[Music] f all right it is 6:05 PM so I
will uh call the February meeting of the climate action planning committee to order welcome everybody and thank you for being here you can begin with public comment uh and seeing no members of the public we can move on from that to uh um
item three on the agenda which is the voting to approve our meeting minutes from the January me meeting um did anybody have a a chance to review those I've reviewed them they look good
to me okay Mr the chairman I'll move their adoption okay can I get a second Ron is real seconds uh all in favor say I I I all opposed say
nay that is unanimous okay our our voting business is done um so um I I didn't hear any any specific uh plans from
anyone on working group updates but we have plenty of time uh for for folks to share what they've been up to over the last month um I I personally have put most of my bandwidth into um trying to
combine the the draft topic chapters that we've uh that we have um into a single draft climate action plan document um and that's involved some uh alignment of
formatting um would you I think is more than it's a communication challenge not not just a formatting challenge uh and and uh so I'm happy to take these in either order um if if there are folks who want
to do uh working group updates first um say so uh my my big goal for tonight is to have a conversation about how we get from where we are now to um a draft climate
action P plan that we can use as a um focal point for engagement uh engaging the public engaging the select board and town staff [Music] um there is a lot going on in town uh
that is not action planning uh but decisions getting made that will impact our resources for this work for years to come uh and it it feels urgent to
um be part of the conversation but right now I don't feel like I know how to do that or have like have the resources uh in in hand to engage effectively so that's what I would like to discuss um
I yes you say a little bit more about the larger picture within which we situated within the town I'm not I don't feel uh uh I guess I'll do my best um and I'm sure many of you are as familiar and
more familiar with the situation than I am uh we uh let's see everybody's familiar with the the MBTA communities um Act and the controversy surrounding that
uh we I think most recently are back out of compliance uh after the select board and planning board decided not to submit an action plan by the deadline on February 15 uh so that puts us sort of back in um
non-compliance status and at a disadvantage for all um um state state grants um I'm forgetting the adjective competitive state grants or discretionary estate grants um Additionally the the town has
a structural deficit in the budget um it's a big focus on the schools um and any attempt to explain it will will immediately code partisan for somebody uh but my understanding is that
um uh there there's been quite a bit of inflation uh the uh proposition two and a half uh prevents towns from Raising property taxes by more than two and a half percent um
without an override vote um by the public that uh you know in in an era of um 4 to 5% inflation that means that you'll eventually need override votes to
to keep up with Rising costs uh and Co relief money uh and other um sort of emergency funds from the state have made it possible um to
avoid pursuing an override for several years when it's been sort of clear that we were going to have a problem eventually um and so that's all coming to ahead now uh and um opinions veryy
and with great intensity on yeah the right the right course of action um so you the the kind of the the dollar value of the override um that gets approved or
not uh will sort of determine whether uh the the town can have level funding or needs to make Cuts or whether it sort of gives itself enough Headroom to um
not just continue with level service but add um investments in areas that have been underinvested in um hopefully that's accurate enough not too
controversial a summary of the situation thank you um and of course it's not a it's a false choice between sort of investing in new areas you could also find cuts that everyone could agree on um I am not I'm not afraid to say that I
would hope to see us uh in a funding situation where investments in climate action can be made that's not too partisan for the chair of the climate action planning committee I hope um right and so our our Tool uh for
engaging that conversation would be our climate action plan or summaries thereof uh and um you know our engagement with elected officials and town staff um in this process do you
know when um the two grants that would help us um when those will be announced I don't know uh we do have uh topic six to give you an update on that my update is no I haven't heard a
thing I don't know when uh when I'm going to hear anything great update Alex um so so the um the draft climate action plan document that I've put together so far is
in um is is linked in the um the agenda let me throw it up on the screen and I'd like to thank Ron um Ron did a lot of uh drafting as well I'm not
showing the the draft he sent me but his work influenced me quite a bit um and I I hope you'll share your perspectives that you shared with me with the the group um give me a second
to find it all right can folks can folks see the draft on the screen yes okay uh so and this is a suggestion I took from Ron uh it begins with a letter to
the select board I think that's um indicative of where we are um the the select board is is sort of the executive oversight for Town staff uh and they're also the the um the the entity that
created this committee and we we advise the select board uh so I think we're reaching the point where where um we need their sort of active engagement to as I put it here um you know refine the plan align Resources Staffing and priorities to set it in
motion um you know acknowledging that there's a lot of things that feel much more urgent than this um on on their plate at the moment but they also these decisions they're making now impinge on this plan and kind of have
long-term consequences um for our ability to do this work so Now's the Time Alex I was just going to ask if you've been in touch with uh anyone there about what we're doing and the timing or
what would really be helpful for them for whatever decision- making they need um that's a great thing to discuss so I went before them in September with an update um I have been informally in
