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PUC approves financial reports, multiple contracts and bids; several personnel items advanced or tabled
Summary
Hibbing Public Utilities Commission members voted on multiple financial, procurement and personnel items at their Feb. 25 meeting, approving January interim financials, several construction bids and contracts, a five‑year Novospec support plan and a policy/governance engagement with MMUA while advancing some personnel actions and tabling others.
Hibbing Public Utilities Commission members voted on a series of financial, procurement and personnel items at their Feb. 25, 2025 meeting.
The commission approved the January 2025 interim financial statements, authorized multiple public bids for long‑lead electrical equipment and vegetation work, and approved contracts and change orders for ongoing substation and distribution projects. The commission also approved a five‑year service and support plan with Novospec and authorized a policy and governance consulting engagement with the Minnesota Municipal Utilities Association (MMUA).
On personnel, the commission approved the appointment of Terry Garrity to the electrical maintenance and instrument crew leader position. A separate motion to appoint Warren Campan and Brett Isaacs to journeyman electrical maintenance and instrumentation technician positions failed on a roll call. The commission pulled and later removed from the agenda the external posting for the combined hybrid electrical/instrumentation technician position; it later approved advertising for an electrical engineer (PE) as an exempt position and authorized further recruitment work for that role.
Votes at a glance (formal recorded actions from the meeting) • Approve minutes of Jan. 7 and Jan. 21, 2025 PUC meetings — Motion by Commissioner Stokes; second Commissioner Sandstedt; outcome: approved (voice vote indicated "aye"). • Consent agenda approvals including bills, payroll reports, mutual aid letter, overnight travel, and contribution requests (Hibbing High School Student Council $400; Hibbing Curling Club junior program $500; Angel Fund $500) — Motion by Commissioner Bayless; second Commissioner Stokes; outcome: approved (voice vote noted "motion carried"). • Approve January 2025 interim financials — Motion by Commissioner Sandstedt; second by Commissioner Babbage; outcome: approved (voice vote: "motion carried"). • Authorize MMUA policy and governance consulting services (not to exceed $24,750) — Motion by Commissioner Stokes; second by Commissioner Sandstedt; outcome: approved (voice vote: "motion carried"). • Authorize public bid 2025-2002, 2025 vegetation management (capital budget $500,000 included) — Motion by Commissioner Stokes; outcome: approved (voice vote: "motion carried"). • Authorize public bid 2025-2003, transmission transformer (Southern Interconnect project) — Motion by Commissioner Stokes; second by Commissioner Bayless; outcome: approved (voice vote: "motion carried"). • Authorize public bid 2025-2004, high-voltage circuit breaker (Southern Interconnect project) — Motion by Commissioner Stokes; outcome: approved (voice vote: "motion carried"). • Approve Lake States Construction change order for Ansley Substation overhead work, $118,000 — Motion by Commissioner Stokes; outcome: approved (voice vote: "motion carried"). • Approve Lake States Construction change order for First Avenue Substation overhead work, $89,000 — Motion by Chair Hart; second Commissioner Sandstedt; outcome: approved (voice vote: "motion carried"). • Approve five‑year Novospec support plan and 2025 service agreement (time & materials; year‑one support fee shown in packet) — Motion by Commissioner Stokes; second Commissioner Babbage; outcome: approved (voice vote: "motion carried"). • Appoint Terry Garrity to electrical maintenance and instrument crew leader position (internal posting follow‑up) — Motion and second recorded; outcome: approved (voice vote: "motion carried"). • Appoint Warren Campan and Brett Isaacs to electrical maintenance and instrumentation journeyman positions — Motion and second recorded; roll-call vote resulted in the motion failing (commissioners recorded in favor/opposed during roll call; outcome: failed). • Pull/table external posting for the combined hybrid electrical/instrumentation technician position (item 7B) — Motion to pull from the agenda; outcome: passed (commission roll call recorded; motion carried). • Approve job description and authorize advertising for an electrical engineer (PE), external recruitment — Motion by Commissioner Bayless; second Commissioner Sandstedt; outcome: approved (voice vote: "motion carried").
No formal votes were recorded in the transcript for every agenda line by named tally; when the transcript reported only "motion carried" or "aye/opposed," the article notes that outcome as reported. Where a roll-call was recorded (the journeyman appointment), the transcript indicates varied commissioner positions and that the motion failed on roll call.
Commissioners asked staff to return with clarifying materials and implementation details for some items — for example, a follow‑up on the December contributions packet to clarify intended amounts and next steps, and a staffing/cost plan to evaluate whether vegetation clearing could be handled in‑house in future cycles. The general manager said he would email commissioners to reconcile the December packet discrepancies and would bring additional information to a working session or next commission meeting as appropriate.
The meeting concluded with a motion to adjourn that passed by voice vote.
