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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1970-09-21 Town Council Minutes`IINUTES OF BOATED OF TRUSTEES SEPTEMBER 21, 1970 The meeting was brought to order by Mayor Dobson at 10:15 A.M. 0 I. ROLL CALL: Present: Tod Anderson Dick Bailey t+avor Dobson John Donovan Clay Freeman Dr. Steinberg, Others: Clarence Hoper, Consulting Utility Engineer Stan Bernstein II. Letter to William Lucas was approved with possible revisions by J. Donovan. III. ELECTRIC UTILITY ACQUISITION: Mr. Hoper's preliminary report was occassioned by the fact that Vail is now a second class town and that the single transmission line is inadequate. r4r. Hoper stated that there was difficulty in obtaining detailed billing data from Holy Cross. Holy Cross has computer billings for all accounts for the whole year, but there is no projection in the reports. Mr. Hoper will not ao beyond giving pure facts and figures; he is an engineer, not a promoter. ter. Hoper stated, "This is presently already publicly owned by the RE:A. The ownership should be invested in the Town of Vail based upon availability of information. A pro- jection would be desireable." As stated by Mr. Hoper, we have one major problem: If we decide at this time to take on this venture, our major problem is power supply. T1r. Hoper had two suggestions: 1) take a look at future operations; 2) concentrate on an adequate power supply. Mr. Hopes also stated that Holy Cross could not be approached regarding the acquisition of electricity from their association. No negotiations can take place until we have made the decision to take "ail. There is a letter from Holy Cross to Clarence Hoper stating that thev will build a 138,000 transmission to the Vail Substation and will change a 60,000 line to 128,000; then with a double line, we should have good. service. The present facilities are inadequate. There is a very real need to acquire duplicate transmission. Holy Cross is our supplier. We can not buy power from Holy Cross until we have a duplicate line. PUC will want to know how we have not had good service. Records are not available from Holy Cross. As records must be gotten as soon as possible, some- one should write down a definite outgoing record until meters are installed. PSC of Colorado is another supplier. PSC would have to bring power in from Gillman Line. We would be on a single line, but duplicate service could and should be secured. Holy Cross duplicate service is brought in from Avon. A public service can be duplicated by Holy Cross. In addition, Per. Hoper stated that on a previous meeting with t'r. Brookour, Vice -President of Public Service, that Mr. . Brookour. regarded Vail as Holy Cross's territory. Mr. Hoper stated his disagreement and said that transmissions can be brought in if we choose to do so. We must convince Holy Cross that we are dis- engaging. This whole problem is in the hands of the Board of Trustees. The involved engineers will supply any and all facts and figures needed, i.e., Aspen is buying from Public Service, not Holy Cross; Glenwood is buying from the Bureau of Reclammation. Bureau power should be available to us. We could offer Public Service a franchise but first we would have to acquire power from the REA, financed by revenue bonds. Mr. Hoper said that he would write a feasibility report. Because of economics and better service, Mr. Hoper recommended the distribution of electricity on a municipal level. If rates are equitable, it would just be another revenue source. Operation of the electric business is only as difficult as the quality of competence of the man in charge. F'r. Hoper recommended strongly that we purchase electricity. If we sell outside town, we will become part of the PUC, but we should try anyway. If we took over Vail's elec- tricity, REA is still obliged to serve the outside areas. Mr. Hoper then gave a background of the Bureau of Reclammation. the Board of Reclammation has been building hydro - plants for years. They needed steam standbys and backups and they interconnected with PSC. The Board of Reclammation wanted to build some steam plants to backup hydropower. The Board of Reclam- mation was originally started to give farmers hydrowater. If they put steam plants in, they would then become primary power, not secondary. REA was permitted to build steam plants to break up the monopoly of.the private uti.lities.These plants are all over the country and are built by super co-ops. The Hayden Plant sells some electricity to REA and some to PSC. The bulk of power that REA gets in this area comes from the Board of Reclammation. REA has an atomic plant in Plantville, north of Denver. r4r. Hoper restated that all he will be bound by are the figures he gives us. No cost for a feasibility study were given. Gie are not in a position to set bonds until we know how much our wholesale electricity cost will be. We should take a look at a projection of Vail's operation. We should get a quote from PUC; however, their report will be based on 1969 operation. In order to get power from REA, we need an accurate record of lack of ser- vice for possible needed friendship at PUC. Mayor. Dobson then voiced his_ opinion as to his understand- insq of procedures. 1. Decide whether we want to buy public service. If the de- cision is affirmative, we should get pertinent information from the community and state, i.e., Ft. Collins and Colorado Springs: Part of the policy is the basic feasibility of power search. We do not want to get caught buying without sufficient power source. Mr. Hoper voiced his desire to take Mr. rhinger to sit down and talk with the Board of Reclammation after we have made the decision to buy. 2. Pursue the acquisition as far as cost is involved. Then check our financing., bond situation, and time table. 3. A future projection of operation will then be in order. The final feasibility report will be based upon actual cost of system and purchase of power, coupled with pro- jection. In Vail, any projection by Mr. Hoper will be based on present conditions. IV. JEEP PARKING DURING VAILFEST: It was resolved that all jeeps will park in the front of the Chili Bowl by the Christiana to the bridge, east of the Creek. These will be the only motor vehicles on Vail streets during the vailFest. v. FUTURE MEETINGS: There will be no Board of Trustee Meeting on 9/28/70. VI. Stan Bernstein stated that the assessed values were quoted at $6,500,000 to $9,600,000.