Tuesday, December 2, 2008

"What Is Our Stake"?

I attended the ECP board meeting last night, and will share with you in a couple of posts what was discussed. Rich Ecke's article can be found here in today's Tribune.

I am very impressed with new board member John Gilbert. He asks very thought provoking questions and makes suggestions. As an accountant, he is in a position to question Coleen about the numbers and the way they are reported on the financials.

He is not at all comfortable with the city's relationship with a corporation that is entitled to confidentiality, which echoed City Manager Greg Doyon's comment. Mr. Doyon said the first thing that needs to be resolved is the structural relationship between the two entities. Other members agreed, with Chairman George Golie indicating that if not, there will continue to be more lawsuits and appeals.

As was reported in Mr. Ecke's column, Mr. Gilbert asked the question, "should the city be in the power business?" He questions the city's expertise and indicated that if the city decides to stay in the power business, then maybe a power expert and a lobbyist be hired. Member Bill Ryan mentioned the rewards, but Mr. Gilbert was adamant that the risks be analyzed as well. Is the city willing to take the risks? He reiterated that the electric fund needs to make money, not just break even. The higher the risk, the more compensation the city should receive.

Mr. Gilbert indicated that the power contracts ECP has are probably more profitable to SME than to ECP because they could be used by SME as collateral since it seems these contracts are listed as an asset. Coleen explained that the contracts belong to ECP and cannot be sold. It was then suggested that perhaps ECP could be sold.

He freely admits that he cannot "wrap his head around" parts of the relationship with SME and the other entity that is building HGS. He indicated it's very difficult for ECP to advise when they don't have all of the information. He suggested that since the ECP board is not able to see what is in the "Trade Secret Box" that perhaps the City Commissioners, who do have access to it, should be the board members of ECP. The current board could remain strictly advisory.

Chairman Golie wants to know what the city's stake is in all of this. Mr. Gilbert indicated that it would be nice to know what SME's bylaws say. Members of the audience were in total agreement.

After listening to Mr. Gilbert's questions and concerns and hearing how few answers and information his fellow board members could give him, it really hit home how inconsequential this board has been.

Mr. Doyon was absolutely correct when he said the city needs to move forward and review prior resolutions and figure out what the goal is for the future.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for being vigilant Cataract.....the 'Truth' will out
and maybe - maybe - someday the
city staff and manager will speak 'Truth to Power'...my compliments to Mr. Gilbert's thorough question and to Mr. Eberling's questions and thoughts also. Can our 'energy czar' tell
us who she has recruited because
of our 'cheap' power?

GeeGuy said...

Nice work, GF Girl. I am like you. I think John Gilbert will be a great addition to the ECP board.

Sandra Guynn said...

Thank you.

I think the meetings will have more substance now that a couple of new members are not just warming the chairs.

Anonymous said...

You hit the mark with this report GFGirl. Mr. Gilbert is a breath of fresh air to this board who previously questioned almost nothing. Now due to Mr. Gilbert's questioning and insight they are beginning to be realistic and might even finally generate a BUSINESS PLAN. Wouldn't that be something?

Anonymous said...

Does not the "Assignments & Assumption" ordinance passed by the city commission last year negate any input on the part of the city commission regarding the purchase of wholesale power (electricity) contract(s) by ECP?  

In this regard ECP is not advisory to the commission, but votes solely to Approve or Deny SME's power purchase proposal. The ECP Board now has total authority over these purchase agreements.

They all should read the ordinance and perhaps have the city attorney advise them correctly - after all the assistant city attorney was present at this ECP meeting and should have spoken out at that time to advise the board on its voting rights and responsibilities........