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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - AEC - 06/22/2015 Meeting Minutes Alternative Energy Committee Town Hall Basement Conference Room, 7:30 p.m., 6/22/15 AEC Attendees Shaun Selha Steve Wenner Josiah Stevenson David Eisenhaure Patricia Gooding Andrew Muir Other Attendees Chris Senior (Town Manager) Karen Quigley (Board of Selectmen) Steve Girardi (Citizen — Prospective AEC Member) Meeting Minutes Meeting Minutes for April and May 2015 were approved. Josiah (AEC) to forward approved meeting minutes to Rob Bonnell (rbonnell@cohassetma.org) for posting on AEC website. Meeting minutes for June to be completed by Josiah and approved at July meeting (luly 20th @ 7:30 p.m. in Basement Room of Town Hall) Committee Application Renewals Just a reminder that all members must submit their AEC applications. Green Communities Application Format (Due by October 30t", 2015) QC#1: Adopt "As-of-Right Siting": Need to submit a copy of the warrant article (including the zoning map) and a letter from the Town Clerk verifying it was signed-off and adopted at ATM (signature and seal). — Shaun Selha to obtain copy and letter. QC#2: Adopt Expedited Application/Permitting Process (12-month): Need letter from Town Council saying we already satisfy this criteria (i.e. 365-day turnaround on project permits or less). Sample language on DOER website. — Shaun Selha to obtain letter. QC#3: Establish an Energy Use Baseline With a Plan to Reduce Baseline by 20% in 5 Years: Need official letters from the Board of Selectmen and the School Department indicating that they are adopting the Energy Reduction Plan as a Town Policy. — Patricia Gooding, Josiah Stevenson, and Mary Jo Larson to work on Energy Baseline and Reduction Plan Report. Shaun Selha to assist. QC#4: Purchase only Fuel-Efficient Vehicles: We just need to submit the vehicle inventory log that Steve (AEC) has already put together. Seth noted that cargo vans are exempt, so we may be down to five (5) non-exempt vehicles. As a side note, Seth noted how the Town of Hanover has started using some Green Community Grant money to pay the incremental cost associated with buying Hybrid command vehicles for the Police and Fire Department. — Steve Wenner to reformat existing inventory log for submission. QC#5: Adoption of Stretch Code: Need to submit a copy of the warrant article and a letter from the Town Clerk verifying it was signed-off and adopted at ATM (signature and seal). — Shaun Selha to obtain copy and letter. NOTE: We need to designate one person who will be responsible for the submission of the application. Seth will work with them to organize the package and provide them with the log-in credentials for the application submission. Landfill Post-Closure Permit Meeting with DEP Brian Joyce met with DEP, Palmer Capital, and CDM Smith last Friday in Lakeville regarding the landfill closure. There is an outstanding letter from the DEP that needs to be replied to formally by the Town. It includes issues with the wetlands and minor issues on the cap. CDM Smith is drafting meeting minutes with follow-up action items which Brian will forward. Steps will include an inspection of the landfill cap, some landscape maintenance, soil testing, and action by the Conservation Commission. Energy Conservation Measure Implementation Schools— Lighting retrofits are complete at Deer Hill, Osgood, and the Middle/High School are complete. The VFD and premium efficiency motor installation on the pumps at the Deer Hill, Osgood, and the Middle/High School are almost complete. Other Municipal Facilities— Lighting retrofits for Fire/Police Station are 90% complete, Library awaiting materials and National Grid contract with electrician for start. Streetlight Procurement and Conversion—The Town has hired a consultant to map all of the Streetlights in Town. The current estimate is 511. The consultant is inputting all of the streetlight data into the Town's geographic information system (GIS). This inventory will help the Town assess which lights to procure from National Grid based upon which are active and retired in place, which are overhead fed as opposed to underground, and how much repairs are needed. It will also be made public later on so residents can call in about malfunctioning streetlights. Once the inventory is completed a new purchase and sale agreement will be completed with National Grid (late June) and a new 3rd party maintenance proposal will be developed. Currently, the consultant is 95% complete with mapping the points. Beyond the final mapping they need to assign the light type attributes and perform a nighttime survey to determine what lights are working (or not). Currently the Town is hoping to approach National Grid about revised purchase terms in mid-July and may lean on the DOER for assistance with the negotiation. In parallel, the Town will go out to bid for a 3rd party maintenance contract for the streetlights once the purchase of them is complete. Miscellaneous New Business In May, Steve (AEC) noted at the Town Hall Meeting a resident, Pete Brown, addressed the meeting and mentioned the services provided by SunConnect, which has a proprietary way to waterproof a commercial roof when installing PV panels. Dave DeGennaro, Jeanne Astino, and Brian Joyce participated in a conference call with the SunConnect and have provided them with information they asked us for to put together a possible proposal. Their product has a patent pending so the Town would have to sign a non-disclosure document before they would agree to chat with us. Chris Senior to circulate Green Communities application for other Town to AEC for reference. Brian Joyce spoke with Seth Pickering and he explained the usage data is in the Mass Energylnsight (MEI) system (KWh and MMBtu), but the 3rd party supply cost for gas and electric are not included in the MEI data and would need to be input manually. So the baseline can be set on the usage data already in there, but if we wanted to tie it back to a cost would require the input of the monthly gas and electric rates for each bill. Chris Senior to follow-up with Mary Jane to see if that commodity cost information is already consolidated on a spreadsheet. Chris Senior mentioned the possibility of using motion activated streetlights on seldom used roads. This will need to be looked into in more detail. Shaun Selha to reach out to chair of Scituate AEC to see if the Town may be interested in completing a streetlight LED retrofit and maintenance contract together.