The members of the body and the public are invited to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

Regular Meeting of September 22, 2020

Staff has requested a proposal from the Department's contract Professional Electrical Engineer firm, T & D Services, to accomplish a study of how to serve the Mendoza substation from Public Service of New Mexico (PNM) transmission lines, rather than Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association (T-S)  transmission lines.  T-S calculates their transmission wheeling rates much differently than PNM. For example, the Palo Verde nuclear plant had an increase in pricing from $40 per megawatt to $400 per megawatt on one hour of one day. Thus, the City's August bill from T-S was $60,725. The July bill from T-S was $50,105 for the same services.
The departments power scheduling consultant has advised that getting away from T-S entirely could save the City up to $700,000 per year.
Staff is asking for a budget adjustment in the amount of $95,000.00, which includes GRT and a small contingency of $4,775.00, and approval of a proposal from our contract professional engineering services consultants to study a pathway to connect our Mendoza substation to the alternative PNM transmission system. The cost of this proposed study will be $90,224.31 including GRT.

Council Approved the purchase of new Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) equipment at your September 8th Council meeting. For the installation of that equipment, Staff recommended to the Purchasing Department, a "sole source" application for the installation of the equipment by Transmission and Distribution Services, LLC of Albuquerque. Staff wanted an engineering firm that was close to Gallup; in an emergency could be here to help troubleshoot within a matter of hours; would have first hand knowledge of the wiring schematic and equipment; and, would not require an annual maintenance contract which would only provide telephone support. That is the situation we have been suffering since an engineering firm from Georgia was selected for SCADA development several years ago.

Staff is recommending a Budget Adjustment in the Amount of $335,000.00, which includes GRT and a small contingency of $3,185, from the Fund Reserves in Account 507 into Project Number JU1510 in  account 307-6061-442-45-30.

Staff is further recommending the approval of the Sole Source Contract for the installation of the SCADA equipment to Transmission and Distribution Services, LLC.   

Staff requested and has acquired bids for the purchase of steel structures for the Allison substation. Only two bids were received. One from V & S Schuler and the other from Klute, Inc. Upon engineering review, the bid from V & S Schuler proved to meet all qualifications and was the low bidder in the amount of $96,478.00. Delivery times vary from 5 to 12 weeks. Staff will add to the quoted price, GRT in the amount of $8,020 bringing the total to $104,498.00. Staff is recommending the award of the bid to V & S Schuler in the amount of $104,498.00.

The public is invited to comment on matters not appearing on the published meeting agenda.