AVON CLEAN ENERGY COMMISSION
AVON ROOM - BUILDING #1 TOWN HALL
MINUTES
OCTOBER 6, 2010
I. CALL MEETING TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order at 7:02 PM by Chairman Olivier Gressier in the Avon Room, Building 1 Town Hall. Members present: Chairman Olivier Gressier, Vice Chairman Bernard Zahren, Robert Martin, Brett Eisenlohr, Linda Meyers and Martin Kaplan. Member absent: none. Advisory members present: Giorgina Paiella and Diane Zhao. Advisory member absent: Jonathan Craig. Also in attendance were staff member and Town Clerk Ann Dearstyne, Assistant to the Town Manager Steve Bartha and Director of Buildings and Grounds David Paul.
Chairman Gressier requested a vote to add an agenda item under Communication From The Audience regarding member attendance. Mr. Gressier motioned, Mr. Kaplan seconded and members present agreed to add member attendance as an agenda item for this meeting.
II. APPROVAL OF THE PRECEDING MEETING MINUTES – Sept. 1, 2010
Mr. Martin motioned, Mr. Zahren seconded and all agreed to accept the September 1st minutes as presented. Mr. Eisenlohr and Ms. Meyers arrived late and were not present for the vote. Mr. Gressier abstained from the vote as he was not present at the September meeting.
III. COMMUNICATION FROM THE AUDIENCE
Mr. Gressier and the members discussed meeting attendance. He said that Jamie DiPace is no longer a member of the Commission so we will have a vacancy. He stressed that attendance was very important at the meetings as well as follow up as we had so few members as it is. He’d like everyone to make the effort in order to get some things done.
Mr. Gressier looked to the members as how to handle his own contribution to the Commission as he has taken another job that requires a lot of travel. There is a good chance that he will miss one out of two meetings. He joined the Commission to serve Avon and if his absence would harm this, he looked to the members for direction. He’d step down if the members decided but would still like to participate in some capacity.
Mr. Kaplan stressed that additional time would be needed to interface with the new energy manager and the writing of an energy plan. There’d be nights and days during the month that would require extra meetings. He asked the members that they consider their own level of commitment as the activity of the Commission increases.
Mr. Bartha suggested a point person be selected from the Commission who perhaps can meet the added demands and report back to the other members. Mr. Zahren sympathized with Mr. Gressier in combining the added demands of career and children and his commitment. He surmised that Mr. Gressier is really saying that he doesn’t have the time to put in, looking forward to the project of writing an energy plan for the town. Mr. Gressier offered that he doesn’t want to be an impediment to the Commission, anticipating lacking the extra time and flexibility to attend the ad hoc meetings. He admitted that he hadn’t come to a decision yet but wanted the members’ input. Mr. Martin thanked Mr. Gressier for all he has done for the Commission and said his priorities should be with his family and still felt
he’d be an asset. He did add that he felt the Commission needed a solid conduit so communication can come through to all of us and move forward. Mr. Martin would also like to see Mr. Gressier stay. Mr. Zahren and Mr. Eisenlohr agreed that he could stay as a member. Ms. Meyers added that the Chairman didn’t necessarily need to be the point person between the Town Council and the Commission and that you needed to look at each person and what they brought to the table. She feels that he is a valuable member and that it would be his decision. Mr. Martin suggested the communication could be worked out through the Chairman and Vice Chairman or a selected point person but his concern is that we have a solid contact person. Mr. Kaplan added that we’d need an active Chairman. Mr. Zahren offered that he did not want the job as he had taken on a new position himself. Mr. Kaplan asked if there were other members on the Commission who could not provide the continuity as well.
Ms. Dearstyne instructed that this could be brought to the Town Council for a decision and added that Mr. DiPace’s resignation has to be formally brought before them as well. The Town Council may have a list of candidates. Mr. Gressier thanked the members for their input and support.
IV. OLD BUSINESS: a. Regional grant update, b. Wintergreen Contest, c. Avon Day, d. Status on Anti-Idling
Mr. Bartha discussed the progress made with the regional energy grant. West Hartford is the lead municipality on this. RFP’s came back at the end of August to which they received eleven responses. A meeting was held September 9th with staff from the five towns to discuss the proposals. The group winnowed the proposals to four: Steven Winter Associates of Norwalk, SourceOne of Hartford, Consulting Engineering Services of Middletown and Peregrine Energy Group of Boston. The grant committee met again on September 24th and narrowed the selection to Peregrine and SourceOne who will be asked to return for a second round of interviews after which the committee hopes to make a final selection. Mr. Bartha added that both these firms have had extensive experience working with municipalities and similar
grants. He also felt complete confidence in the two firms selected for further interviews. Currently the five towns are formulating specific needs to re-present to both groups to interview to determine how they price and would meet those needs.
Mr. Kaplan questioned the practicality of Peregrine’s location in Massachusetts for a timely response and continuity to the towns in Connecticut. Mr. Bartha said he checked references and found good response to this issue. He added that work would come in spurts or analysis and that the scenario of one day in each town per week was fairly abandoned by the towns. Mr. Bartha further explained that needs could be shared or not necessarily apply to all the towns. Mr. Gressier liked the idea that sharing could create synergy among the towns. Mr. Bartha added that they’d have to meet the towns where they are and not that they necessarily have the same needs, partly meet specific needs and then partly share common needs across the towns.
