The Rochester Public Utilities Board convened on the evening of December 17, 2025, to honor the departing President Melissa Grainer Johnson, review routine consent items, and make significant strategic decisions regarding the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, transmission investments, and energy storage contracts. The meeting featured presentations on the utility's new customer portal, benchmarking compliance, and operational metrics, followed by a call to adjourn with board members expressing strong support for the initiatives presented.
It is 4 p.m. and this meeting of the Rochester Public Utilities Board is now called to order. The first item on the agenda is of course the approval of the agenda. May I have a motion and second to approve the agenda as presented. I'll move approval of the agenda. Second. We have a motion and a second. All in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? The agenda is approved. And now it's we come to the most bittersweet part of the meeting tonight. Um section number two, a special recognition of Melissa Grainer Johnson. I'm gonna take a tiny point of privilege. I first met Melissa when it her name was Missy Grainer, and uh that was way back in the summer of uh 2020, I think, or 2021 or 2001. Sorry. And uh man, it's uh been a long time, but uh here we are. Um I'm gonna read this short uh uh recognition. Um tonight we recognize and thank Melissa Grainer Johnson for her service on the Rochester Public Utilities Board as she concludes her time. Melissa has served on the RPU board since 2016, including in leadership roles as vice president and president throughout her tenure. She brought a strong sense of financial stewardship and governance responsibility to every discussion and decision. Melissa consistently focused the board on long-term sustainability, rate stability, and accountability. She has thoughtful probing questions, emphasized clear analysis, and ensured that commitments were well understood and followed through. Her leadership strengthened both the quality of our discussions, our decisions, and the culture of the board. As board president, Melissa guided the board with professionalism, integrity, and respect, reinforcing the importance of fiduciary duty in public service. On behalf of the board, RPU leadership, and the community we serve, we thank Melissa for her dedication and lasting contributions. And at this time, it is my honor to present Melissa with a signed resolution recognizing her years of service and leadership on the Rochester public utilities board. May I have a motion to approve the resolution on board packet page five. I'm honored to move to approve the resolution. We have a motion. And a second. It's been moved and seconded. Any further discussion. Councilmember. Thank uh Malachi for the nice thing. The one thing that I would add in there when I heard like a governance and stewardship and fiscal responsibility and sustainability was also staffing and this idea of do we have the right people in the right jobs? And I thought that's a special set of attention that Melissa brought, especially in this time to bringing in a new general manager, and I really appreciated it. Yeah, and I I would just kind of along those lines. I really appreciate your your words on that. Melissa, thank you. Um, I know we've been on the board. You you helped to onboard me onto the board um about seven years ago. I really appreciate your leadership. And along those lines, as uh councilman Keane said, I I just was reflecting. You've always been worried about, you know, concerned about the staff, concerned about customers, concerned about people and uh going through uh the pandemic and going through COVID. I just really appreciate your leadership through all that. Man, I I would just like to say um thank you for helping make my first year transition easy, and thanks for setting a great example for me to follow, or you know, so I appreciate that. And it's been fun watching you.