HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016CV144 - FARVER V. CITY OF FORT COLLINS - 041 - DEFENDANTS' C.R.C.P 26(E) SUPPLEMENTAL DISCLOSURESDISTRICT COURT, LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO
201 La Porte Ave., Suite 100
Fort Collins, CO 80521
Plaintiff: VIRGINIA FARVER,
v.
Defendants: CITY OF FORT COLLINS, FORT
COLLINS CITY COUNCIL, DARIN ATTEBERRY,
FORT COLLINS UTILITIES, FORT COLLINS
UTILITIES MANAGEMENT and STAFF, DENNIS
SUMNER, STEVE CATANACH; and DOES 1-100.
COURT USE ONLY
Kimberly B. Schutt, #25947
WICK & TRAUTWEIN, LLC
323 South College Avenue, Suite 3
P.O. Box 2166, Fort Collins, CO 80522
Phone Number: (970) 482-4011
E-mail: kschutt@wicklaw.com
FAX Number: (970) 482-8929
John R. Duval, #10185
FORT COLLINS CITY ATTORNEY’S OFFICE
P.O. Box 580
Fort Collins, CO 80522
Phone: (970) 221-6520
Email: jduval@fcgov.com
Case Number: 2016 CV 144
Courtroom: 5B
DEFENDANTS’ C.R.C.P. 26(e) SUPPLEMENTAL DISCLOSURES
COMES NOW all of the above-named defendants (“Defendants”), by and through
counsel, Kimberly B. Schutt of Wick & Trautwein, LLC, and John R. Duval of the Fort Collins
City Attorney’s Office, and hereby provide the following supplemental disclosures pursuant to
C.R.C.P. 26(e):
I. INDIVIDUALS WITH DISCOVERABLE INFORMATION
The City hereby supplements the initial disclosure of witness testimony for the following
individuals, as follows:
1. Brian Janonis, 1316 W. Oak Street, Fort Collins, CO 80521-2347
Mr. Janonis is currently retired from serving as the Utilities Executive Director for the
City of Fort Collins; He served in that role from approximately 2006 through 2014. Prior
to serving as the Utilities Executive Director, he was the Director of Water Resources and
SERVED ONLY: December 29, 2016 3:08 PM
FILING ID: 7CFE6C9D1112D
CASE NUMBER: 2016CV144
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Treatment for the City of Fort Collins. He also served as the Project Manager for Water
Treatment, during which he oversaw the largest capital project ever adopted by the City
of Fort Collins.
In his capacity as Utilities Executive Director, Mr. Janonis was part of the executive
advisory board providing regular management oversight to the Advanced Meter Fort
Collins Project and participated in City Council work sessions and meetings related to
said Project, along with Steve Catanach, Dennis Sumner and Kraig Bader. He therefore
has extensive knowledge and information relating to the implementation of the Project,
and is expected to testify consistently with the testimony of Steve Catanach, Dennis
Sumner and Kraig Bader, as contained in the City’s initial disclosures.
By way of summary, Mr. Janonis will testify that utilities in general are very complex
systems, but the electric utility in particular is an especially complex system. The Project
was designed to provide better control and management of that complex system. While
the federal grant that provided monies to do so was a big impetus for getting the Project
done in the City, there were many reasons why this type of system was desirable even
before the federal grant became available. Most importantly, the new Smart Meter
technology allows the City to better monitor system failures and outages and to even
predict and prevent them, which allows the utility staff to be more proactive in operating
the electric utility. For example, after implementation of the Project, the City’s Electric
Utility staff was able to identify wild voltage variations in a specific transformer and to
address the problem before the transformer blew out, thereby preventing an extensive
interruption in power supply to citizens. It also allows the Electric Utility staff to better
monitor and control usage, particularly during high-demand times, and to identify and
adjust for areas of inefficiency to reduce energy expenditures. These types of benefits are
what made it an important component of the City’s Climate Action Plan specifically
adopted by City Council in 2008.
In addition, prior to implementation of the Project, the City maintained a large staff of
meter readers and it was both inefficient and hazardous to have meter readers visiting
each property in the City to monitor electric usage. The meter readers were exposed to
hazards such as dog bites, slips and falls, etc., which sometimes resulted in workers’
compensation claims for the City. Likewise, because the Smart Meters allow the Electric
Utility to better identify and prevent outages, it significantly reduced the need for Utility
staff to go out into the field to do so. Before the Smart Meters, utility lineman and other
workers would often have to go out into residential neighborhoods, sometimes at night,
and climb over fences and enter yards in order to determine the source of a particular
outage. These employees would often be exposed to injury and other hazards in the
course of doing so, and these types of problems were significantly reduced by the
adoption of the Smart Meter technology.
