Clean Energy Task Force Minutes March 13, 2013 - Approved
CLEAN ENERGY TASK FORCE MINUTES
March 13, 2013
REGULAR MEETING
The meeting was called to order at 6:35 p.m. by Commissioner Ray in Room 107 of Simsbury Town Hall, with the following members present: Jim Ray, Melissa Valentin, Susan Van Kleef.
1. REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM MEETING ON NOVEMBER 28, 2012
The draft minutes from the December 19th meeting were reviewed by all. Commissioner Van Kleef made a motion to approve the minutes as written. Commissioner Valentin seconded the motion. All voted in favor.
2. PUBLIC AUDIENCE
Commissioner Ray opened the floor for public audience. Ms. Ieke Scully was present and indicated that she had contacted Mr. Tom Roy, Director of Public Works, to volunteer to help enter energy usage data but had not received a reply. Commissioner Van Kleef indicated that Ms. Catherine Diviney had been checking with CL&P to determine if the records could be provided directly by them for Simsbury. Commissioner Van Kleef will send out the status e-mails she has received in that regard to the CETF members. Commissioner Ray indicated that he will contact Mr. Roy and determine if the need still exists and will inform Ms. Scully if he wishes to take her up on her offer. Ms. Scully had no further direct discussion and just planned to sit in the rest of the meeting. As such, the public audience was closed by Commissioner Ray.
3. REVIEW OF ACTIONABLE ITEMS
a. Financial Update and Discussion: Commissioner Ray indicated that CETF financial balance at the end of 2012 was $13,816.70. However, we have now just received the second Community Grant Award from the state for an additional $2,000. Commissioner Van Kleef inquired if there were any restrictions for use of the new grant. Commissioner Ray indicated in the request for the grant, he used the overall initiatives we have done with the schools in the past with continuing efforts that we will be planning. So it should be used for those initiatives. None of the rest of the funds we have include any restrictions so we also could add to the grant funds based on any decisions CETF eventually makes in that regard. The next known grant opportunity ($10,000) is tied to the new pledge that the Town will need to agree along with achievement of the level of points. Currently, the State has not got their website operational to be able get a current point status and contact with Ms. Diana McCarthy-Bercury at Northeast Utilities indicates that she has not been able to get that information either. Mr. Tom Roy is finalizing the new pledge to present to the Board of Selectman. Commissioner Ray will check with him to determine the status and any needed support from CETF. Once the pledge is agreed by the BOS, Commissioner Ray will try direct contacts at the State to get the points status to determine the eligibility for the next grant.
b. The “Year of Contests” educational initiative: Commissioner Valentin proposed that we use for one of the contests, the series developed by Princeton ‘Stabilization Wedge Game’ that is a team based competition using various ‘wedge strategies’ to reduce carbon emissions. Since original game’s introduction, the need to reduce carbon emissions is greater so additional strategies would now be required, but the contest is basically already developed so it could be easily adapted. During discussion, it was recognized that this would have to be outside the normal curricula and might be too complex to get buy-in from the teachers. As such, the first step was felt to invite teachers from Simsbury High School, the Master’s School, Westminster and Ethel Walker to come to a future CETF meeting to participate in the formulation of a program. The next three meeting dates would be used for the invitations: March 27th, April 10th and April 24th. Commissioner Valentin indicated she had contacts with teachers at Simsbury High School and had a contact with a student at Ethel Walker who she could get a teacher contact. Commissioner Van Kleef indicated she had a contact with Westminster and Ms. Scully indicated she could get us a contact at the Masters School. Commissioner Beinstein had previously indicated he had contacts at Simsbury High School and will be requested to also follow up with those. As a general question, Commissioner Valentin asked if we could use some of our funds to have summer interns involved to help with this initiative (or others by CETF). Commissioner Ray indicated we had no specific restrictions on the CETF funds and could use them in that manner if a decision is made by CETF for a given purpose.
c. CETF support to DPW for energy data management: Discussion was done during the Public Audience period and is included there.
d. Green Business Challenge Restructure: Commissioner Ray had sent out via e-mail the last status of the Green Business Challenge guidelines and business contacts made at the 2011 Septemberfest/Home Show. No effort had been done since that time due to lack of people to do the effort both on CETF and no outside help from CETF had been identified to help. The general discussion recognized that the criteria would need to be expanded to include changes associated with the new pledge as well as be in line with further State programs that have evolved since that time. It was felt that it would take a major launch with lots of publicity which could be done by CETF but may require an entity that specializes in that type activity. Commissioner Valentin indicated she knew of a company that would be appropriate for that if such a decision is made by CETF. Commissioner Valentin suggested this would be a good use of interns as they could go to each business and both promote the program and do the needed reviews to determine their achievement. Recognizing that the interns being considered would typically be available during summer period only, ability to administer the program during the rest of the year would fall back on CETF members. In conclusion, it was agreed that further effort on this would be postponed at this time with emphasis on the educational initiative as the first priority.
4. OPEN FORUM
Commissioner Van Kleef indicated that she had discussed with former Deputy First Selectman who should CETF liaison on the Board of Selectman now with his departure. He indicated that he felt that at this time there was no need/issue, so CETF should determine that if they feel a need in the future. He suggested we continue to work with Mr. Tom Roy as our primary contact and suggested if we need a contact with the BOS that we should contact his replacement as the Deputy First Selectman, Ms. Lisa Heavner.
Commissioner Valentin asked the status of the Simsbury Energy Plan and the Solar Proposals and if CETF needed to provide any further review/support. Commissioner Ray indicated he would contact Mr. Roy for the status of each.
5. NEXT MEETING
The next scheduled meeting is March 27th.
6. ADJOURNMENT
Commissioner Valentin motioned to adjourn the meeting at approximately 7:55 p.m. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Van Kleef and unanimously approved.