Starting meeting at 409. Um, pres president Ron Montgomery. And online we have uh Jennifer Great. And I have another part. I can't read the name. Kelly, it's Kelly also here. >> Kelly Linma. Hello.
>> All right. Um, that's who we got. Uh, first subject previous meeting minutes. note of nowhere to vote. Um the rest of this uh previous regarding green communities grant projects and green communities uh current status projects
will have to be suspended for another meeting or later in this meeting. Uh next on the agenda is the climate action plans. Um I have provided some some data on where we are on the agenda, but uh
this is about the um next steps that we received from Jennifer Rate um um earlier this month. >> All right, back again. >> Back. >> All right. Um continue, Jenny. I
apologize for the interruption. >> I wish I could rewind myself to wherever I was. before it cut off. That's just for the record. Um, so what I was saying is that what I
shared with you was a discussion meant to be a discussion. Okay. So what we're planning to do, what we would like to do is provide you with a final draft uh probably late February, early March.
And uh we would need to have some public review of that. Uh which could be your the two of you. Um it could be folks in town hall. Um other committees. I'm not
really sure. Uh who else needs to be part of the review. Um we can have a a a public, you know, presentation of it through Zoom. um and see if there's any additional feedback through that. And
then essentially um the part that I'm not really certain of is who owns the final plan. Um if the if Townsen is considering having their select board endorse the plan or
what what steps you are thinking you would like to move forward with. that'll inform well both the timing of that whether or not you want to do that and then the when we want them to do that helps to work through a schedule. So I think that's really more of a question.
I'm not clear if that's something that is uh desired as the end result or if you just want the document. And if you just want the document and we leave you with that and then you decide to do something independent of NIMCOG, you know, and having like your own uh
endorsement or adoption of priorities, then then that is okay too. Uh but it would be helpful to know that. So that's why this is really meant to be just a discussion point. Um and then you can let us know. >> All right. Around around here ordinarily
the energy committee would you know look at it and want to move it forward. We would ordinarily just move it forward as after everybody's looked at it made all the we made all the adjustments including our input the staff input
stuff. And uh if when we vote that this is the one, this is the the the uh document we want to forward to and recommend that the board of selectmen approve, that's we we would forward it like that. We we'd meet with the board
of selectment joint meeting, present it, tell them all the work that went into developing that document, and obviously there'd be some evidence there as to uh you know, the inputs that went there. um and they they decide to uh present it to
town meeting perhaps or I don't know where where it might go from there but um that's the ordinary path that that town would take. >> Okay. What do you envision in terms of wanting NIMCAD's involvement in any of
that? Do you want us to just give you a draft of the plan and then you walk it through the process that you just outlined where you review it, it's final, then you move it with the select board, etc. What were you envisioning?
We envision lots of help because we we're we're two people and uh you know I think there's there's a little bit I don't know how well documented the previous meetings were but of course you had Michelle Michelle's uh input I don't
know >> uh how what that shows you know how far she got how comfortable she was with the input from those meetings >> um because I did not attend those meetings now I realize that I probably should have gone and I would understand more of the discussion that went on uh
to develop but I didn't. So for me to pick up that point now and help organize it, it would be I I don't think I I could do it. Mike, you what do you think? >> I mean it seems to make sense that if we
were to present this for example to the select board um to have um Nim Kog along with us to have discussion with the select you to be there with the uh with us with the to the board of suckling presentation.
But that's where we're headed towards and then that we that's the end of the path for us because we are just an appendage of the board of selectment. You know, kind of remote here, but we're we're we we have no authority uh other than to make recommendations to
the board of selectment and then they have all the authority to move to town meeting or whatever has to happen. And of course along the way we want to make sure that uh uh whatever we recommend does uh stay within the bounds of the
town bylaws and and that sort of thing. >> Okay. Um well I think I'll just make minor adjustments to the timeline then and basically it stays the what I outlined stays the same. Um, so we'll
plan on giving a final draft uh to uh, you know, to then use as part of like a we'll have a public meeting over Zoom um, in March and make any final revisions in April. Uh,
that'll give your the two of you time to review it and make a recommendation to the select board. And I think then after that is when the select board would make their you know there would be some presentation to them and an endorsement in May or June.
