May 19, 2026 – Energy and Climate Committee – Video & Transcript

May 19, 2026 - Energy and Climate Committee

Autoscroll:

Right, I think we have a quorum. So I'm going to call this meeting to order and say, this is, Olivia, are you taking notes? Yep, I got it. Great, thank you so much. And thanks for pulling together your agenda. So I, this is Ellen Tohn, Chair of the Energy and Climate Committee, and pursuant to Chapter 2 of the Acts of 2025, this meeting is conducted by our own access in accordance with applicable law. If no in-person attendance by members of the public will be permitted, you may, people may watch remotely via the link provided on the town website. And who is our Zoom manager tonight? It's me. Robbie's on vacation. Yep. Great. So Olivia, you know the protocol. Anybody shows up, just let them in. We're, we're welcoming. So thank you for that. So Olivia's taking notes. I'm going to note in attendance for the notes, Tom, committee members, Tom Siaka, Steve Garone, Bill Huss, Clovis Schaap, Neil Gordon, and associate member John Harper. Um, we have tonight joining us two staff, Olivia Blandley and Mike Fea. Mike, thanks for, for joining us. So I, um, had asked Mike to join us because there were two things, Mike, that I want. So we're going to take our agenda a little out of order just to be nicer to Mike, which seems like a good thing to do. Um, so Mike, I thought the two things I was going to ask you to talk about, which, um, are in the, um, sustainability manager update sort of, but also not reasonably anticipated. Because I didn't know if you're, what your schedule was just with Julie's departure, what, what you're thinking is in planning item number one and item number two is the, given that loss of staff, our approach to applying to the, um, climate leaders, big pot of money. For decarbonization, that, that application due in August. Um, and, um, I, I know we didn't get the green school works project for the middle school. So that may be one, uh, some, some of the stuff we'd want to roll in there. So Mike, those are the two things that I think you and I talked about. I don't know why balloons are happening for me. I don't know. That's because I'm going to speak. That's why. That's it. We're all excited, Mike. Yes. There might be a, a third one, Mike. We could just mention this joint meeting that we're having on June 3rd. If you, uh, we, we could do that while we're both on the call, we could do that last. But those two, is there anything else, Mike, that we talked about that you think is good to update the committee on or raise with the committee? No, I think that that'll pretty much cover everything. Um, what we discussed, unfortunately, you know, to your point, we, we didn't get any of the green schools, which was, would have been helpful. Um, but, uh, what we plan on doing, and we're going to sit with Amoresco and their, um, writers and we're going to put together, we're going to take some of the projects out of the green schools and we're going to apply for green communities. Um, that will be in August. And the two biggies are going to be the hot water for the middle school and the, um, two AHUs or ITUs on the roof. Uh, those two replacements. I think we're going to stop there with, for, for this first go around. And the reason why I say that is we've just recently, um, we're having a lot of trouble with the unit ventilators in all the schools. Those are old, um, hot water, cold water fed units that are underneath the windows. They're very inefficient. They're, uh, they're really ridiculous to work on and they, um, they're breaking down at an alarming rate. So the conversation we had, um, Olivia, myself and Amoresco this morning was we were going to, uh, apply for, uh, the other grant as well in August. And that's the, uh, as part of the, um, Olivia, help me out here. What's it's the, uh, for climate leaders, there's two different opportunities for funding that happened twice a year. One is funding for a study up to 150,000 and one is an energy efficiency like project, which is up to a million dollars. So we're planning on doing one of each. So funding for a project and funding for a study. Right. So the study will be primarily to look at these, um, heat pump units that are just failing. They're not heat pumps. They even shouldn't even say that. I'm sorry. They're just unit ventilators and we're going to replace them, um, with heat pumps. Probably rooftop, uh, probably one unit would feed four classrooms. I wouldn't want to go much more than that because if it breaks down, you have a larger block of failure and, you know, the structure will be able to handle the smaller units more, uh, more efficiently. So that's why we want to do the study piece. Um, so that maybe come the winter round of, uh, we'll have some backup and we can apply again for these heat, these, these ventilators in at least the middle school. Um, and if we know what's happening with the other schools, we can start to plan for those as well. Um, it's a massive project. There's a lot of these units. Um, I'd say there's probably close to 70 in the middle school alone. Um, so there it's a, it's a, it's a sizable project. So I think down the road, it'd be a good one to apply for, um, and use this grant money, um, for that. Can I just get them clarity, Mike, to stop actually. So Olivia, there are actually three pots of money. One is our basic green communities application up to like, we could do another one 50. I thought we applied for that before Julie left, correct? So, um, in that note sheet, I don't know who got a chance to look at that note sheet I had sent to you guys. So we did apply for green communities funding. So we can't apply for more this round. Julie already submitted that. So that includes lighting in the town building, lighting in the library, a vehicle for facilities and