June 11-13 in Stevens Point
2008 MEUW Annual Conference: Time for a (Utility) Check-Up

Mark your calendars for June 11-13! MEUW’s 79th Annual Conference will be held at the Stevens Point Holiday Inn. This year’s theme is Time for a (Utility) Check-Up. Tim Blodgett of APPA’s Hometown Connections will make a four-part presentation on this topic. How would you answer the following question: “on a scale of 1 to 10, how is the health of your utility?” Join us and learn how to evaluate the core areas of your utility and listen to a case study from an MEUW Member who recently had Hometown Connections perform such an evaluation of their utility.

Thursday’s luncheon speaker will be new APPA President & CEO Mark Crisson, who will share his vision for APPA and insights into current industry issues at play in Congress and at FERC. The presentation of MEUW Awards will be interspersed into Thursday’s activities. These include the Pillars of Public Power and the MEUW Safety Achievement Awards, as well as the MEUW Management Certification Program graduate diplomas. At the MEUW Awards Banquet Thursday evening, we will recognize the 2008 Philip LaFollette and Don Smith award recipients.

The WUSA Trade Show and Reception will be on Thursday afternoon before the Banquet. There will be a special door prize drawing for Trade Show attendees. The Banquet speaker will be Dan Small, host of Wisconsin Public Television’s popular Outdoor Wisconsin program.

We have room blocks at the Holiday Inn and at the Holiday Inn Express across the parking lot ($85 single or double occupancy at both hotels). The room blocks will be released on May 12. To make a reservation at the Holiday Inn, call 715/344-0200. To make a reservation at the Holiday Inn Express, call 715/344-0000. Be sure to ask for the “MEUW” block to get the special rate.

Every MEUW member should plan to have representatives attend the Annual Meeting on Friday, June 13 (8:00-10:30 a.m.). Please arrange to have your utility represented at this year’s Annual Meeting.

The Conference registration materials were sent on April 11. For another copy, visit www.meuw.org/events.htm or contact MEUW Receptionist Shari Baumann (608/837-2263 or sbaumann@meuw.org). See you at the conference!

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APPA Washington Report
In Our Spare Time
By Robert Varela, Editor, APPA’s Public Power Weekly

Global climate change legislation and the need to reform the centralized wholesale electricity markets run by regional transmission organizations continue to be the 800-pound public policy gorillas confronting APPA (and the rest of the electricity industry). While those two issues demand a great deal of attention, APPA has a good deal more on its plate, as illustrated by its comments to 10 House and Senate Appropriations subcommittees on federal budget priorities.

The comments deal with a wide range of federal programs, from antitrust to Navajo electrification to renewable energy resources to nuclear waste to the federal power marketing administrations’ purchase power and wheeling programs and the Western Area Power Administration’s construction, rehabilitation and operations and maintenance program.

Of course, a number of APPA’s recommendations to Congress for funding relate to climate change. Topping that list is the recommendation to restore funding to the Department of Energy’s Renewable Energy Production Incentive program, which the administration’s fiscal 2009 budget zeroed out. Given the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the likelihood of a federal renewable portfolio standard, providing REPI with at least $5 million (the same amount as in fiscal 2008) would appear to be a no-brainer for Congress.

While it’s outside the purview of the Appropriations committees, the volume cap on Clean Renewable Energy Bonds (the tax credit bonds that nonprofit utilities can issue to finance renewable energy projects) should be eliminated at the same time and for the same reasons as REPI should be funded. Along with REPI, Congress created the CREB program to give public power and cooperative utilities’ renewable projects at least some of the financing advantages enjoyed by private power companies through the production tax credit, which has no cap.

APPA suggested increasing funding in fiscal 2009 for a number of other programs with climate change implications, including: DOE’s energy conservation and energy-efficiency programs; the Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star Programs and in particular the Green Lights program that encourages the use of energy-efficient lighting; research on distributed generation fuel cells; the advanced hydro power turbine program; the policy office of the National Climate Change Technology Initiative; and EPA’s Landfill Methane Outreach Program.

While supporting the administration’s increased budget request of $628 million for coal research, development and deployment, APPA said it is “extremely disappointed at the administration’s abrupt restructuring of the Clean Coal Power Initiative and FutureGen projects.” APPA urged Congress and the administration to work together to find an appropriate role and funding for projects that achieve the FutureGen goal of building the world’s first near-zero-emissions coal-fired plant.

APPA voiced support for two programs designed to aid low-income citizens, the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program and DOE’s weatherization program. “Our members realize the importance of having in place a well-designed low-income customer assistance program combined with energy efficiency and weatherization programs in order to help consumers minimize their energy bills and lower their requirements for assistance,” APPA told lawmakers. “While highly successful, these local initiatives must be coupled with a strong LIHEAP program to meet the growing needs of low-income customers.”