Mr. Kaplan questioned Peregrine’s lack of experience in Connecticut and feared they’d miss grant or rebate opportunities offered because of the lack of familiarity here. He also questioned the lack of the participating town’s energy commission’s lack of attendance or input at these interviews. Mr. Bartha countered that numbers had to be limited as too many attendees could confuse the process and this is why the RFP’s were distributed early, in order to discuss and provide feedback. Mr. Gressier asked if the interviews would be public and suggested that Mr. Kaplan attend if possible as a way to raise his concerns. He suggested Mr. Kaplan put his ideas in an email to Mr. Bartha to take to the meetings.
Mr. Zahren recapped that our priority was to create an energy plan for the town and that all he was hearing was the firms speaking to implementation. He hypothetically described a plan: Avon wants to cut its energy cost say by 10% in the next five years, how will we do it, how will the citizens feel about this and are they willing to bond monies for this. Mr. Paul added that we do need hard numbers for this process. He clarified that Steve Winter needed the town’s work to provide these numbers as the amount we’d pay them was far too low to expect this level of information and added that we just don’t have the manpower to do it at this time. He added that we do have a lot of information and will give as much as we can and that an energy plan is only a positive for the town. Mr. Gressier said that
looking back he wished that he could have had a look at their requests for information and perhaps intervened for a better outcome. Going forward he would want very clear direction on what is expected of staff.
Mr. Bartha will take the scope of the Commission’s original RFP for consulting services for the energy plan for Avon with him to the interviews for regional energy manager. He asked the members for input. He pointed out that the selectee would be required to hold to a price and not exceed it for services provided. Mr. Bartha concluded that he is looking forward to working on the project.
Mr. Bartha included an article that will be in the upcoming town’s newsletter telling of the recently completed DPW garage door replacements, highlighting the energy savings to the town. He’d like to be able to include an article from the Commission in future newsletters. Mr. Bartha volunteered to help write the articles. Mr. Gressier added that increased visibility for the Commission’s efforts can only help.
Ms. Paiella and Ms. Zhao reported that they gave out lots of general information on the clean energy sign-ups at Avon Day but couldn’t ascertain the number of sign-ups as the patrons would have to sign up online.
Mr. Gressier regretted that he hadn’t had a spare moment to review the Wintergreen contest results and hoped another member would do so. Mr. Martin volunteered to review and will report his findings. Mr. Gressier added that we owed it to the schools to declare a winner.
Mr. Kaplan discussed the status of the anti-idling signs. His contact at DEP told him they lost the sign maker and are seeking funds to replace it. He was able to send the template to Alex Trujillo of the town to pursue making the signs in-house. Mr. Martin included an indoor poster that is available for distribution. Ms. Meyers offered to pick up these posters for distribution. Mr. Bartha would like to get the costs and added that OPM will shift the monies we could save to be used elsewhere. He said this is a topic we could save for the next meeting.
V. NEW BUSINESS: a. Approve monthly meeting schedule for 2011, b. Discuss Commission member emails and Freedom of Information, c. Review draft scope of services for Energy Plan
Ms. Dearstyne included the proposed schedule of Commission meetings for next year. Meetings will be scheduled for the first Wednesday of each month at 7:00 PM in the Avon Room, Building I Town Hall. Meetings are budgeted to last a maximum of 1.5 hours. Mr. Bartha anticipated adjusting some meetings in order to accommodate visits from firms to better meet their schedules.
Mr. Zahren motioned, Mr. Kaplan seconded and all agreed to accept next year’s meeting schedule as presented. None opposed.
Mr. Paul agreed to discuss savings achieved at the schools for the next meeting. He did mention achieving 50% savings on materials and 50% savings on labor for parking lot lights through CL & P programs.
Ms. Dearstyne discussed member emailing and freedom of information guidelines. She said anytime four or more members communicate, this can be perceived as a meeting.
She urged caution when communicating about Commission business. She added that there really shouldn’t be any items discussed between meetings unless an emergency would warrant a special meeting with agenda items. Also emails should be sent to all members and not just a few. Mr. Eisenlohr questioned the specific case of a sub-committee’s communication to which she said the FOI definition and constraints of a meeting do not apply. Mr. Bartha read FOI’s definition: a public meeting is any hearing or other proceeding of a public agency or gathering of or communication to or by a quorum of the Board to discuss or act on any matter over which it has authority. Emails sent among the members could be considered a meeting but did not go through the proper channels such as a public notice. Mr. Bartha said there
are the legal and the logistic issues of having a flood of emails and urged prudence.
VI. COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE COMMISSION
Mr. Eisenlohr told the members that the parameters of the CT Clean Energy Fund’s 20% by 2010 contest are still the same. Mr. Zahren mentioned that this was discussed at the last meeting to scrap the effort if the members weren’t going to actively pursue this. Mr. Gressier had hoped to meet during the summer to discuss this. Mr. Paul implored the members to pursue this as the roof is ready to receive the solar arrays and that it would make an excellent learning tool for the students and serve as a visual display to pique the resident’s interest in clean energy.
Mr. Gressier would like to include two items for the next agenda: to appoint a person as a lead on the energy plan and to discuss 20% by 2010 sign-ups in order to acquire more solar array panels.
VII. DO ANY BUSINESS TO COME BEFORE THIS MEETING
VIII. ADJOURN
Mr. Gressier motioned, Mr. Eisenlohr seconded and all agreed to adjourn the meeting at 8:48 PM. None opposed.
Respectfully submitted:
Chairman Olivier Gressier
Attest: Susan Gatcomb, Clerk
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