2/9/23 Energy Committee Meeting Minutes
Meeting was called to order by Carl at 6:00pm
In attendance: Carl Bucholt, Jim Hand, Carol Berry, Tim Lalor, Steven Henry, Jen Lalor, Joanne O’Connor, Leslie Perra (interim town manager)
Motion to approve minutes from 1/18/23 by Tim; moved by Carol. Approved by all.
Act 172 Funds
Audits - Jim and Carl are monitoring Act 172 funding. Still waiting for guidelines and the application process from the VT Dept. of Building and General Services (BGS). Once ready, they will be released to regional commissions (BCRC).
$4k mini-grants - Carl informed the group that guidelines/rules, and applications for the $4K grants will be available around town meeting day, March 7th. There is a meeting with Callie Fishburn from BCRC on Feb 15th to discuss the mini-grant details. Carl will share the invite with the committee, so anyone who wants to can attend
Energy Fair Subcommittee Update
Posters
Carol presented her draft design for a poster. Positive responses by all. Jim suggested changing the electric symbol from a light bulb to a lightning bolt. Carol will make the change. (Of note: If the E-Bike Lending Library won't work due to staffing concerns, it will need to be removed from the flier. A decision is needed very soon.)
The poster will be 11"x14". Carol will give Jen the poster to work on and pass to Bonnie, at town hall, to complete. Express Copy can make copies (at town expense). Leslie offered to include a smaller 8"x11" flier, with the water bills to be mailed around April 15th.
Email invitations with the poster/flier attached will be sent to VIPs (legislators and others) with requests that they share it with the email lists.
Vendors
Tim is waiting for a response about Efficiency Vermont's participation. He will follow up with Bekah Kuster.
Carl will contact the Head Squad team at Neighbor Works of Western VT about participating, and to determine if we can offer discounts to homeowners for energy audits (either at Town Meeting, or at the Energy Fair). NWWVT offers energy saving programs for low- & moderate-income folks.
Venue
Carl asked for a motion that the Town Hall be the venue for the fair. Tim moved, Steven seconded, and it was approved unanimously.
Leslie confirmed that hardware in both the Kilburn and Equinox Rooms will be working for presentations, videos, etc. The Kilburn Room's dais could be used for vendors to set up and display materials.
Videos and Presentations
Committee members will ask participating vendors to provide a short (1-3 minute) video file, or slides. Steven will put them together as a continuous loop to be displayed at the event.
If vendors agree to doing a 25-minute presentation in the Equinox Room, a schedule will be set up. The times for each presentation will be included on the event poster and displayed on the video in the Kilburn Room.
Food
Steven will check with Gourmet Popcorn, Hound Dogs, Coffee
Carol will check into a pizza truck
Carl will check with Tonya Mayer about her food truck; Leslie highly recommends.
Publicity and Tracking Progress
VECAN has some good templates for planning events, keeping track of progress and timing for outreach and publicity. Joanne will update these documents and share updates with the committee on a weekly basis.
Carl will check with WEQX-FM about doing a PSA for the event. He will also check with GNAT-TV about publicity.
We will set up a table at Town Meeting, March 4th, to introduce the event, and we will create a simple survey/questionnaire to determine what voters are concerned about and interested in learning. Poster and flier should be ready by this date.
Jim mentioned that the Manchester Journal does a story each year about Earth Day. Joanne will contact them about including our event.
The next Energy Fair subcommittee meeting was scheduled for Thursday, February 16th at 7 p.m. on Zoom. Carl will check with Stephanie about using her Zoom account since she has unlimited time. An invitation from either Carl or Stephanie will be sent out.
Town Inventory
Leslie reiterated that staff is not able to free up time to help create inventories of town property, specifically DPW equipment.
Carl would like the town to have an inventory of all vehicles, equipment, etc., with a timeline for when things such as heating systems, trucks, mowers, etc., will need to be replaced. Such an inventory can be used to determine how best to use any grant money, and how best to schedule replacing gas powered equipment & vehicles with battery-powered ones.
The next Energy Committee meeting will be on March 2, 2023 at 6:00 p.m. at town hall. Tim motioned to adjourn, Jen seconded, and all approved.
Meeting adjourned at 7:37 p.m.
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Energy Committee Approval Date