PUBLIC POWER AGENCY MEETING MINUTES
November 16, 2006
Members Present: John Montone, Chairperson, Timothy C. Lattimore, William Graney, Mike Luksa, Frank DeOrio, Krste Biljanoski
Members Absent: Robert M. Buschman, Vijay Mital (on vacation) Luke Rybarczyk (on vacation)
Staff Present: Michael Long
Staff Absent: Nancy Hussey
Meeting of the Public Power Agency of November 16, 2006 was called to order by Chairperson John Montone at 4:00 p.m. Members absent as stated above. Agenda passed out by Chairperson. Motion made by Bill Graney to approve minutes of October 25, 2006 and Mike Luksa seconded.
Mike Long brought the agency up to date on the grants. Application for the 2006-2007 New York State Department of State Environmental Protection Fund Quality Communities Grant Program has been prepared and sent in and is in the amount of $48,500. Should hear back in 3 to 4 months.
Kamyar Zadeh of ECO Technology Solutions gave a presentation on the digester. ECOTS is finishing a $75,000 study on building a City-owned community digester and would also like to manage the project. The digester would cost about $10 million to build and would be constructed on land at the City’s Wastewater Treatment Plant facility. It was stated that the project would cost $750,009 a year to operated but would make $5.2 million a year in profit. Financial projections were conservation and the City should have no trouble borrowing money for the project. The City already has received grants of about $2 million to build the digester. Sludge intake will increase from 50 tons to 176.9 tons and the digester will convert the sludge into biogas, which can produce low-cost electricity and heat
which could produce enough power to service about 3,000 residents. The digester would have a life of about 30 years and will be staffed by two employees. This is a 365 day, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day operation. The County is also working on a digester but would be using manure. Questions from the agency were answered by Kamyar after the presentation. A motion was made by Frank DeOrio to ask City Council to move ahead with Kamyar’s proposal and seconded by Mike Luksa and approved by all members.
James Olcott from Siemens Energy Solutions also gave a presentation to the board members. Siemens is a firm that would manage the facility and assist in the sale of the alternative energy. The City would solicit an RFP, this is a professional service, you do not want the lowest bidder, you want a competitive bid. You agree on minimum qualifications of return, we like this project, if you go out and spend $100,000 developing this the City should get a 2 – 2 ½ cent kilowatt return. We come back with a design plan based on contracts and within 12 months the plant it up and running. He felt it fits in well with what the City is doing here, adds stability.
Frank DeOrio answered questions that some of the board members had regarding the hydro. John Montone asked if there was any way that some one could be allowed to spend a certain amount of time on grants for this agency, possibly Bruce Sherman. Motion made by Mike Luska and seconded by Krste Biljanoski to make recommendation to City Council to have Bruce Sherman work on grants for the agency. All in favor.
John Montone asked if a letter should be written to members that have not be attending meetings and Mike Long stated that he had a phone call from Rob Buschman. John said that resolves that.
Next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, December 20, 2006 at 4:00 p.m. in the third floor training room at City Hall.
Bill Graney made a motion to adjourn and seconded by Krste Biljanoski. Meeting adjourned at 5:30 p.m.
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