Hey Dean. >> Hey there Michael. How are you? >> Good. And yourself? >> Very well, thanks. >> Good. Good to meet you, so to speak. >> Yeah, likewise. >> Good to be here. >> Yeah, always good to put a face to a name. And uh
>> thanks. Thanks for getting those letters out. >> Yeah, sure. Sorry for the delay. We had a a family member rejoin our household and so we threw a party for him and I was consumed with that. >> That makes sense. And just FYI since
you're new to this stuff, we record the meetings and we can't I mean I could pause it but I always don't want to pause it because then I forget to turn it back on. So in the small talk just be cognizant of that so you don't >> Thank you. And uh I think we we all tend to
overshare just in the casual sharing, but we know we're doing it and you should at least know. But uh >> thank you. >> I'm glad you could make it today and uh let everybody in. They're all going to pop up shortly.
We usually There you go. We usually do not get public for these meetings. For whatever reason, people don't find it interesting. Hi, Gail. >> Good evening. Good evening. >> Hello. >> Um, trying to get rid of this thing.
>> I don't want that. Go away. Oh jeez. Oh, they've add all these nice gimmicks on how you can zoom. No, I don't want to join any number of those ways. I just want to join the usual way. Now, get this off my screen. Oh, gone. Yay. >> Yay.
Yeah. I I really hate all this AI suggestion stuff. >> It's like it just gets in your face. It's like I don't >> think you just have them summarize it for you and spit it out. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Just when you're typing like I'm trying
to send an email, it keeps getting in my face saying, "Let me help you write." >> No, >> not read my mind. >> So, Gail Dean Dean Gail. >> Hi, Gail. >> Hi, Dean. You're a neighbor. I understand.
>> I'm a West Pelum resident. >> I'm on 62 West Pelum. >> 294 over here, >> way down the way up and over the hill. >> Hey Nate, >> hello. Good evening everyone.
>> Hi there. >> We do have a quorum, but let's give Greg a couple of minutes. He should pop in. Uh, so Nate, this is Dean. Dean, Nate, >> greetings, Nate. >> Hello there. >> By the time Greg shows up, you'll have
done all our introductions. I'll give him a minute or two because I think the first thing I want to do is have Dean introduce himself. So, best of Greg gets to hear it. >> Probably a plan. >> Hey, stay out there, huh? >> Oh, glorious
>> ideal. Yeah, >> I brought in the last of my pianies to float in the bowl and the last of the irises to stand up, the Siberian irises, and the wood thrush has been singing all day long. It's just my my favorite
woodland sound. She's been really going at it. >> Lucy and I have been listening to using the Merlin app to figure out like what all the the noises are in the morning. >> The um the Cornell thing. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Yeah.
>> Yeah. I I'm not adept at remembering any of it. It doesn't stick. But it's fun to >> the moment. Oh, yeah. Right. And then 10 minutes later, which was that? >> Yeah. And there, like Lucy pointed out, one, I think it was last week, it was a hawk,
you know, and I would never Yeah. I would never I would never have thought that was a hawk. >> Okay. >> There are plenty of them in these woods around. There are. I just don't know when they're talking. >> Oh. Uh, I don't know what's going on
with my video. >> It's old school TV. >> No kidding. >> Greg, how you've changed? >> Really? >> Yes. I I I've become uh psychedelic apparently. Hm.
Uh, let me let me switch to my laptop. I know. >> Is that aoot zoot suit you're wearing? I'll answer that in a minute. Be right back. >> Uh, nothing like technology. That was fun. >> At least it's sitting still.
>> Yeah. I went to a concert last week and at Treehouse and at the stage they had all these strobe lights going and I thought, man, if you've got the condition where like you freak out with that stuff, you you would have to leave. >> My
just nuts. >> Greg, you there? Apparently not. There we go. He's popping in differently. >> Oh, yay. Now we got two grapes for the price of one.
>> Well, I will call us to order at 7:04. And I guess Nate, Gail, I forget who's taking minutes this time. >> It's got to be me. Okay, it's that could be a song. So, so we're we're we're officially
meeting. So, I think the first Let's just see if we have public comment. Presumably, we do not. Unless Dean, you want to say something as public as opposed to yourself. Um, so seeing no public, why don't we go to our next agenda item, which is to introduce Dean.
Um I'm thrilled that he's able to join us and he's interested in joining ECAC. Um I guess Dean and I had a phone call maybe like two weeks ago, three weeks ago, something like that. Uh it was a good conversation and you know my sense is it I wanted him to
come because I think you know he could be a good addition. I explained the process which you know is that he should come to the meeting see how we work. I off you know suggested just like with others um chime in as appropriate if you you know if he feels like he wants to do it and then we could use this time to
ask questions and then at the end either you know we can decide to recommend to a point or we could just wait till next meeting depending on where people are at but Dean why don't you just share a little bit about yourself and why you're interested. >> Sure. Good evening. Thanks for thanks for inviting me to the meeting. Um
uh I'm at uh 294 West Pelum and I've been here since February of 19. Um the pandemic kind of made it tough to get a my foothold uh into Shutsbur's goings on, especially since I work at Ammeris
College and we were busy trying to keep that business afloat during tough times. um my academic training is actually um tailored to the ECAC and then I've had all of my professional career in student affairs. So I feel like um arriving in
Shootsbury is an opportunity for me to use my training uh and my love for policy work uh and for community building um that I do at the college uh to to give back to Shootsbury. Um, I'm very interested in being more involved
in what's happening in town. I'm very interested in emerging technologies and I'm also I've heard loud and clear from my neighbors and new friends that I've made in town about uh how we seek to
balance um leveraging these new technologies and incredibly incredibly powerful tools without uh spoiling the reason that folks have come to uh live in Shootsbury and enjoy it for its character. So I think these things are
possible um held together and uh I like to learn new things. I feel um that my contributions here would be coming from a place of uh research and a place of humility. I'm a question asker rather than a statement maker and uh I'd love
to get to meet you folks and be a part of what you're doing. >> Thank you Dean. Anyone have any thoughts, questions to sort of get a better sense of or share thoughts about ECAC for Dean? >> Well, I can uh I'll go first because I
am the newest member. Um I guess I'll I'll just introduce myself as well. I I moved to Shootsbury in 2021. I'm at at 10 Hawks View Road um down in the uh the south the southwest corner like right on the Ammerst line and around the Lever
line as well. So I have like a little interesting sort of mixture of of people around me. Um but I feel very similar to you. I'm I I have I feel like I need to protect this place and I want to be a part of that effort. So the guidance that I offer is more spiritual in nature
since I don't have the um pedigree. I'm I'm a software engineer and I make spend most of my time online and uh exploring tech spaces. So, I try to bring that perspective where I can. And that's that's been my my experience so far is I
haven't really done much. It's all been Michael and Nate and Gail. Um, but I, as I said, I am the newest member. It's only been about six months. Right now, I'm really interested in the micro grid stuff. And I have a couple conversations lined up with some of the people I met at a recent EJ meeting, which we'll we'll talk about later, I'm sure.