>> And that kind of brings us to the end of the the grant actually at the end of June. So >> I have one uh one sort of question or just observations. Um I think we're going to be discussing later in this meeting this sort of new designation
that the state is offering towns. and I I quickly reviewed it um just a little you know earlier this today. So yeah so what it's called the climate leader climate leader opportunities. Okay so if
we were to pursue that I think one of the criteria was you have to have some sort of plan in place but one of the options for ha for being designated as meeting that requirement would be having a climate action plan. Okay. So, can we
once this plan is written, can we say we have a climate action plan or would it actually require this select board to >> let me let me figure this because she hasn't been exposed to what we're talking about yet. >> Okay. Um perhaps you know all about it but uh the uh uh green communities grant
program uh has a uh climate leader community certification grant program and uh you know we're hanging on by a thread to have enough people on the energy committee to have an energy comm all that stuff. when you get down to it. Um with the question is does
the uh uh uh item that we're working on now, the document that you're working on satisfy the um requirement number four, which is municipal decarbonization road map. We're wondering if it if it will if if
this work satisfies that requirement. Um, I'm very familiar with climate leader communities. Uh, I think there's actually a lot of things that you would need to do, not just this
road map. And yes, it technically could be part of the road map, but I think what they're looking for actually in the municipal decarbonization roadmap from what I remember is about municipal operations. Yeah, that is exactly what it says. And you don't have that. And
this plan will not be doing that. No. So that is something that you can actually do as a green communities activity. You can create a road map for your municipal buildings and we can certainly recommend it in the plan itself, but you don't you don't have a you don't have that road
map. It's basically a through the green communities program there's you do audits and I I don't remember who has done audits in towns right now but um like for example there's there's like a a company that does audits of all of
your municipal buildings and they tell you you know so what you need to do how much it's going to approximately cost to make upgrades uh and it you know it's anything from light bulbs to doors windows and other HVAC improvements.
There's so many different systems that usually need to be replaced in order to decarbonize. That's what they're talking about, not climate action plan. >> We've had those kinds of um audits certainly, but on several occasions. Um
yeah, I just thought that in the description and I only read it quickly. So in the description of that criterion, it actually said if you have a climate action plan that meets this requirement, but maybe it depends on what the climate action plan says or you know something. it it would be it's pretty specific from
what I remember and it's like basically an oper like municipal operations that need to be to fulfill it and it's a it's kind of a more it's about your buildings and and I don't I don't recall towns having that. The other thing you don't
have is a zero emission vehicle first policy. You haven't adopted the specialized stretch energy code. You don't have a decarbonization commitment. Um, and to your point, you have this committee, but it's uh
I think you need to continue to work on the membership, you know, and increase >> the engagement. >> Um, I don't know about your position with green communities in terms of being in good standing. So, just looking at the um these requirements, maybe one out
of six isn't is correct, but you have five others before you'd be eligible to truly apply. One one thing that if you're really serious about it, you should probably be connecting with your green communities coordinator. Um, and I
think that's uh, you know, probably like Kieran on town staff, you know, he appropriate person to do that who could advise the steps the town would need to take in order to get there more uh, you know, more effectively than I mean I I
know what you need to do, but they might be they might be a little bit more prescriptive because they're familiar with what you've already done. >> All right. All right. Sounds good. um in the uh when we're involving the
the town staff and and uh stuff, please let us know even though those aren't necessarily addressed to us. We already had this meeting. If you do have meetings with town staff and stuff, please let us please us include us on the invite because we need to be more
involved in uh understanding the community's uh feeling on on this stuff. >> Yeah, we haven't had any other I haven't had any other meetings with any staff. Uh you you saw all the >> communications so far. Yeah,
>> Michelle did and I didn't attend those meetings. >> Okay. So, I would like in the future. >> Okay. I would anticipate maybe we're going to have one meeting with Kieran before we finalize the draft and then um
>> you know, it'll be up to you two to help us get comments. >> All right. >> All right. Can I answer any other questions about our processing? Oh, can I answer any other questions
about the our like the planning process? >> The time timeline we're looking at is uh late February, early early March for the next uh meeting with you. >> Um I think um
let's look at that more carefully. Excuse me. You know, not everybody reads stuff before they go to a meeting, but I think this this is stuff that requires people to be a little bit familiar before they show up at a meeting, you know. So hopefully we'll have a few days to check
out what you'll what we'll discuss. >> So maybe uh the next time it looks like it would be March 18th, right? Is that your next is that I mean I know you meet in February, but the meeting in March would it be on the 18th?
