HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - AEC - 07/20/2015 Meeting Minutes Alternative Energy Committee
Town Hall Basement Conference Room, 7:30 p.m., 7/20/15
AEC Attendees
Shaun Selha
Marie Caristi
Josiah Stevenson
Patricia Gooding
Andrew Muir
Mary Jo Larson
Other Attendees
Chris Senior (Town Manager)
Karen Quigley (Board of Selectmen)
Amanda Thompson (Cohasset Mariner)
Jeanne Astino (School Committee)
Brian Joyce (Director of Public Works)
Meeting Minutes
Meeting Minutes for June 2015 were approved and forwarded to Rob Bonnell
(rbonnel IC cohassetma.org)
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). — complete.
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. — complete.
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. —Still in progress.
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. —Still in
progress.
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). -complete.
Landfill Post-Closure Permit Meeting with DEP
CDM Smith DEP meeting minutes noted the following action items:
Identify if Wetlands Court Case has been dismissed.
Formal letter to DEP addressing their comments in the draft Denial Letter of the Closure
Certification Report from April 14, 1998. Comments questioned:
Thickness of Capping Layers
Organic Content of Topsoil
Edge of Waste
Request a Certificate of Compliance with the Conservation Commission for the project closure.
File a Notice of Landfill Operations with the Registry once the closure is approved by DEP.
Resolve any balance of wetland issues that need to be addressed.
CDM Smith to submit proposal to Town of Cohasset to assist with action items above. Once
proposal obtained, Brian Joyce will sit down with Palmer Capital to ascertain what can be
completed by them as opposed to what can be completed by Town personnel and what requires
CDM Smith assistance.
Energy Conservation Measure Implementation
Schools— Lighting retrofits are complete at Deer Hill, Osgood, and the Middle/High
School. The VFD and premium efficiency motor installation on the pumps at Deer Hill and
Osgood are complete. The VFD and premium efficiency motor installation at the Middle/High
School are in progress and should be complete by mid-August
Other Municipal Facilities— Lighting retrofits for Fire/Police Station are
complete. Contract negotiations in progress with electrician for Library lighting
retrofits. Estimated start time is early August. Brian Joyce to forward Energy Audit Report for
the Fire/Police Station and Library to Shaun Selha for use in drafting of Energy Reduction Plan.
Streetlight Procurement and Conversion—The Town's consultant is 100% complete
with GIS mapping. Brian Joyce to meet with them on Friday, 7/24/15 to review findings. First
glance shows streetlight total to be around 511 +/- 5 or so. There were a number of other
findings associated with operational vs inoperable units that need to be discussed.
A new purchase and sale agreement will be completed with National Grid by the end of the
month. Brian Joyce will share proposal from National Grid with DOER to see if it is in-line
with other municipalities.
A new 3rd party maintenance RFP will be developed once purchase and sale agreement
framework is completed. Brian Joyce to reach out to Scituate to investigate feasibility of
combined LED retrofit and maintenance contract.
Shaun Selha to reach out to Bruce Meacham (Scituate AEC) to see if we can obtain a copy of the
Streetlight Retrofit Investment Grade Audit (IGA) Report from Ameresco. This will give us
something to base our potential costs and estimated savings off of for the LED retrofit project.
Miscellaneous New Business
SunConnect will make a presentation at the AEC meeting on August 17, 2015 on their propriety
roof membrane system that may be applicable for Middle/High School Roof and allow for PV
array installation on top of it. Jeanne Astino to reach out to SunConnect to coordinate.