touch with individuals on the select board um since then mostly trying to sort out um who could help me with really tactical stuff like setting up the Zooms for the
meeting and posting the minutes um after Jack left um there I would not say that I've done any sort of bigger picture engagement with the select board over the last last few months
um so I'm ABS I'm looking for guidance and um uh thought partnership from from all of you on how best to do it but you know think the tools at our disposal are letters um you know phone
calls showing up at public comments of various committee meetings or requesting to be uh you know a formal agenda item on a on a meeting all these things are possible um but you s have to know what you want to say and what you're asking
for I I was just thinking that if we knew what kind of questions that they want to have answers to we can bake that into what we're writing here so uh it'll be immediately a value to them maybe this already is just they
looking for a particular this want a plan but if they have dat that they need to help inform budget decisions or allocations um maybe knowing that ahead of time yeah yes uh
so we'll get we should dig into that I think it's in Ron's draft uh he sort of th threw out a number in terms of budget allocation um it would be great to that nothing focuses the attention
like a like a dollar number uh um I didn't you know I feel like we might need to do some work to ground that um in something but we yeah we'll come back to
that um just yes can I add um that we probably have to make this a a two-way street situation for the benefit of the select would in the town uh so that it's not solely a matter
of the questions they will ask about something the individual members very probably have had or will have very little time to study and learn about so that the other side of the
street is where we educate them and bring them offers on and ongoing basis so that we keep uh climate U planning for the town of Milton on their radar and on the town's
agenda yeah um I have a thought strategy yes um because it's a it's a going to be even if we try to make it short it's not
going to be a quick read probably and what if each subgroup attends one of their meetings and presents where you know what we're suggesting so me I know because they
meet weekly every other week every other week so that might be too slow on our end but also it might we could break it up into Digest chunks for them I I think that's an excellent idea having sat in one of
those chairs for three years and chaired the board um too much is not going to be effective disaggregating the plan and bringing it to them on a piece by piece basis on a regularly
scheduled uh format would probably be very helpful to them yeah I agree Ron um so so I think that a number of things we need to do number one is we need to get
the working group reports kind of finished and in a similar format um with u three your action steps and other
things and once we do that then we should be a able to complete a rough draft of the plan but then I think we need to create an
awareness building kind of document which takes the the main asks the main issues that are addressed in each of the working group reports
and elevates them makes them interesting says why they're important it maybe just a page um that says this is our thing this
is what we want to do this is what we think Town needs us to do and for more details you can see our report and then third thing I would suggest is that
maybe even before presenting or submitting to the select board that we have some sort of public meeting that we host for members of the public the
select board whoever and where we present or preview our plan how do we get people to come well we do it yeah I think if we use the no
times social media I mean even if we get and people to show up that's good and maybe it could also be online but at least the exercise of doing it will create a greater awareness
that there's something out there that needs as attention the sustainable Milton green fair when is that yes um do something for that for
sure uh I see Kyle's hand up then Eric yeah and I think I think on that we anything we did that'd be public facing it' be we could do it in a context where it's recorded and then we can keep sharing it with anyone who can't be
there um but originally I was going to say back to the idea of presenting to the select board um I think in keeping with what we've been talking about in terms of um prioritizing which elements of the plan um are the most contextually
relevant we can maybe think about condensing like some of the mitigation elements into just a couple of presentations or something like that um to help maybe feel like the time buy in
for them um makes sense and Eric uh two things um first the the staged you know um presentations uh I think that that has
the capability to be one keep people's attention better and so I agree with that the other is it helps us build so if we take some of the areas that might be um less contentious or easier to get by in for and they go
first um so that one we kind of see what the mood is two we get some e you know some early good feedback and then it preps people kind of for the next stage um and then you know so we're not walking in with some people will see you
know Doom and Gloom and and and dollar amounts and all this other stuff so if we if we ease into this a little bit um it helps us also prepare for the next meetings knowing what the what the groundwork will be um I do have and then
switching to the the comment of kind of having events and and building support ahead of time uh just because this is first time in a group like this does doing events and trying to gather support for a committee outcome ahead of
time is that seen as um uh a positive when we come into a a meeting or does it look like we were trying to you know gather groups you know potentially salt you know um kind of cause ahead of time contention or
anything like that I just I don't know what's what's best at something like this I think that depends a lot on context and town um and you know I think when we bring a draft to the select board and and town staff members it should be in a spirit
of we expect to learn something about what's feasible uh what you know or or how to get it done or what you know what to call it that we should we should show up expecting to learn something um and I think that
um what we've been working towards is something that's concrete enough that you can have um productive conversations not not that we think that this is uh the final word and we're we're trying to mobilize a mob to to Ram it