APPA called on Congress to appropriate $5.1 billion for LIHEAP in fiscal 2009, which would be the highest amount ever authorized. Expressing disappointment with the administration’s proposal to eliminate the weatherization and state and community energy conservation programs, APPA recommended funding the programs at or above previous levels.

To help rural communities, Congress should fully fund the Rural Utilities Service’s Broadband Loan Program and restore funding to the broadband grant program, APPA said. Broadband access is vital to economic and educational development, enables advanced health care and contributes to the quality of life in rural areas, APPA told Congress.

Funding for the White House Council on Environmental Quality should be raised, APPA said, noting that public power utilities “have experienced a general lack of consistency in federal government regulation, particularly involving environmental issues.”

Now, back to those 800-pound gorillas…

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Legislative Session Ends with a Whimper; Elections Looming on Horizon
By Scott Meske, MEUW Associate Director

A strong mid-term governor, a split State Legislature, and election year jockeying combined for a perfect political legislative storm. The result? Watered down compromises and grandstanding with very little substance for Wisconsin residents.

It’s difficult to measure results in terms of sheer numbers, but in the end, here’s a snapshot of what the Wisconsin Legislature did during the 2007-08 Session.

There were 225 laws enacted, including the budget bill and one full veto (AB-676, disclosure of juvenile court records), three bills with partial vetoes (SB-40, the budget bill; SB-39, lapsing certain funds; and, AB-207, regulation of cable TV and video service providers). One bill has been enacted as a result of the January 2007 special session (government accountability board). There were 1544 bills introduced in the regular session (573 bills introduced in the Senate; 971 in the Assembly).

MEUW is an active participant in the State legislative process on behalf of its members and communities. Here’s a “scorecard” of how MEUW’s issues stacked up.

MEUW weighed in on 24 total bills. Of those, MEUW supported ten, seven of which were signed into law, while three died in committee. Four bills were opposed by MEUW. One of those (SB207 – Video Competition Act) was signed into law with partial vetoes, and three died in committee. MEUW monitored or registered interest on ten other bills, one of which became law (SB179 – Consolidated Water bill), while the other nine never made it out of their respective committees.

Some issues like municipal telecommunications were not on the active list; however several telecom related bills were monitored on behalf of the MEUW Community Broadband Group. Many times MEUW is asked to sign on to legislation to support the broader causes pushed by our allies in Madison, the Wisconsin Alliance of Cities, the League of Wisconsin Municipalities and others.

The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin is the regulatory agency that oversees many of the operations and functions of our electric (and water) utilities. MEUW works with PSC Staff to ensure orders issued by the Commission are not detrimental to municipal utilities. We regularly participate in stakeholder meetings when “munis” need representation.

We are currently monitoring or participating in sixteen separate PSC dockets ranging from large issues (global warming task force issues) to individual utility stray voltage dockets.

Each month the MEUW Legislative and Regulatory Committee members receive an update on both legislation and PSC docket activity. Spreadsheets listing the bills or dockets and updates are shared with Committee members to help determine MEUW’s positions or activity levels on each issue. These documents are available for MEUW Members to share with governing board members and officials in your community.

If you would like a copy of the latest tracking spreadsheets, please send an email to MEUW Associate Director Scott Meske (smeske@meuw.org).

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Participation Reaches All-Time High
2007 MEUW Safety Achievement Awards

Congratulations to the thirty nine MEUW members who will be recognized at the 2008 MEUW Annual Conference in Stevens Point in mid-June as recipients of the MEUW 2007 Safety Achievement Award, for achieving a total safety score of 100 or above for 2007. These utilities and their worker hours are listed below:

     Class A Utilities (10,000 annual worker hours and below): Barron, 6,791; Boscobel, 7,784; Brodhead, 8,835; Clintonville, 8,320; Columbus, 9,143; Cornell, 2,300; Cuba City, 4,298; Eagle River, 8,320; Elroy, 4,853; Hustisford, 4,416; Juneau, 4,962; Muscoda, 6,421; New Glarus, 6,240; Oconto Falls, 8,320; Pardeeville, 5,381; Prairie du Sac, 8,853; Rice Lake, 8,612; Waterloo, 6,404; and Westby, 4,218.

     Class B Utilities (10,001 - 20,000 annual worker hours): Algoma, 18,636; Arcadia, 12,480; Cedarburg, 17,767; Elkhorn, 11,000; Fennimore, 10,400; Florence, 11,725; Kiel, 11,493; New Holstein, 13,526; New Richmond, 15,482; Reedsburg, 17,285; Richland Center, 14,876; River Falls, 19,713; Shawano, 15,797; and Sturgeon Bay, 17,985.

