Common Council - Special Meeting

Good. Call the special meeting of the common council to order. Please rise and join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic nation.

Would you take the role please? Mayor Hughes here. Councelor Bond here. Councelor Evans here. Councelor Strat here. Councelor Talon here. Councelor Manette here. Councelor Colleen here. Um, first item on the agenda is any prepare for public comment. This is about this is about the meeting. So for the agenda items nothing you don't want to speak. I thought you wanted to talk about the Yeah, I got I don't have a public note.

Okay. No other public comment for tonight's agenda. Okay. Um, next will be uh motion to remove 7.61 from the table. Moved by councelor Bond. Second, councelor Evans. Roll call. Councelor Bond. Yes. Councelor Evans. Yes. Councelor Strat. Um, we're just voting to remove it all. Yes. Councelor Manette. Oops. Council Tren. Yes. Council Vanette. Oh, yes. Council Colleen. Yes.

It's off the table. Item 7.61. Authorized agreement for the sale of Niagara Project Fullale Power and Energy with the New York Power Authority. Moved by Councelor Bond. Second. Councelor Abbott. Discussion. Eric is here as well. Yeah, we have Eric Bowers from uh NIPO who is present. Um if anybody has questions for Eric or anybody else? Um can I ask the simple question? Yeah. If we say no, what happens? Yeah, we fine. I'm gonna let Joel actually we have Eric Bowers and we have Joel I think would be the two. Joel is our department head and

that's a valid question. Not sure. It would be this continues that long-term agreement with the New York Power Authority. If we don't agree, that's not sure what would. So, would it be possible that we're not in the preferential group anymore and we'd have to go buy power off the open market at whatever crazy amount it is? Is there an estimate for what that Joe? Is there an estimate for what that this time? It's going to be higher than what we're used to, right? Okay. Would it be higher than what this is being going to be raised? More than likely, yes.

I have to I'm sorry. My hearing is functioning malfunctioning.

Any other questions? No. And I I you know, could it be much higher? None of us potentially potentially we're talking about you know a 300% raise in how much the cost and power is to the state enjoy to continue enjoying the preferential power table right then this would be like it would be an increase but perhaps maybe not as much like um I think some were saying maybe some bills would be like maybe a dollar or$2 dollars more a Maybe depending upon your usage, that's okay.

Yeah, you gota prepare for it. The mayor has done an excellent job getting the word out and it was private last year or last week was wants to get more information. I am in favor I am not in favor of any increase of anything this point. I mean this couldn't become a worse time but you know folks are hurting in the city of Plasburg and I understand that one thing is that we cannot lose the hydro power. um that that you know I've sat through so many of these meetings and listen the only person that had the power to do this was the governor. She approved the rate increase. They were at $51 million in in debt and that debt was forgiven. If you look at the uh last year when it came up I mean this has been a two-year process. This isn't this this just didn't start. Last year it was uh quite a bit higher,

a lot bigger increase and it was over a four-year period and we had to pay the 51 million back. This year they forgave the 51 million and cut the percentages back and they phased it in over a six year that was for the NUA which doesn't make it easier. I mean there's people that are hurting out there right now and um I feel horrible about this but in the same token we can't lose our hydro power. I mean uh 2014 is the last time they raised the rate. We expect after the six years right of steady slow increase

they have in their structure the 25 million deficit when they hit that that'll trigger a cost of service studies and then it'll stop. So there are other municipalities in the area that have to do this. Have do you know Have any of them taken this up yet? You know, I believe they have. That was Jim Stokes was invited, but he wasn't. He's the chair of the NUA. All the munisies have to approve this to continue on and it's all in front of all the village boards. Everybody's similar to us. They're we'll do the same thing. So, what if says no? Yeah.

That's that was brought up to Mr. Stokes and he was uneasy about it. He didn't know the answer. Mr. Where did the answer live? Until April 1st happens and somebody isn't participating in it, they're going to find out. So, we could vote yes on this and then say another m municipality votes no and it's still possible that rates could go onto the open market. No, we're in that agreement now. We've agreed with the power of Okay. Yeah. All right. Yeah. But we would be okay if we approved you. Or that's what we would be. Okay. Yeah. Some I mean Rous's Point I think is one the closest one, right?

Rouses Point, Lake Placid, Lena, Ter Lake, right? So even if they vote no and we vote yes, we'll still get that preferential. Okay. Okay. Yeah. 51. That had me worried there. 40 49 municipals and three co-ops that 47 and four. 47 municipals four. You got Steve. Steve is on the line. I keep calling him Steve. I apologize. I was calling him. I've talked to so many folks. I apologize. But again, this is much better than what we were presented what nine months ago.

