 |
______________________________________________________
Meeting Minutes
Thursday, September 16th, 2010
6:30 pm
120 Washington St.
Salem, Ma
In Attendance: Cindy Keegan (Chair), John Hayes, Jenna Ide, Jeff Brandt; Rob DeRosier
Members not in attendance: Adam Segal, Rick Nye, Nick Lewis, Jeff Barz-Snell
City Staff: Paul Marquis (Salem Energy Manager & RETF/ City Liaison)
Public: Dee Hall; Melanie DeRosier
Administrative business
- August meeting minutes approved w/ changes
- Members agreed that outstanding action items from previous meetings should be included in minutes going forward.
- Paul Marquis needs to get clarity from City officials regarding minimum requirements for meeting minutes under the new MA open meeting law.
General Business
- Assignment of key tasks to subcommittees:
- Chair Cindy Keegan suggested that focus of meeting be limited to Green Community Grant-funded and time-sensitive programs and that other agenda items be assigned to sub-committees.
- Paul Marquis agreed to forward the Green Communities Grant application to Task Force members for reference.
- Task Force members volunteered for the following subcommittees (or with regard to absent members, were assigned to committees by Cindy Keegan): A. Segal/ J. BarzSnell/ R. Nye—Wind Education (eventually other renewables as well); J. Brandt/ N. Lewis—Revisions to Wind ordinance (consider it a wider renewables ordinance); C. Keegan—Progress Report to City Council; J. Hayes/ J. Ide—Climate Action Plan (will be widened to general Sustainability Pplan by including LID & Environmental Purchasing Policy); All members—Weatherization program
- Climate Action Plan (CAP)
- As promised in a previous month’s Task Force meeting, Member John Hayes distributed a print-out containing links to CAPs adopted by other communities.
- There was general agreement regarding adding Environmentally Purchasing Policy (EPP) and Low Impact Development (LID) guidelines to the CAP
- It was noted by Cindy Keegan and Paul Marquis that several key pieces of a CAP were already contained within existing documents such as the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Strategy associated with the Energy Efficiency Community Block Grant, the Green Communities Grant and the Salem School Department’s Energy Conservation Plan. Paul Marquis agreed to forward those documents to the CAP subcommittee members Jenna Ide and John Hayes.
- Jenna Ide noted that it was important to get the public excited about the CAP if it is to be successfully implemented
- Rob Derosier noted the need to get local business owners excited about sustainability and the fact that several local restaurants did not have the needed resources or information to make the move toward sustainability. An example of this is the lack of an effective means to compost food waste. Mr. Derosier offered to lead an initiative to develop resources for local restaurants. Paul Marquis noted that the Green Salem Business Challenge was an initiative already underway to promote sustainable businesses practices and suggested that Mr. Derosier try to dovetail his efforts with that.
- Paul Marquis suggested that perhaps the CAP could include elements geared toward the private sector, like the Business Challenge and the restaurant initiative.
- Promotion of weatherization project for 10-10-10 Global Work Party
- Members discussed ways to promote the upcoming weatherization “barnraising”
- Cindy Keegan asked John Hayes if he could reach out to MassPIRG at Salem State University to enlist volunteers
- Cindy Keegan said that she would finish drafting a promotional flyer
- Historic Commission guidelines for solar installations on historic district properties-
- Paul Marquis presented guidelines that Jane Guy (Historic Commission liaison) would present at next Historic Commission meeting. Draft guidelines contained a few modifications previously suggested by Mr.Marquis.
- The members discussed guidelines and suggested modifications.
- Cindy Keegan suggested that Paul Marquis investigate practical application of guidelines by reaching out to Salem Inn to see if the guidelines as proposed would compromise their plans to install solar panels. Mr. Marquis agreed to follow-up.
- Cindy Keegan asked whether guidelines would apply to structures listed in historic registers, or if they would be limited to historic districts. Paul Marquis agreed to check into this.
- Members voted to approve suggested modifications to guidelines. They also agreed that they would solicit input from the Task Force members not present, and that if there were any substantive changes suggested, they would consider convening an emergency meeting to approve those additional modification suggestions. A deadline of one week from 9/16 meeting was established as the deadline for comment by Task Force members.
Votes taken
- Members voted on suggested modifications to Historic Commission draft solar guidelines
Action items arising from discussion
Identified Date |
Action Item |
Responsibility |
Proposed Completion Date (Actual) |
9-16-10 |
Confirm whether J. Ide’s house will be site of 1st training session for weatherization program |
P. Marquis/ J. Ide |
9/20/10 |
9-16-10 |
Confirm date of 1st training session (9/25 or 10/2) |
P. Marquis |
9/20/10 |
9-16-10 |
Add logos and finish flyers- send out to all |
C. Keegan |
9/20/10 |
9-16-10 |
Send list of volunteers for weatherization program (and proposed leads) for members to review and do additional recruiting |
P. Marquis |
9/20/10 |
9-16-10 |
Confirm if Historic Commission guidance is for historic district only- or all houses on historic register |
P. Marquis |
9/21/10 |
9-16-10 |
Recruit weatherization volunteers /team leads/ coordinator/funding sources |
ALL RETF Members |
9/24/10 |
9-16-10 |
Market weatherization- seek volunteers from MassPirg and Green Committee/Student Govt Assoc at Salem State |
J. Hayes |
9/24/10 |
9-16-10 |
Review Historic guidelines with Salem Inn project in mind (get status update) |
P. Marquis |
9/24/10 |
9-16-10 |
Review solar guidelines by Historic commission and get any and all comments to P. Marquis by 9/24/10 to provide back to Historic Commission. |
ALL RETF Members |
9/24/10 |
9-16-10 |
Evaluate comments on solar guideline for any substantial changes that may require special meeting/vote of RETF prior to sending to Historic commission |
P. Marquis |
9/28/10 |
9-16-10 |
Get guidance on how specific meeting minutes need to be |
P. Marquis |
10/1/10 |
9-16-10 |
Forward EECS & Green Community Application to J. Hayes & J. Ide for gap analysis of proposed Sustainability Plan for Salem |
P. Marquis |
10/1/10 |
9-16-10 |
Plan on volunteering 10/10/10 |
ALL RETF Members |
10/10/10 |
9-16-10 |
Meet with local restaurants to find out what they are doing and help needed to “go green” as part of larger proposed project to create a restaurant tool kit. |
R. DeRosier |
10/21/10 |
9-16-10 |
Review Climate Action Plans & existing Salem plans and data to develop gap analysis and action plan |
J. Hayes/ J. Ide |
11/18/10 |
Agenda items not discussed
- 10/2/10 NESEA Green Building Open House planning
Meeting Minutes recorded by Paul Marquis and Cindy Keegan
Meeting adjourned at 8:38 pm
| |
