On the agenda: Hastings Utility Board — data center (Oct 8)

CITY OF HASTINGS, NEBRASKA
MINUTES OF UTILITY BOARD REGULAR MEETING
Thursday, October 8, 2026
Pursuant to due call and notice thereof, a Regular Meeting of the Utility Board of Hastings,
Nebraska was conducted Council Chambers — Hastings City Hall
615 West 3rd, on October 8, 2026.

ROLL CALL:
The meeting was called to order at 9:00 am by Scott Kvols with the following members
present: Jeanette Dewalt, Susan Meeske, Reg Rutt, Pat Mertens.
Derek Zeisler, Erik Nielsen, Jeanne Espina, Jaci Higgins, Tony Herrman, Brandan Lubken,
Steve Huntley, Shane Stone, Jason Redding, Jeff Campbell, Kyle Patten, Lori Hartman, Micah
McCaffery, Larry Fox, Roger Nash
Absent: Larry COnsbruck, Jay Beckby, Jesse Oswald, Mark Funkey

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE:
Scott Kvols led the group in the recital of the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States of
America.

MOTION TO ADOPT CURRENT AGENDA FOR October 8, 2026 REGULAR
MEETING.
Moved by Meeske, second by Rutt to adopt the current agenda for the October 8, 2026 regular
meeting. Roll call: Ayes: Kvols, Dewalt, Meeske, Rutt, Mertens. Nays: None. Absent: None.
The motion carried.

PUBLIC NOTICE - Official Notice of the Regular Meeting was published in the
Hastings Tribune on Tuesday, October 6, 2026. Pursuant to Nebraska Revised Statute
Section 84-1412, the public is advised that a copy of today's agenda and all
reproducible written material which will be discussed at today's meeting is located at
the back of the Council Chambers. Also, a current copy of the Nebraska Open
Meetings Act is posted on the south wall of the Council Chambers which is accessible
to members of the public.
MANAGER'S COMMUNICATIONS:
Would like to acknowledge that we are in the middle of Public Power week. October 4th
through 10th are both Public Power week and Public Natural gas week.

BOARD CHAIRMAN'S COMMUNICATIONS:
None

BOARD MEMBERS' COMMUNICATIONS:
None

CITIZEN COMMUNICATIONS (FOR AGENDA ITEMS ONLY):

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None

CONSENT AGENDA:
1.

All Consent Items.

(a)

Approval of the minutes of the Hastings Utility Board Meeting of
September 10, 2026

Moved by Dewalt and seconded by Rutt to approve the minutes for the meeting of
September 10, 2026. Roll call: Ayes: Kvols, Dewalt, Meeske, Rutt, Mertens. Nays:
None. Absent: None. Approved.

REGULAR AGENDA:
2.

Unfinished Business of Preceding Meeting.

3.

General Business.

(a)

Finance

(b)

Production

(c)

Operations

i.

Utility Electric Reliability Report

Hastings Utilities Reliability Indices
System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI) is the average duration (in
minutes) of an interruption per customer served by the utility during a specific time
frame.
- HU 5-year Average: 12.92 total minutes/year vs. 38.42 minutes for Rate Class
- Approximately 25.5 fewer minutes of interrupted service/year
Customer Average Interruption Duration Index (CAIDI) is the average duration (in
minutes) of an interruption experienced by customers during a specific time frame.
- HU 5-year Average: 92.17 minutes per outage
- HU's average restoration time of 92 minutes closely mirrors the Rate Class
benchmark.
System Average Interruption Frequency Index (SAIFI) is the average instances a
customer on the utility system will experience a sustained interruption during a specific

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time frame.
- HU 5-year Average: 0.13 outages/customer vs 0.47 for Rate class
- 46.2% reduction from 2021, HU dropped a 5-year low of 0.078 for 2025
Average Service Availability Index (ASAI) is the percentage of time the subtransmission and distribution systems are available to serve customers during a
specific time frame.
- HU 5-year Average: 99.99750%
- Nearly 100% uninterrupted power
Electric Reliability Performance (2021-2025)
- HU delivers an average service reliability of 99.9975%
- Customers experience outages 3.6x less often than peer utilities
- Response times match industry averages at approximately 92.17 minutes per outage
- Annual outage duration decreased by approximately 51% between 2021 and 2025

ii.