Mr. Janonis will testify that he and other representatives of the Electric Utility attended
City Council meetings and work sessions to get the Project implemented, discussing
issues such as how customers would be notified of the Project, how to handle customers
who rejected the new meters, and the fees to be charged for manual meter reading.
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During these City Council meetings, citizens had an opportunity to address Council on
these issues and often did express opinions on these issues. It was during these meetings
and work sessions that the Electric Utility obtained direction from Council, including
approval of the federal grant agreement and appropriations made for implementation of
the Project.
Mr. Janonis will further testify that, as the Utilities Executive Director, he was
responsible for general oversight of the Project. He often participated in the utility
executive team meetings during implementation of the Project, and he would receive
regular reporting on the implementation of the Project from Steve Catanach. He also
attended monthly meetings with the City Manager and other City department heads at
which he reported on the Project and received feedback and direction on implementation
of the Project from the City Manager and other departments which were implicated by
the Project, such as the purchasing and technology departments.
Mr. Janonis will express the opinion that the Electric Utility went to great measures to
research safety issues related to the Smart Meters, including consulting with the Larimer
County Health Department and investigating national studies. He will testify that
credible, peer-reviewed scientific studies supported a conclusion that the meters do not
present a danger to the public health. In fact, the Smart Meters are considered a standard
for the industry and have been adopted by a large number of municipal utilities
nationwide, as reflected in the ConEdison report attached hereto as part of these
supplemental disclosures. That report reflects that, as of June 2014, over 50 million
Smart Meters had been adopted in the United States, reflecting 43% of U.S. homes at that
time. That percentage is expected to be higher today, more than two years later.
Mr. Janonis will also testify regarding the extensive measures that the City undertook to
notify the public about implementation of the Project and the alternatives to the Smart
Meters offered to customers who objected to them, as set forth in the disclosures of
testimony of Steve Catanach and Dennis Sumner. The notice was given through written
notice in utility bills, stories in the newspaper, door hangers, etc. He is also expected to
testify that Fort Collins had a very informed citizen population and one of the smallest
percentages of persons opting out of the Project compared to other municipalities of
similar sizes.
With regard to the $11 monthly fee set for customers who opted out of having a Smart
Meter and needed to have a manual meter reading, Mr. Janonis will testify that the City’s
utility staff researched what other municipalities of similar size were charging customers
for manual meter reading in an attempt to determine a reasonable fee for that service. It
was also calculated based upon what it was expected to actually cost the City to have
meter readers going out to various parts of the City to read just one or two meters in one
area and then traveling to other parts of the City to read a few other meters. He will
explain that the City’s rate was on the low side, based on assumptions of maximum
efficiency in how this process would work once implemented.
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2. Judy Dahlgren, 700 Wood Street, Fort Collins, CO 80521; (970) 224-6087.
Ms. Dahlgren is an Electric Standards Project Manager for the City of Fort Collins and
has served in that capacity since 1988. Ms. Dahlgren has extensive information relating
to the history and implementation of the Project, including her involvement as the liaison
on the federal grant. She will testify that she was charged with providing regular reports
to the Department of Energy [“DOE”] in conjunction with the grant process, fulfilling the
DOE audits of the Project which were a standard part of the grant process, scheduling of
meetings with DOE representatives, etc. In this capacity, she often participated in the
regular executive meetings held by the members of the Electric Utility management staff
overseeing implementation of the Project.
Ms. Dahlgren was also heavily involved in the process of notifying Utility customers
about implementation of the Project and fielding customer questions and concerns. She
worked with the City’s Utility crews and the contractor involved in switching out the
meters to keep them apprised of customer issues during that process. In that capacity, she
was present with Dennis Sumner at the Plaintiff’s residence on the date when the electric
meter at the residence was replaced by City representatives. Ms. Dahlgren is expected to
testify regarding her observations and other details of that event, and to authenticate a
sound recording she made of the discussion with the Plaintiff that day.
