HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Energy Committee - 11/09/2022South Burlington Energy Committee
November 9, 2022
Meeting Minutes -Approved
Present: Tim Perrin, Ethan Goldman, Rob Meader, MJ Reale, Sam Swanson, Steve Crowley,
Carolyn McLaughlin, Frans Van Boden, Keith Epstein, Ahmad Abdel-Fattah
Committee members absent: Ken Pulido
City Council: None
City staff: Ilona Blanchard, Lou Bressee
Public: None
6:30 PM Convene meeting, select scribe (Keith E), review agenda
Sam moved to adopt the draft October 12, 2022 meeting minutes. MJ seconded, and it was
approved unanimously.
Mount Mansfield Media recorded the first part of our meeting, where we discussed how our
Button Up Vermont events went, for a Button Up video for Efficiency Vermont. The three events
we hosted at Ace Hardware and Lowe’s went well. Many people learned about the events
beforehand through Front Porch Forum or other avenues. It was good to be positioned on the
way out of the store. We had good conversations with people about home energy, and gave
away cider, donuts, and efficiency/conservation materials. For future events, it would be helpful
to prepare some talking points before the event, like about rebates or other things we want to be
sure people learn. Button Up could provide some specific talking points or detailed guidelines to
event organizers to help with this. Lowe’s was more busy than Ace Hardware.
Sam brought up the idea of doing a Button Up event with a few religious institutions. MJ brought
up the idea of an event targeted at renters. Rob has participated in targeted Button Up events in
the past, and has had productive conversations.
For our Other Paper article series “Clean and Green”, we could ask the public what questions
they have about energy and then we could write articles to answer those questions. MJ
reviewed the plans for upcoming articles, and solicited ideas. Ahmad suggested a mobile home
energy demonstration vehicle for education at schools, churches, etc. Keith offered to contact
Richard Watts at UVM to see if he has any students who could interview city staff and write
about the energy-related projects done by the city.
On November 30th, the City Council will have a meeting about how to spend ARPA funds, in
which all the city’s volunteer committees will have time to present and discuss. Each committee
will have about 5 minutes to present, and we should prepare cost estimates for each proposal to
help Councilors decide how to spend the money. We assigned estimated dollar amounts to
each project idea, and Tim and Ethan will create a presentation. Sam moved to approve the
estimated dollar amounts and authorize Tim and Ethan to create the presentation. Carrie
seconded the motion, and it was approved unanimously.
We reviewed the draft annual report that MJ drafted. Steve moved to approve the draft, Ethan
seconded, and it was approved unanimously.
We tabled the discussion of the Climate Action Coalition, due to time constraints.
SBBA (South Burlington Business Association) will be on November 11 from 4:30 to 6:30 at
OnLogic, and the main topic will be energy.
Ilona announced that the Planning Commission is undertaking a rewrite of the Comprehensive
Plan over the next year. By the end of December, we should answer these three questions:
1. What key topics within our area of focus should be prioritized in the 2024
Comprehensive Plan?
2. What input do you need from members of the public related to those key topics?
3. What further information does your committee need in order to provide feedback on the
Comprehensive Plan?
Ilona will send an email with details. Members should review the email and be prepared to
discuss at our December meeting, so we can formally answer these three questions as a
committee and submit them to the Planning Commission.
9:00 PM Adjourn meeting
Approved 12/14/2022