Energy Commission Minutes

Minutes of 4/9/2025

April 9th, 2025

Carroll Energy Commission Minutes
Meeting of April 9, 2025 @ 5:00 p.m.
Carroll Town Hall Community Room
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 John Greer, Member Karen Moran, Member and Select Board Representative Brian Mycko, Vice Chair and Secretary Imre Szauter, and Chair Bill Vecchio.

Members of the public in attendance in person or via Zoom: Melissa Elander, Clean Energy New Hampshire (CENH) North Country Energy Circuit Rider (via Zoom).

The meeting was called to order at 5:01 p.m. by Chair Vecchio.

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

Following a roll call of participants in person and via Zoom, Chair Vecchio welcomed Melissa Elander of CENH and thanked her for being part of the meeting.

Chair Vecchio stated he would entertain a motion on the Mar. 12, 2025 meeting minutes. Member Mycko motioned to accept the minutes as written. Member Greer seconded the motion. With no discussion, the motion passed with 6 AYES and 0 NAYS.

Under New Business, Chair Vecchio opened a discussion on producing a letter on possible impacts to our Municipal Solar Grant Program project if funding from the NHDOE (New Hampshire Dept. of Energy) is delayed. Melissa Elander previously provided background and urged the Energy Commission to consider contacting New Hampshire Governor Ayotte and others to outline how funding delays could jeopardize the project.

Chair Vecchio highlighted the points in the information document from Melissa Elander, and stated he felt the Energy Commission should express our concerns on our project’s future. Member Mycko made a motion for the Energy Commission to send a letter to Governor Ayotte and others on the potential impact on our project if there are funding delays, with a draft version being routed to members for final approval. Member Moran seconded the motion. During discussion, Chair Vecchio agreed to draft the letter and send it on to members for review and comment. Once all have replied, Chair Vecchio will finalized the letter and send it via email prior to Apr. 18. With no further discussion, the motion passed with 6 AYES and 0 NAYS.

Under New Business, Chair Vecchio opened a discussion on future Energy Commission projects and priorities. He offered two potential projects discussed at a prior meeting. The first being the NHDES (New Hampshire Dept. of Environmental Services) evaluation of the town’s potable water system and the second being a solar PV array system to partially offset the pump house energy usage.

Regarding the NHDES energy evaluation, the Energy Commission would be in a position to assist the Public Works Director, Scott Sonia and the Select Board in reviewing its recommendations and assisting with applications for energy efficiency incentives, grants, and low-interest loans. Chair Vecchio will invite Scott Sonia to attend our May 14 meeting to discuss his thoughts on the evaluation and if there is an opportunity for the Energy Commission to assist.

Vice Chair Szauter suggested that another potential project would be a solar PV array on land where the transfer station and the old landfill are located.

Another project for consideration is to assist the town when the highway garage replacement effort begins. Providing input on energy efficiency practices and materials could help reduce the operating costs for a new structure designed to house Public Works Dept. equipment.

Members discussed various aspects of these projects, including technical feasibility studies, financial evaluations, cost estimates, and community support.

Under Old Business, Chair Vecchio opened a discussion on the USDA (US Dept. of Agriculture) Rural Community Development Initiative program and the USDA Assurance Agreement, introduced last month by Melissa Elander. Chair Vecchio reported the Select Board reviewed an Energy Commission letter of recommendation and heard a brief explanation of the Assurance Agreement from Melissa Elander at their Mar. 25, 2025 Select Board meeting. Melissa Elander stated that this USDA program allows CENH to bill her time spent assisting qualified towns pursue and complete municipal energy projects, as the Town of Carroll qualifies as a municipality with residents’ 2010 median household income below 80% of the state average. Following discussion, the Select Board voted unanimously to sign the Assurance Agreement and provide a copy to CENH.

Under Old Business, Chair Vecchio opened a discussion on the Public Safety building roof structural analysis letter. Vice Chair Szauter reported that the final certification letter from Jack Young at Horizons Engineering was received on Apr. 2 and distributed to the Energy Commission, Paige Relf at NHDOE, Melissa Elander at CENH, and Ted Vansant at Barrington Solar. The certification letter was required prior to the project kickoff meeting.