3. Angel Anderson, 700 Wood Street, Fort Collins, CO 80521; (970) 221-6789.
Angel Anderson is currently a Water Engineering Field Operations Administrative
Assistant with the City of Fort Collins, but was an Administrative Assistant for the City
of Fort Collins Light & Power Utility during implementation of the Project. She worked
in this capacity for the Electric Utility from 2008 until her recent transition to the Water
Utility in August 2016. Ms. Anderson was the Advanced Meter Fort Collins (AMFC)
Project Coordinator and the Project Manager for the Web Portal, Demand Response, and
Single-Sign-On implementations for the City of Fort Collins Light & Power. She also
was a member of the AMFC Project Executive Team and the primary Federal reporting
lead for the Smart Grid Investment Grant (SGIG) project that funded a portion of the
AMFC project. She therefore has extensive knowledge and information relating to the
history and implementation of the Project, to which she will testify at trial.
In her capacity as Administrative Assistant for the Electric Utility during implementation
of the Project, Ms. Anderson regularly attended the weekly Executive Team meetings and
kept detailed notes of the issues discussed during those meetings. Those extensive
meeting notes are included with these supplemental disclosures, and Ms. Anderson would
be expected to authenticate them for evidentiary purposes at trial, if needed. She also
managed some of the letters and other notifications sent to customers as part of her job
duties, and fielded some of the customer phone calls early on in the Project, addressing
their questions about the Project.
4. Wanda Winkelmann, City Hall West, 300 LaPorte Avenue, Fort Collins, CO, 80521;
(970) 221-6515.
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Ms. Winkelmann has been the City Clerk since July 2012 and will testify regarding all
matters set forth in these Defendants’ initial Rule 26(a)(1) disclosures regarding her
anticipated testimony, as well as the matters contained within her affidavit attached to the
Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment, to the extent not disclosed previously.
5. Darin Atteberry, City Hall West, 300 LaPorte Avenue, Fort Collins, CO, 80521; (970)
221-6505.
Darin Atteberry is the City Manager for the City of Fort Collins and will testify regarding
all matters set forth in these Defendants’ initial Rule 26(a)(1) disclosures regarding his
anticipatedtestimony, as well as the matters contained within his affidavit attached to the
Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment, to the extent not disclosed previously.
6. The Defendants will supplement these disclosures with additional information as it
becomes available, as allowed by C.R.C.P. 26(e).
II. DOCUMENTS AND THINGS
1. U.S. Smart Meter Overview (Bate stamped CITY 001560)
2. Electric Utility executive team meeting notes kept by Angel Anderson from 2010
through 2015 (Bate stamped CITY 001561-2421).
3. Videos taken by the Plaintiff or her associates, found at the following links:
http://stopsmartmeters.org/2014/03/29/fort-collins-smart-meter-qa-with-josh-hart/
http://stopsmartmeters.org/2014/04/01/interview-with-city-of-fort-collins-light-and-power/
http://stopsmartmeters.org/2014/04/01/interview-with-craig-and-firginia-farver/
http://stopsmartmeters.org/2014/04/01/stop-smart-meters-raises-awareness-and-utility-ire-
at-colorado-rural-electric-association/
4. All documents attached to the Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment, to the
extent not previously disclosed.
DATED this 29th day of December, 2016.
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WICK & TRAUTWEIN, LLC
This document was filed electronically pursuant to
C.R.C.P. 121 §1-26. The original pleading signed by
Kimberly B. Schutt is on file at the offices of Wick &
Trautwein, LLC.
By: /s/ Kimberly B. Schutt
Kimberly B. Schutt, #25947
Attorneys for Defendant
And
John R. Duval, #10185
FORT COLLINS CITY ATTORNEY’S OFFICE
P.O. Box 580
Fort Collins, CO 80522
(970) 221-6520
CERTIFICATE OF ELECTRONIC SERVICE
The undersigned hereby certifies that a true and correct copy of the foregoing
DEFENDANTS’ C.R.C.P. 26(e) SUPPLEMENTAL DISCLOSURES was SERVED via U.S.
Mail this 29th day of December, 2016, on the following:
Virginia L. Farver
1214 Belleview Drive
Fort Collins, CO 80526
Pro se Plaintiff
All documents referenced herein are provided on CD to plaintiff with this disclosure document.
s/Jody L. Minch
[The original certificate of electronic filing signed by Jody L. Minch is on file with the offices of
Wick & Trautwein, LLC]