Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout1995-138 Amendment-OMECA/IGAO'DONNELL RAMIS CREW CORRIGAN & BACHRACH ATTORNEYS AT LAW 1727 N.W. Hoyl Slreet Porlland, Oregon 97209 T~I~PHONE; (503) 222-~02 PAX: (S03) 2~3-29~4 DATE: TO: FROM: RE: June 16, 1995 OMECA Board James M. Co~, Legal IGA Amendments Counsel At the Board's June 16, 1995 meeting it considered and sent to the agency members for their consideration the attached proposed amendments to Sections 13, 14 and 22 of the intergovernmental agreement which forms OMECA. At the Board's request I have prepared a brief explanation of the effect of each of the proposed amendments. Section 13 Two separate amendments are proposed for Section 13. The first dealing with revenue bonds brings the IGA into compliance with the provisions of ORS 190.080(1)(a). In order for OMF.12A to issue revenue bonds it must first have the governing body of each member utility approve by resolution or order the issuance of the revenue bonds and this proposed amendment makes that a requirement of this intergovernmental agency. The second amendment deals with allocations of debts, liabilities and obUgations of OMECA in the event OMBCA assets are insufficient to meet the obligation. In the absence of any provision otherwise in the agreement, the debts, liab'flifies and obligations of OMBCA shall be, jointly and severally, the debts, liab'flifies and obligations of the parties to the intergovernmental agreement. ORS 190.080(3). ORS Chapter 190 allows for the modification of this allocation. The proposed language will alter that allocation of liab'flity based upon the percentage kilowatt hour sales by a member of the total kilowatt hour sales of all members for the calendar year previous to the debt, liability or obligation accruing. This amendment establishes a set formula for the allocation of these obligations prior to their accrual. In the absence of an anocation such as this the obligations are joint and several for each of the parties. In that situation each party is legally obligated for 100% of the obligation, subject to any allocation to other parties which may occur by subsequent agreement or judicial proceeding. No entity can say with certainty what the extent of their obligation under a jo'mt and several agreement would be because the outcome of obligation allocation is determined by the facts of each individual case. This proposed amendment establishes a uniform formula for allocation of O'DONNELL RAMIS CREW CORRIGAN ~' BACHRACH Memo re: IGA Amendments June 16, 1995 Page 2 an obligation that is based upon the kilowatt hour sales activity of each individual member in relationship to the total kilowatt hour sales of all members comb'med. While a percentage allocation is not certain, and will vary somewhat from year to year, each member may approximate with some certainty its percentage allocation of any obligation should that occur in the future. This debt allocation section activates only if OMFX2A assets are not sufficient to meet obligations. It does not preclude a future reallocation, nor does it amend the termination provisions in Section 16. Section 14 Two amendments are proposed to Section 14, both of which deal with financial matters. The first allows the Secretary-Treasurer to delegate ministerial functions to the OMECA staff. This amendment will bring the agreement into consistency with the agency's bylaws which allow the Secretary-Treasurer to delegate ministerial functions such as cheek writing within the limitations of the Board approved budget to staff members. The second change eliminates the requirement that OIVlF___~A comply with the Oregon Municipal Budget Law. The Oregon Municipal Budget Law by its terms does not apply to OMECA. There are provisinns of the budget law, such as the establishment of a budget committee, and following a July 1 - June 30 fiscal year budgeting process which are not practical for OMECA to follow. OMECA has determined that it makes practical sense to coincide its fiscal year with the federal fiscal year beginning on October 1. This change will allow the Board to establish a budget process and a fiscal year co'mcidmg with the federal fiscal year while maintaining financial records in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. OIVIE, CA remains subject to the Oregon Municipal Audit Law. Section 22 This amendment to Section 22 simply corrects what appears to be a typographical error in the existing Section 22. It makes no substantive change to the requirement that modifleations to the agreement be in writing and signed by all the parties. AIVIENDM~NT NO. 3 Pursuant to Section 15 of the Intergovernmental Cooperation Agreement (the "Agreement") between the Cities of Ashland, Forest Grove, Milton-Freewater, Monmouth, McMinnvllle, the Canby Utility Board and the Springfield Utility Board (the "Member Utilities") executed January 27, 1994, as amended by Amendments No. I and 2; the governing bodies of the Member Utilities hereby agree to the following: Section 1. Section 13 of the Agreement is hereby amended to read as follows: "13. Debts of OMECA. No debts of OMECA shall be incurred without the approval of the governing bodies of each of the Member