>> Tenative. Okay. Oh, actually I uh I won't be here that week. It'll have to be I'm going to be away a lot of March, but we can figure out the March 18th won't work for me unless you have it. >> Oh, I mean, but don't do you have a regular meeting type date time day time.
>> Uh normally it is. What? It's a Wednesday. What is it? Normally third Wednesday. >> We're trying to do three or four o'clock on Wednesday afternoon because there's always rooms available over here and it easier for us to get to. But >> I'll be I'll be we'll we'll be zooming
in for that meeting. So if it's not on the 18th, would it be on the 11th? >> Um I won't be here either. >> Early in the early in the month, Mike's not going to be here, I guess. >> So basically 11th through the 26th. I'm not
>> We'll be out of town 11th to the 26th. So before the 11th after the 26th to include the whole active committee, Um uh just looking at availability. Um
I I'm not totally sure about the 10th right now. The 9th I know is not possible. Um maybe March 4th. Would that work? >> Yeah. Would be okay with
>> All right. I would need it to not be right at 4 though. Um as I'll be I'll be I have another meeting from 3 to 4. So could we um you you might like when we appear could it be 4:30? >> Yeah. >> Okay.
>> Yep. >> We might start the meeting before that 4:30. >> Yeah. That's what I'm saying is just uh just um acknowledging that I I won't be able to attend right at 4 that day. That's the
only thing. Um yeah, so we will I'll be in touch with you about when roughly we'll be sharing the document and you know so that you have it in advance. Um it's again that's the final draft
preparation. Um so that we could then find a time to have a public meeting. I mean if you want that to be the public meeting March 4th that's also an option but uh if not then uh
we would have to find another day for that. That could be on another day because uh we're not we're not trying to involve the whole engine committee at that point. You know, I could go to that other meeting whenever it is. But um Michael will be here
and he doesn't have to be here for any other for staff meetings. I could I could go myself probably. Um but it it it sounds like the fourth would work. And as far as uh having I think we could pro you want to try to do it with the
staff at the same time they do their meeting. >> In other words, be an extra meeting for us, but that's not a big deal to me. >> It's all right. >> If you you wanted to have a a uh we could both come to the the meeting you have with the staff. It's for the same
purpose, right? >> I was only going to reach out to Kieran. I wasn't That's the only person who I was planning to reach out to. >> Kieran. Oh, okay. >> Kieran. Yeah. >> Well, well, we'll we'll invite him to our meeting.
>> That's kind of what I figured. So, um so it sounds like we we're not going to have a like a public meeting. So, um, the item two on that, uh, agenda is
said, we're we're not going to do that, the targeted public meeting. >> Well, I'm not hearing a timeline for that. If we meet with you March 4th, then we would need to find a different time in March to have a forum. And it
sounds like >> right >> Mike is out until the 26th and I am actually as well. Like I have time but I'm not around either that month. >> Um so if it's April
>> I'm not hearing very well. Can you help me with this? >> Um she she just suggests we do the forum in April. uh either just sort of not have a separate forum or we could we could all we could meet on the 4th and
schedule the forum for some other date, right? That's what that's what we should do. Okay, good. I understand that now. >> Um yeah, that's what we should do is schedule the forum after our meeting because that may affect your time, you know, what we discuss, what comes out of our meeting may affect your timeline
just a little bit, you know, by >> Yeah. So we'll meet on the 4th 4:30 with you and uh the uh you know the subsequent meeting would kind of plan at that point. >> Okay.
