Energy Commission Minutes

Minutes of 1/10/2024

January 16th, 2024

Carroll Energy Commission Minutes
Meeting of January 10, 2024
The Carroll Energy Commission mission is to advise, encourage, and facilitate energy conservation, energy efficiency, and clean energy solutions for public buildings and properties, businesses, and resident homes. The Committee shall provide leadership and direction for community education relating to energy and shall propose and explore funding for local energy projects.
These minutes of the Town of Carroll Energy Commission have been recorded by its Secretary. Though believed to be accurate and correct they are subject to additions, deletions, and corrections by the Energy Commission at its next meeting when the Commission votes its final approval of the minutes. They are being made available at this time to conform to the requirements of New Hampshire RSA 91-A:2.

Minutes recorded by Imre Szauter, Secretary

Commission members in attendance: Member Vern Amirault, Member and Select Board Representative John Greer, Member Brian Mycko, Vice Chair Imre Szauter, and Chair Bill Vecchio

Member of the public in attendance: Paula Murphy

The meeting was called to order at 4:05 p.m. by Chair Vecchio.

Chair Vecchio invited all attendees to rise and join in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Member Mycko offered comments regarding the warrant article discussion at the January 9, 2024 Select Board meeting. Member Greer also offered comments.

Town resident Paula Murphy joined the meeting and introduced herself. She stated that she was interested in learning about the Energy Commission and the street light replacement proposal. Chair Vecchio welcomed her.

Chair Vecchio reminded attendees of the scheduled January 24 Informational Session at 6:00 p.m. in the Town Hall Community Room. He stated he created a draft PowerPoint presentation for consideration and feedback at tonight’s meeting.

Vice Chair Szauter announced that Member Greer had updated the town website by adding a link from the Energy Commission listing under “Boards and Commissions” to access the commission’s meeting minutes.

Chair Vecchio stated he would entertain a motion on the December 22, 2023 meeting minutes. Chair Vecchio motioned to accept the minutes as written. Member Mycko seconded the motion. With no discussion, the motion passed unanimously.
Member Greer commented that he was not listed on the website as a member of the Energy Commission. Chair Vecchio suggested adding Member Greer to the listing and updating it to show the years of each member’s appointment instead of the length of their term. Vice Chair Szauter stated that he would request our administrative assistant make the changes.

Chair Vecchio stated he would entertain a motion on the January 5, 2024 meeting minutes. Chair Vecchio motioned to accept the minutes as written. Member Mycko seconded the motion. With no discussion, the motion passed unanimously.

Under New Business, Chair Vecchio opened a discussion on the January 24 Informational Session on the street light replacement proposal. Attendees offered suggestions on the important points to highlight, including who is paying for the street lights (town, state, and private pay), how much they cost to operate, the benefits of the new LED technology (lower operational costs, better lighting quality, longer operational life, less light pollution, etc.), and more. They also discussed how to create interest among town residents so their questions and concerns could be addressed.

Discussion took place on how best to advertise the session; Member Mycko agreed to distribute information on various social media sites and physical locations around town. Member Amirault offered to ask his wife, Bobbi to advertise the session on the sign board in front of the former Twin Mountain Fire-Rescue Department building on US-3.

Discussion took place on providing a Zoom link for the Informational Session. Member Mycko offered to bring his laptop and run the Zoom video and audio during the session.

Chair Vecchio asked about postponing the January 24 session if weather becomes an issue. Members agreed that Chair Vecchio should be the one to make the postponement call, shifting the session to the already reserved January 31 backup date.

Chair Vecchio stepped through the draft PowerPoint presentation he created. He made notes for modifications and offered to update the presentation and distribute it to commission members for additional comments.

Guest Paula Murphy asked if there was grant money available to lower the cost of the street light project for the town. Vice Chair Szauter explained that Melissa Elander, Clean Energy NH North Country Circuit Rider assisted the commission explore a grant opportunity for the street light project, but there wasn’t enough time before the grant deadline to pull together the needed information.

Guest Murphy departed the meeting at 4:55 p.m.

Chair Vecchio opened a discussion on creating handouts for the Informational Session. A number of possibilities exist, so once the presentation is finalized, a PDF file can be created for posting on the town website and used to make hardcopy handouts.

Member Mycko departed at 5:00 p.m. for another meeting.

Chair Vecchio reviewed a list of possible questions the commission might be asked during the Informational Session.

Member Greer departed at 5:10 p.m. for another meeting.

Chair Vecchio reviewed his list of action items regarding changes to the PowerPoint presentation and follow ups with Eversource representatives. Member Amirault confirmed he will ask his wife Bobbi to advertise the Informational Session on the letter board in front of the old fire station. Chair Vecchio confirmed that Member Mycko will handle the advertising on social media and that he would assist with distribution of hardcopies of the presentation’s first page.

Chair Vecchio encouraged everyone to reread the Affinity LED Lighting proposal so as to be familiar with its components, should someone at the Informational Session ask about an item that is already covered in the proposal.

Under Old Business, Chair Vecchio mentioned that the LED street light warrant article was amended at the January 9 Select Board meeting to bring the cost and payback figures in line with the Affinity LED Lighting non-networked street light proposal.

Chair Vecchio indicated he didn’t have anything new to report on the Eversource Energy street lighting rates.

Vice Chair Szauter reported he has not been contacted by Verizon since December 18, 2023 regarding scheduling a conference call to obtain more information on the Verizon Intelligent Street Light platform. With the warrant article now modeled on the non-networked LED street light proposal from Affinity LED Lighting, the Verizon follow up is no longer required.

Under Other, Chair Vecchio indicated that after the Informational Session and the town deliberative session, he would like to focus on developing a prioritized list of other projects for the Energy Commission to consider. Projects such as solar PV arrays, battery storage, community power, and NH DES water facilities audits are among the topics of interest, along with their corresponding grant and rebate programs.

With no other agenda items to discuss, Chair Vecchio entertained a motion for adjournment. Member Amirault motioned to adjourn. Vice Chair Szauter seconded the motion. With no additional discussion, the motion was passed unanimously and the meeting was adjourned at 5:47 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Imre Szauter, Vice Chair and Secretary