>> Yes, we will. >> But I think you said all the right things, Dean. It's it's great to have you here. >> Thank you. Dale, Nate, you want to chime in at all? Want to ask a question? >> Yeah, I mean, I'm happy to introduce myself as well. Um, Nate Herd, I I've
been here in Shootsbury um probably for about five years now. Um, I live at the bottom of the hill with my family, um, close to Atkins Reservoir. And um one of the things I I've liked about
this committee is um uh I feel like I I have learned a lot. So I think it's a really good place for someone who is curious um you know might learn about technologies um through the news or ways
of doing things uh just because you're following some of these issues and then really thinking through you know how how would you go about applying that to the context where we are um and I think that for you know a small committee small
group of people that meets like once once a month for an hour or an hour and a half. Um, we probably like punch above our weight. Um, I don't know, you know, I don't want to cast any shade on other committees, but I feel like just we're pretty efficient. Um, and we're always
working on something interesting. So, uh, it's a good place to, um, bring an idea, work on it, bring it back to the group, um, and and try to make things happen. um because there it's one of these areas where there's
there's a lot of work to do um just with climate and getting off fossil fuels and the like that um yeah it's it's been a great great experience and a great way to uh get involved in the in the community as well. So all all of those
just to reflect back to you like you know all those things that you were mentioning um you know align with my experience as being good thing. >> Thank you. Thanks, Nate. Gail, you want to chime in? >> Yeah, I do. Um, I really appreciate uh
the way you introduced your interests and your attitude, Dean. That very much aligns with this whole committee. Um, I guess I've been here in town longer than Well, Michael, you've been here longer. I came in 2007.
>> I showed up in 2002. >> Yeah. Okay. Got me. Um, but something that's that's really important about this committee is its tenacity. And there's been the long view and then step by step by step. I mean, this
committee gets stuff done. And as Nate said, it's not to ditch other committees, but there's a long view developing a path to get those things done. First, investigating what is it we can accomplish if this is our long view. What does it take to get there? and then
just biting it down bit by bit. And each of us has had a different role in those various bites. Um mine is not the tech. Mine is typically the the posting online or checking out the data behind this
that or the other thing that lurks in some online place. Um and our our town records um not always transparent. and asking really good questions.
>> Yes, you have asked some good questions. >> No, you you ask good questions. >> Oh, okay. Thank you. You're >> welcome. >> Known for her humility, you can see. >> So, you know, it sound like you're a perfect candidate for this committee. I welcome you with open arms.
>> Thank you, G. Cool. Well, why don't we go through the meeting and like Dean, like I said, if there's stuff that you either want to ask questions about or share perspectives, you know, it's obviously pretty informal. So, um it's the whole idea is to sort of share ideas and move us forward. So, with that, I
guess I'll move into updates. I uh the big chunk of discussion about uh the climate leader stuff, we'll save for the end. is a bigger conversation. But in terms of updates, um Nate, you want to do the retries aggregation and
Eversource update. >> Um yeah, I can I can do that. Um, so Gail and I had worked together to develop um some communications for a town announcement um
to notify um the 40 house Eversource households that conditions uh with um the projected rate um for Eversource um increasing
that uh we We're about to enter the space where um Eversource customers would save money uh with the basic rate uh in our that we can offer through our aggregation. Um so um we Gail and I
developed a notification just based on the original notification of that first that first batch of uh uh National Grid households um to yeah alert them that they should anticipate
some mail from Colonial Power Group and that they should read it and not throw it away uh because it contains a lot of useful information. Um and then we, you know, also kind of leveraged that communication. Um, excellent. Uh, thank
you, Greg. Um, to, um, you know, just let people know that folks are already saving money. The town in aggregate is saving money, um, um, through the, uh, the aggregation
program. Um, and then other like quickly add that I reached out to Colonial to see if they could give us a full quarters worth of data on on the
savings that that the town is is gener is gaining through the program. and they're they're just waiting on a little bit of information before they uh send out um that updated spreadsheet with the
number of households enrolled in the two offerings or opting out and then um you know how basically how much the town is used um and then what that means in terms of aggregate savings through the program. So, I thought with that first
quarter, you know, it it closed a couple months ago, so I was kind of wondering if they'd forgotten, but apparently it just takes some time to gather that information and put it together um in in a spreadsheet and send it out to us. But as soon as we get it um I'll get it into
the Friday five and um we'll circulate that. So, >> will they do it in fiscal year quarters? So, they wait till the end of June to get this Um well, we got one month's worth of
data in our first um >> right >> notification. So I just assumed that they were using a calendar year and not like sort of a government fiscal year, but I I don't >> So they'll do whenever we get to three months, they'll they'll call that a
quarter. And >> well, it sounds like it'll go through March 31st is the first quarter and we're waiting on that, right? We only we only got December. >> That's our first quarter. Okay. >> I think so. That'll be our first full three months. Um and yeah, so
>> Okay. >> Yeah. Did I get everything, Gail, with the >> That sounds good. Yeah. >> Awesome. >> And I just wanted to thank you, too, because I mean, we got that heads up from Denise. I don't know, 10 days ago max, maybe even less, and you guys just
jumped on it. So, that was helpful. Um, >> and and thank you, Michael, for fielding the question. >> Yeah. Well, you know, it's good percentage that we only had two two people who were less than happy out of, you know, 40 or the entire town. Um,
>> you were diplomatic and calm and, you know, it all good. Yeah. >> Yeah. I think it's another opportunity for education. >> Yeah. >> And >> yeah. Yeah. I mean I think not everyone it's complicated so not everyone
understands it and uh you know we'll see. So I think that was good. Cool. Well thank you both. And you know Dean I would say our community trust aggregation has been like was the first concrete huge achievement by this committee. Um, you know, and given what,
you know, Nate said, I think Nate brought it up as an idea, you know, like let's check check this out and then it it's been the last I mean, it takes longer than anyone ever wants, but you know, it's in place and we're it opens up new doors, so it's it's a cool thing.
