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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCS CEC 2023-01-03Climate Smart/Clean Energy Community Task Force Agenda for the Meeting at 4:15 pm Tuesday Jan. 3, 2023 Town Hall Caldwell Conference Room and Via Zoom (link below) Call to Order: 4:19 pm Introductions: Alice Green, Gina Cassidy, Joe Wilson, Chuck Geisler, Ray Burger, Marie McRae, John Kiefer, Mckenna Crocker Approval of November Minutes: Unanimous Approval of December Minutes: Unanimous with the replacement of “thermostat” to “thermometer” Additions to the Agenda: None Clean Energy Community Actions Review Dryden is still second in the leaderboard in the Southern Tier Region. We are still at the 4,500 point level. We qualify for the $20,000 grant. We have submitted an application for this grant, which focuses on the remediations of energy efficiency of the DPW Office Building. We are working towards 5,000 points, which qualifies for a $70,000 grant. There are only four of these grants available, and Montour Falls has claimed one of them. When we purchase the hybrid vehicle, this will give us 300 points. This vehicle is expected in March of this year. Gina reported that NYSERDA wants to do an update of the CEC program. She is unsure how long this will take, but the hope is to have this update by the summer at the latest. NYSERDA has also been asked for additional awards even after communities’ reach the highest rewards. DPW Office Building Upgrade: Meeting with Consultants and NYSERDA Project Manager – John, Marie, Alice Gina said NYSERDA is currently working of the definition of a “disadvantaged community”. She understood that Dryden should qualify for a $10,000 bonus, but this was supposedly only true if the project was within the disadvantaged community within Dryden. She is working on getting a definitive answer to this. https://www.nyserda.ny.gov/ny/disadvantaged-communities The current action we are still working on is the DPW Office Building Upgrades. Our group was not satisfied with the audit we received from NYSERDA. John noticed that Taitem (our local engineering company), was listed as one of the companies that could have done our audit. He called Crista Shopis, head of the energy group from there. He learned that L&S administers the program for NYSERDA, so they picked themselves to do the audit even though they are three hours away. He sent the report to Crista from Taitem and they would do the audit differently. If NYSERDA would refund the cost of the ineffective L&S audit, we could go back and hire them. The group had two meetings with NYSERDA. The first meeting was with L&S to talk about the report. L&S stood behind the work that they did. Our project manager did not acknowledge our concerns or question L&S. The second meeting was with Melanie, our project manager from NYSERDA. She agreed that the report was not up to the expectations, and she would try to get our money back. She said she would look into a larger scope as part of this program that would include steps to tighten it up before electrification and characterization of the building. Alice believes that Dryden’s history of being a leader will help Melanie make her case with her superiors. She also thinks NYSERDA realized that they must do a better job of meeting with municipalities and understanding what they want, not based solely on a generic template. John reported that this study is best done in the winter, so getting this done before April would be helpful to maximize the benefits. Gina said she would make sure Melanie understands this. Climate Smart Community Actions Review Current Point Count We currently have 225 points, meaning we need 75 more points for silver certification. The Climate Change and Resilience Plan could give us these remaining 75 more points. Dryden Climate Change and Resilience Plan- Existing Document Review- Ella/Ray Ray and Ella are going to work through this plan during the month of January. Existing plans can be used to form the bigger assessment. Ray is going to show Ella these documents to get this moving forward. Updates on other Town and Inter-municipal Efforts DHS Student Report- Mckenna, Kate Kate met with the Vice Principal and the head of the cafeteria staff to discuss the plastic utensil problem at Dryden High School. They found a grant called the “Green School Grant Program”, which can provide up to $1,000. They are going to apply for this and get back to us for further ideas. The climate change class starts at the end of January and would like to work with the Town. Mckenna said that there has not been any progress on the EV charger at the school, but they are waiting for the contractor and it’s still moving forward. Chuck is interested in energy sourcing of the school for its education potential. Mckenna emailed the principal asking about this, but there has not been a clear answer. The group brought up several questions about solar panels, and gas bills that could be asked to the school board. The task force is willing to help consult when Kate and Mckenna begin this process. Report from Affordable Housing Task Force – Ray, Chuck, Ella The group met in December with a Dryden resident and had a good discussion, so they have recommended a Community Development Block Grant Programs (CDBG) grant to the Town Board. They are moving forward with the grant application. This grant would help upgrade sufficient housing in the town. The village of Dryden did this last year and was able to address 12 homes. Chuck is suggesting to look for alternative funding for mobile homes other than this grant. He said that a sub-committee has formed specifically for affordable housing in the mobile home sector. City Green New Deal; City/Town CCA Next Steps – Marie, Joe, Gina The group is continuing to monitor the Green New Deal. Gina’s latest update is that it has been stalled. Joe said that there is an informal group that meets. There are no further updates on Community Choice Aggregation. Adjourn: 5:33 pm Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82886245911?pwd=VkIrZ041RXlxdkFqN245VCtnaGFXQT09 Meeting ID: 828 8624 5911 Passcode: 257898