MAC Meeting Minutes November 15, 20171
1.Welcome, Call to Order, Introductions
Duncan Brown, Member Advisory Committee Chair, called the meeting to order at 2:00p.m.A quorum was present for the conducting of business.A list of attendees is attached as Exhibit A.
2.Antitrust Policy
Kwin Peterson, Assistant Corporate Secretary, read aloud the WECC Antitrust Policy statement. A link to the posted Policy was provided in the meeting agenda.
3.Approve Agenda
Mr. Brownintroduced the proposed meeting agenda, noted that Jim Robb would be joining the meeting late and suggested that the CEO report be moved to accommodate him.
On a motion by Rachel Sherrard, the MAC approved the agenda.
4.Review October 25, 2017 Minutes
Mr. Peterson briefly reviewed corrections that were made since the initial distribution and which were posted for approval.
On a motion by Brian Theaker, the MAC approved the minutes of the October 25, 2017, meeting.
MAC members briefly discussed the resignation of Kristine Raper. This is still pending and no action has been taken relative to her resignation.
5.MAC Chair Comments
Mr. Brown remarked that the meeting agenda is full with two weighty issues and declined to make further comments.
6.WECC Name Change Task Force Report
Linda Jacobson-Quinn, Class 2, reviewed developments around the name change proposal and reported that the task force has only reviewed the white paper.
MAC members reported on the responses to the white paper from the various classes:
- Class 1 will discuss this and other issues on a November 29 call. One response has been received from an entity that opposed the change based on costs.
- Class 2 is generally opposed to the name change based on costs associated with changing compliance and governance documents. There is also some concern around the similarity between Reliability West and Peak Reliability.
- Class 3 members have not expressed an opinion on the name change. Certain registry fixes involving Peak Reliability need to be made regardless of a name change.
- Class 4 members have not expressed strong interest in the matter.
- Class 5 MAC representatives expressed concern about the conflicting opinions around cost and reported that Western Interconnection Regional Advisory Body (WIRAB) supports a name change.
- Two international members have expressed an opinion. One had no opposition to the change and another wondered if the matter was of a high enough priority to address.
Ms. Jacobson-Quinn reported that she had heard through Western Interconnection Compliance Forum channels concerns about costs and the effort to update documents.
Steve Goodwill, WECC General Counsel, reported that staff had identified no compliance issues related to a name change and Jim Robb, WECC CEO, reviewed the expectation that documents would be updated in the normal course of document review and revisions, and would require no additional effort. Mr. Robb noted that some changes related to tagging and registration with the North American Energy Standards Board would need to be made in any event.
MAC members discussed member approval and comment avenues. The members have a say through approval of the WECC Bylaws and a public comment period is expected in December.
In public comment on this matter, Maude Grantham-Richards urged the MAC to ensure that minority opinions are reported to the Board.
7.CEO Report
Mr. Robb reported that FERC has approved the WECC 2018 Business Plan and Budget filing. He thanked those who worked on and supported this filing.
Mr. Robb reported that the NERC ERO Enterprise Plan will come to the Board in December. The WECC Operating Plan is being updated in response to comments and will be before the Board in December.
8.Bucket 4 Bylaws Amendments
Mr. Brown noted that Bylaws Task Force has not met to discuss the proposed Bucket 4 revisions. Committee members discussed two areas of concern:
- Different experience requirements for international and non-international directors, and
- Whether Section 3.14 should include the word “and” or the word “or.”
Bucket 4 revisions are expected to be posted after the December Board meeting.
ACTION:Schedule a Bylaws Task Force call.
9.2018 Work Plan
Brenda Ambrosi, International Representative, reported that a review of the MAC orientation document has been added to the plan. She reported that the two incomplete items from the 2017 plan are a review of the Outstanding Contributor Award and a determination of how MAC should be involved in the WECC strategic direction.
10.Nominating Committee (NC) Update
Brian Theaker, Class 3, reviewed the history of the issue and reported on a call with the NC Membership Work Group, WIRAB staff, and the Governance Committee. He reviewed the current thinking and options around NC membership, which are a codification of the status quo and a new proposal that balances all the interests.