>> It sure is. >> And Greg, it looks like you got your your notice. >> Yes, I did. Yes. It doesn't have the um doesn't have any numbers but it does show the like um >> oh >> percent breakdown for and this is like
you know energy and climate action right um the the main thing that I like about community choice aggregation is that we can use our buying power to ensure that these power companies are increasing their uh usage of like green power. That's basically like this uh the class
one Rex they were talking about. um there's a like a total percentage of them that has to increase over a certain amount of time and it's showing this um year year to year. You know, it's it's good information. Um if anybody takes the time to to parse
it, I don't know how many people get a um a spreadsheet in the in in the mail and really try to read it, but uh >> I'd say you're the top percentile for that. So, um, so moving on to storm water. I think you're officially appointed, Greg,
at this point. >> Any any update of note? >> Um, I've been I've been to town and sworn in, so um uh I'm ready for the the meeting. We're meeting on the 26th with um well, I had it in front of me, but I
was that was on my other computer. Um we're meeting on the 26th. I will get the the name of um what that meeting is for but uh with to meet the engineers um and discuss the findings. We already have those. Um they've been sent out.
Jennifer Wallace has been on top of things. Um so we all have the documentation. Uh I've read through most of it. I've got a couple more things to read through uh so we can be ready for the the engineer meeting. They're going to they're going to talk about uh probably going to do a little overview, but then going to go over their findings
and uh discuss a couple of the the projects that they have in mind for us to focus and then you know we're probably going to have a meeting planned. Jennifer said she'll plan one for a week or so after that. Um so hopefully first week of July or something uh we'll have the first actual meeting and we're going to start
discussing uh what what um you know which options the engineers presented to us uh that we're going to pursue and who's going to do what that kind of thing. >> And there's there's a third member right finally that was was holding it up. You have one more person for a quorum now.
>> Yes. Yes, we have three members. Uh I think there were even two more. >> You know who they are or they are on the other computer? Uh, yeah, I can get it on my phone. So, let me just pull it up for you. Uh, I have to look for the the right email thread.
Uh, I've got James Moore and Robert Douglas. >> Oh, okay. Cool. >> Jennifer. >> Yeah, Bob Douglas is on Concom. I don't I don't know James Moore. >> Either. >> Yeah, I haven't actually I haven't met
either of them yet. Um, I've only met Jen once the um after you introduced us. >> And the report I think it's is it GZA? Who's the engineers? >> GZA. That's the one. Yeah. So, we're meeting with GZA on the 26th. >> Oh, is there a report about Lake Wyola?
Is that basically it? >> Uh, that's the report on Lake Wyola. Yes. Um, so they're going to go over that study that they did. Um uh and that's you know that's the primary focus of the committee is storm water mitigation around town with a
focus this year around Lake Wyola. >> Yeah. I think the one thing I would just say, you know, to to frame it since, you know, the way and Gail was at the meeting, this lightboard meeting when we had the conversation about what's the followup to the report and how do you create an ongoing committee and the
discussion went towards, you know, having a townwide focus with townwide representation. And so I think clearly there's data and effort and stuff focused on Lake Wyola, but I think intertwined like as an agenda item, it
would be worthwhile just sort of from an ECAC perspective. This is just my my sense that you know we looked at storm water a few years ago in ECAC and we couldn't really move forward with it, but you know with increasing storms, storm water is an issue. Pretty much every culvert in Massachusetts is going
to be undersized before you know it. um >> every single one. >> Yeah. And so I think having you know because everything takes so long having discussions built into the agendas now to figure out >> how do we approach this you know is it going for grants is it go like one
thing that's worthwhile which I think Jen knows um PVPC Pioneer Valley Planning Commission has been taking the lead on this regionwide culvert survey. Um Gail, were you at
that meeting at town hall like a few months ago? So there I forget the name of it, but it's basically a survey to look at culverts and they're going to identify all the culverts in
the region. PVPC is sort of even though they don't serve Franklin County, they're part of it. They're sort of the the lead agency. like getting that data will really help inform >> what we do because that was one of the question we we actually went for an MVP grant or considered an MVP MVP grant a
few years ago just to identify the culverts to figure out what the prioritization was in town. Um >> and I think that's my sense is that need is there you know not every covert's you know created equally in terms of you know if it fails
the impact it'll have. So, >> um, something like that. But I I think just sort of having that conversation to sort of because >> you know, if there's stuff there, ECAC can can help as well depending on what it is. >> But I don't know. Do other people have thoughts for Greg as he sort of enters
into the storm water committee. >> Yeah. >> But I think that's good advice to keep an eye on townwide, not just exclusively Wyola. And given the the number of people on that committee who live in or around Lake Wyola, it would be easy just
to >> I'm down the hill, so if that matters much. Um, yeah. No, that's really good advice. Um, I'll definitely think about it. Do you know if there's actually like um like does the town keep an an inventory of of culverts and
>> No, that's that's the whole I mean I think the highway department knows like what was very interesting. It was an ad hoc invitation to people to come to this meeting that PBPC com convened >> and like Beth Wilson was there who's chair of the concom but interestingly
Steve Sullivan who used to be on the highway department for a long time he knew everybody's covert in every popup area I mean I was talking about my house and he said oh yeah right over there you know like and he pointed on the map he said that's a really troublesome one and
so there's informal understanding but it's not mapped out, which is I think what the PDPC thing is. >> And you know, when when we first discussed it, the idea was >> I mean, if you had a culvert wash out, say on lever road, you know, huge impact
versus um I mean, it'll impact anybody if you if the road washes out, but some more than others. Um and some interventions would be more expensive. So, I don't think the short answer is we don't have one. I'm hoping the PVPC project will end up with that inventory.
