Town of Newtown, CT 3 Primrose Street, Newtown, CT
5-17-2012
The Sustainable Energy Commission held a regular meeting Thursday, May 17, 2012 in shared meeting room 3 of the Municipal Center located at 3 Primrose Street, Newtown, CT 06470.
The meeting was called to order by chairman, Kathy Quinn at 7:03 pm.
Present: Chairman, Kathy Quinn, Fred Hurley, Charlie Copp, Sarah Hemingway, Barbara Toomey, Dan Holmes, Desiree Galassi, Mark Sievel
Absent: Joseph Borst, James Gulalo
Communications:
Ms. Quinn informed the committee she attended the Regional Kick – Off in Litchfield for the Clean Energy Commission programs. They have pledged to reduce consumption of energy by 20% by 2018 and the baseline can go back to 2009 / 2010. The Clean Energy Commission wants a commitment from the town to reduce energy consumption and has templates the town can use to send to residents about the pledge. The town can earn points for solar panels and grants by the number of households participating in the program.
Acceptance of March and April Minutes:
Mr. Holmes made a motion to accept the minutes of the April 19, 2012 and March 15, 2012 meeting minutes as submitted. Mr. Copp seconded the motion which carried unanimously.
Old Business:
New Member Introductions
Mark Sievel introduced himself to the commission and stated he worked for Pitney Bowes and has an engineering background.
Charlie Copp introduced himself stating he has a technical background and has been interested in what the commission does for some time and now has time to participate and give back to the community.
James Gulalo was unable to attend the meeting this month but will attend next month
ESCO Status
Mr. Hurley stated the summary documents of the proposals from Ameresco and Honeywell are different and the projects have bundled different items together because some will have better paybacks than others. Some of the highlights from the projects are natural gas in the Middle School and replacing inefficient roofs. The schools are very enthusiastic about the projects. Any questions that were brought up after the interviews have been sent to the consultant who will go back and question Ameresco and Honeywell. One the choice has been made; the selected company will go back and perform a more in depth audit of all the buildings. Ms. Toomey stated that she feels Ameresco’s proposal was technically strong while Honeywell had a very strong education element. Mr. Hurley reminded the commission that the 24 page
breakdown of the 2 proposals has good information and comparisons between the 2 proposals. Mr. Hurley reminded the commission that the Building and Site Commission also attended the interviews and their meeting is on Tuesday, May 22.
Mr. Hurley stated the selection will come down to money but again reminded the commission that the proposers only examined 3 buildings and chose what they wanted to highlight in the proposal. Once they are selected, there will be a much more detailed document that the town and pick and choose from. Mr. Hurley feels that either company will complete a successful project. The positive part about the ESCO is that the company does not get paid until the project is 100% complete and commissioned, it gives the business some incentive to complete the project and do it right.
Ms. Quinn questioned Mr. Hurley about the timeline and he said they need the recommendation by the end of June. The final proposals have to be done by June 5 and the commission is planning on meeting on June 24 to review the proposals and prepare a recommendation. Mr. Hurley stated that the consultant, Celtic, has worked with Ameresco and Honeywell before and both are more than qualified to complete the project successfully.
Solar Panels
Mr. Hurley said 1 proposal came back for the solar panels from Sound Solar Systems. Mr. Hurley found it surprising that more firms did not come forward with a proposal but he also said the RFP was not sent out until May 2 and the deadline is May 21 with bids in by June 12. This is only the first round of five so there are more chances to pursue this project and get more options. This would be a fifteen year contract and the panels would not degrade much over the years.
Water Treatment Plant
Mr. Hurley stated all the equipment is on site and ready. He expects the plant to be completely operational by the end of June. It would be replacing about 30% of the current consumptions and may indirectly affect demand. Ms. Quinn reminded the commission they are eligible for 4 more panels from the points they have already earned from the Clean Energy Commission. Mr. Hurley stated he has had some people asking about developing brownfield sites by putting solar on the sites. Ms. Quinn questioned if the Batchhelder property was possible to use and Mr. Hurley said that was a possibility along with the landfill. Both properties have no current plans, the interest is there but the development would not be easy.
Home Energy
Ms. Quinn summarized what Diane, the representative from Northeast Utilities, told us last month about programs available from the Clean Energy Commission for homeowners, teachers, and small businesses. Diane will be doing the same presentation at the Board of Education meeting on June 4.
Transition Movement
Ms. Toomey told the committee that the first movie shown was attended by 5 people even though more had reserved tickets. The second film, Power of Community, will be shown on June 3 from 2 pm to 5 pm at the Library. Ms. Toomey encouraged the commission to visit the website (transitionmovement.com) and to “Like” them on Facebook (Transition Newtown).
Ms. Toomey also applied to get Lexicon of Sustainable Energy photography show where the photos teach what the words written on the photo mean. Ms. Toomey will receive 24 to display at 5 events in town. The photos will need to have frames and easels built for them. They will be meeting to build easels and frames on June 1st from 3 pm to 5 pm.
Earth Day
Mr. Holmes told the commission Earth Day was a huge success, they was a large amount of children there along with the current First Selectman and past First Selectmen. They were able to raise enough money to contribute to the environmental scholarship. Mr. Holmes also commended the volunteers for all the hard work they did.
Go Green
Ms. Quinn has not heard from Sonia about the changes she requested. Ms. Quinn is going to look into other ways to make the changes.
Energy Star Portfolio Manager
Ms. Quinn is working on entering the information into the portfolio manager.
New Business
Lions Club
The Lions Club asked if the Sustainable Energy Commission would like to host a booth at the Duck Race for energy sign – ups but the commission decided against hosting a booth based on past experiences.
Adjournment:
Mr. Holmes made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:46 pm. The motion was seconded by Ms. Galassi. The motion was carried unanimously.
The next regular meeting will occur on Thursday, June 21, 2012 at 7:00 pm at the Newtown Municipal Center in Shared Meeting Room 3.
Submitted, Jessica Smith, clerk.
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