_____________________________________________________________________
Meeting Minutes
Thursday, August 20, 2009
6:30 pm
In Attendance: Rob DeRosier (V. Chair), Nick Lewis, John Hayes, Paul Marquis, Jenna Ide, Rick Nye
Members not in attendance: Cindy Keegan (Chair), Jeff Barz-Snell, Adam Segal
Public: Joanna Bisetta
City Staff: Tom Watkins, Michael Adler (Intern), Natalie Lovett, William Hangar
Introduction & Green Communities Act
All those in attendance introduced themselves.
The group was joined by Joanna Bisetta, the Northeast Regional Director of the Green Communities Division. Joanna provided the group with a background on the Green Communities Act, including each of the five criteria communities must adopt in order to become an official green community. She stated that the technical assistance awards will be announced next week and that Salem was one of the lead applications.
For the criteria on expedited permitting, Joanna reported that communities can come into compliance with the criteria should they choose to adopt MGL 43D. Tom will follow up with Daniel McKnight of the Planning Department about this. For the energy baseline criteria, it was reported that the state is creating an Energy Information Systems software in which communities will be able to access all their electrical account records. Cities will still have to manually track their own gas, oil and vehicle data. Joana also stated that police and fire vehicles are exempt for the criteria which requests that communities only purchase fuel efficient vehicles.
Anemometer Tower Installation
Tom provided the group with a background on the recent Park & Recreation Commission meeting. The Park & Rec. Committee agreed to conduct a site visit with the Renewable Energy Task Force at Winter Island to view the proposed locations for the met tower. Nick also said that the City is thinking about organizing a trip to Hull to view their wind turbines. John Hayes also mentioned his recent ICLEI field trip to Medford’s city-owned wind turbine as another closer possibility for a tour.
2kw Solar Panel Array at SHS
Tom and Paul Marquis gave an update on the solar panel RFP process. The two have been meeting with Darleen Melis, Superintendent Dr. William Cameron and Paul L’Hereux. Their one chief concern at this point is that the one responsive bidder does not have any experience working on commercial projects or public buildings. Tom and Paul will be reconvening with their group in the next week and will report back to the Task Force at their next meeting.
Technical Planning Assistance from the Green Communities Division
Tom reported that he submitted a joint application with the Town of Swampscott. Their application was the second one received. Awards for the technical assistance will be announced as of next week.
Energy Manager
Tom reported that the job application has been put out and is available for viewing on the City website. About a half dozen applicants have submitted applications. Applications will be accepted until Friday, September 11th.
ESCO Update
Intern Michael Adler reported the City has now contracted with Peregrine Energy to provide consulting services in formulating the RFQ. Jenna Ide would like to help out with this process and offered her assistance. Tom will email to her the draft RFQ.
Other Business
Nick informed the group about Paul Allen’s talk at the The Gathering taking place on Thursday night, September 10th.
Tom reported that the City is now soliciting local businesses for ad space on the Big Belly solar trash compactors. Cost for the ads are $500 for the year.
Rick asked if some cannables scan be placed at Forest River Park for this weekend’s tournament. Tom will ask Public Works to get them down there.
Tom will talk to Cindy about their next meeting time and date. The group would like to meet at 6:00 pm on September 10th.
Meeting Minutes recorded by Tom Watkins
Meeting adjourned at 8:00 pm
| 