through right yeah what I'm I'm concerned with that type of um um visual I don't think we're in I don't think we're in much danger of mobilizing the Milton [Music] mob
which um pros and cons to that but um Stephen you had a have about your hand up yeah just uh quickly uh just to add on to what Kyle and and Eric said and I completely agree with both of them and
to what you just said that context is really key people especially given your opening um Alex people are going to see dollar signs attached to anything and uh now that we're sort of at the wrong end of State GR
so I think providing we have to think about what the narrative is that we want to have that strings through whatever presentations we have and and provide the context in which you know that's relevant to that narrative so um a
little bit of a Communications plan I mean part of it's lining up what do you say first which of these you put first but I think it's also what is the theme and what is the running narrative so you know maybe we want to talk about protecting the Blue Hills from fire and drought because that's going to
immediately be relevant to people who want to go there or their their property and and sort of work out what you know what what are we really trying to do we're trying to protect Milton and we're trying to make this the best place to live and so what whatever those messages
are I think the plan is part of that but then we got to extract what are those those key messages we want people to resonate with and then we're telling our stories through these these different presentations I will say that our core charge is
around uh emissions mitigation right what is the road mapap to Net Zero by 2050 in alignment with this the state law um to that effect and so I don't want to be
um you th those the topics that sort of dominate mobility and buildings are 98% that right those are not necessarily the easiest topics to talk about but I I don't think that we
should um take the easy way out on it um if if we can if we can you know get more buying and engagement um by also including the risk topics that's that's great but I don't I don't think we
should um table the table the the the sort of leading commissions areas Ron you want to say something yeah to
Lisa I think there's some danger in fragmenting the presentation um Group by group because it first of all it fragments it it makes it I go on and on and on and an
alternative to that as I tried to suggest earlier would be to try to condense maybe just the three or four mitigation working groups building and energy
Transportation uh Forest I think there was one other in in like a single very short one or two page document that highlights what it is how we're going to affect the town and let and have a more
generalized discussion in which people can express greater or lesser interest in different parts of it that does make sense to me I mean there there's a a very natural split between mitigation and
adaptation um I'm not using those words in the section headings for this document because I like I've been around this for a while and I still those those don't like I know that they're what policy nerds in this area say so we
want to be consistent with that terminology but like mitigation doesn't map on to emission reduction for me so I I call it emission reduction and adapting to climate risks but those are kind of the same areas right so th those
are two easily separated topics um you know in terms of how the format um kind of helps us focus a narrative the I put an executive summary at the
beginning of the document and this is where I think we want to put those messages that we you know 98% of people who look at this document are not going to get past page five right so like every everything that we want people thinking about and
engaging with who are not sort of deeply partnering with us should be in here um and there's a certain amount of like context setting that feels unavoidable um but I think the area
um and and Ron has been kind of pushing on this over many months right saying like what what are the two-year outcomes right we we we do have to have everything leading up to 2050 in the plan um but what are what are we going to be
doing next month next week um and the kind of two two-year time scale I think is is um good for giving an idea of like where are we starting especially in the current funding environment right and knowing that there's some things in this plan like retrofitting every municipal
building with clean energy systems where we have no idea what that's going to cost by the time that we do it um and uh uh figuring that doing that Capital planning associated with that and the
and the the technical planning of Systems Repair and when is end of life for which system and which building like that's that's kind of the the workload for the next couple years [Music]
um um so just to just to finish my ramble here like I have put in um twoyear priority actions for the buildings and energy chapter in here because I wrote that chapter and I know what they should be um I I took a stab
at doing it for forest and Watershed conservation but like this this section should have that that sort of um key proposals list I think for every working
group um and so far I focused on emission reduction those four topics um because I do think that's our core charge uh and and I would feel comfortable going them to them with a draft that only had that um but I and I don't have the
bandwidth to to do the adaptation chapters as well this this took a lot of time um but I invite the F you know there's been a lot of great work done on the adaptation topics and i' I'd love to see those included um at the same time
at possible so if you guys can can do that um I'd love to see it okay that's enough talking were you gonna say something another idea for outreach um and I think it was a comment I saw that
sparked this idea from um either you or Eric and and it's this idea of like you know what do we want the future to look like and kind of starting with that story of
you know 10 20 years from now what you know what you want it to look like in Milton and that could be a source of getting feedback and be like we took a stab at it we did some work here are some ideas we have what do you think of
these ideas what are your ideas what are you willing to do to to get to this future and a future which you know like maybe we we don't need all the mitigation so yeah mitigation adaptation
