City of Salem
Renewable Energy Task Force
Meeting Minutes
January 31, 2007
6:30 pm
In Attendance: Jeff Barz-Snell, Kristen Smith, Cindy Keegan, Adam Segal, Richard Nye, John Hayes, Rob DeRoiser, Nick Lewis, Matt Veno, Kimberley Driscoll and Tom Watkins
All Task Force members were present for the meeting.
Mayor Kimberley Driscoll opened up the meeting by introducing herself and Tom as the City staff representatives to the Renewable Energy Task Force. Following the agenda for the night, Mayor Driscoll led and facilitated the discussion of what some of the objectives for the group will be going forward.
The Mayor explained that the City recently received over $14,000 in “Green Up” grant money that the City plans to spend towards purchasing five Big Belly solar powered trash compactors. Her thought was to have 3 located at the Salem Willows and two on the Pedestrian Mall (one at each end). Members of the group discussed some issues regarding the Big Belly compactors, including:
· The portability of the trash compactors (i.e. moving the ones at the Willows to other locations in the City during Winter months)
· Raising money to cover the total cost of the trash compactors – it is estimated the compactors will cost around $19, 000 - $20,000.
· To raise the needed funds, the group talked about having sponsorship decals on the compactors
· The group would also like to have a press release submitted to the local newspapers when the compactors are installed
The Mayor also brought to the group’s attention that the City will be purchasing their first Hybrid vehicle in the near future.
The group also discussed the future implementation of wind turbines in Salem. It was stated that the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) had conducted a wind research survey/map for Salem and group members wanted to review it. The group would like to have a representative from the MAPC come and talk with them about their findings as well as a representative from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC). Rob talked about the “not in my backyard” (NIMBY) aspect of wind turbines. The Mayor would like to obtain the data on the various wind levels throughout the City and possible locations for wind turbines. Both Nick and Cindy stated that there were wind turbines located at Bertram Field and they wanted to obtain the information from this past initiative. Matt
stated that when the City Council approved the formation of this group, that wind turbines were to be a priority. Members of the group stated that while this will be a priority, the group would also work on many issues and work to educate and raise awareness on all aspects of energy conservation.
At this point, the group went around and introduced themselves.
After this, the Mayor asked the group to brainstorm some ideas for a mission statement to discuss for the next meeting. The group was also asked to start thinking about some meeting guidelines (public input, length of meeting, election of officers, etc.).
Kristen stated that the group will need to raise awareness about state programs on renewable energy and would like to see what other communities are doing as well.
The group decided to meet again on Thursday, Feb. 15th at 7:00 pm.
The meeting adjourned at 7:55 pm.
Minutes submitted by Tom Watkins
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