>> All right. Thank you. >> Yeah. You're welcome. All right. Well, you know where to reach me and if you have other things or ideas or questions about stuff, let let us know. >> All right. Thank you. >> All right. You're welcome. anything else or
>> have a great evening. >> All right. You too. All right. Bye now. >> Bye. >> Bye. >> All right. All right. Uh let's see. And that ended at 4:33. All right. Uh how you doing, Mike?
>> Good. Good. >> All right. Why don't we continue our meeting? D it and we talk later. >> Um, >> previous meeting minutes, did you get a chance to look at them? >> I did. >> And would you um please
>> uh Yeah, I um uh I move to uh approve the minutes for the October 1st, 2025 meeting. >> And the uh I second. And I uh >> yes, say yes.
M yes approved this next section previous regarding green communities grant project updates you to where we are um the um
you know they they said it that meeting that we had with with the with the group at the launch meeting that they thought they could have it done by the end of December. I, you know, stressed that we needed to have done as soon as possible. By the way, even if even if we were able
to participate in that climate leaders community program, we didn't complete this project in time to be to go for it. So >> again, um current project status um
that well you got that the print is there. I'll read it in case there's someone listening into the meeting. Um Frank Davies reports that Hawthorne Brook uh LED uh installations were about
done at the time I contacted him. Uh January 15th, 75% complete. estimate two weeks to complete and return the paperwork. Um, Memorial Hall and the uh retro commissioning study is started but may not complete until air conditioning
season which would make sense, >> right? Um, only discussion on that is that neither neither uh Frank nor
D Frank nor um Dave uh what is it? Dave Amari from the schools knew that the town administrator had left and they would have sent their reports to the old town administrator and he was sat around waiting to get
>> well hopefully it would get >> I sent I sent them both a message saying by by the way our town administrator left if you send all your paperwork to Karen now and they both responded well Jesus is nobody told me you know
>> all right uh the the uh so that's what I had to report there. We have just been through the climate action plan next steps and uh web page update. I kind of kicked this one to the side because I knew that
other thing would take some time. But um we had last talked about trying to trying to make corrections about with the web page because it's not up to date and um we still need to do that. I I wondered here whether we should discuss
just making a a quick fix rather than a deep fix and you know take away the glaring parts and add the add what we want to replace it with later but there's there's some you know glaring errors there that >> Yeah. Yeah. Um, I haven't looked at it.
I did I volunteer to do that? I think I did, didn't I? Okay. I I could take a look and at least see if I have any um ideas on >> We'll We'll both look at it at the Disney page and develop outlines for progress, you know, see how see how much we progress to the next meeting.
>> Yeah. >> Um All right. That that was that. Um the minute status town clerk's record has all the approved town minutes from 2020 all our meeting minutes from 2025 with one exception.
Uh there's one of the meetings in 2025 where I did not call the meeting. The board of selectman called the meeting >> and they submitted an agenda for the town for us. So, there's an agenda there with no minutes because it was actually
a board of selectman joint meeting, >> right? >> And I just talked with the clerk's office. I'm going to make a uh for our next meeting, I'll make a uh make minutes for that meeting, the joint meeting, and our minutes will say joint meeting with, you know, board of
selectmen refer to their minutes dated, you know, >> you know, and that that really all we have to do for that. other uh other uh errors and omissions there. I found that uh like a 2023 meeting
would have a 20 2014 minutes attached to it. >> So there's some corrections that I need to make and and and putting them all where they belong. M >> uh one of the challenges here is that
we've had I think four uh chairpersons of the committee and we all label name files differently. >> So I can't couldn't really do a sort. I had to find the word minutes someplace in the name of the file
>> right >> to be able to sort it out. And I've I've tried to rename all the minutes so that they can sort properly. >> Yeah, that's very useful. Yeah. >> And the date, you know, >> they're all the same.