adaptation I'm with you on that um you know if the emissions come in line um you know if they are reduced and so it's it's you know getting people to
yeah I want that future and then we say okay like we we got to sell them on the future that they want and then like this is how we get there I will say um a lot of a lot of the climate action plans I've looked at have that section toward
the beginning yeah to me it feels like I want that in there but I don't want it in the first five pages and they're usually on page one or two and it just feels like a a missed opportunity to kind of get people focused on what are you really
suggesting right now maybe it's not in the plan but maybe it's how we structure like an open house event yeah as far as like a a a sort of broadly open discussion with the public I was hoping um to have Consulting
support by the time we do that because I feel like there's a right there's a you know format and sort of facilitation approach that folks like that know how to do that um yeah it would be so easy for those conversation
those public events to be not very productive um I'd love to have support like in the nearer term i' rather Target be mapping stakeholders and partners and and sort of having targeted conversations with people who might either have some
expertise um or be in a position to strenuously object or strenuously support um and and have more kind of so you would like if if we're putting things in an order right like
stakeholder Buy in before General Community if if I had just and honest about what I'm sort of enthusiastic to do next I'd rather have like smaller conversations with people who can help or whose feedback is really
important or support is really important to have um I am not at all minimizing the need to um raise and maintain
awareness uh but also yeah it's really CH like we had a couple rounds of of trying to do awareness campaigns from sustainable Mel in um over the last couple years and it is hard you know the the attention
economy is Cutthroat uh there's bunch of people who actually know how to do marketing out there um trying to focus people's attention on stuff that's happening right now um and uh this is this is challenging sure and I'm just brainstorming here
yeah of course I'm not proposing we do one thing over another I just think that before going to the select board short of having a mob attack we create some sort of little
buzz that we're doing something something's going on and we have some ideas yeah and people are to pay attention to I mean having an like an overview report of um like the presentation I did for them in
September uh was um specific enough that there was some reactions to it you know um and people reached out with interest I mean people watch select board meetings um and that
content like once you put together kind of an overview you can do it again and again um you me the sustainable Milt and green fair is coming up so like having having some kind of overview of like
here I'm more vibing with what you said like cover the four emission reduction areas uh you know if we we completed it's still going to be a list of like 30 things um but maybe we can make it shorter
um but they're pretty specific at this point you know there might be two things in there that people that resonate with people positively or negatively and generate some discussion and that would be great um and then it's you know it could be
one time at the select board um you know one time at during the green Fair one time at the library um recorded and put it online for people to watch asynchronously and you could you could reach a lot of people that way um Arthur
uh thanks Alex I just wanted to suggest um that we might look at what some other communities have done who might be a little further down the road than we are so that we can build upon their best practices that may save us a lot of time
and uh possibly pain anybody willing to do that research I'll take a look at that okay can to I know Canton had a um open house for their climate
plan I'm not sure where in the process it I can I can introduce you to the chair of their climate planning committee um in Canton okay yeah that'd be great my brother works
on climate Committee of the vineyard oh and they've been at it for a while you I will say most most of our counterparts have a Consulting support to to do that part of it and that's why
H I'd love to find the money for that um but Matt you have some something to say you still muted apologize yeah no no nothing on the um on the Outreach yet but and and
I'm sorry to be so pedantic it it sounds like you have a format Alex on this report uh that you and Ron are advocating for and i' I'd sure like to know what the expectations are so that we can start to consolidate
summarize uh reformat our our current drafts I don't feel like we finished that that discussion yet I know this is all important but like look if we've got get a plan done first is the first kind of Milestone uh I'd sure like to know what the expectations are yeah I I don't
think it's pedantic at all because I think the formatting sort of follows the communication challenge right so um um and by the way I'm I'm for creating the full plan whether it's
adaptation or uh sorry mitigation adaptation I always get mine my terms wrong um but but at anyway part one and part two um we're in part two I would still go ahead and complete the plan in its entirety even if it is
summarized into half a page because we we need to focus on on part one but I think having the full plan given that most of us have spent time developing the full plan would I think would be fine I'm speaking for for for maybe a small a small group of folks but at any
case I would be up for completing the entire plan once we agree the format and then summarizing however you think is best best delivered yeah um I I agree with that let why don't I take a few minutes to walk through this whole document and sort of describe what's there uh what the
formatting choices I made how that relates to what I'm trying to do uh and then we can this is not set in stone right so um we can we can discuss so
begins with the executive summary like I said um there there's some in inevitable context setting uh you know what are the goals of this plan um what's the state level context what role do we think the town has to play in that but I think the
the the core of this is key actions over the next two years and those are um the things you you want um the decision makers and keep Partners to focus on and respond to right what do
