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Approved Minutes, January 20, 2011
Meeting Minutes
Thursday, January 20th, 2011
7:00 pm
120 Washington St.
Salem, Ma

In Attendance:  Cindy Keegan (Chair), Jenna Ide, Jeff Barz-Snell, Rick Nye
Members not in attendance: John Hayes, Nick Lewis, Jeff Brandt, Rob DeRosier, Adam Segal
City Staff: Paul Marquis (Salem Energy Manager & RETF/ City Liaison)
Public: Tom Hamilton
Administrative
  • Meeting called to order at 7:15 PM
  • November 2010 meeting minutes approved w/ changes
  • The meeting began with a general discussion of the level of detail that should be contained within the minutes. There was a general consensus that Open Meeting Law could likely be satisfied without logging discussions in exhaustive detail as had been done for the past few months. Paul Marquis noted however that he was compiling them with greater detail than he thought necessary due to the relatively high level of absenteeism at Task Force meetings of late, and his desire to keep everyone well-informed. It was agreed that going forward, discussions may be recorded in summary format. It was also agreed that only completed Action Items and new Action Items would be logged in the minutes (uncompleted Action Items would not be included), that a spreadsheet containing all Action Items with corresponding status would be maintained, and that the default completion date would be the next scheduled Task Force meeting.
General business
  • Winter Island wind/ Wind Education
  • Jenna Ide has some contacts in Hull and agreed to assume from Jeff Barz-Snell the responsibility of arranging the tour of the Hull wind turbines that was discussed at a previous meeting
  • After some discussion it was agreed that the acoustic study for Winter Island, earlier forwarded by Meridian Associates, was flawed because it assumed a background noise level without actual testing and because it did not list the Plummer Home as the nearest residential structure. Paul Marquis will address these issues to Meridian Associates.
  • Jenna Ide suggested that the Task Force develop a proposed timeline for a wind facility by working backward from the desired completion date and establishing reasonable timelines. She also suggested creating a master checklist. Another Task Force member asked whether she might already have such a checklist. Jenna further suggested that the Task Force look at what procurement framework might be applied to the project, e.g. MGL 25A Design/ Build; MGL 30B; Power Purchase Agreement; community-owned, etc, though it was agreed that a community-owned model might impose significant legal and regulatory challenges. It was also agreed that it would be useful to compile some information on how other municipalities financed their wind energy projects.
  • Climate and Sustainability Plan
  • There was some general discussion regarding the objectives of a Climate Plan, who has final say in how it is implemented, and what the process for implementation would be. Paul Marquis noted that with a sufficiently robust plan, the City of Salem would likely embrace recommendations developed by the Task Force. There was also some discussion regarding how implemented recommendations would be benchmarked and what represented the baseline year for measuring progress. Paul Marquis noted the baseline year, 2008, was effectively established by way of the City’s Green Communities designation application. He also noted a belief that improvements could be measured in energy savings, greenhouse gas reductions, or both.
  • Jeff Barz-Snell suggested that the plan might be divided into “scopes”, depending upon functional categories, according to what seems to be the emerging convention for this type of plan.
  • Updates
  • Paul Marquis provided an update on the Salem High School PV array being funded by a MA Clean Energy Choice grant. Marquis reported that the installation was completed but that the City was waiting for approval of the interconnect permit by National Grid, which was reported by the installation contractor to be taking an inordinate amount of time.
  • Other business
  • Paul Marquis informed the group that the 2011 Living Green Fair had been scheduled for May 21st by the Salem Chamber of Commerce.
Votes taken
  • None
Documents offered as exhibits
  • “Salem Wind_Noise_Report_Final_2011-01-11.pdf”
Action items completed or closed since last meeting
  • Forward EECS & Green Community Application to J. Hayes & J. Ide for gap analysis of proposed Sustainability Plan for Salem – P. Marquis. (completed)
  • 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. (completed)
  • Review Climate Action Plans & existing Salem plans and data to develop gap analysis and action plan - J. Ide/ J. Hayes. (closed)
  • Check for ownership/ restriction on use issues at Winter Island - P. Marquis. (completed)
  • Forward CEC spreadsheet and Green Communities grant application to C. Keegan - P. Marquis. (completed)
  • Ask Meridian Associates for interconnect section of Feasibility Study – P. Marquis. (closed; full report expected soon)
  • Contact Jody Howard from Healthlink for Hull contacts - C. Keegan. (closed; superseded; see below)
  • Develop contacts re: Hull wind facilities – J. Barz-Snell. (closed; superseded; see below)
  • Add Living Green Fair planning to January 2011 agenda – P. Marquis. (completed)
Action items arising from discussion on 1-20-11
  • J. Ide arrange Hull wind turbine tour.
  • P. Marquis discuss acoustic study flaws with Meridian Associates.
Meeting Minutes recorded by Paul Marquis
Meeting adjourned at 9:04 pm