>> Yeah. >> And I think I've got most of them so far. >> Where do you have all these files? These >> It's all in this on on >> all in here. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's all the files that I've ever received. >> I don't I don't delete crap. I mean, I'm
a terrible I'm terrible like that. Yeah. >> You walk into my house, you can tell I don't throw crap. >> Well, how but how would you have like minutes from years ago when you weren't the chairman or the person? >> I went and got them before before uh my time. I when I became I before I joined
the committee I read all the minutes that they were. >> Mhm. And then um later on I decided that you know we had to make sure that they're all there and I >> there's a project I think comes a point
you know back like after maybe after co I is important but precoid I think it's important but you know how much time you want to spend on it right >> 19 to you know nine years. >> Yeah. And um
there's everything I changed the date of a meeting and can't do the meeting and okay so we have to change the date but somehow or other I would not tell anybody. I know there are times that I didn't tell we had a canceled meeting and I didn't tell uh TAM >> so his guys were here waiting for us.
That was stupid right my era. It's embarrassing but in those same situations. Hi. How you doing? >> Good evening. >> Hi. Thank you guys. Energy committee. >> Yes, energy committee. >> All right. >> So, you have a meeting tonight. >> Yeah,
>> we are having a meeting. >> Do you have other members? >> Officially won, right? Kathy's still a member, but >> Kathy still Kathy Thompson is still a member, but but due to health considerations, she wanted to to quit,
but if she quit and one of us didn't show up, we would not be able to come up with a quorum for a $200,000 grant program. Right. So, we asked her to stay and she's on call. She would show up if I needed a vote >> to >> she could do Zoom >> move something. Yes. But
>> she uh sometimes she'll just show up. I mean, she gets invited to every meeting. She's invite you gets copies of everything. You know, she she's invited, but uh she normally doesn't show up. And she she could just show up online anytime because, you know, we're virtual.
>> What is your um uh number off the top of my head on the committees? How many are on your >> Oh, officially it's five. >> Okay. >> But we've been down we've had three members for several years and >> Okay. >> Yeah. So, we really could use more members.
>> There is there is something you should know about. >> There's I I want to participate in this climate leader communities certifi certification program. >> Okay. And you know, we're we've gone through most of the stuff that
insulation and air seal and stuff you can do to the buildings. Now, it's more turning towards replacing heating equipment to reduce carbon and might save money, but remain to be seen. So, we're participating in a in a in a uh
clean climate action plan uh program right now. But one of the things that this this uh climate leader program requires is that you have an active engaged community uh energy committee
and uh it's not like you can if one of us goes down we don't have an energy committee anymore but you you must have an energy committee to participate in this. Um >> so do you know um still have a posting
for members? Oh, posting. Um, >> they don't they they they haven't I I I I I mentioned this to Kieran a little while ago. >> Apparently the um you know, there are a lot of committees that have problems getting people, but you know, our our meetings pretty much stay within an
hour, right? >> Yeah. >> And um if if that's a problem people have, maybe the the invite to join the committee should say are most of our committees are under an hour meetings are under an hour. But in reality, I
think it's going to take more people in the future. >> Yeah, I agree. Um so I'll make sure that um cuz I just got a volunteer form, but it's not for your um committee. Um
although I did mention it because I knew that you had an opening. I am I'm Laura Shiffren. >> Yes. Yes. >> Michael Brown. >> Michael Brown. >> Ron. Ron. Um, so I'll make sure that a posting goes
out tomorrow for your remaining two vacancies. Okay. >> Right. Right. >> And if it's possible to put uh regular meetings, how often do you meet? >> Monthly. Typically once a month. Every once in a while. If there's a big deal
going on, we might leave meet two or three times in one month in a short period of time. But, you know, just cuz we got to got to get a vote through and make advise you guys. >> Yeah, understand. So, maybe we can uh add a note to it that says um generally
once a month or an hour or so, so they have some idea. Once people get on, they may be the one that causes it to be longer. You know, you don't know. So, okay. Well, I guess I stopped for a reason. >> Thank you. >> I was dropping that off. Thank you.