you want them to do in the next two years and if those aren't the right things then they need to come and have a conversation with you um so how we get there uh is really like providing context on the States road
map um and some of the the sort of necessary outcom these uh elicited some some real Buzz um both positive and negative when I when I put them in front of the select board and
and that audience uh in September um you the the role of the Town sort of speaks a bit to to strategy in terms of you know most of the emissions are from private residential sources so
um Town's going to take a a the way I'm putting it like a supportive and encouraging role rather than a coercive role um because I think people will be worried about that leading by example in Municipal operations is you know has more leverage than the sort of
percentage of the GSG inventory might um suggest so even though it's 2% of total Town emissions like seeing electric school buses uh and heat pump Renovations and in school buildings would have outsize impact on people's private
choices uh and you know uh resilience and preparedness is Al also an area where the town can do a lot right uh so key actions in the next two years I think an expectation here is that each of the working groups needs to
populate this section with their short list of things what do you want to emphasize now um and get people focused on uh and and make them concrete and
actionable there can be more you know and I think in like bullet list format because this has to be short short short maybe no more than three sure for grp yeah that feels Fair
um I do have it I do have it kind of and this makes it longer but but kind of broken apart by who the audience is like Town staff Municipal facilities but also for residents right
so there is this divide between private action and town action so we need to speak to Residents but like what if if we were all doing our part um to execute this plan um that's coming together what
would what does that mean for your house uh and the buildings that you are responsible for or that you live in um so just so I understand you um so actions in the next two years you
have for Town staff and elected leaders and then buildings and energy so there would be a transportation y setting up heading in bold with one to three things I want we want the town to do and then
repeat that for the other um sections in that teal color you know unfort if we do um both mitigation and adaptation in here there's going to be 12 bold headings with three I mean it's
gonna get long yeah I I I don't know how to um are you saying that there twoe action plan steps each of the target audiences gets a set of those for each
working group that you're say that's what I was doing yeah oh that's it is a lot yeah I hear you I mean I would I would suggest that they're just be two two to three twoe action steps per
group period regardless of trying to subdivide it because it does get pretty complicated the other and maybe maybe um there could be one list for residents sort of separate like as an individual um what
are the key things I would need to do in the next two two to 25 years yeah the key um idea at least my felt behind the two-year action steps is that those are
steps that are needed to begin to operationalize what's in each working group's plan so for some working groups maybe those steps relate directly to Town members for other working groups
maybe they relate to the Govern town government I mean I don't know I think I do think that um if I'm not part of town government in any way but I'm Ed in this issue and I go find the
plan there should be a succinct list of like these are the eight things that private persons in Milton ought to be doing BEC because there's no success for this plan without widespread Collective
action um by private individuals who are have no obligation whatsoever to do anything that the town tells them to and you know except in States where there's like taxes or bylaws involved yeah but maybe we're not even
going to get to that place in the first year or two like maybe I'm just making this up maybe an initial step would be to do an assessment of the town's population regarding the modes of
transportation they use to get to and from school and that's a kind of consultant task that involves asking people but not asking them to do
something I think we know what the behavior changes required are what we don't know is how to make those feasible for everybody feasible and desirable for everybody and and so
the I I would prefer to put that list out there knowing that it's not like one of those things is get rid of your natural gas heat or oil heat and install heat pumps like that's not actionable for a lot of people it's not
affordable um it's scary and people are not going to do it just because we wrote it down in a plan but like it should it should be there to get the conversation started um would this be
um like it since it's a draft maybe we we follow this template we get all of it in there we see how long it is that's good and then we prune it that's well I I think I I take the feedback that
having 1.3.1 1.3.2 1.3.3 each one having 12 subheadings I'm I'm willing to abandon that right now um sort of three key actions aimed at the sort of town mobilizing against the plan
I will separate out the stuff for residents um and it doesn't that doesn't need to be broken down by working group I think that there's a I I have a list of sort of eight things across all areas that I've had up on the sustainable
Milton website for uh for several years and I'm I'm happy to write that into a short section um right yeah like a resident might not care which working group that suggestion came from they might just be like that's so I'm happy to take that part and I will consolidate
these bits and I think the ask of of you all is to get those top sort of top three um mobilization steps written down in in this in this section um can
we set a a timeline for that because that's really I think that's the key thing that we need in order to start um yeah engaging next month by or about a week before the next meeting
so in three weeks well so before let's before we settle that let me let me finish showing what's here right so um introduction this is still a little loose um this is sort of more um
more uh quantitative detail from the States road map plan I haven't really written this section honestly um there was a bunch of extra stuff in here Ron didn't like it I took it out um unneeded but I I do think
like I think at some point we need to sort of frame for people what this plan is and what it isn't um to try to avoid um um what feels to me like pointless