>> Okay, that's interesting. Well, I wonder if that's a h I'll do some thinking about that because like I must I build software. Um a database is exactly what we can use to store this kind of data. So, um I'll give it some thought.
>> Yeah, I try to find the name of the person at PVPC and uh send to her name. Um, >> cool. >> But this is this is something the conservation commission was
>> after the department highway department for well from >> 2008 when I was on to in the mid teens >> and they just it was not responsive. >> Um, >> so it's Steve's head that's important.
It's in his head, but it's not in records. And the highway department's got plenty to do, but the record keeping angle is >> not a big feature of their >> Yeah. So, >> well, I mean, I could follow him around with a notebook.
>> Not even joking. >> Don't say that out loud. You'll be put to work. >> You need a digital version of that since you're a software engineer. >> Yeah. So, well, well, keep us posted and thank you for that. We really appreciate it. I'm so glad it's finally going
forward. It seems like we've had multiple meetings where nothing was happening. Um, >> yeah, it took some time as these things do. >> Yeah. So, school lighting, I've been meaning to call Frank um for the last couple of days to get an update and I didn't. So, I don't know if I don't have
any update. Um, I'm sort of assuming given the fix that he got the the pins for the timer and you know, it seemed like he was on top of that. Um, but I'll somewhere in the next short while before our next meeting, I'll find out. But I
know the plan was to sort of have the lights turned off in the evening once the school, you know, school closes for the summer. So that's coming up soon. Um, so I think that will resolve. And Dean, the issue there was that we've got
we had someone in town who's a neighbor of the school complain that the the big lights were on over the parking lot all the all throughout the entire evening. Um, and apparently it's been going on since the 90s, but no one sort of acted on it. And we had this lightboard, Eric
Stock from the select board came to one of our meetings about a year ago and just as part of a conversation, he said, "What's up with these lights? we're wasting electricity, etc. And it took a while to sort of get around to figure out who should be engaged and to actually have a meeting, but I think the
we're moving towards having more appropriate lighting. So, not having it on when it's not necessary and then having it on timers. Um, one of the things we dis we didn't discover, Frank uh, McGee, who's the chair of the buildings committee,
discovered that, you know, in old-timers there's like a little pin that would turn it on and off, >> right? >> Um, so those timers worked on pins and the pins were not in and no one checked it. So, it was just on and it was there was it was not an intentional decision
decision. It just happened. Um, so some things are easy to fix if you just pay attention. Um, so more on that. Uh, and I think I got the next one, the solar project with Colonial. Um, so
there's a little bit of advocacy there. So Dean, this is one of the doors that got opened by us being community choice aggregation comm community. Um, so CCA started in December. I think we had a check-in call with Colonial and Mark
Capidona, who's the I think he's the president. um a couple months afterwards and he happened to mention that um because we've been schooling him on solar development being appropriately cited not in because he lives in the eastern part of the states so not in
woods and um not in agriculture and so he's totally into that at this point. He said well you know I can bundle municipalities who have CCA and if we get enough of aggregated demand we can attract a developer and find an appropriate appropriately cited solar
development. So, I've been interested in finding something on previous developed land that Mass DOT operates or owns. So, he and I have been working the channel. So, the update was probably about a month ago,
we got this cursory email from the person scheduling the meetings from Mascot who basically wanted to go back to square one. So, we had we had two meetings, you know, we talked about what we wanted to do. They said they were interested. We had a follow-up meeting.