Utilities. There are currently no debts of OMECA. It is anticipated that OMECA will not incur any debts or liabilities under the Conservation Project Acquisition Agreement or the Bond Resolution with BPA and that BPA will be solely responsible for the debt service paymcnls on any txmds issued by OMEC:A. No revmlue bonds under ORS 288.805 to 288.945 shall be issued unless, after a public heating, the governing body of each of thc Member Utilities approv,~s, by resolution or order, thc issuance of the n~venue ~mds. The debts, liabilities and obligations of OMF/2A, to the extent that they become due and excoed the value of the of OMF, CA, slmll bo divided among thc parties based elam thc peme-magc kilowatt hour sales by each member of the total kilowatl hour .sales of all membora for thc calendar year previous to thc obligation becoming due, and in d~ese shams become the obligation of each member. The parties to this agreement may allocate thc debts, liabilities and obligations of OMECA in a different tnanncr than provided by this Section through a separate written agreement, or upon termination of d~is agreement, through the process set forth in Section 16 of this agreement." Section 2. Section 14 of the Agreement is hereby amended to read as follows: "14. F. xpenditures. No funds of OMF_.CA shall be expended except upon the vote of the Board and in furtherance of the purposes of OMBCA; pwvided however, that expenditures within the limitations of the Board approved budget may be made by the SecretaD'.T~tst, mr, and the $ecmmz~'-Treast, rer may delegate the minislerial functions of the office to another porson or persons who need not be OMFI2A direclors. Additional authoriza, xl siguatures shall include the Chair or Vice Chair, in the event the Secretary-Treasurer is unable to perform. The Board shall institute a budget process and maintain fimmcial records in accordance with generally acceptod accounting principles. Section 3. Section 22 of the Agreement is hereby mended to read as follows: ...~ ..... :_ .. ~_a .: .... a by tllc .... : ....... ............. ;;'~.::cg ...... s,.,~ v ...... -he~,: ....No modification of this Agra, anent shall be valid unless in writing and signed by an authorizf, xl ~pre~ntafiv¢ of the governing bodies of the Member Utilities, except that amendments to add Me~nl~r Utilities who are municipal utilities need only be executed by ali mcmbezs of the Board." City of Forest Grove City of Monmouth City of Milton-Freewater Springfield Utility Board Canby Utility Board City of McMinnville 70114~mendm~.fn2(6/l 6/95) OMECA ~legon ~ul~lClpaa ]~lh.a,~, ahd Co~scr~a~loll Agcn~ July 11 1995 Mr. Paul O'Neal Bonneville Power Administration 703 Broadway, Suite 100 Vancouver, WA 98660 Dear Mr, O'Neal: Thank you for the time you and Vicki English spent on the phone conference with me and Tom O'Connor on July 5 regarding Canby's termination of OMECA membership. It was very helpful to review and discuss the areas affected by this action. As I offered during the call, I am writing to summarize the steps necessary te respond to Canby's request. Although OMECA did not anticipate a member termination during such a short contract, we hope we can make this separation as smooth as possible and continue the positive work with Bonneville for the benefit of the remaining members. The following describes the areas needing modification or amendment, and the parties affected. This is based on my research and discussions with our staff, and Teny Regan at Bonneville. Ter~ was still reviewing the contract to assure there were no other pertinent areas. I will assume that she agrees with the item specified below unless notified otherwise. Affected Item Action Needed Parties Involved Project Agreement Amend page 3 to delete Canby , Amendment to be edited by and redistribute savings to Bonneville and signed by other members as identified by Bonneville and OMECA OMECA Intergovernmental Agreement Amendment deleting Canby Approval by all governing and Exhibit specifying terms of bodies of OMECA member withdrawal utilities. Project Implementation Amendment deleting Canby Approval by all governing Agreement and Exhibit specifying terms of bodies of OMECA member withdrawal utilities. The terms referenced hi the above mentioned Exhibit are, for your information: 1. Effective date of termination will be 9/30/95. 2. Canby may obligate 1995 Canby funds through 9/30/95. 3. Canby agrees to submit reports to OMECA as necessary to complete all obligated projects, and to maintain all records required under the Project Implementation Agreement until the earlier of three years after the date of the last invoice or notification of final audit completion by BPA. 4. Incorporation of the "hold harmless" language from the Implementation Agreement. One Main Place - 101 SW Main, Suite 810 phone: 503-796-1850 Portland, Or 97204 fax: 503-294-1250 In addition to the logistics of a member withdrawal, there is the issue of Canby's budget balance. OMECA's current contract with Bonneville assumes that we would retain the full amount of the intended 1996 Canby implementation budget. This will be much easier than adjusting the cnntmct and bond amounts to reflect the elimination of Canby. Still, $346~000 dJsttibnted to six small utilities for one year may be less than a blessing. The risks associated with these funds are: · If they are not fully expended the bonus target for OMECA may not be achieved (an estimated $250,000 loss of flexible 'non contract" money), or · The bonus mount will be decreased based on the funds not spent (effect would be up to $12,000 based on current performance). We are currently working on ideas to assure we can acquire cost effective conservation with less participants. These ideas are: 1. Establish the starting capital for an Energy Service Charge approach. 