a vehicle for the police, um, like a non-emergency pursuit vehicle, like passenger car. So that's been submitted. We can't touch that money anymore. So these are the two more funding options until August. And then we have that second round of climate leaders. Maybe, maybe not. That's what I want to clarify. So we applied for this green communities money. We're getting close to a million dollar cap. So if we get this other one, then we're done with green communities. We can never apply again because we've hit the cap. So that's why we did climate leaders, right guys? So that you're right. We can apply for $150 in study money and up to 1.15 million for a decarbonization project. But I, this is what I don't know, Olivia. Mike, in the project you're proposing for the middle school, if that's less than the 1.15 million, do we get to apply again for the delta between what we applied for in the 1.15 million? Is that a cap on a community's over time? Or is that just a cap per grant application? I'm unclear on that. I want to say it's per application. I spoke to Dylan about that. He's our rep for like the Metro West area. We all know Dylan. Good, yep. All right. I'll make a note of that and confirm with him. But I do believe it's per application. Let's, let's, I think because there's a fixed pool of climate leaders, which is growing, and there's a fixed pot of money, my sense from the state is once you get your slug of money, they're inclined to move on to the next community. So strategically, Mike, it's really worth understanding this because if, you know, would we want to apply for like $350 and then we wouldn't really get a chance to apply again? Like, so that's what we really need to understand from Dylan, Olivia. All right. I just made a note of that. Yep. So this go around for HVAC wise for the middle school is close to $890,000. Okay. We're applying for, I can't do more than that. Reason I can't is time. You know, you gotta understand we only have these schools to do this kind of work for like two months in the summer. So it's tough. Yep. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, so it makes it very tough, Alan. So we try to plan some bigger ones that we know we can hit. And, you know, it'd be great to go get to the 1.1. I just don't know if we have the guns to do it, you know, this summer with, you know, procurement and all nine yards. So. Well, we apply in August. So it'd be for next summer, right? Mike? Yeah. Yeah. So we, at least we'd have enough time to, they'd tell us in the fall, we'd have enough time to kind of plan and mobilize. Um, I'll take questions, but I just want to clarify to people. One thing Mike and I met and I had looked at the decarbonization roadmap because that informs our capital needs plan. So Mike, just thinking about the questions, you know, I might get from somebody on the select board. Um, and this had said, you know, some of those units in the middle school would last to 2035. But when Mike and I met, you just said, we're just having failure rates that are not acceptable. So even though the decarbonization roadmap says their useful life is more than the next two years, that's not how you're experiencing them. Is that, is that fair, Mike? Oh, it's more than fair. Um, the, and I don't know why that number's in there. Um, the useful life for any kind of piece of equipment like this is 20 years. And these units were installed in the seventies. So how someone thought it could get to 2035, I'm trying to figure that one out, Ellen. Yeah. It's just not feasible. It is. You couldn't keep those limping along if you had to. I think that the question that I just thought about the politics of Mike is we submit, we approved and submitted that plan to DOER. Now submitting an application to DOER saying, no, we want to replace them sooner. So as you and I discussed in the narrative, we, you know, if, if DOER is reading it, they might look at our decarbon roadmap and say, Hey, this doesn't align. So we just need to explain it. Yep. It's yep. Absolutely. Um, so questions for Mike on these and Olivia on these two projects, middle school sounds like domestic hot water, which is a project you can kind of recycle from the green schools that we didn't get, which Julie thought was low odds, but we thought it was worth, worth trying because we knew if we didn't get it, we could, you know, repurpose it for this grant. And then it sounds like some, some roof top units basically. Right. Yes, exactly. Yep. So questions from the, now that I've monopolized the first set of questions, I open it up to, to others about this. All right. I'll, I'll, uh, ask one. I don't really understand what these, what you're calling ventilators or, or Mike, are these water to air heat exchangers? It's exactly what it is, Tom. Yes. They call, they, they call them, um, ventilators because they're basically, um, if you remember the old style hotel where you had under the window, you had basically just, uh, it was, those, those, those were more heat pumps, but this is fed by the hot water of the boilers and, um, it, it produces, it, it has its own little compressor. So it can produces its own little cooling right within the unit itself. Hmm. And, and there aren't every window. So inherent is what I wondered and what you just answered is that the heat source is a boiler. Yes. Um, presumably a gas boiler. Um, uh, that's not generally what we want to encourage going forward. Okay. So I, let me just answer that real quick, Tom, this building is also a, um, housing place. So, uh, for me to have any kind of electric boilers, um, probably isn't a great idea. Um, we would like to have the redundancy down the road. If we, we find that these heat pumps that we replace takes enough of a load off the gas boilers, we can probably 10, 15 years from now, before we, we hit our final mark, we can change