Then they sort of got hung up because they didn't know how to procure. Um, you know, because I don't know if you remember, but there's a couple of solar arrays on the Pike there's one on the north side near Framingham, there's one in the Birkers. Um the guy who did that it was sort of like his pet project and
he did it 13 years ago and since then the organizational history and understanding is gone like so they're rebuilding it. So they did not know how to procure their land you know and that's clearly part of it. So I
reached out to folks at DOER just you know a sister agency to say how how do you guys do it and they gave me the name of the assistant director for whatever agency it's like DAM I think is what the initials are um sent it off we didn't hear anything for a few weeks and then
we got an email saying um just wanted to let you know mass has you know is still working on inventorying all its assets and if you're interested here's a place to check online which is a total like you garbage answer. So, I went to back to my
sources at the uh climate chief's office and it was when Mark Mark said something about being I was a little direct, but you know, but we we have another meeting and scheduled for next week. So, we'll see
what happens. Um I think you know they're going slow and they don't want to do anything before. But, you know, the pitch was if we're in a climate crisis and it's an all of the above supposedly menu coming from the governor, you would think that looking
at stateowned assets would be one of those one of the above things. Um, and I suggested doing a pilot, you know, like just find some lowhanging fruit that, you know, Mark can grab and do some procurement and we can it could be a test case. So, we'll see if they bite,
but we're we're in ongoing discussions. I think they're hopefully getting the message we're not going away. So, and if nothing else, Mass knows that Chief Shootsbury exists. Um, so >> well, you tell them that we used to be called Roadtown and they'll like us
more. >> That's a very good point. I like that. >> There you go. >> Maybe at my next Zoom I'll put that in parenthesis. That would be fun. Um, yeah. Do you guys have any questions about that? And I guess I didn't ask about the school lighting, but there's
no real things to ask questions about. But um any thoughts or questions about the colonial stuff? >> Indirect. >> Yeah. To be continued. >> Yeah, definitely. Very interesting. Uh not much we can do yet, but like you
said, the the pressure is there. >> Yeah. And it's definitely the tail wagging the dog. A very a very hesitant dog, I think. um they just don't do this. So, the last in updates is micro grids. And I think I'll just I'll start off and I'll hand it off to Greg. But,
um last week we got I got an email from Ela Po. Um and EA so environment uh energy environmental I think I forget what EA stands for but
it's environment and energy and whatever >> it could be agency but you know they're they're the overarching body for >> energy affairs. >> There you go. Energy environmental affairs. Thank you. So they were coming
out to visit the library. Um and it was very unclear going into that what they were who was coming and why they were meeting but Maryanne was not there and so Elaine was stepping in as the chair of the building you know library building committee. It turned out the
under secretary for the newly created office of um uh environmental justice and equity um was there and a whole bunch of members from the statewide environmental justice
council because they were having a meeting later that evening in Amoris. I'm guessing a sort of a traveling road show. Um, and I believe EA invited they invited Rich uh Richard Nador who I've mentioned before who's on the planning
board in Leverit and then this guy Bruce who's from Orange. Um, so Le and Or talked about what they were doing in terms of micro grids. Um, and I think they anticipated us to share about
the micro grid at the library because I don't think they realized we did not get the pickup truck battery um thing that Becky had written for. So like we applied to MVP, they approved it, we never did it. So it was it was a little
confusing stepping into what it was when I reported back on, you know, what we were doing with climate leaders, um, which Elaine was very grateful for. Um, but I think the the big outcome is Richard was there and he talked a little bit more about the lever example and I
you know Greg could come and so I invited Greg to come to sort of listen in on the micro grid conversation and I I've since tapped Greg to sort of be the liazison for gathering information about micro grids. So I don't know Greg you wanted to sort of share what other other
stuff you got? >> Sure. Yeah, it's um I mean I'm still I'm still kind of processing that meeting. It was it was a lot. You know, you're right. We had no idea what we were walking into. Um but it's it's very encouraging for for me anyway to see that there are like actual state
representatives coming out and asking us all to come to the table and talk about what we're doing. So, it kind of just ended up being a showand tell, which is um maybe not the best use of everyone's time. Um but there was discussion afterwards and that I found uh was very
interesting. It was also useful because I got some contacts. Um, I'm going to be meeting with um a a guy named Bruce from Orange who who apparently out in Orange was able to secure something like he said $45 million uh to build a
completely uh a completely off-grid uh power system that will allow for some um uh like for the for the town to have some energy resiliency in case of climate disasters. So, I'm u I'm going to um get in touch with him and go out and check it out and see what they
built. and give you guys a report. Um, I'm also going to be speaking to Richard Nathan. Um, >> Nathst Nathst, that's the one. Yes. Um, Richard Nathurst, who's a UMass professor and Le and on the Leverit Planning Board. Um,
and you know, Leverit has has been running it uh programmed to to basically become their own energy company. Um, through the municipal light program uh in Massachusetts. Uh Richard had some very interesting history to uh to uh convey about the MLP program. So I want
to pick his brain and hear a little bit more about that history. Um again, I'll also give you guys a report once I have I have those meetings. Um, as for the the the EJ meeting itself, um, we heard from some people in Chinatown that said
that they had tried to do a community solar program with some, um, like tenement housing kind of, uh, I don't know if they were actually tenement housing, but some kind of community housing program that had multiple units and they wanted to tie them onto the grid, but they were in disperate locations and they tried to get it um,
they tried to get it approved and then they couldn't find the the right motivation and it felt it fell through. But I guess the plan is still there. So, uh, they might try again in the future. Um, there were a couple others. Um, I should have taken better notes,
honestly. Um uh yeah, but it was it was interesting as a like again to to kind of like show the state that Shootsbury is here, I think is a a good way to put it like like and Michael and I were there representing ECAC and we talked about our how we got climate leader
um uh which is which is really awesome. um and and how we uh rolled out community choice aggregation for electric and and of course uh I was there to to talk about how I'm I'm now researching some of the local towns uh the towns around us and the solutions
they've uh already implemented in a lot of cases to this to this problem. Um and it's definitely one that um I think is very important for the town to address the the you know resiliency of the grid in in cases of climate disaster. Um
hopefully hope none of us want disaster but uh we have to plan for it. So >> uh and unfortunately climate change is uh forcing our hand so we got to get ahead of it. >> Yeah. The additional stuff I'll ask just backgroundwise was one thing we learned was that the governor signed an
executive order basically um tasking the office of environmental justice and equity with looking into micro grids. So prior to this, there really wasn't I mean I've been sort of pushing people in against a chance to sort of say like we
got to be thinking about micro grids and no one was doing it. It's a little odd that OEJ is tasked with that because that's really not how they were created. They were created by the clean energy law. Um >> and I think by their own admission they're not experts in it. like I I
would have put it into another part of you know EA probably a DOE because they're doing infrastructure but um despite that mismatch it's nice that there's actually some effort to sort of figure it out and I I think
you know looking at our peer communities is definitely helpful and then you know it's you know one of the big issues I I actually raised an issue that we ran into as so remember when we were looking at trying to do net zero solar in town. >> Yes.
