HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Energy Committee - 03/09/2022South Burlington Energy Committee Approved Minutes
Wednesday, March 9, 2022
6:30 PM
South Burlington City Hall, 180 Market Street, Room 201
Online: https://meet.goto.com/SouthBurlingtonVT/ec20220309
Committee Members Present: Ethan Goldman, Keith Epstein, Marcy Murray, Andrew Chalnick, Tim Perrin,
Sam Swanson, Steve Crowley, Ken Pulido
Committee members absent: MJ Reale,
City Staff Present: Lou Bresee, Ilona Blanchard
Convene meeting, select scribe (Steve volunteered), review agenda
Comments and questions from the public not related to the agenda
None present
Review and approve February 9th meeting minutes
Keith moved to approve, Marcy seconded. Vote was unanimous.
Energy Committee membership & interview timeline
With Kate stepping into the new School Board role, there is an opening. Application available on city
website, City Council hoping to fill this by June. Members urged to look for good candidates. March-April
application timeframe. Ethan, Marcy, and Kate’s seats are up for re-application.
FY2023 Work Plan – progress review for initiatives
Reviewed the adopted workplan
1. Outreach to low-income multifamily owners. Discussed potential for sharing information about
energy use etc. on individual properties. Ethan explored the possibility of city data in a form useful
for larger scale analysis and matching that up with VGS data.
2. Homeowner outreach
3. Expanding communication: MJ and Keith will be getting together soon to catalog and plan
communications. Ilona notes the City News goes out every 2 weeks, next deadline 3/17. Discussed
possible topics for sharing through the City News.
4. Coalition. The team has begun to check in by email. Andrew has suggested that the CAP schedule
means the outreach element may be delayed.
5. Policy from CAP. Waiting to see what comes from CAP. LDRs have been adopted. Tim suggested
that people who engaged on LDRs would be good to keep involved as CAP is rolled out. Keep in mind
as we identify stakeholder groups. Sam suggests it would be helpful to start to catalog specific
efforts that are now ongoing efforts; it could be good to have a public document posting that
summarizes the important elements. Andrew will pull this together. Discussion about the larger
picture of what kind of information could be highlighted on the city website.
6. Infrastructure from CAP
7. Monitoring city energy data. Ethan has begun discussions with Melanie Needle (CCRPC) about their
possible use of this data.
Updates on Ongoing Activities
● Website / Facebook: Keith has backed up to our google folders; older pages are stored there. Keith
continues posting on FB, gets 30-50 views each post.
● SBHS solar bike shelter. Andrew has reached out but no progress at this time.
● Intern search process for potential capstone project(s). There has been some connection with
Rubenstein, School, various internship or capstone opportunities exist., service learning projects.
This may come down to whether what we are looking for lines up well with what students or profs
are looking for.
● CAP Task Force. Ethan reports focus on refining actions in building and thermal; there are 6 or 7
areas to work through, preparing to sort and have enough information to effectively prioritize.
Tomorrow, a representative from ICLEI will share regarding the Pathway model.
● State-level updates - VCC CAP, Comprehensive Energy Plan,
○ Municipal Fuel Switching Grant Program. Grants for audits, projects; good to keep an eye
on this. We should look at what might be helpful for the city to be ready quickly when this
passes.
○ Clean Heat Standard. Various issues raised, about equity, how various dealers will interact,
bio-energy life cycle analysis, bio-energy ecosystem, food, and community impacts, and so
on.
● POWER-D.city / Dude Solutions software. Ethan reports on continuing discussions with CCRPC about
the timeframe and how this model/software will fit in, the MoU is in development. Ilona can get this
in the works for approval by City Council if in hand by Friday. SBEC has already voted to recommend
that this happen, and the committee will communicate that to the Council.
●
Municipal Energy Projects & Revolving Fund – community engagement
● How can we promote what’s happening with energy at city hall/library? Keith and Ilona discussed
many projects that could be shared with community members
● Solar Array update, maintenance: There has been wind damage, including panels being blown off
the array or even onto the ground. SunCommon has done some immediate strengthening. They
have temporarily removed the first two rows of panels from the roof! They will be looking carefully
at the engineering. All under warranty, SunCommon is working on it.
● Greg Yandow is leading the effort to pull together a 10-yr CIP plan for all city buildings, considering
energy upgrades for all facilities. Looking to create one overall asset management plan including
maintenance needs, etc. This is the annual update of a 10-yr plan. Priority list, with timing.
● One specific potential project is replacing windows at the police department.
Tim suggested starting a communications plan, which Keith agreed would be a great idea.
Announcements about Upcoming Events / Activities
● Lou shared there's a webinar coming up on electric buses.
8:30 PM Adjourn meeting