Warwick Buildings and Energy Committee Meeting Minutes
April 17, 2023
Call To Order: 6:06 p.m. Present via zoom: Jack Cadwell, Dan Dibble, Janice Kurkoski, Chair, Mary Humphries, and Steve Kurkoski. Claudia and Zac Lewis joined us for the latter part of the meeting.
Public Comment: None
Minutes of the previous meeting taken by JK (3/28/23) were unanimously accepted as written.
Discussion, Updates & Action Items:
Status of Next GC Grant Projects:
GC application due by 5/5/23. We don’t have pricing as of this eve but will be set by 4/24 for the Selectboard meeting. The pricing must be represented as one item.
Hydronic heat pump for the Fire Station which will heat the equipment bays only. It will include 80 gal of domestic hot water. John Hicks from Hilltown HVAC & Plumbing is the installer, Todd Weed the electrician with Rich Finn as project expeditor. Janice put them in touch with each other to coordinate what’s needed. Energy Source will do the calculations of all the numbers.
Air source heat pumps for WCS. This project includes the same heat pumps as the ones installed last year at WCS, with the exception that DY wants to choose and order the equipment. We have to work with the qualified product list.
Project #4: Hybrid Ford police cruiser. The grant provides 5K towards a 65K vehicle. Question of overlapping grant requests. April/May ’24 is our next opportunity to request funds.
Winserts: (Jack left the meeting 6:24 p.m.) These are a possible project for our next grant. Short discussion of aluminum storm windows for the library. We would have to prove heat savings for this to work. Forty more winserts need to be built for WCS. Janice researched pricing which has increased by roughly $1K over last year. We’ve recommended to Rich Finn that the same contractor be used. There is some material leftover from the last project. (Jack returned to the meeting 6:29 p.m.)
Janice mentioned some items that have been left off this grant round including induction cook plate for WCS, ASHPs for the library, and solar thermal DHW for WCS. Jack suggested electricity for a cooking unit in the Fire Station when the time comes. Janice agreed. Discussion of some effects of the Inflation-Reduction Act.
Electricity Aggregation: On the 24th between 1:30 and 2:30 DY has been authorized to be on zoom to sign up for a one, two, or three-year contract. There are 15 towns who have joined the aggregation. There are eight different product options, but we all have to go with the same supplier. Janice has volunteered to be at Sr. Meal tomorrow to answer questions. She wants to explain the program and get feedback from people. We get to pick three options. Discussion of how to sign up. Warwick ratepayers will get a letter to opt out this August; otherwise, we’ll be automatically enrolled in the default option which is very likely to be cheaper then National Grid’s supply rate. All this information should be on our town website according to DPU regs.
Fire Station: Claudia and Zac joined us to discuss Fire Station issues. JK gave an overview of where we are now. She spoke to Joe Larson. Tradespeople have been hired by the town for other projects, but we need a general contractor. JL thinks we should stick with the original plan. Zac attended the last Selectboard meeting and gave a report. (Mary left the meeting at 7:58). Talk continued about the upcoming article at Town Meeting for $250,000 to finish the addition. Joe said both he and the finance committee agree that funding should be raised in steps according to the breakout plan agreed on by the selectboard a while ago. The article could be rephrased at TM. Zac said there are about $40-60k already raised but no one seems to know where they are.
Next meeting 4/18 with Allison Gage of FRCOG
Meeting adjourned at 8:02