Anderson, Jonathan From: Sent: To: Subject: John Maggitti Wednesday, April 19, 2017 2:02 PM Anderson, Jonathan APPA Legislative Rally 2017 - questionaire response Jonathan Quotable responses to your questions I am a strong advocate for transparency of government and reasonable and appropriate oversight. I believe the public is best served when they have all the information available from which to draw informed opinions. Public servants such as myself carry the burden of responsibly making use of public resources for the general good. Trips such as the recent APPA Legislative Rally can be seen as wasteful by the uninformed. It is my hope my responses to the questions below provide a sense of the value returned by my participation and better informs Marshfield Utilities' ratepayers about the extent of the engagement of the commissioners and leadership necessary to best serve them. 1. Why did you attend this conference? I attended the conference for four reasons: 1) This conference provided me an opportunity to meet with and exchange ideas and concerns with professionals in the public power realm from across the nation. As a member of the Marshfield Utilities Commission I feel it is necessary for me to have the broadest possible understanding of the issues we face here, how these issues are being addressed by others, and what issues are unique to our community in order to best serve as a commissioner. The issue I am most concerned with is the possible loss of tax free status of municipal bonds. Much of the capital improvements the utility undertakes, the new east-side water tower as example, are financed by municipal bonds. The loss of tax free status of these will greatly increase the cost of borrowing and therefore impact costs to ratepayers. 2) I serve on the national APPA Policy Makers Council bringing our local needs and concerns to the attention of policymakers at the federal level. The APPA PMC coordinated its annual meeting with the legislative rally as a cost saving strategy for member utilities. Had they not done so MU would have expended some funds to facilitate my attendance without the advantage of the greater education and networking opportunities the rally provides. 3) Continual education - public power is a complex enterprise with a wide range of issues and challenges. The working sessions provided by APPA at this event helped me better understand issues I'm currently aware of as well as expose me to issues I have yet to include in my overall understanding. 4) Access to elected officials at the federal level - direct access to Representative Duffy, Senators Baldwin and Johnson, along with their staff is not something our ratepayers are afforded on a routine basis. The opportunity to engage in direct dialog with these influencers and decision makers is incredibly valuable to our community. 2. Have you attended this conference in years past, and if so, which years? 1 I have attended in 2015, 2016, and 2017. As a new commissioner in 2015 the exposure to the broad range of issues was important in my overall understanding. In 2016 I focused more on networking and building relationships. In 2017 my primary focus was on my PMC role and the helping to present our concerns on the municipal bonding issue. 3. Your hotel bill includes a $65 charge for an item called “EDGAR.” The hotel has a restaurant and bar called Edgar. Is that fee for room service or a meal in the restaurant billed to your room? If so, which one? The charge is for a meal served and eaten in the hotel lobby restaurant. That evening there was a dinner event hosted (elsewhere) by MEUW which I did not attend due to an nagging injury to my back (it's a chronic issue that is unrelated to either the trip or my role as a commissioner). I ate dinner in the restaurant and then returned to my room to watch the President's address to the joint session of congress. 4. The story will note that the trip cost MU ratepayers approximately $11,000, which covered the costs of staying at a luxury hotel, eating at expensive restaurants and drinking alcohol. You are welcome to comment about the propriety of the trip’s cost if you wish. $11,000 sounds like a lot of money, until you put it in perspective - there are 13,800 electric ratepayers served by Marshfield Utilities. Each of these ratepayers invested a total of 80 cents in this trip for; the continuing education of their commissioners, representation on the national level through the APPA PMC, direct access to Representative Duffy, Senators Baldwin and Johnson along with their respective staffs, and the opportunity to dialog with federal decision makers about the onerous impacts our community will feel should municipal bonds lose their tax free status. 80 Cents. 80 Cents invested to save potentially tens if not hundreds of dollars in future power costs. 80 cents to have a more fully informed utility commission. 80 cents to be afforded access to the policy makers in far off places who impact our costs every day. 80 cents. Where in Marshfield can any of us get face time with a federally elected representative for 80 cents? Right-click here to download pictures. To help protect y our priv acy , Outlo ok prev ented auto matic download of this pictu re from the In ternet. 2