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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Energy Committee - 05/01/2024PAGE 1 SOUTH BURLINGTON ENERGY COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES May 1, 2024 The South Burlington Energy Committee held a regular meeting on Wednesday, 1 May 2024, at 6:30 p.m., in the Auditorium, 180 Market Street, and by Zoom remote participation. Members present: T. Perrin, S. Lipshutz, B. Baldwin, E. Goldman, F. Kosnitsky, M. Hauser, E. Goldman, R. Meader, S. Cowley, R. Meader, M.J. Reale Absent: K. Epstein, F. Van Boden, C, McLaughlin Also present: N. Atherton, City Planner; L. Bresee, Energy Systems Manager 1. Convene meeting, select scribe, review agenda (6:30 p.m.) 2. Comments and questions from the public not related to the agenda (6:35 p.m.) none 3. Review and approve April 7, 2024 meeting minutes (6:40 p.m.) MJ moved, Fred second, approved unanimously Review and approve June 10, 2015 and March 11, 2018 meeting minutes Sam moved, Fred second, approved unanimously for both 4. Preparation for City Committees Discussion (6:45 p.m.) Tim led a discussion related to Jessie Baker’s email about city committees. The Council is reviewing all aspects of city committees and would like our input to inform a May 29 meeting. Planning Commission and City Council sets city priorities. Do we wait until we are asked to participate and advise? Do we determine what is important to the city related to energy and climate and push the city on issues? It is important that our group know what is going on with city staff, council, other committees when we take on an issue. What is our role? Policy advising? Community Engagement? Think-tank like visionary? What does City want of SBEC? What does SBEC want of City? We have a broad directive. We always take on what the City requests of us and we also take on other projects we think are good for the community. We see overlap with Bike/Ped and Natural Resources Committees but feel that if we merged it would be unwieldy to manage combining different agendas. We could occasionally work together on projects or community events but not with full committees. Perhaps a summit/combo meeting once in a while to cross pollinate ideas and see what the others are doing. Are there policy areas that need more committees? City Council could identify top ten issues/problems and address them with more committees or summits. CITY COUNCIL MEETING MONTH XX, 2023 | PAGE 2 CAP Task Force was an example of a group made up of multiple city committee participants/stakeholders. We have learned that subcommittees are the most efficient way for us to get work done. Is this an opportunity to change our name from Energy to Climate Action? Others in the state and around the country are making that change. ACTION: Tim will attend the May 29th meeting. If anyone else wants to join, contact Tim. 5. FY25 Work plan The group reviewed the FY24 work plan and discussed how to rework it for FY25. We noted that some of the tasks did not have formal subcommittee meetings but that the issues/projects were organically covered over the course of the year. Some did not get addressed. Some had subcommittees that finished the projects. We discussed whether the actionable items should be less specific and listed only in broad categories of work or if we want to retain the detail. We decided to leave the detail as is – but can take items away and add others. Perhaps combine some. Everyone should review and start to update/develop Tactics (column G) for the upcoming fiscal year. Groups can also make changes to the Strategy Description (column E). We'll review the proposed changes at next meeting to finalize the FY'25 Work Plan. https://drive.google.com/file/d/10iSs4RdjPTooT0xc8_uWujOoMk9wYa5N/view Those that signed up for a project area can meet in person or coordinate via phone or email - we can meet in groups of 6 or less. Do not use the SBEC google drive to work on shared documents. ACTION: Each SBEC member should review the FY25 working plan and decide if they want to be included. We can add or delete tasks within the topic area. 6. Community engagement Fred is interested in doing more writing for the City newsletter and/or our newsletter and/or The Other Paper, Clean and Green Feature. ACTION: MJ will check with Andy from City on parameters to be included in the City newsletter and follow up with Fred and work on an editorial plan together. Group discussed other events. Should we have another Energy Festival in September 2025? Should we see if SB Night Out events would make sense for us to join? What would we do that would be engaging and fun? ACTION: Nick or MJ will check in with Parks and Recreation Department to see if this is a possibility. If they are open, the SBEC members for engagement can meet to discuss how we can come up with something for this summer for one or two dates. New city council member, Laurie Smith is interested in Window Dressers. MJ shared that our committee spent time reviewing this last year and determined it is a huge undertaking and beyond the scope of what we could handle. However, we can take another look and see if there is a role for SBEC that is more about communication than running the program. We will add it to the Workplan. ACTION: Members interested in community engagement will take another look at Window Dressers. CITY COUNCIL MEETING MONTH XX, 2023 | PAGE 3 Marley updated the group on the film event. She is waiting for confirmation from the library on a summer event. The first one will be a family focused event – better chance for participation in the summer. Brittany will help out. There is a SBEC budget that can help fund snacks, beverages and babysitting. The city has child care providers. ACTION: Marley will follow up with the library and make a plan with Brittany. They can let the rest of the committee know if they need additional member support for the event. 7. New policy research/action We discussed Andrew’s request that SBEC address: Requiring rental buildings to improve weatherization over time. Consider a rule requiring rental buildings to do an energy audit every (5) years or so and then implement the measures that are cost-effective (perhaps defined as those that pay for themselves over - say - 10 years or less). Requiring building owners seeking a permit to install a new fossil-fuel heating or hot water device to replace with equipment that would satisfy our renewable heating ordinance for new construction. The group agreed that this is an important near-term project that should be addressed, with possibly working with Andrew and the city attorney. ACTION: Ethan, Tim, Steve, Sam will connect to see how to research and address this issue. 8. Status of municipal infrastructure & equipment upgrades - Lou Bresee Greg Yandow, Director of Physical Plant is leaving – he understands and supports energy efficiency needs at the city. 3 new roof top units going into public works building now. – also the police station GMP and flexible load management – controlling temp to optimize energy Solar array at the landfill output will now be monitored in a way that is easier viewing and access. ACTION: Lou will find out if SBEC can log into the info and if the public will have access. 9. Updates on Ongoing Activities & Announcements EV Charger project - Rob discussed the status. Nick reports that the deadline is May 8 to finalize the recommendations. Planning Commission meets on May 14 and Nick will include SBEC info in the packet. ACTION: Rob and Nick will coordinate to get the SBEC recommendations to the PC Nick led a discussion about changing the dates of our meetings in order to go back to the meeting room we used previously. Everyone agreed this is a good idea. ACTION: Nick will send out a survey to confirm that the last Wednesday of the month will be the new date. Because May is 5 weeks we will meet twice this month. At the last meeting, new City Council member Mike Scanlon reported that GMT reached out to him and is interested in presenting to SBEC. CITY COUNCIL MEETING MONTH XX, 2023 | PAGE 4 ACTION: Tim will reach out to Mike Scanlon to confirm who the GMT contact is and follow up to see what their area of interest is with SBEC. 10. Adjourn (8:55) Next meeting is Wednesday, May 29. Time TBD – possibly later to accommodate the City Committee meeting held the same time.