Jamestown BPU General Manager Dave Leathers speaks with Jamestown City Council (May 15, 2023)

Jamestown Board of Public Utilities‘ General Manager doesn’t see a proposal to register Jamestown as a Climate Smart Community as negatively impacting the utility’s operations.

Dave Leathers met with Jamestown City Council Monday to give his thoughts on a resolution that would register the city as a Climate Smart Community in New York State.

Leathers said the BPU is very focused on clean energy standards and the Climate Leadership and Protection Act, “Those are state mandates, state laws that are focused on significant changes in the New York State economy related to greenhouse gas emissions and green energy as well as transportation, and buildings, and agriculture, and waste, and industry. So, that’s really where all of our efforts and all of of our focus are.”

Leathers said he sees the Climate pledge as a municipal effort and that it’s up to the City administration and Council to decide what they want to pursue, “Approving a resolution to take the pledge, I don’t see it as some huge, significant step. And I definitely don’t see it as anything that’s going to impact the BPU operations.”

Under the Climate Smart Community certification, local governments accumulate points for planning and implementation actions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve community resilience to the worsening impacts of climate change.

Certified communities can take part in the Climate Smart Communities Grant Program, which is a competitive 50/50 matching grant program for municipalities to implement projects focused on climate change adaptation and greenhouse gas mitigation.

Leathers said the pledge doesn’t commit the city to anything hard, “If in a year from now, you’ve gone into this and you decide you want to rescind that resolution for some reason, you could do that. There are items in the list of potential tasks that the BPU staff would be involved in and would be supportive.”

He said if the city has been certified as a Climate Smart community it could gain the city extra points when applying for grants.

Climate Smart Guidelines include:

1)    Build a climate-smart community.
2)    Inventory emissions, set goals, and plan for climate action.
3)    Decrease energy use.
4)    Shift to clean, renewable energy.
5)    Use climate-smart materials management.
6)    Implement climate-smart land use.
7)    Enhance community resilience to climate change.
8)    Support a green innovation economy.
9)    Inform and inspire the public.
10)    Engage in an evolving process of climate action.

Director of Development Crystal Surdyk said if the pledge was adopted that she could see the city’s Principal Planner acting as the required Coordinator for the program with the Planning Commission serving as the Task Force.

Council member at large Kim Ecklund asked for information on any upfront costs that might be involved with the city taking the pledge.

“Cents for St. Susan’s” Campaign Kick Off Held (May 2, 2023)

The Jamestown Board of Public Utilities 24th annual “₵ents for St. Susan’s” campaign is now underway.

The campaign supports operating costs at the soup kitchen located at 31 Water Street.

St. Susan Center executive director Cherie Rowland said, “Only a few short months ago, we were averaging 120 meals served per day. Today we are averaging 180 meals served each day.”

BPU General Manager Dave Leathers said that the BPU “₵ents for St. Susan’s” drives have raised $307,611.54 over the past 23 years.

In addition to generous sponsors, the campaign is assisted by community members who drop coins, cash and checks into bright yellow “₵ents for St. Susan’s” coin canisters placed around the area to collect money to help the soup kitchen feed hungry people.

Residents also may donate redeemable cans and bottles at the BPU Customer Service Office, at Don’s Car Wash and at the Southside Redemption Center for St. Susan Center.

Gifts may be mailed to “₵ents for St. Susan’s,” c/o Jamestown BPU, P.O. Box 700, Jamestown, NY 14702-0700.

BPU customers who pay their bills online also may contribute online at www.jamestownbpu.com.

A hot dog sale for the cause will take place outside the BPU Customer Service Office from 10:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Friday, June 2.

All gifts to the drive go directly to St. Susan Center.

For more information, contact Becky Robbins at (716) 661-1680 or brobbins@jamestownbpu.com.

Jamestown BPU webinar on proposed microgrid grant application (March 23, 2023)

The Jamestown Board of Public Utilities is pursuing a $12 million grant through the U.S. Department of Energy to create a microgrid.

BPU Transmission and Distribution Manager Kris Sellstrom said a microgrid is a power plant or generation resource that can be run disconnected from the regional transmission system, “You know, we have a power plant here, we have the Allen 6000 Gas Turbine. However, for us to run the power plant, we need to be interconnected with the transmission system. The transmission system provides both voltage support and inertia for the power plant to run.”

Sellstrom said a microgrid would help prevent against regional power outages like the one caused in January by a breaker trip by National Grid.