Lead Water Service and Main Replacement; History and
Progress

Brandan goes over the History and Progress of the lead water service and main
replacement.
Prioritization: Break History, Size/Fire Flow, Lead Services
- Average main breaks per year about 7.5 (1988 to present)
- Main break rate is increasing, up 50% from 2000 to 2025 (10-year rolling average)
- Oldest in use mains are from the late 1880s, approaching 140 years old.
- Main age a critical factor in main break rate.
Main constructed in 1920-1939 (20 yrs) represents about 9% of our system but is
responsible or about 28% of failures. 1980 to present (≈45 yrs) represents about 50%
of our system, but about 3% of failures.
- Main material a critical factor in main break rate. -- Main constructed of cast iron
represents about 37% of our system but is responsible for about 84% of failures.
- AWWA targets 15 main breaks per year/100 miles as national goal
- Hastings has about 206 miles of main -- 1988-2020 Average breaks per year/100
miles = About 3.5; Last Five years = about 5
- Main break rate increasing, but below industry average, & not primary driver for
replacement.
- Hastings' water distribution system contains 23 miles of 4" water main.
- Current HU engineering standard stipulates all new and replacement residential water
mains must be 8" diameter or larger.
- National fire code stipulates minimum fire flow of 1500GPM at fire hydrants.
- 4" water mains provide 500 to 1000GPM depending on configuration.
- Committee recognized fire flow as primary driver for replacement.
- 83% of our 4" main is over 80 years old and all of it is cast iron (critical factors in our
main breaks).
- Lead & Copper Rule (LCR) and new Lead & Copper Rule Improvements (LCRI) ever
tightening. -- Stricter penalties for violations. -- Lower limits (10ppb vs. 15ppb). -Expanded notification requirements.
- All municipalities/utilities no lead water services in 10 years.
- About 70% of known lead water services are on 4" water mains.
Goal & Schedule
- Lead Goal: Remove 100% lead services by 2040, revised by 2037.
- Main Goal: 1-1.5 miles per year while we focus on lead and 4" mains, ramping up to
1% system replacement per year by 2040 (2035).
- New main, new service best long-term strategy for customers.

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4” water main replacement represents our commitment to system reliability and
community safety. Lead water service replacement represents our commitment to
regulatory compliance and community health.
LCR(I) Final Rule Update and Lead Replacement Progress
- HU 3 person lead water service replacement crew ~ $4500 per service
- Local contractors pothole to verify service material ~$230 per pothole
- M.U.D. budgeted for $12,000 per service line replacement
- Detroit Mayor: Internal crews ~$9300 per service, contractors ~$23,000
- City of Cleveland Ohio is paying $1800 per pothole.

iii.

Smart Watering Pilot Program Results

Brandan discusses the Hastings Smart Watering Pilot.
Water savings and peak demand management
Results and preliminary program sizing May 18—September 20, 2026.
Smart Landscape Irrigation Controllers - 24 installed, onboarded and online in 2026.
Estimating flow rates - 10 GPM - Assumed for most residential properties - 25 GPM Larger City-owned properties (7) - Total = 345 GPM - Managed flow across 24 linked
controllers.
Estimated water savings - Completed weeks from May 18 through September 20,
2026. 1.4 MG of estimated savings ~33.5% of the reconstructed irrigation total.
- Fixed schedules use credited skips. Adaptive schedules compare the captured plan
with watering. The total uses current flow rates and retains negative adaptive
adjustments.
- Seven sites account for 81% of estimated savings.
Four targeted watering shifts - Hastings Utilities anticipated peak events, initiated
"Early Watering" and deferred the controller during the peak hour to benefit the water
system.
Preliminary program estimates - A staged expansion can build on the current managed
irrigation portfolio. *Planning assumption: 60% peak overlap and 90% response. Future
estimates assume average of 12 GPM per controller.

(d)

Administration

i.

Computational Load Rate

Derek starts off discussing data centers. Shane discuss different pieces of the rate.
This will be discussed more next month. Derek and Shane will be coming back with a
rate structure.

(e)

4.

Other

Possible Closed Session (if necessary or requested).

ADJOURN:

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Motioned to adjourn by Meeske, seconded by Mertens. Roll call: Ayes: Kvols, Dewalt, Meeske,
Rutt, Mertens. Nays: None. Adjourned at 9:49 am.
APPROVED:
________________________________
Board Secretary

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