It was better. It's still an increase. I'm I'm not I'm not going to downplay the fact this is the same agreement that Mr. folks came up at the PMLD board meeting uh October 30th and in the open market they can change their rates indiscriminately or is there a structure for that? I believe there's a structure, but we've enjoyed our preferential power, right? I'd like to keep I was gonna say that's I was someone else. So, just to be clear, a yes vote means that we have incremental raises for the next six years, correct? Hydro power till 2040. Okay, this puts us 20 to 40, right? So, that's what a yes vote,

correct? A no vote means that we get put onto the open market and the rates will be greater than what we're voting on. There's certainly a risk for that. Potentially that could happen. Yes. But there is no So it's either you either roll the dice and take that risk or vote yes on this. At least people can plan and have an idea of what the rates will be, right? Is there a percentage? I know it was put out there at Lumber Point, but is there any way you tell us the percentage? We're just from like in a dollar wise every 3,000 kilowatt hours that views I think it was like it's going to go up six for 3,000

for 3,000 in the summer. You should use less than that. In the winter some months you might use more than $6 for every 3,000 kilowatt hours. Okay. The average home plaster use is that about So Joel, if so, let's say we did do enough, would we have to do any mechanical changes to get power in because those are St. Lawrence one, two, and three. It's not coming off there. Do you have to do something different? It's still going to go through the power authority substation. Okay. Uh they would not have to honor these rates. And there's the road.

That's That was a big one right there. We're going to go through the power authority substation in Beacon Town and then that's where the meter is. Yeah. In the in the ISO, the open access transmission tariff. Uh Platsburg is listed as a direct connect um customer of the power authority.

That's they don't have to honor those rates. like keep it on the lower end of any kind of increases. So I mean just Eric Yes, Mayor I did it right this time. Um, now if we did happen, let's say somebody doesn't, what would your I know it's a tough question, but what would happen on April 1st if somebody doesn't?

Um, my my best answer to that would be that you do have a contract in place. um we would likely have to pass along the existing rates, but we would capture uh exactly what you would owe under the new rates because as people sign on um those would be passed along to those customers that do sign. But eventually, as Joel mentioned, if this continues on, then we would have to discuss uh what the future looks like. And that could mean up to and including um Platsburg not being a u what's considered a preference or cost-based uh customer.

Okay. So, wait, did I just I'm not sure if I heard it right, and I want to make sure. So, new customers, let's say I'm I'm in the process of buying my house. I buy it and I become a new customer. So, no, I you know what I'm gonna say. Well, and it's not you're a City of Plaster customer. When he talks about a customer, he's talking about the entire Oh, okay. All right. I thought he meant independent. Sorry. Sorry. All right. No, that's fine. That's fine. Yeah. Okay. It's the bill we get from the power of the I like that better. And that's awesome. What they charge us is going to get capacity. Okay.

And this doesn't change at all the structure with like crypto and right array still is in place still in place. And that would still be in in place if there was a no vote. Correct. Yeah. This doesn't impact anything on how you bill your enduse customers, your residents or the businesses within your system. It's just how we charge the municipality. So we haven't received a rate of increase since said 2014 2014

from NIPA. The city of Platark has not changed our rate since 2009. So, it's easy to feel like it's, you know, a sudden increase. And, you know, had it been happening all along, we would have felt it more slowly, but they're keeping up with they're keeping up and they didn't hit that 25 million deficit to trigger a cost, right, rate analysis. Gotcha. It's usually what does. Can you go into a little bit why this is happening again?

Eric, I'll let you answer that. Okay. Um, basically as as Joel mentioned, um, we have this rate stabilization reserve. Um, as mentioned, we haven't had a rate increase since, uh, it was 2011. Um, but it was a phased in rate increase just like we're proposing now. Uh, so the last rate increase was in 2014. Um, between 2014 and and approximately 2023, uh, we were able to keep the, uh, rate stabilization reserve balance within that $25 million band. Um, the increases in operation and maintenance, administrative in general, and uh, the capital expenses. Uh uh one of the big projects that we're undertaking now is NextGen Niagara to make sure that the Niagara plant um is operational and and remains efficient uh well through the license period for the current plant. Um so all of those combined um led to at the end of 2024 a $51 million uh rate stabilization reserve balance uh which kind of dictates that we need to move forward with a rate increase and with that nextg Niagara project um I think through 2024 we've spent about $200 million. It's a $1.1 billion project. So, um, to make sure that customers like yourself have, uh, even though it's a rate increase, uh, it's still very low cost costbased power, um, well into the future, these investments are are necessary.

Yeah, for sure. You're modernizing a whole program that's way outdated from what I understand. in keeping up with the state trend of electrification of state.

Any other questions? I have nothing. Thank you, Joel. Thank you. Thank you, Eric. Thank you. Oh, and thank you, Eric. No problem. Call. Councelor Bond. Yes. Councelor Evans. Yes. Councelor Stra. Yes. Councelor Talon. Yes. Councelor Manette. Yes. Councelor Colleen. Yes. Hear it.

