By VERNON ROBISON
Moapa Valley Progress
The Overton Power District board of directors decided to add a position to district staff during a monthly board meeting held on Wednesday, Feb. 15 in Mesquite. A new full-time System Analyst position was created by board members at a cost of $131,054 per year including both salary and full benefits.
OPD staff had requested to add this position during a presentation at the January board meeting when a number of other positions were approved. But board members had delayed a decision on the System Analyst request asking for more detailed information on the roles the position would play and how those roles would justify the expense.
During the meeting, OPD General Manager Mendis Cooper explained the large body of work needed from the position.
He showed several examples of government policy reports including the 500 page federal Quadrennial Energy Review, the 2250 page draft BLM Resource Management Plan, the 400 page FEMA Disaster Management Plan and many others that needed more careful review with the specific interests of the OPD in mind.
“Our management team goes through these documents now, but we don’t have the ability to go through them with a fine tooth comb the way that is needed,” Cooper said. “This position would allow that to be done.”
In addition, the analyst would review in-house plan documents of the district including engineering and maintenance plans, strategic planning documents, construction project plans, substation wiring diagrams and more, Cooper said.
“None of this requires rocket science,” Cooper said. “But it does take time and we need help on that.”
Cooper pointed out that the district would be facing additional complex issues in the near future where the analyst position would be of assistance. He specifically talked about the need to stay up to date with issues surrounding the management of the newly-designated Gold Butte National Monument, the details and complexities of the Customer Choice initiative that succeeded on the ballot in the last election, and staying abreast of any new energy policy legislation that might be considered in the current state legislature.
“There is a lot involved in this position,” Cooper said. “What we need is a person who can work in a number of different areas. I am trying to hire just one person instead of three people to do this job.”
Mesquite board member Mike Young said that he had concerns about adding the position.
“All of a sudden in the last couple of months, we are told that we need a quarter million dollars in new staffing,” Young said. “And I think that a lot of this kind of work might be done by constultants at a lower cost.”
Cooper responded that he had considered the idea of hiring a consultant. But the downside was that it would not build an experience base for the district.
“When our current management team retires, who will be able to do the things that we are doing?” he said. “We are always concerned about building a bench and passing on skills and knowledge to the next management team.”
Young still felt that the requirements listed for the position were not enough to justify such a high salary. He explained that he had done research on business analyst positions in St. George and had found a salary range of only $50-$60 thousand per year, not counting benefits.
“For what you are asking for here, it seems like an awful lot of money,” Young said.
Cooper explained that the position was more involved than an entry-level position. Coming into the job would require a good deal of technical knowledge and specialized experience in the power industry, he said.
“There are a wide variety of skills at play here,” Cooper said. “But they go along with things that people do already within the company.”
Cooper explained that it is usually preferred in a position like this to hire someone from within the current staff. Then an outside hire would go down to fill in the more entry level positions.
Bunkerville board member Bob Bunker suggested that perhaps a salary range be given that would lend some flexibility in hiring, depending on the candidate’s qualifications. Cooper agreed that this could be easily done.
At-large board member Judy Metz, of Overton, agreed with Cooper that this position asked much more of candidates than the typical business analyst.
“It looks like they would have to know everything about the power district already going into it,” Metz said. “There are just so many new things from the government that are applying to us in this industry, I agree that it is best to have some additional help sorting through these issues.”
Metz made a motion to approve the new position for a salary range up to the amount requested in Cooper’s proposal. The motion was adopted with a 5-1 vote. Young was the only ‘nay’ vote.
In another agenda item, the board approved a change to policy regarding procedures in seeking bids for financial auditing services. Cooper explained that the proposed new language would have the staff return to the board every five years to seek direction on bidding out a new auditor.
The change was in response to concerns voiced by board members at the end of last year that the same auditor should not be used year after year, Cooper explained.
In last week’s meeting, Young reiterated those concerns, stating that he had been instructed in board member training that the same auditors should not be used for too long. This would prevent a level of comfort being established between the district staff and auditor, Young said.
“In my opinion, even five years is too long,” Young said. “In our training they suggested three years.”
Young indicated that he could support changing it to every four years.
Metz pointed out that it was somewhat immaterial what it said in this portion of the policy, because the board was required to approve the hiring of an auditor every year anyway. “We could make that decision to change every year if we wanted to,” she said.
But Bunker stated that if the policy indicated a time period, there would be a high chance that it would go to the maximum of that time period.
Young made the motion to accept the policy change with a four year maximum term. The motion was approved with a unanimous vote.
Also in the meeting, the board approved a $3.2 million contract with Aclara for an automated meter system which would be implemented district-wide. The expense, and general outlines of the service, had been approved by the board in the November 2016 meeting.
Cooper explained that members of the OPD staff had spent a good deal of time going over the details of the contract and, in the process, had saved the district a small amount of money through a few custom change requests to the agreement.
The board approved the contract with a unanimous vote.
