Warwick Buildings and Energy Committee February 12, 2025
Present: Janice Kurkoski (Chair), Jack Cadwell, Dan Dibble, Mary Humphries, Steve Kurkoski, and Emily Rosen
Meeting opened: 5:08 p.m.
The minutes of our last meeting on January 29th were approved unanimously.
Review of Grant Status:
No word on the Competitive Grant from Green Communities as of yet. Other grants through FRCOG have come through (through DOER) JK asked for an application. It would go directly to the Selectboard. JK made a motion to recommend to the Selectboard to allow Warwick to participate in the next Municipal Energy Technical Assistance (META) grant, which would allow us to get “free help.” Massachusetts Energy Manager grant is a Mass Save grant for several towns and schools that provides three years of funding to create up to a full-time Energy Manager role.
WCS Roof & Solar Credit Info:
JK got an answer on the status of the WCS roof regarding solar possibility. The shingles went up in 2015, so they should be good for another 25/30 years; ok’d for solar, as are the Highway Building and Town Hall.
The Highway Department has a $521 credit from solar on its electric bill. Town Hall has 7,836 credits and WCS 20,810. The credits stay with the buildings until they’re used up. Discussion of reassigning the credits to other buildings (options). SK clarified the fact that you can’t sell the credits or the electricity. JK: “Solar works!”
Styrofoam Collection Update:
JK has left two messages with Todd Dexter regarding the pod in April for styrofoam collection and the next Transfer Station meeting date. Time is running out to participate in this collection. The Transfer Station needs to say ‘Yes’ in order to participate. JC has volunteered to contact Mark Fellows, who’s also on the TS Committee. WBEC will provide volunteers to help with this program on each Saturday in April.
Climate Leader Community:
JK says we’ve been discussing this since mid-2022, and we already have two of the five criteria required. She gave us a recap. We have:
- Must be a Green Community in “good standing”
- Establish/maintain a local committee…energy and climate activities
Still need:
- Municipal decarbonization commitment/road map
- Adoption of specialized stretch code
- Zero-emission-vehicle first policy
Power Options is a consulting company that helped Orange with the school. Discussion opened. There’s money available for someone to work on this. It was decided to create a Green Corner letter for the newsletter reviewing all this. Use Google Docs? Get the letter prepped then have a quick meeting to finalize.
The WBEC took a vote on the question: “Do we want to pursue Climate Leader Community status?” The vote was unanimous: Yes.
Meeting adjourned 6:38 p.m.
Next meeting: 2/18/25 at 3:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Mary Humphries