MAC members discussed the options and the implications of each and Mr. Theaker reviewed the timeline for this issue.
Bob Easton, Class 1, reported on the progress of the NC in filling the Board vacancy and reviewed the timeline for an election.
11.December MAC Workshop
Mr. Theaker reviewed the plan for the workshop and reported that a paper on the issues to be discussed will be distributed shortly.
12.MAC Roundtable
Mr. Brown noted that the schedule for 2018 needs to be determined and asked if there were any objections to continuing to meet on the third Wednesday of each month at 2:00 p.m. Mountain Time. There were no objections.
Mr. Brown asked if there were any comments about the Peak MAC/WECC MAC coordination paper. There were no comments.
ACTION:Schedule MAC meetings in 2018.
13.Public Comment
Mr. Brown opened the meeting to public comment. No additional comments were offered.
14.Review of New Action Items
- Schedule a call of the Bylaws Review Task Force.
- Assigned To: Duncan Brown
- Due Date: November 27, 2017
- Add MAC member terms to the MAC orientation document.
- Assigned To: Kwin Peterson
- Due Date: December 5, 2017
- Identify an interim Class 5 member.
- Assigned To:Grace Anderson and David Clark
- Due Date:December 5, 2017
- Schedule MAC Meetings for 2018.
- Assigned To: Kwin Peterson
- Due Date: December 5, 2017
- Do a more in-depth review of SDS research’s Measures of Effectiveness of the Board.
- Assigned To: Linda Jacobson-Quinn
- Due Date: December 5, 2017
- Add a more in-depth evaluation of the Board on the December MAC meeting agenda. Evaluate the questions around compliance in general.
- Assigned To: Duncan Brown
- Due Date: December MAC meeting
- Approve the 2018 MAC Work Plan.
- Assigned To: MAC Members
- Due Date: December 5, 2017
15.Upcoming Meetings
December 5, 2017...... Salt Lake City, UT
December 6, 2017 Workshop...... Salt Lake City, UT
January 17, 2018...... Conference Call
16.Adjourn
On a motion made by Grace Anderson, the MAC approved adjournment at 3:50 p.m.
Exhibit A: Attendance List
Class 1 Members in Attendance
Doug Reese...... Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association
Bob Easton...... Western Area Power Administration
Class 2 Members in Attendance
Richard Ferreira...... Transmission Agency of Norther California
Linda Jacobson-Quinn...... Farmington Electric Utility System
Russell Noble...... Public Utility District No. 1 of Cowlitz County, WA
Class 3 Members in Attendance
Duncan Brown...... NAES Corporation
Rachel Sherrard...... Peak Reliability
Brian Theaker...... NRG Power Marketing, LLC
Class 4 Members in Attendance
Michele Beck...... Utah Office of Consumer Services
Fred Heutte...... NW Energy Coalition
Class 5 Members in Attendance
Grace Anderson...... California Energy Commission
David Clark...... Utah Public Service Commission
Kristine Raper...... Idaho Public Utilities Commission
International Members in Attendance
Brenda Ambrosi...... BC Hydro
Members Not in Attendance
Gregg Lemler...... Pacific Gas and Electric Company
Robert Nelson...... Montana Consumer Counsel
Ernesto Olivas...... Comisión Federal de Electricidad
Diana Wilson...... Alberta Electric System Operator
Others in Attendance
Chris Albrecht...... WECC
Ric Campbell...... WECC Board Member
Mike Core...... WECC Board Member
Melanie Frye...... WECC
Maude Grantham-Richards...... Tri-State Generation and Transmission
Steve Goodwill...... WECC
Kris Hafner...... WECC Board Member
Ian McKay...... WECC Board Member
Kwin Peterson...... WECC
Jim Robb...... WECC
Dena Richins...... WECC
Holly Taylor...... Western Interconnection Regional Advisory Body
Western Electricity Coordinating Council