He said the microgrid would serve the downtown area, including government and public safety building, healthcare facilities, and some Jamestown school buildings.

The total cost of the project is $15 million with the $3 million local share being paid by the BPU. They estimate it will take five years to implement.

Sellstrom said the proposal would add a battery system to the power plant, advanced controls, and use the gas turbine to generate electricity.

BPU General Manager Dave Leathers when it comes to the State’s Climate Act, they’re hoping the Gas turbine will be fine for use until 2035 or even 2040, “So over the next 10 to 15 years, I think we’ll be looking at what’s another source of technology related to generation. And so there’s some questions here on when the gas turbine ultimately comes off line, what replaces it, if it’s a state level that’s not designed yet, and that’s work that we continue to do year in and year out.”

Leathers said he anticipates that as new generation is added and emission-free technology is developed in line with the State’s Climate Act that it will be incorporated into the microgrid.

Jamestown Board of Public Utilities Microgrid Proposal webinar slides

The BPU will take further public comments on the microgrid application at the monthly BPU Board meeting at 4:30 p.m., Monday, March 27.

Dave Leathers

The New York Association of Public Power members have elected Dave Leathers as their new president.

Leathers willl succeed Paul Pallas, who served as President of NYAPP since the inception of the Association in 2005. Leathers has served as Third Vice President/Secretary of the Association.

NYAPP is a non-profit, non-partisan state association of eight municipal and four rural electric cooperative utilities that represent public power consumers and communities in areas of New York State.

Leathers has served as the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities General Manager since March 2008.

The new NYAPP President also serves as a Director of the American Public Power Association (APPA) national board and participates on the APPA CEO Climate Change & Generation Policy Committee.

Jamestown Board of Public Utilities meeting (December 19, 2022)

Solid waste fees will be going up in 2023 for Jamestown Board of Public Utilities customers.

The BPU Board approved the rate increase for residential and some commercial customers.

BPU General Manager Dave Leathers said some expenses in solid waste went up significantly in 2022 including fuel expenses, landfill tipping fees and labor costs, “The division is going to end with a net loss this year. So, as we looked at that, you know we want to continue to give financial credit as an incentive for people to recycle, so we thought it was time to bump that up a little bit. But the overall rate went up a $1.50 and if you recycle once a billing period as a residential customer, the overall rate goes up $1 per month. So, we felt that was manageable.”

Leathers said most dumpster service rates are doubling for 2023. He said everyone who receives that service has been notified already.

The BPU Board also approved the Electric Division’s budget with no rate adjustment for 2023.

Monday’s meeting also was the first time the meeting was livestreamed on the BPU’s website. Leathers said the video of the meetings will be archived on their site at jamestownbpu.com/live

Jamestown BPU Board meeting on November 21, 2022

The Jamestown Board of Public Utilities passed a 3% water rate increase for 2023 at its meeting Monday.

While the water division has an increase, the wastewater division rate is staying the same. The rate will be effective January 1, 2023.

The board also heard a presentation on the proposed 2023 Electric Budget.

General Manager Dave Leathers said the budget presents no surprises with the division stable and under control, “Obviously, with supply chain issues, lead time issues, inflationary issues, I mean, there’s costs expense creep. We had not had a rate increase since March of 2016 and so that’s quite a ways. So, we’re looking for the future here, so we’re looking more toward the end of 2023 and ’24 if there’s a need for a rate case, so I’d say that’s one item we talked a bit about.”

In order to increase the rate, the BPU has to make a request to the New York State Public Service Commission. Leathers said that process can take 12 months.

Leathers said the board is looking at what’s coming from the state under the Climate Leadership and Community Protection act in the coming years. In terms of capital projects in the near future related to that legislation, Leathers said 2023 and 2024 will be more engineering studies and preparatory work.

Also, video livestreaming, which was supposed to start this month, had to be postponed until the BPU’s meeting on December 19 due to the absence of the staff member who is to run the streaming program.

Jamestown Board of Public Utilities Board meeting (October 24, 2022)

The Jamestown Board of Public Utilities board has approved the 2023 District Heating budget with no increase and will be considering a proposed 3% increase in Solid Waste and Water rates.

BPU General Manager Dave Leathers said he hopes to see Solid Waste, Wastewater and Water Budgets approved in November. He said all budgets are seeing difficulties on the expense side, “All line items on the expense side are threatened by inflationary costs, supply chain challenges, not necessarily personnel, but I think that’s the biggest issue right now. And we’re really being careful in trying to be considerate that we don’t just have rate increases in all divisions. So, as presented I think we’ll have District Heat and Wastewater with no rate adjustment for 2023.”