>> And and one of the things we someone told us, I don't I forget who it was, but that we couldn't cross power lines across Lever Road because it's a state road. >> Richard >> and Yeah. And so Richard brought it up at the meeting and I pitched it to the under secretary and said in addition to
looking at community initiatives, you got to be dealing with policy because these are just regulations. You know, the legislature could change the rules and then it would be a lot easier. Um, and part of the reason Lever wants to do their MLP is because if you're an MLP, you can string your own wires and you
don't have to get permission. So, it makes sense as a model. Um, but I think there's, you know, if they really want to move this forward with some kind of, you know, real forward motion, making it a more regulatory easy pathway would be
helpful. So, I I think there's opportunity here. And you know one I guess one thing I just wanted to mention which we don't have to do now but a subsequent meeting you know I think I you might have heard this Greg I can't remember if the I think the town has approved the
creation of an electrical MLP at le you know they had the broadband one already um it would be interesting for us to consider you know do we want to create the shell of an MLP you know get the approval because I think you have to have two votes and then you have to have
vote for members because they're elected, you know, officials and not do anything. But because we know it's going to take so long, get that framework set up and just sort of in our back pocket. So that's something to ponder and I think, you know, Greg, as you talk to him, maybe we could find out what the
discrete steps are. Um I don't know if they're different from a broadband MLP or not, but um that's I don't know if you guys have any thoughts about that. >> Yeah. Well, I'm sure that a lot of it is is um documented. The the state generally has pretty decent
documentation for this kind of thing. So, I'll spend some time reading as well and see what I can just learn on my own. >> That'll also help me frame it. >> Yeah. The only thing I was going to flag is that um you know obviously like
actually um setting up an an MLP so that you're stringing your own wires and um the like uh that would supplant our current CCA um
uh sort of program. So to the extent that there's multiple steps involved in setting up your own LLP, um it would be good to uh I mean really
map out like what the the steps are. If you take a vote, does that expire at a certain point? like if there's a runway um we should um we should know like where that point of
takeoff is and be well positioned to take all of the responsibilities that would come with that if you know what I mean. So that's >> Yeah. Well, and I think to that point, if if you are being explicit about it, you know, is there a step that we take where we negate it and we
unintentionally like we don't want to take that step, you know, we're trying to prepare, but we don't want to undo our work. >> Yeah, that's that's a very good point. Um, and I completely agree. Uh, it's not a sure thing. We want to we want to understand before we before we act
>> as much as we can anyway. And the repercussions are are bigger than you know the broadband MLP you know so like with you know the issue with our broadband MLP was >> if fiber goes down you know we we're contracted with someone to fix it but
it's you know it's not great but it's broadband it's different than if we have a storm and we lose lose our electric and we are the electric company. >> Um yeah you know our contractors it's a lot more work. Um so I mean it's a it's a bigger deeper conversation but I think
the idea of resilience of our infrastructure um you know and not being reliant on power coming from somewhere else if we can have some some other alternative plan um I think just getting the information and have this be an ongoing
conversation might be worthwhile. >> Yeah. Yeah. Agreed. Um two things two things stuck out to me actually. Um, one, uh, at the meeting, Richard was talking about MLPS and he specifically said that MLPS can't cross town lines.
They're basically like per town. Um, and that is curious to me. Uh especially because earlier uh in this meeting, Michael, you were saying Mark Capidono was talking about how if we have community choice aggregation and we have enough towns
involved, we might be able to get like developers to come in and extend that uh the CCA sourcing network, which is kind of what a multi-town MLP could do, but it's not a power company. Like there's a legal divide, but there's like the
infrastructure and the and the services provided are pretty similar. Um, that's just kind of how I'm thinking about it right now. None of this is like a concrete thing, but it just stuck out to me. Like, as you said, regulation can change. Is a multi-town MLP a reasonable
option? It could be something that could help, you know, rural towns like us actually negotiate with with the eastern part of the state, which of course has infinitely more people, but uh we need to we need to ensure that our
relationship is positive for everyone involved. >> Yeah. Did you have another you said you had two points that both of them? >> Oh, yeah. That was that was it. It was a combination of Richard talking about MLPS being restricted and then Mark
saying, "Hey, what if we do CCA across >> multiple communities?" >> Cool. Well, I'm going to shift us to the climate leader thing if that's good. Just because I'm I'm looking at time and I don't want us to go too late tonight. Um, so we got the grant in which was
great. Thank you for those who read it and provided feedback. Um, and I have not heard anything about when we expect to hear. My my gut tells me end of summer, early fall. Um, and Nate and
Frank and Haley and I met I think two weeks ago um, following submission with the and just to sort of make sure that we were coordinated and how we were going to approach things. And so what I pitched and I think we all agreed
to is that we would take this assuming that timeline is sort of accurate that we would take the summer to come up with the procurement process and hopefully get a vendor either identified or well far along lines that if if and when we get told that we have the grant which
I'm hopefully we will get we'll be able to tag a vendor pretty quick so there's not a lag time. um you know and it if we wanted to try for a February full climate leader application, we could only probably do it if we were on top of it in that regard, but even if we're
not, um better to sort of have someone ready to go. So Nate set up a meeting you can talk about in a second um which is for tomorrow. And then I just reached out to Matteo um
because the conservation commission did a procurement for oh for the South South Brook Conservation um land. I'm I'm forgetting if it was what it was for. I think it was about
just sort of um Gail you might know see you seem to be at a lot of the meetings but um Matteo was did a lot of research cuz that procurement went south and was really sort of a mess but they learned a lot so I'm I'm going to look at that and
Haley has never done a procurement and I know she's reaching out to her contacts in Ammerst and she was meeting with the South Hadley town administrator a week or two ago to find out some more. So I think that's the at this point that's the biggest development and if we can get
the procurement process going and come out with you know whatever the RFP is that we have to do um the only thing I additionally I'll say that I talked to Stephen Dolmus last week at oh I can't it was in the library I can't
remember the event but it it made me realize that what we want to have in the procurement process enough people at the table who have substance expertise so that you know because you only get one shot at doing the procurement you can't I mean I guess you can technically amend it but it's probably a pain um so to be
able to sort of make sure that at the end of the pro you know the vendor services you know when they have the deliverables we have all the deliverables we have for making an informed decision about what we want to do and we all have all the materials so that we can actually apply for the full
grant um So, but Nate, do you want to just talk about your Northampton stuff? >> Yeah, sure. Um, I'm on, you know, as as everyone is, on several um mailing lists and I I learned about um a group that
meets monthly about climate resilient schools. Um, and I attended their most recent meeting, um, where Ben While, who's the director of climate action for Northampton,
uh, presented on their work to install a ground source heat pump in the the Northampton High School. Um, that's a considerably larger project than um, you know, but in scale.