     Class C Utilities ( 20,001 annual worker hours and above): Kaukauna, 21,651; Manitowoc, 38,345; Menasha, 50,697; Oconomowoc, 30,896; Stoughton, 25,732; and Two Rivers, 20,092.

In its ninth year, the MEUW Safety Achievement Award is a voluntary reporting system that MEUW developed to recognize safety achievement and to encourage pro-active safety activities. This year, 67% of the MEUW membership (55 members) participated by filing reports, an all time high. We encourage all MEUW members to participate each year, even if injuries have occurred. It helps us track particular injury trends, which then allows us to target particular training areas in the future.

A safety score of 100 or above is an achievement to be very proud of. It takes hard work and commitment from the employees on the job site watching out for one another, following safety rules and safe work practices – every day, every job. It also takes commitment from the utility management and governing board to provide the employees with the equipment they need to do the job safely, the training to maintain or improve their skills and knowledge through regular participation in the MEUW Safety Program, seminars and workshops, and the time and effort to promote pro-active safety practices.

This Award is actually very small in comparison to the real benefits these utilities experience. Their employees are on the job doing their job each day. When their experience and knowledge is not on the job, it affects the utility from top to bottom. Another advantage is morale. This is one of those values that is hard to quantify, but employees that work in a safe work environment feel valued and thus tend to be more productive and happy with their job. Lastly there are monetary savings. When employees are injured on the job it may cause the employer to contract out or delay the work that the injured employee was needed to accomplish. In addition there are unplanned costs associated with personal injury and property damage and the fact that workplace injuries often cause Workers Compensation premiums to go up.

The 2007 MEUW Safety Achievement Awards will be handed out at the 2008 MEUW Annual Conference in Stevens Point (just before the Luncheon on Thursday, June 12). If your utility is listed as a recipient, please be sure you have a representative at the Conference to accept the award for your utility. This will be a great photo opportunity for your utility to record the presentation of the Award, and issue a press release to run in your local newspaper to highlight your utility’s achievement. If you need assistance with preparation of a press release, please contact Linda Olson at the MEUW office.

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June 11 in Stevens Point
Plan to Attend 6th Annual Municipal Telecom Seminar

In a “pre-conference seminar” fashion, MEUW will host the 6th Annual Municipal Telecom Seminar on Wednesday, June 11 from 2:00 p.m. to approximately 4:00 p.m. The seminar will be held at the Holiday Inn and Conference Center in Stevens Point, the location of the MEUW 79th Annual Conference the following day.

Technology, regulations and the players in the broadband industry have seen massive changes in recent years. Since 1999 the MEUW Community Broadband Group has monitored and participated in broadband issues at the State and Federal levels. This annual seminar helps to keep MEUW Members informed, and offers an opportunity to discuss the issues surrounding the telecommunications, cable television and broadband industries.
This year’s seminar will feature discussions of the FCC’s recent decisions and their impacts on local governments. Also this year, we will learn about the only broadband over powerlines (BPL) project in Wisconsin (on Washington Island), discuss the latest broadband technologies, and hear legal and legislative updates.

The Seminar is free to Annual Conference registrants ($25 for others). Registration information was sent out with the MEUW Annual Conference registration materials on April 11. If you need another copy, visit www.meuw.org/events.htm or contact MEUW Receptionist Shari Baumann (608/837-2263 or sbaumann@meuw.org).

We look forward to seeing you in Stevens Point for the MEUW Telecom Seminar in June.

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Nomination Deadline is Tuesday, May 20.
Now Accepting Nominations for 2008 MEUW Awards!

Now is the time to nominate a Mayor, City Council Representative or Utility Commissioner for the Philip La Follette Public Official Award. Consider nominating someone who has significantly contributed to the betterment of public power for the Donald Smith Distinguished Service Award. The Pillars of Public Power continues to be a very worthwhile program for MEUW.

There are four categories of Pillars of Public Power Awards to better recognize more commissioners and local officials. You may nominate someone for the Bronze level (10-19 years service); Silver (20-29 years service); Gold (30-39 years service); or the Platinum level (40 or more years). Please remember that recipients of the Pillars of Public Power Award must be nominated each year. This confirms that the person remains a governing board member.

All award recipients will be notified by mail should they be selected to receive an award, so that they may make adequate preparations to attend the MEUW Annual Conference in Stevens Point on June 12, 2008.

MEUW Awards criteria and nomination forms were sent to your utility on April 11. The nominations deadline is Tuesday, May 20. If you need another copy of the materials, contact MEUW Receptionist Shari Baumann (608/837-2263 or sbaumann@meuw.org).

If you have any questions about the forms, process or nominations, please contact Scott Meske, MEUW Associate Director (smeske@meuw.org), or Linda Olson, MEUW Office Manager (lolson@meuw.org).

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