and where we can make improvements and and tweaks to make sure that we don't have that happen. >> Yeah, please just check all the numbers. >> What's ERP? I >> enterprise resource planning software solution. So a like a large software
that does financials um procurement um accounts payable accounts receivable time entry and then uh on the data centers there there are data centers around here you know they're not big like the ones out west
but uh I've been hearing about companies looking for spots to put data centers and like you said next to a brand new substation might be a place that they identify. And one company I was talking to was
interested in just uh office uh office parks with empty buildings and they would literally fill the building with processors. Uh so uh I think we should at least be aware
of data centers and maybe start to develop a data center policy and a data center type of rate >> because they could come in very quickly and then we need to buy a lot more power at
high prices. >> I I know Holio is dealing with a data center and it takes up a pretty significant chunk of the power commitment. I I forget what it is, but it almost close to half 40% of of the
power that the Holio is prepared to provide within their existing contract. So, it's >> wow. >> If it if it hits, it could be a big hit. >> The AI policy we need maybe about power consumption. Well, it's
talk about it's not just it mean you could get a large Amazon center with EV charging vehicles and you could be at 10 megawatts >> and and ju just like that you know think about that you're charging two 300 vehicles >> if they decide that. So it's more it's
more I wouldn't say AI it's a big big usage customer right what what are you going to charge and what are they going to pay right >> and and you got to figure out how you can supply them right so >> there is a gigantic new Amazon well
isn't there a huge new >> but that yeah that's not right on 62 >> yeah I just drove by the >> well a couple years old >> the other one in Wilmington they if Some some of those buildings are designed for all EV charging or
potentially could be all EV charging if that ever comes to fruition. Those things are you need a substation to fuel it. So, but it could it's a good point. Well, yeah, we definitely have to have to make it.
>> Any other questions for Jason? >> Okay. scheduling. No changes here. First, last >> August. And just remind what would the potential August date be if we do that?
Then I have a 16th to 19th for that that week. >> I think the 12th. >> Yeah, I'd say either the Tuesday the 11th or the 25th. September 15th. So that's a pretty early
September meeting and >> I'd prefer the 11th. >> So 11th >> probably 11th or 25th. Whatever works for anybody have a problem with the 11th. >> No. >> Are you scheduling this or is this just on?
>> It's 100 times a day. >> Yeah. >> If if we need it based on Yeah. >> that give you enough time. >> That should give us enough. So, um, just there would be a bit or two and then if there was anything else I could but it would be a my thoughts would be a fairly short meeting.
>> Okay. Be virtual if people need. >> Okay. Okay. Um, anything else on warrant schedule? Any concerns with those? Okay.
We'll have it ready to adjourn. >> Have a motion. Move that the RMLD citizens advisory board during the regular sessions. No. Roll call vote required. >> Second. >> Okay. All in favor?
>> We got IA. >> Bob Castle. >> I want move that the RMLD board of commissioners adjourn regular session required. want I >> thank you everyone.
>> Thank you. >> Recording stopped.