controversy um people can be forgiven for feel like um there's sort of a lot of coercive policym on this topic uh and they're tired of being told what to do um and there will be things in the
plan that we have that'll clearly be expensive but we have no idea how expensive um we are not asking people to commit sight unseen to huge expenses right um and so like having something in here
that that kind of sets those expectations for like this is this is laying out what needs to happen so that we can figure out whether or not it's possible or how to do it right you can't you can't work through those challenges without sort of knowing what's on the
list so this is not a pre-commitment to expensive stuff it's it's a road map then um uh section three is the mitigation
topics uh sort of the meat of the plan of um for transportation buildings uh waste and conservation conservation is sort of a weird hybrid topic because it has a lot
of adaptation Dimensions but it's also it's the net and Net Zero so it has this big uh it has a bigger emissions Dimension than even waste according to our greenhouse gas inventory so within each of these sections there's there's kind
of um an an inro paragraph of context where you talk about uh you know what's the portion of Milton's emissions um what are the sort of key elements of the Commonwealth road map in this area um
then a table of goals uh and so this is where I'm not try not to get into the how but just like what's going to happen right what what are uh the the quantitative outcomes that
we'll see um on what timelines and what are the metrics we'd use to track it uh and then strategies and recommended actions under that and so I think there's there should be some
more fre freedom in the the format uh in these it's still it's still pretty light in terms of context setting and explanation um right now but I think that's appropriate for a draft uh and so I I have
um for buildings Transportation conservation and waste I have taken your draft chapters and kind of put them into this format um to the best of my abilities uh you know I know we've been talking a lot about goals versus strategies versus
actions um there were many instances where I thought some of your goals were strategies and some of your actions were Strate you know so I I have um recategorized those in the way that made sense to me uh
and I offer this back for your these are your sections right so I'm just trying to communicate to you what I think makes sense to me and hopefully um uh you can sort of engage on these chapters uh until they make sense to you
and then um so getting into adaptation I haven't done that um I think that um the the the structure I used for the
mitigation sections um is not an obvious fit for adaptation in particular that goals and Metric table um maybe maybe that becomes like a key risks uh list or something but
um goinging back to Matt's comment I would love to see um all this in the the first draft as well um you guys have done a ton of work ton of good work um but I am I am saying that I don't personally have
the bandwidth to do that so I would I would love to see um some some folks who've been doing all that good work kind of Step Up to integrate your drafts into this document um in a way that feels
cohesive um on the same time timeline that we're sort of getting getting a draft ready to share for share with the select board all right that's what I have to say Lisa um two things um I think you
know at the minimum we want the decision makers to consider the plan our recommendations in their decision making right so if down the road new buildings Bill things are
retrofitted like this is we're asking the go you know the town to make this part of their decision making process um it may not always go that way but you know they should understand that
you know you're G to if you don't pay now you're going to pay later some way right like and and having that be part of the conversation um and then second unrelated as I look at the adapting to risk if we're trying to make this
SC More concise could we combine drought or heat waves drought and wildfire because they're all kind of like symptoms of the same thing and intense storms and
flooding um and then energy security so like kind of three like lack of water too much water and then the separate category of energy I don't know if it having less headings makes it actually shorter but
I'm just throwing that out there I think that that's a leave that for the folks who've written that content sure whether whether it's easy to consolidate and and or not um there's
certainly recommendations in those drafts that are more overarching right like I can't remember who's I think it was the Heatwave chapter it says Hey the town needs to to have um you know a stronger ability to
reach residents with urgent messages um and and like more um so wi widespread understanding of how to use use that capability right maybe that that's not something that should be
buried down in heat waves but kind of pulled up at a sort of another thing I've struggled with is there's sort of like governance and resourcing recommendations things like you know um hiring an energy manager or
sustainability director to kind of Steward Steward this work um it doesn't Naturally Fit within one topic we need a a section for for stuff like that yeah would Al wouldn't that come up into
this master list that's going to sit at the beginning which is the top two or three recommendations from each if that is on our on our list is uh is is you know resident alerts and so look if you see that three times then you know that that's going to get brought up
to yeah so I think when we when we um restructure that section we'll have a kind of overarching governance I know I part of what's stopping me is I just don't have the right word for what to call that um yeah yeah
yeah the overlaps are about like Foundation goals yeah Foundation setting I don't know wordsmithing is hard in the evening um but how are folks feeling kind of
high level about this um we got it we got a format I think at least for our groups that you know that was the hope is that we would at least land on a format and we can get to to work oh I see some some chat what's going on in the
chat um yeah so I I think just in terms of um uh action steps we we're talking about um filling out the two-year priorities on we gota we got to agree to a timeline for that
