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Home My WebLink AboutCS CEC 2024-05-14Climate Smart/Clean Energy Community Task Force Minutes of the May 14, 2024 Meeting Attendance: Attendance: Task Force members: Marie McRae, Hunter Barlow, Jack Wright, Christina Dravis, Ray Burger, Mckenna Crocker, Joe Wilson, John Kiefer, and Alice Green, Chair; Excused: Anne Clark; CCE Energy Coordinators Jerry Sheng (Climate Smart Communities) and Chris Skawski (Clean Energy Communities), Guest: Sawyer Dickinson, DHS Sustainability Club Call to Order at 5:04 pm Introductions : Task force members introduced themselves to Sawyer Dickinson, who is interested in succeeding Mckenna as a member of the Task Force. Sawyer is Vice President of the Dryden High Sustainability Club. Approval of April Minutes: Approved unanimously Additions to the agenda: Jack hasupdate on new funding available through the NYS Empower Program. Clean Energy Community (CEC) Actions Review The Clean Heat/Cooling Campaign was successful in documenting 10 heat pump installations in the town since June 1, 2023. The documentation has been filed and should yield another $10K grant, and 600 CEC points. It’s possible the town could accumulate 15 more installations, for another $15K, before the funding expires. Jack reported the Coop Extension Tiny PowerHouse will be at Dryden Dairy Days June 8, offering residents a chance to see beneficial electrification possibilities, and potentially gaining more heat pump installation referrals. Mckenna noted that the DHS Sustainability Club will be sponsoring a booth at Dairy Day. Path to next grant level. After Chris and Alice reviewed possible CEC actions that could move the town from its current 5300 points to the 7000 needed for a $175K grant, it appears the town can qualify in the next couple of months. Alice and Jerry submitted documentation to re-certify the Town as a Bronze level Climate Smart Community, which should earn another 800 points. DPW has gathered some of the data towards updating the municipal fleet inventory, which can yield 200 points. Chris identified that the final 100 points could be achieved by submitting a nomination for a study of some of the acreage behind town hall as a potential solar farm site. Any resident can make a nomination for such a study; it does not commit the town to acting on the study. Ray and Christina said they’d be willing to report on the nomination, emphasizing that it’s intended to provide additional information, and not to get ahead of the DRYC-led process of hiring a consultant to study all options for the 80 plus acres behind town hall. Alice and others added that they recognize that the town’s first priority for non-wetland acres on the site is to build playing fields for recreation programing. The affordable housing committee has also proposed that the town might consider developing any leftover acres for affordable housing. The following chart summarizes CEC actions that could qualify Dryden for the $175K grant if completed before Sept. 30, 2024: ACTIONS POINTS Previous Actions 5300 Community Campaign: Clean Heat/Cooling. 10 signups 600 Climate Smart Bronze Recertification 800 Municipal Fleets Inventory 200 Build Ready Site Nomination 100 TOTAL 7000 Options for New Grant Projects With a potential $185K coming into the town from the successful Clean Heat/Cooling Campaign and the other actions in progress, it will soon be time to talk about how that money might be used. It must be earmarked for actions that will reduced municipal greenhouse gas emissions. One option is further electrification of DPW equipment that currently operates with fossil fuel, like lawn mowers and weed trimmers. This will be a topic for further discussion> NOTE: Chris Skawski later reminded that the town could use this grant money to match funds for energy audits at its five fire stations. Third RFP issued for DPW Office envelop sealing project -Ray, Alice The town decided not to accept bids (ranging from $122K-$178K) that were submitted in the first two rounds of bidding for sealing the envelop of the DPW office building. The town has about $70K available for this project from a CEC grant. Only one bid was received in the first round; three were received after it was posted statewide. It’s hoped another statewide posting will yield a bid closer to the funding available. Deadline is June 3. New Funding for Low- and Middle- Income Residents through Empower Plus -Jack Jack reported that new funding from the Inflation Recovery Act (IRA) will enable higher grants to pay for home energy upgrades, primarily weatherizing the home, adding in insulation, air ceiling and moving to heat pump technology for heating and cooling and also water heating. For example, a resident who previously qualified for a $10K grant can now get $24K for energy upgrades. He said public announcements will be coming near the end of the month Task Force Statement to NYSERDA about proposal to end program after 2025 Marie moved and Jack seconded a motion to approve sending the letter Alice composed on behalf of the Task Force. Vote was unanimous to send the letter, expressing task force concerns about ending the CEC program, particularly the elimination of local CEC coordinators, and the no-match grants that have been so important to recent Dryden environmental work. Climate Smart Community Actions Review Dryden Climate Change and Resilience Plan (CCARP) – Jerry, Alice Jerry said he has incorporated suggestions for edits from Marie and Christina and will send the final draft to the task force in the next few days. Alice said it would be helpful to be able to see the final version before voting to circulate it to other town village, DCSD, and fire and emergency management stakeholders for suggestions and comments. Ray suggested that the task force could vote to approve the draft for circulation 5 to 6 days after receiving it, to allow that time for any final comments from task force members. The group voted unanimously to circulate the draft after that interval for last minutes changes. Other CSC Actions: Municipal GHG emissions- Alice, Jerry In order to achieve Silver CSC Certification, the town will need to update its 2019 inventory of municipal greenhouse gas emissions. Jerry and Chris can help assemble the necessary data in the NYSERDA Energy Star Portfolio Manager system. The data entry is complicated for at least two reasons: 1) it needs to include energy supplied by the two solar arrays on the town highway barn and town hall, and only town hall has a monitor. 2) the highway barn and DPW office building are on the same natural gas meter, so differentiating their consumption has to be by estimate. John said he’s willing to help with unscrambling these issues in Portfolio Manager Updates on other Town and Inter-municipal Efforts DHS Student Report- Mckenna & Hunter Working with the Dryden Schools maintenance department, the Sustainability Club has obtained a site for a demonstration pollinator garden. It’s a 40 by 18 foot plot on a slope behind the bandstand. It gets good light and will be visible on the campus. Club members have laid out a tarp to kill the grass and ready the site for planting next spring. They are partnering with the school Garden Club on the project Village of Dryden CSC Task Force – Tom Update on County Proposal for EV Charging Station Collaboration – No report Dryden Town Board Report- Christina The Town Board approved appointment of Tom Sinclair and other village volunteers to the Town Climate Smart Task Force. And it also approved letters urging the governor and state legislators to approved climate related budget items and legislation. Conservation Board Report – Anne No report available Affordable Housing Task Force – Ray The task force is focused on working with INHS on more affordable housing, and on energy upgrades to mobile homes. He said the new Empower grants should help get more units upgraded. The housing task force also wants to take a look at the RFP that the DRYC is creating to find a consultant to study options for developing the acres behind town hall. The RFP will probably go to the town board in June. Repair Café Marie bought a book about how this can work, and may visit one schedule in Hector in June. She recommends the documentary Common Ground about regenterative agriculture, now playing at Cinemopolis. Adjournment at 6:16 pm Next meeting: 5 – 6:30 pm June 11. Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84683569959?pwd=YldTOUFDRWF3b29jNDhsU0Q4VW5pUT09 Meeting ID: 846 8356 9959 Passcode: 259422