Leathers said the draft Electric budget will be reviewed at the November board meeting and approved in December.

Jamestown Board of Public Utilities board meeting

The Board of the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities has voted to eliminate the Energy Efficiency Program Coordinator position.

The civil service position was created in 2009 for the purpose of development, implementation and administration of energy efficiency incentives and rebate programs in the BPU territory. Dan Reynolds had held that position since 2009.

General Manager Dave Leathers said work under the title has changed significantly over the last 13 years with the workload changing to system enhancements versus customer rebate programs, “The system level improvements are LED street lights that are put throughout the community, advanced metering infrastructure projects, anything that we’ll work on related to the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, so the difficulty with a utility position similar to city positions is this is a civil service position that has minimum qualifications.”

Leathers said due to those qualifications they can’t just place the current employee in another job. He also addressed a concern raised by citizen Doug Champ about the elimination of the title ahead of New York State trying to “electrify everything,” “If we’re looking at electrification of buildings and we need to help people with electric services, that’s likely an electrical engineer, not the individual that’s qualified for the Energy Efficiency Coordinator position with an Environmental Sciences degree. So it’s a very difficult decision that’s been made but it’s necessary decision for the utility.”

The BPU board also approved the purchase of two new garbage trucks at a cost of $449,650. These vehicles will replace a 2015 and a 2017 garbage truck which will be sold. Leathers said they do not expect delivery of the new trucks until 2023.

Leathers added the City Riverwalk Lighting project has begun with light units being installed on the BPU’s silo. He thanked the Jamestown Fire Department for their assistance in hosing down the silo in order to clean the surface.

The Jamestown City Council had a discussion at their work session on January 10, 2022 over the Board of Public Utilities‘ new garbage container program and some recent concerns. We’ll hear public comment and response from BPU General Manager David Leathers here.

BPU General Manager Dave Leathers, Citizen Dr. James Scarpino

Dr. James Scarpino

Concerns about garbage collection and rules about the Board of Public Utilities‘ new garbage containers were discussed at Jamestown City Council‘s work session Monday night.

Dr. James Scarpino, speaking at privilege of the floor, expressed concern over garbage not being collected in recent weeks across the city.

He said at one time, residents could have eight bags of garbage out at the curb, “To having to have a single container, which the containers look very nice, but those containers only hold three bags. So therefore, your average citizen can only get three bags of garbage into one of those containers. It’s been my observation lately that if the lid to the can isn’t completely sealed and it’s canted slightly then they’re not picking up the garbage.”

Scarpino said when the weather is warmer, this will be a public health issue if garbage is left uncollected and sits out all week. He said fining people for improper disposal could also lead to illegal dumping.

BPU General Manager Dave Leathers addresses Council

BPU General Manager Dave Leathers said the rules for garbage pick-up have always said that bags of garbage needed to be placed in containers with a lid.

He said the BPU moved to the container system primarily for employee safety which is why they don’t want bags on top of containers or overflowing bags, “It’s very difficult to get that container with the extra bags to the back of the truck to be tipped. Some of those bags that are extra bags fall, stuff breaks into the streets, stuff breaks on the terrace, we have a lot of hypodermic needles, we have a lot of glass, we have other things in these bags that we’re trying to keep our employees not picking up and handling the bags themselves. That’s one of the reasons we went to the standard container program.”

Leathers apologized for the situation in recent weeks where garbage was left uncollected. He also added that it is not the BPU’s desire to fine or add fees to customers who do not follow the rules for placing garbage at the curb.

Councilmember Marie Carrubba recommended residents make sure they’re recycling as much as they can as that will help reduce the amount of garbage in bags.

The rules for garbage and recycling pickup are available on the BPU’s website.

The Finance committee reviewed and approved resolutions using American Rescue Plan funds to replace the roof on Fire Station #4 on Allen Street for a cost of $100,000 and to replace the roof on the Parks Maintenance Building on Fairmount Avenue for a cost of $237,000.

The committee also approved a resolution to use $210,513 to purchase 60 police radios, which will include software needed for radios to communicate with outside agencies

The Finance Committee did not approve a tuition reimbursement request from Mayoral Executive Assistant Zach Altschuler, with Committee Chair Kim Ecklund saying that procedure under the management guidelines wasn’t followed and that the classes to be reimbursed were not necessary to the position.