BRANSON, Mo. — The MISO Nominating Committee has waived Board of Directors term limits and unanimously voted to allow current Director Baljit Dail to stand for an additional term, board Chairman Michael Curran said last week.

Dail, who this year reached the board’s limit of three three-year terms, will be included on a slate of qualified candidates being prepared by consulting firm Russell Reynolds.

With five first-time directors added since 2015, the veteran agreed to seek re-election for an additional three-year term, but that required the waiver. (See “Committee Could Lengthen Board Member’s Tenure,” MISO Board of Directors Briefs.)

Curran said the committee approved the waiver with an understanding that it should be used sparingly.

“Only in very unique situations should we hand out a waiver. It’s not something that we should use all the time,” Curran said at a June 22 board meeting. The committee cited Dail’s much-needed information technology experience as the reason for the waiver.

The board is unlikely to confront another waiver situation within the next six years based on the terms of current directors, Curran said.

The terms of Thomas Rainwater and Paul Bonavia also expire at the end of this year, but neither have reached the term limit and both will seek re-election.

At the June 21 Advisory Committee meeting, Wisconsin Public Service’s Chris Plante said retaining Dail for an additional term can help educate MISO’s newer board members and keep valuable institutional knowledge in the board.

“This should not be seen as a routine thing,” cautioned Arkansas Public Service Commissioner Ted Thomas.

MISO Reports Likely Year-End Overage; Board Urges Staff Stick to Budget

MISO expects to finish the year 1.2% over budget, Chief Financial Officer Melissa Brown said during a quarterly finance report to the board.

Year-to-date, MISO is $1.5 million under budget, mostly because of late start times on projects and delayed employee travel, according to Brown. The RTO will also save about $1.1 million during the year, in part because of the cancellation of a forward capacity market in retail-choice areas. Still, that savings will be erased by a lower-than-expected employee vacancy rate, resulting in an unexpected $1.5 million spend.

Brown expects the unusually low vacancy rate will persist for the remainder of the year. That, coupled with unforeseen expenses related to upgrading IT systems and miscellaneous overages, could push spending to $241.4 million, against the 2017 budget of $239.1 million. However, expenses could range anywhere from $238.8 million to $241.9 million.

Curran said the RTO should be able cover the forecasted overages with reductions in other spending. “We’re hopeful that we can dial that in with six more months to go,” Curran said, adding that savings shouldn’t come at the expense of project progress.

With labor costs comprising about 60% of MISO’s annual budget, it will be difficult to find cuts that don’t impact labor, Brown said.

Director Todd Raba also requested that the RTO make up the overage with other cutbacks.

Additionally, MISO has so far spent about $15.1 million of its $29.9 million capital budget, which should leave spending on target by year-end, according to Brown.

— Amanda Durish Cook