um sooner is better I think um you know a full month from now um Milton election fever will be in full swing if it isn't already um yeah and uh and then who uh who from the
kind of adaptation side wants to uh lead the charge on integrating drafts into this format then I'll I'll let you think about that yeah
we touched their nose last I'm going to look at my calendar so the third Thursday of March is the 20th um this would March 6 be feasible for folks to um kind of extract their
their to your actions well I think the waste group could come up with those for the I would I would think that you guys have already done yeah a lot of this thinking and and writing it's really like okay I've got a bunch of stuff what are my top three I
think that'd be pretty easy um contact Arthur we may have a meeting or but I think that would be pretty easy to come up with that I'm going to assume um silence is acquiescence to to the March 6th timeline no no
problem okay nice um and then so imagining that that that was done um going back to how how to get the conversation going um
I think you heard two different proposals one was sort of breaking breaking our um plan into topics and sort of going back to the select board repeatedly with an overview of each topic uh
versus uh a sort of O overview of all the key recommendations across uh mitigation all at once I kind of favor that um not trying to do mitigation and adaptation at the same time because that's
sprawling um maybe trying to get into two trying to get into the select board's agenda twice one once for mitigation one for adaptation um once once we've got these sort of key things um uh and hopefully I think once we see
them written down then it's you know okay we'll go and show them to them what are we asking for in a in a perfect world I'd love to um have a budget allocation um that I'm asking
for and to be able to defend it I think you you threw a number out I didn't feel like I could defend that in a million years um I don't know how to get there honestly yeah I don't know whether um funding for our work that we should
expect it is going to come from the town yeah it doesn't have to yeah um we we've been pursuing grant funding um for Consulting support and for staff and you know are we going to get it but
reactively we could some point proactively SE funds for what we're proposing to do from interested sour you know and and some of it is stuff that's going to happen anyway um
and like you said before Lisa we're requesting that they take this into account in what they're doing already so like an example is um you when we met with the Consolidated facilities director and the superintendent about the energy manager
Grant it came out that um the the rooftop units on kic Cado and Cunningham are 20 years old and they're not actively failing but that's end of life for HVAC equipment so um you know our
professional facilities manager knows that it's time to look into how long they've got left uh like what state are they in and what's it going to cost to replace them right so next year uh he's going to do that study one way or another and he was already
looking for funding uh to bring in a consultant to help with that um if we got the energy manager grant that would be great because that energy manager could do that right um we would like to have uh you
know uh options that are aligned with this climate road map considered could we miss that as one of the twoyear action steps yeah that would be great I mean I think what I have now is like Capital planning for all Municipal
facilities that's a little broader and vager than oh bye Eric thanks um anyway wow so it is it is 710 um I got the sense that there there are
no uh working group updates but if I'm wrong let's let's pause to um Al you we sent you some updates this would have been late January early February from meetings with uh Karen
Loth from DCR and with Chief Madden from from Mil and fire yeah why don't you why don't you speak to those for a few minutes um because I've been focused on the mitigation side so I didn't really dig into them and anyway I think the group would definitely be interested in
hearing about that okay um yeah quickly so presented the plan and to them again Karen lro is the fire warden for DCR for our region and then uh everybody knows Chief Madden from from Mil and fire uh show
the plan um very aligned overall with with the plan um and in fact several of the recommendations from the plan so we're working a little bit in a vacuum met with them before we really got into the plan and then brought them the plan
to to help validate a lot of the recommendations in the plan were started already at some level so as an example we said we're probably going to need some new equipment and chief Madden said look the new truck should be delivered in two weeks as an example I'm over
dramatizing a bit but uh so many of the elements of the plan were already in their own own planning uh and we're work in progress so that was good um so we updated our draft plan to reflect those
items that are already on the go um and then I would say kind of the Holy Grail within within wildfires is this idea of a community Wildfire protection plan they've done these in in
the well all over the Commonwealth but we looked at the plans from the vineyard and also from Cape an um and so Karen provided some resource ources on uh how we might move
that forward to um engage with some Consultants look at some potential grant funding as well um so we did a little research on whether Milton is even in scope in terms of Grants turns out we are we are in terms of risk not in terms
of and these are federal grants not state grants so we're we're in scope for for Grants uh based on our risk category albe it not based on our economics um they they prioritize high
risk and low income and we high risk High income but but okay did a month ago yeah yeah we're still we're still in scope um and then Karen came back just in the last maybe two weeks and said look not only are you in scope but we
actually might have funds at the DCR level where we could partner with you um now I followed up twice with Karen on that subject and she's gone dark and it could be because she's busy or because she's also catching wind of the topic
that we we talked about at at the beginning of the meeting in other words Milton is kind of on the naughty list and they're going to use their funds for uh for other other towns don't don't know uh but they do have funds at a DCR level to do things like Community Wild
Fire Protection plans just don't know whether we're going to be in in in that in terms of where they they might partner up uh but okay we we have a a Federal grant um uh road map if if we want to