2. Eexpand the type of measures and approaches for conservation via Piot Projects. 3. Identify large Industrial projects currently funded directly by Bonneville and transfer responsibility to the OMECA utility as mutually agreed. 4. Consider apphcation of Bandon, or others, as new members. 5. Distribute funds to members in need of additional budget. Items 1 - 3 directly involve Bonneville support and approval. I am hopeful you will agree with the appropriateness of these approaches based on the need to maintain the targets for OMECA, as well as the intent of both the contract and Conservation Reinvention at Bonneville for flexibility in program design and approach. It will be critical that this perspective be included to staff in their review and timeliness of response to OMECA requests. OMECA looks forward to developing the foundation this next year to succeed in the area of Demaad Side Management services after 1996. We nnticipate a strong continuedrelafionship with Bonneville aswe work together to accomplish the future goals with new budget constraints. Thank you for your efforts to facilitate the withdrawal of Canby, and to ease the process of use of the additional funds. Sincerely, Project Manager CCi Vicki English - BPA Terry Regan - BPA Tom O'Connor - OMECA OMECA Board Members REVISED AMENDMENT NO. 3 Pursuant to Section 15 of the Intergovernmental Cooperation Agreement (the "Agreement") between the Cities of Ashland, Forest Grove, Milton-Freewater, Monmouth, McMinnville, the Canby Utility Board and the Springfield Utility Board (the "Member Utilities") executed January 27, 1994, as amended by Amendments No. I and 2; the governing bodies of the Member Utilities hereby agree to the following: Section 1. Section 13 of the Agreement is hereby amended to read as follows: "13. Debts 9f QIVlF~A. No debts of OMECA shall be incurred without the approval of the governing bodies of each of the Member Utilities. There are currently no debts of OMF_X2A. It is anticipated that OIVIY~A will not incur any debts or liabilities under the Conservation Project Acquisition Agreement or the Bond Resolution with BPA and that BPA will be solely responsible for the debt service payments on any bonds issued by ()MECA. No revenue bonds under ORS 288.80,5 to 288.94:5 shall be issued unless, after a public hearing, the governing body of each of the Member Utilities apptm'es, by resolution or order, the issuance of the revenue bends. Tho debts, liabilities and obligations of OMECA, to ~he ~xtent that they bo:ome due and exceed the value of the assets of OMECA, shall be divided among the parties based upon the percentage kilowatt hour sales by each member of the total kilowatt hour ~ales of all members for the calendar year previous to the obligation b~oming due, and instead of joint and .several liability each such share shall be the total obligation of that momb~-r. Tho parties to this agreement may allocatu the debts, liabilities and obligations of OMEEA in a different manner than provi~at by this Se~ticm through a separate written agreement, or upon termination of this agr~eaent, tltrongh tho process set forth in Sextion 16 of this agr~ment." Section 2. Section 14 of the Agreement is hereby amended to read as follows: "14. Expenditures. No funds of OMECA shall be expended except upon the vote of the Board and in furtherance of the purposes of OMECA; provided however, that expenditures within the limitations of the Board approved budget may be made by tile Secretary-Treasurer, and the Secretary-Treasurer ma)' delegate the ministerial functions of the office m another person or persons who need not be OMEEA diroetom. Additional amhorized signatures shall include tile Chair or Vice Chair, in the event the Secretary-Treasurer is unable to perform. The Board shall institute a budg~ process and maintain financial records in acco~ with generally accepted accounting principles. Revised Amendment No. 3 Page 1 Section 3. Section 22 of the Agreement is hereby mended to read as follows: "22. cation ....................... ~ ............ v tm ..... iq-v,=rk~ng ,,mi-.%,..,~--b: ....im, r,:z: her~m~. No modification of this Agremnent si,all be valid unless in writing and signed by an authorized i=pte~entative of the governing bodies of the Member L~tilit~s, exo'pt that amendments to add Member Utilities who are municipal utilities n~d only be eaecuted by ali meml~ers of the Board." City of Forest Grove City of Monmouth City of Milton-Freewater City of Ashland Springfield Utility Board Canby Utility Board City of McMinnville 70114~amendno3.f~3(7126195) Revised Amendment No. 3 Page 2