Under Old Business, Chair Vecchio opened a discussion on the Affinity LED Lighting street light conversion project. Vice Chair Szauter reported that Affinity LED Lighting confirmed that Eversource Energy had converted the remaining five high pressure sodium streetlights to LEDs under a separate work order, as the original electrical contractor’s bucket truck could not reach those streetlights. He also stated that Affinity LED Lighting has finalized their records to be sent to Eversource Energy, which will certify the project is 100% completed. This was a requirement for release of the Eversource Energy streetlight conversion incentive and needed to resolve discrepancies in the Eversource Energy streetlight invoices to the town.

Back in January, the Energy Commission requested that two side shields for Affinity LED Lighting streetlights be sent to the town for evaluation. Those shields arrived on Apr. 9 and one was installed on an LED demo unit in the Community Room. Members had an opportunity to view how the shield reduced the amount of light projected backwards. Chair Vecchio will reach out to the resident who raised a concern about excessive light spillage on his property and arrange a demonstration of the modified streetlight.

Vice Chair Szauter confirmed that a number of Eversource Energy ledger discrepancies had been addressed during an Apr. 4 field audit, during which the ten poles in question were visited and photographed. The results were shared with Energy Commission members, Affinity LED Lighting, and Eversource Energy.

Still to be addressed is the disposition of the three high pressure sodium streetlights on Rosebrook Lane. These streetlights were not converted in Dec. 2024, based on a decision by the Energy Commission, as no written records were available to document the agreement between the town and the Rosebrook Home Owners Association that the town would take responsibility for these streetlights.

Member Mycko suggested replacing the Rosebrook Lane high pressure sodium streetlights with Eversource Energy-installed LED streetlights that were removed during the Affinity LED Lighting streetlight conversion project. Perhaps paying the installation fee for these three streetlights to receive the reduced Eversource Energy billing rate for LED lights in the short term would be less than the continued cost of lighting the high pressure sodium lights. An effort should be made to locate the document under which the town took over responsibility for these streetlights on a private road in the first place.

Member Amirault suggested removal of the Rosebrook Lane streetlights as an alternative to replacing the existing lights with LEDs.

Under Old Business, Chair Vecchio opened a discussion on the NHDOE Municipal Solar Grant Program. The NHDOE has scheduled the town’s kickoff meeting via Microsoft Teams for Tuesday, May 13 at 2:00 p.m. The Town Hall Community Room will be set up for the Teams session, while members who cannot be present may participate remotely. The kickoff meeting will not be an Energy Commission meeting, so no decisions will be made. Any items raised during the Teams meeting that require a decision will be tabled until the May 14 regular Energy Commission meeting. The Teams session and Community Room gathering are open to the public.

An additional item required for the Public Safety building solar PV array project will be a town building permit. A conversation with the Carroll Building Inspector, David Scalley provided guidance on how to proceed and what documents are required for the permit. Vice Chair Szauter will begin this process in the coming weeks.

Under Other, Chair Vecchio opened a discussion on the state-owned streetlight at the intersection of US-302 and Base Station Road. He commented that the streetlight is still out, in spite of a closed Eversource Energy work order that stated it was replaced. Further investigation showed the streetlight at US-3 and US-302 was replaced, not the one that was originally flagged as defective at Base Station Road.

Chair Vecchio opened a discussion on SolSmart, an initiative that offers governmental entities assistance through best practices to expand solar energy use in their communities and provides public recognition of those communities as they advance. At a February remote meeting, SolSmart reported on the town’s zoning regulations and noted the Town of Carroll had some zoning ordinance provisions to assist property owners with solar PV installations. Through a series of additional meetings, the goal is to assist the Planning Board with developing recommended changes to the town zoning ordinance to improve regulations that promote solar installations.

With no additional items for discussion, Chair Vecchio entertained a motion for adjournment. Chair Vecchio motioned to adjourn. Member Mycko seconded the motion. With no additional discussion, the motion passed unanimously and the meeting was adjourned at 6:28 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Imre Szauter, Vice Chair and Secretary

Carroll Energy Commission
Vern Amirault, Member, 2023-2025
John Greer, Member, 2023-2025
Karen Moran, Member, 2025-2027
Brian Mycko, Member and Select Board representative, 2023-2026
Imre Szauter, Vice Chair and Secretary, 2025-2027
Bill Vecchio, Chair, 2023-2026
Note: terms end in October of the listed year