To ensure compliance to reliability standards and regulatory requirements, members of the Hastings Utility Board recommended approval of an unbudgeted additional staff member.
Utility board members voted 4-0 during their regular meeting Thursday to recommend to the Hastings City Council approval of a compliance manager position. Board member Jeanette Dewalt was absent.
The compliance manager position will help support and maintain supervisory control and data acquisition as well as ensure compliance and adherence with Critical Infrastructure Protection reliability standards and regulatory requirements as identified by the North American Electric Reliability Corp.
Among the many CIP essentials the position would address include: critical infrastructure, asset classification, cybersecurity policies, electronic access controls, physical access controls, visitor control program, cybersecurity risks, cybersecurity incident response, bulk electric system recovery plans, configuration management and monitoring and bulk electric system cyber system information protection.
This position would fulfill many of the duties that had been handled by former Hastings Utilities information technology manager Jake Frerichs, who took a job with another large electric utility in the state.
Utility manager Kevin Johnson said by the time the role is filled there should just be around one quarter of expense before the end of the fiscal year.
“From a funding standpoint it shouldn’t be a problem,” he said.
The position also would administer an overall utility security program.
The NERC CIP plan is a set of standards aimed at regulating, enforcing, monitoring and managing the security of the Bulk Electric System in North America.
“This is a utility responsibility,” said Derek Zeisler, director of administration for the utility department. “Accountability is going to be key. You need this position to be able to hold not only those of us in the utilities accountable to make sure we’re following it, but also those departments that support us to make sure we do this.”
He said due to evolving rules the headcount for compliance-related positions eventually could increase and maybe develop into a mini department.
“Just like everything else they’re trying to stay ahead of bad guys, so to speak, and what’s the next thing we need to be concerned about,” Zeisler said.
Also during the meeting, Jaci Higgins, process financial analyst, provided a review of the first quarter of fiscal year 2022 — Oct. 1-Dec. 31 2021.
Noel Nienhueser, HU superintendent of substation communications, facility maintenance, equipment maintenance and warehouse operations, gave an update about an advanced metering infrastructure program.
Every new meter that is installed now is part of the Tantalus Utility Network. TUNet is smart grid technology that allows a utility to monitor, control and respond to events anywhere and at any time across its distribution network.
The new AMI program would allow utility department personnel to pinpoint utility consumption by time for customers who have a billing question.
Gloss