uh relative to you know our elementary school. But um you know one of the reasons that we were able to meet with folks from Breitcore uh in addition to train is uh because
they happen to be in the area working um on that Northampton High School. So, uh, one of the things that Ben was able to talk about at this webinar, um, the recording of which I I will absolutely
circulate once, um, it lands on the climate resilient school website. Uh, he talked quite a bit about financing strategy. Um, so how to stack grants. um they're using the
ESCO process um and you know one of the things that we have talked about is um whether ESCO which is like this um kind of
pre-approved vendor list um there's some streamlining that accompanies that uh path for obtaining um a a company, a firm to design and
install um a ground source heat pump versus like a standard procurement process. So, tomorrow the objective is to uh talk to Ben and
um you know maybe do a little due diligence around Bright Core and then you know get some of his feedback on the path that they followed and maybe what some of the different pros and cons are
of a standard procurement process versus um this process. that's laid out in state legislation around um interview services contracting organizations or whatever
esco stands for uh we hope to learn more tomorrow >> and I think the reason like that's really important for the town is if we're going to do a procurement we need to know which pathway we're going to take um and I think
you Oh. Oh goodness. We Nate, you were on the call. You, me and Haley, right? When we talked to the green communities folks. >> Yes. Do >> Yeah. And you know, my takeaway was between the lines without them saying
it, I felt like they were discouraging us from the esco pathway. Um, which was a little surprising. Um but it it made me you know what they pointed out is there's not a lot of milestones in the in the traditional procurement because
you know you've got to procure for the the technical assistance design work evaluation part which you know would be during the summer and then once you have that in hand and you get the full implementation grant you just have to procure for that. So there's only two procurements that you have to do so it's
not like an infinite kind of thing. Um, but knowing what pathway we're going to take is going to inform what work we do in the next, you know, couple months. Um, so it's really key and I think the fact that they've been doing it, I think it's great that Nate set that up. So he and I are going to chat with Ben
tomorrow. Um and uh and I will I will say just because this happened this morning but um Allison Gage who is now the energy person at Furkcog um she had been at she
was a Furog. went to do for the sighting and permitting stuff when she came back to Furcog, but she emailed me today to find out on behalf of Conway and um what their process was for decarbonization roadmap development um
because they're they're going to help Conway do a technical assistance grant so they can do their decarbonization roadmap and you know it was great that people looked to shoot to say what was your experience like um so you So, we're we're definitely on the leading edge in
this stuff. >> So, that was cool. >> Um, any other anyone have any questions or thoughts about uh Yale? >> Yeah, I wonder if in your conversation with this group tomorrow if they will refer to
it. From your report, Michael, it seems like their view of our project was solely on the solar and not on the broader scheme of things. And I wonder if that's just because of the way they presented in that particular tank or if that is their if they don't and can't
see beyond the solar the the um geothermal. >> Um you're you're talking about the um >> the the vendors. >> Yeah. Um, no. I think both the vendors are looking at I mean what we pitched was
plan A was geothermal, right? >> Coupled coupled with canopy, you know, at the school and then pretty much everything else if we couldn't do that. Um, so I think part of the question like what's you know like one of the things that Stephen do asked me about last week
which I don't know the answer to and maybe Ben can ask but what Brightite core I think it was the Brightcore geothermal engineers they they had more knowledge they said we probably needed about 35 um bore holes
to transfer the heat and the way they described it which is new to me you know even having one is that they were saying that for a commercialrade geothermal setup, you're putting
warm air into the ground during the summer and then you're pulling that heat from the ground in the winter to heat and so you're you're sort of always depositing withdrawing, >> right? and he had he was he was thinking about in this sense that although Matt
the you know the the janitor and the principal work in the school during the summer they're not really air conditioning the school to the fullest amount and so Stephen was thinking from an operations perspective if we did geothermal and we had it be depositing hot air into the ground during the
summer would we be running the cooling functions at the school more than we otherwise not be needing to I don't know what implications are if it's a cost, but like those are some of the things that he was, you know, so he just understanding these things when we're making our informed choices. Um, but I
so I think everything's on the table. Um, but I haven't heard aside from that, which is really a question of not knowing. I don't think anyone's really um had push back about the geothermal at all and the marrying of, you know, even
if we had to do airsource heat pumps and canopy at the school, it's still going to be tandem technologies of, you know, solar and something else. Um, if that answers the question. Yeah. Yeah.
Any other thoughts on this stuff? Is this definitely gonna it's going to be a wild ride. I you know, if if we get this grant, I think we'll be up to our eyeballs and this stuff in a few months. Um, which is very cool. Um,
so I think we just got minutes and then we can, you know, sort of close the loop and check in with Dean and then call it a night. Um, anyone want to move to approve the minutes of May 14th, 2026? >> I would like to move to approve the
minutes of May 14th, uh, 2026. >> Second. >> Dale, >> any discussion? Yeah, Greg, did you get any comments or >> are they as as presented?