>> Good luck. I'll make sure that's done tomorrow. >> Thank you. >> Thanks. >> Good night. Thank you again for your time. >> Sure. Bye. Bye. >> Where were we? Mike. >> Uh, let's see. >> Yeah. Venus. Um. >> Oh, right. You were looking for some of
the older ones. >> I, you know, I got a plan. It's it's like you know even it's the ones that are already done that become a problem because you you see a date of a of a date and the agenda. You open the agenda
and it's for a different date. >> You open the minutes and it's for that same date. So it's a different >> Yeah. >> set but it's in the wrong place. Um, so, so I have to make a list of all the ones that are in there and I I don't go we'll
go back beyond a certain point, but the ones that are in there, you print out the agenda, you print out and you and they are not labeled, you know, necessarily the same because the the the column you're you're trying to print says uh
>> just want to ask, neither one of you um has a black pickup, right? >> No. because there's one out back with a flat tire. >> Oh, huh. >> By the way, did do when I came to this meeting, I got here a few minutes after
4, so I was late, but the all the doors were locked like the back and the front. Is that Is that what normally happens? >> Yeah, because they all leave. How did you get in? >> Uh, somebody I I I went first the back, then the front, then I went back to the back and I was sort of knocking then
somebody was leaving and then so they opened the door and I could get in. Okay. So, are you on Zoom? Are you being recorded by Tam? >> Yes. What's that again? >> Oh, we're being recorded. Yes, >> T. This is a record. This is a recorded
meeting. >> Okay. So, if they knew you were having a meeting, that door should open. >> Okay. All right. >> It doesn't usually happen. >> What time does it What time does it usually close? cuz I could
>> four. >> Okay. >> But there are many nights where there's meetings. >> Right. >> Right. >> Um anyway, there's more work to be done.
I got I got things so far. And then I want to plug something in. So, I checked the minutes for the for the meeting that is in there to say I want to make sure that the meeting that I'm putting in now was was approved. Was the agenda proof? Yes, it was. That'll be on the next
meeting's minutes, right? But you look at it and it's a highly different decade, you know. >> Yeah. >> So, I don't know how many of there are the ones that I've seen just that tell me I can't trust what's there.
>> All right. So that's that project and uh pro topics not reason not reasonably expected 48 hours before well I I got that document this one >> weeks ago but I didn't actually look at it >> and when I actually looked at it and
read it I said well you know this is like where we're headed >> you know and we have to be prepared to to we need more
Yeah, I guess it's something that we could um start working towards. It's not like next month we're going to apply get that. >> Well, there are programs that would have done what this climate action program does >> that would have account because because that's what they were doing preparing.
This was not a the is not a green communities program, >> right? >> And apparently it doesn't count as a green communities program. So, well, maybe we'll have some, you know, work done prior to actually doing the
>> But the we do need help developing each of those items that are >> there. We can't do it ourselves. >> Yeah. >> All right. Um, no public forum. Nobody's here. I proposed a meeting February 25th
here. I don't have a reservation for the room or anything, but usually four o'clock is good for the room. Um, whereas we just came up with this March 4th >> and that's just a week later, I guess. >> Do you mind uh doing both separately? >> Uh, could. Yeah.
>> Okay. Is February 25th going to work for you? >> Yes. Should. Yeah. >> Okay. So, that's that's what we're going to try to get on. and a motion to adjurnn. Okay, I'll make a motion to adjurnn.
Second in >> favor favor and we're we are adjourned.