apply for for Grants and you know and then we have a resource of Consultants locally that did a couple of plans already uh that we could reach out to to to get a idea of funding and an idea of how long these things would take and and how much they
would cost so yeah and now okay we're I think we've got a format and and I think we can move from where we are today to a few priorities for the next 24 months
and and you know summarizing some of uh some of the content that we've already built sounds good I do want to say you know when we're when we're sort of pulling out those priority action steps for the next two years into the executive summary um totally
acknowledging that in many cases we have more planning and research we need to do to really focus in on what needs to happen I'd really like to avoid any interior action steps that involve creating more
plans like I don't want to deliver a plan a plan to plan right yeah uh so to the extent that we can identify um sort of tangible stuff like buy this this firefighting
equipment um even if we're not certain that that's the most important thing right now we can we can caveat but I'd like to keep it tangible um at at that level Steve yeah just to the point that I
think you raised at the beginning of this last conversation um I would not uh rely on any federal grants at this point there is based on executive orders all the grant programs that I'm
aware of are being reviewed uh a number of them are being rescinded uh or paused so um as we're planning sort of the next couple years out I think that we should really think about State local nonprofit
support more than um access to Federal grant funds especially in this area related to that um you guys might remember that we used the um National renewable energy lab under um doe and we
had an expert match and we've been working with um this woman there you know for months um and the plan was she helped us with was just about to be published and now she has no idea when it can be published we have access to
the draft do we I don't think she ever sent it to us she hasn't sent it even even in the last Administration they were kind of very formal about um delivering yes the documentation of their recommendations and so we don't
have it we have the previous traps though do we I I thought thought we saw it on a screen share anyway I I if if we do have a draft I think um we were explicitly told not to well it was for internal use yeah
circulate it publicly um but I could imagine there being cuts and layoffs to the Natural renewable energy lab which is unfortunate I did check LinkedIn and she
she seems to so any other comments Ju Just one other thing that's kind of uh for for Ron and um on these plots Ron that uh you want to do to to get the tree stock you know some estimation of a base on in tree
stock the friends of the Blue Hills and the DCR are working on some test and control plots principally around the wildfire so you could imagine a couple of plots in the wildfires which you know in the Wildfire zones which might not really
help what what you're trying to get at but the control plots might so I'm going to plug you in with uh Jen Klein or executive director and see if maybe what's happening there might also help out what uh what you've
got in your plan yeah could you also include biona is she on this call some she's not at the attend hi I'm here yes I've been I've been lurking I'm afraid I'm solo parenting today tonight so I've been mostly off video but I am here yeah could you
include her M because you bet yeah I'll send an email tomorrow with with all of you guys on copy okay okay okay well is there um any anything else that that folks would like to discuss before we um we call it an
evening let's keep fighting the good fight here it's discouraging I've attended I was at a renewable energy conference in Boston last week and I attended a webinar for women and renewable energy today related
to you know changes in our administra and and it's a lot I'm looking you know being with you all is is a gives me hope this this
um this project was always um gonna be a nonlinear path yeah um you know I think even on even under really favorable um uh policy
environment this is not this this is not a straightforward um undertaking and one with a very high probability of of failure um you know under within its own
terms um and I think it's important to keep in mind that um you know the best available science say Net Zero by 2050 will s of minimize the uh the risks of really serious consequences of climate
change um Net Zero by 2060 is also a lot better than doing nothing Net Zero by 2070 is a lot better than doing nothing and a lot can happen in a decade let alone two or three decades um and
uh so you know maintaining a a hopeful um if hope and optimism are not exactly the same things you know so um I'm I'm inspired by um Paul Farmer I don't if you guys read
that book mountains upon mountains but his his quote about fighting the long defeat um that there there's a lot of of meaning and and
um value in in showing up to do the work even even if uh it kind of looks like you're losing uh locally uh and in in the very long run um uh uh losing
can can turn into Victory so um I think we just have to keep keep working at it and and uh and make progress where we can um as as the environment changes and and honestly you know as as somebody who uh
is really in favor of moving as fast as we can on this stuff I definitely felt like there was over reach an excessively coercive policy making happening uh in the Biden Administration we we're having a very strong reaction to that I think
an overreaction but you know I the this is an opportunity to focus on non-coercive um encouragement type uh activities there still a lot of people in town who are interested in installing heat pumps are getting an
EV um and we can do a lot to help them do that and and also make sure that they have good outcomes uh so that when the the public mood and policy environment changes again um we're in a different and hopefully better
place so and and soap box yeah we I hope you all have a good month and dumpy stranger I love hearing from you um even if I don't respond but I do try to respond so with that um I will
entertain motions to adjourn I'll move to adjourn Lisa moves to adjourn any seconds a second Ron seconds on favor all right good night everybody see you next month [Music]
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