>> I had one question >> which I didn't email him but I can if no one else says I can just ask it. So in the final words, minutes and scheduling section, so at the very end it said ECAC is pursuing acquiring land use grants
for more PV installations. I wasn't unclear what that's meaning like if it's sort of you know like we talked about I know what we talked about was you know if the wetland issue was not as much an
issue that we could put maybe more PV behind the fire department. Um I know we talked about not being able to do it at the highway building which is the next sentence. Um and maybe doing some behind town hall but so is that what you're referring to Greg? I
>> think so. I'm I'm re I'm trying to bring it back up. Um it could be this is one of the disadvantages of sending the meeting notes right after the meeting. >> No. Well, no, that's okay. It's I mean because we have all month to then send you comments. I just didn't do
it in time. >> Yeah, that's okay. Um Oh my god, I can't open them on this computer for some reason. Well, I can just I'll just tell you what my suggestion would be. Um because I think,
you know, it's true that we're interested in looking at more PV. Um I just it's just that >> right now I don't think we're there's no acquiring land use grants. Um you know, it might be folded into the um the larger climate leader one, but it's
unclear. So, I think it would be sufficient to just say ECAC is interested in exploring more PV installations. Leaving that. I'll I'll change that wording because I agree. >> The possibility of more. >> Yeah, the possibility >> I think. Right. >> Yeah, I think that's kind of what I was what I meant to write, but it just came
out as we are doing instead of um we discussed the possibility of doing. So, I'll fix that. >> Good call. >> Great. Any other thoughts before we vote to approve? Okay. Hearing none. Gail, how do you vote? >> I. >> Nate,
>> I. Greg. >> Right. >> Okay. The minutes are officially approved. >> Greg, if you make those changes and then send me the amended and I'll take care of it. Thank you. >> Well, hey,
>> um, do we need to hold a vote um to formally recommend Dean to the select board? >> Well, that was my next that was my next question. I wanted first I wanted to ask what Dean thought about the meeting observation. Yes,
>> you might be running for the hills. You never know. >> I have not been scared away. I'm actually very proud of what I'm hearing. I I give you all a lot of credit for grinding away and meeting people and making connections. I would be very very
pleased to join in those efforts. >> Great. I'm glad I'm glad we're we're attractive as opposed to scaring you away. That's a good thing. >> We are as advertised. How about that? So, I mean, I guess I don't want to put
people on the spot, but are we are you comfortable recommending to the select board? >> Absolutely. >> Okay, Greg. >> So, yes, Nate, you want to make a motion to that effect? >> Um, yeah, I would like to move to
recommend Dean to full membership uh to the select board um for full membership on ECAP. Did I Does that is that good enough >> to be appointed as? Yeah. >> To be appointed as >> Yeah.
>> want a second. Great. Thank you, Joe. >> Any other discussion? >> Well, okay. >> Yeah, Dean, there will be a form for you to fill out um an application form where you get a chance to lay out, you know, your interests and how come you picked
this committee and so on. And it's it's online. Uh if you send us your email address, I'll send you the the link. I don't have it in the top. >> I I I'll send your email after this. >> Okay.
>> And uh and uh and Dean, it's it's a it's a new process that our town administrator Haley put in place to sort of standardize what was not a standard process previously. So >> sounds good. Yeah. And actually, if you have any questions, I just went through
it for the storm water mitigation committee, so I can tell you what to expect, but it's really easy. >> Thank you, Greg. >> You can give them the answers to the floor. >> So, let's take a vote. Nate, how do you vote? >> I Gale.
>> Hi, >> Greg. >> I am an I. Okay. >> Congratulations, Dean. >> And welcome. >> Thank you very much. So Dean, what the process will be is I'll send the recommendation off to Haley and Brennan who's town administrator and
administrative assistant and then they'll get you on a schedule for a select board meeting. Select board meets every other Tuesday generally speaking. And so I'll find out when that is and I can give you a heads up and you know depending on when it if it's in June
I'll be able to join you. If not I'll make sure that someone else is there. It's I mean it's usually not a big deal. Um you know sometimes people have more questions but it's it's pretty straightforward. Um and then they just do the appointment right there and then once you're appointed you just have to
go to town hall and get sworn in um by the town clerk. Um which actually would can the assistant town clerk do it? Gail? Do you know? >> The acting town clerk does it? Um >> okay. >> The assistant >> Yeah. >> So there are certain hours that she's
in. It's um it's Tuesday and Thursday I want to say. Um I have it in my email actually. I can tell you >> Well, Janette Yeah, Janette's the assistant. The woman from left. >> But Janette can't do it. It's it's the interim. Sorry. >> The woman who's the town clerk,
>> Lisa. >> Lisa, right? >> Yeah. So, I don't know, D, if you've been following, but we currently don't have a town clerk. We have an assistant town clerk because we shifted to appointed. So, we've been using leverage since the interim. So, it's just about
the scheduling might be challenging, but we can get it done. Um, and whether it works in time for next meeting given everyone's schedules or you should just plan on being at the meeting and participating in in the conversations. So, I'm I'm thrilled that you're interested. I'm glad that everyone
thinks that it'll work out. Um, so I think the last bit of business is just scheduling our next meeting, >> which will be in July. Um, so into like vacation scheduling. Um, which can be a
little bit more tricky. Um, let's just see. Um, oh, here we go. Okay. So, is it all right? Are there >> 21st? >> Yeah, the 14th. I uh
the the 14th I'm definitely away. The 21st is tough. Um how's the 7th and the 28th for people? >> Either would be fine with me. >> Both open here. >> Okay, Dean. >> Yes. Cool. Uh let's see.
>> I'm I'm going to say maybe the 28th so that I have time to do the stormwater uh meeting. Okay, let's do that. So, do July 28th at 7. That was that was easy peasy. >> Same time, same station. >> Yep.
Anyone want to move to ajourn? >> So moved. >> Second. Anybody? >> Seconded. >> Cool. Further discussion. Hearing none. Um Greg, how do you vote? >> I
gi Uh we are officially adjourned which is Dan just so I know you we're usually like an hour a long meeting is an hour and a half we we clearly crunch a lot of stuff into the conversations but uh so
everyone have a good rest of the night >> and Gail I will send you Dean's email and Dean I will see you on the communications with the town administrator. >> Thank you. It's great to meet you all. Look forward to it. >> Great to meet you as well. >> See you guys soon.
>> Cheers. Hi, I'm