Item 7.66. Authorize election of a city enterprise resource planning ERP system proposal. Councelor Saline Segi, Councelor Manetti. Discussion, two representatives from Oakland Go City in the back of the room tonight. If anybody has any further questions,

my only question was, did everybody get a chance to drive the the machine? So, are you okay with it? Were you able to answer all the the weird things that come up? Right? Because it was a great uh presentation. Thank you for that. Um, and I think on a high level, it was very good. It's very user friendly, but I wasn't sure that there was time for all the departments to actually go through and answer the the weird things that come up, right? And and the workarounds that might be baked into some of your software and programming. Did

we were able to meet with Jack today and this play certainly is a new parking lot to see if they were able to do it. One concern was they do not have an electric utility at this point. City of Glass would be diverse if that's fair in New York.

In New York and more than willing to come up with the development of what we need to be successful. Certainly, we're sure of that. And that's not to say that not familiar with utility billing. I think that already water counties around different cities and software set. So we're developing an electric utilities customer in Florida and that means so that's before we're anticipating things. What was the what was the cost savings that we came up? What was the cost savings that we came up with when we moved to this software and eliminate the others?

If we were to look at everything else, which is still questionable, it'd be like 20,000 a month 25,000 a year. dramatic cost, but there's ancillary cost benefits to doing this. Correct. Meaning the workflow is is made easier. I was Yeah, that's what I mean. I've spoke I spoke with a couple of the managers and I can tell you one is extremely ecstatic. Julie is 100% on board. She was happy with the way

no one realizes what we've gone through with trying to the long and it's just going to get worse. Right. Right. Because they're going to keep on moving to new fixed versions and eventually we're going to lose our credit card virtually because of it. Yep.

And probably like 50 cases here and you know those go into development black and there's a constant response to us. of that and so we're working around with this positive 5% more year software and it's not fully integrated it's not database where all screens are pulling up same information you have to go from screen to screen to look through that's what she was saying she's yeah

these fellas have a product we've studied along with four others and they're the best choice this process has almost what six months that we've been looking at different programs. So this isn't something that was done over two days since last month. And how many different programs have we test drove? We looked at five specifically workbooks and but there was more than they didn't have all the options that you needed and all the authorization. It's just another step to bring Platsburg a little bit closer to up to date.

Last week was out of the dark age. Yes, out of the dark ages were so archaic in so many different aspects and this is just gonna I'm I I granted people don't necessarily like change but when it's this kind of change it it needs to happen. So and the options of the air department they can use them or not but certainly anybody that does take advantage of it is going to see the efficiencies of the game. Yeah, it seems that it's very configurable and that we can make it suit certain departments that have their own scheduling software and time management and then move them over eventually and then eliminate what they have for software currently. I pretty sure that can happen.

You have any specific questions or the experts? It's Jack and Eric. They're here to answer any questions and talk about the system like anything that you want to do? I think the twohour demo was I mean it was very thorough. So I sat through that and that was pretty good. Do we have to pay for the the software you're talking about um Jim for the the ones that they're using right now is that an additional cost that like I don't know if it's fire or police like whichever department but excuse me we have to continue to pay that while we roll this out. Yes. Um and we want to they're going to drive next to each other while we figure out the bugs. Yes. Okay. Right. And both you almost have to

there's an implementation schedule in the proposal. take a look at it for us coming first the anticipation of city general ledger and budgeting modules and maybe accountable up quickly April May June time frame this year so we can start to budget this before and then you know come first we'll be operating in this as a sep which will be interface to capture the accounts and both of the other softwares since she already mentioned the two departments they can interface those softwares can interface right now with yours and right into payroll

yeah you're speaking the first student fired correct correct I didn't bring it up she did but right yeah and of course we have unions so we have to go through all that process with the unions with going to time management you know that it's going to take some time I think so Chief Dr. Julie, did you try it out?

I unfortunately was not. I attended 25 minutes. I got pulled up. I had some very clever people said that you short questions customize what we need. We'd like to still kind of play around if it's efficient for the city, it's sufficient for us. Thank you. Any other discussion? Good. Roll call. Councelor Bond. Yes. Council Evans. Yes. Councilor Strat. Yes. Councelor Talent. Yes. Councilor Manette. Yes. Councelor Pauline.

Yes. Carried. Item 7.67 67 Establishing Catherine Province H511.15 2026 enterprise resource domaining ERP system move by councelor Evans second councelor Bond discussion roll call council von yes councelor Evans yes yes councelor talent yes councelor man yes councelor

yes carried Any other public comment this evening? No other public comment this evening. Um, with no other public comment, I have no reason for executive session. I will entertain a motion to adjurnn. Councelor Bond and Council. Roll call. Councelor Bond. Yes. Councor Evans. Yes. Councelor Strat. Yes. Councelor Palen. Yes. Counc. Yes. Counc. Yes.