again and put in some electric boilers. Um, but to have this as a dual, so we don't, if we do lose power, we have some sort of heating for hot water, for showers, for food, for heat in itself. Um, you know, cause the generator to run electric boilers like that would take up half of the back parking lot. It's just, it'd be too large. Yeah, actually, I'm a huge fan of hybrid systems. Um, but I think what I just heard is we're, we're also installing heat pumps in parallel with the, the. So that's, that's what we want to study is in, get rid of the ventilators and look into a heat pump solution for the classrooms. Yes. Okay. So now I'm confused actually. So let's go through one. So the domestic hot water, that was all going to be electric and heat pump, right? That is the electric hot water is heat pump. Yes. And that's new. No one's really done much of that. So we thought we would be interested. They would be interested. And it's not that much hot water. Cause not, not that much showering at the middle school compared to say the high school. And then these rooftop units, I thought you, I don't think you can propose something that will be gas. They won't fund it, Mike. I'm not proposing gas for the rooftops. The only gas, the only gas in the building of the boilers for right now, because I need it. Yes. Okay. So that's why I wanted to collaborate. That's where Tom got me confused. So the rooftop ones that we're replacing, those would be electric heat pumps, electric heat pumps. And those are for heat and cooling in which areas, Mike, just so we understand it. It all depends on which units we replace, Ellen. So it's either going to be a chunk of classrooms. It could be the gym. It depends on which unit we decide to. Okay. So it's going to be some of the load. We're going to move to heat pumps. That's what DOER wants to fund, right? Electrification. Yep. Those two together are 890. And then what you're saying is I got a million of these ventilators all over, giving me a lot of heartache. I don't really know what to do. You're saying I'm nervous about going all heat pump. So let's study this. Let's ask for a study. I'm not nervous about doing heat pumps for the ventilators. I'm nervous about putting heat pumps where my boilers are. Anywhere else in the building, it can be electric heat pumps all day long. I'm not nervous about that because I have the boilers for backup for heat. That's the key. Yeah. In fact, water heat pumps are an immature technology right now. So, yeah, I think you've got a decent plan, Mike. Okay. Thank you, John. Any other? I have some process questions. Any other technical questions? Okay. Process-wise, Mike, due in August, people have vacations in August. You're down a staff person.
I had earlier, Mike and I had coffee. Bill, I volunteered you a little. Like, you and I have both written a ton of proposals. Like, happy to be a reader. Typically, you know, the vendors doing the work write a lot of this. But I always want to make sure where they have scoring criteria with a matrix. And you just got to make sure you're hitting the points, right? So, and that you're talking a lot to Dylan about what you want to be proposing. Yeah, of course. First, we have to get out the notice of intent. That needs to go out this week or next week. So, once we get that filed with Dylan, and that hits wherever it has to hit, I'm assuming they will give us some sort of matrix for the grant itself. I didn't know. Explain that to me. I didn't realize we had to file a notice of intent saying we intend to apply. I didn't know that. Yeah, I didn't either. Olivia did find that out for us. So, we did print it out. Once again, we're going to sit down with Amoresco's team. And we're going to get through the notice first. Get that in so that at least we, you know, it's supposed to be in three months before the August date. So, we're on the verge here.
But we'll get it in, you know, regardless if they accept it great. If they don't, you know, we'll just have to wait. But my hope is they'll accept it. And then the next steps will be once we get our matrix of what we're working for, we'll start putting the information together. We'll start, you know, we'll start drafting some little excerpts wherever we need to. And then we would want you guys to just read through it. And, you know, give us your combined experience, I guess, is what we'd be looking for. Because, you know, we're not going to lie. I'm not the biggest sustainability person. Olivia is very new at it. But we're going to give it a shot. And with your assistance, I think we can get through this first one. And then to answer your second question about the replacement, as we spoke, I'm not sure what's happening with the schools and some of their workings. So, I have to wait a little bit before I pull or make a decision on what that position is going to look like. So, I think that's the best answer I can give you at this point. I'm expecting they're already combining, they're moving the children's way over to HAPI. We have someone that's integral to the PO system for the school side who's retiring in June. So, we don't know what that's all going to look like and what kind of workload is going to be dumped in my office. So, that's what I need to wait to hear. And then I'll be able to make a little bit better informed decision as to what that position looks like. So, let me take a shot at saying what I think you're saying, because you have a slot, but you may be getting other demands. So, you're not clear that you would replace with same, like someone part facilities, part sustainability, because you're just not sure what the demands. It may be part sustainability, part office management. I don't, that's the thing. I don't know what that new load is going to introduce. So, I just need to wait and see, and then we'll figure it out from there. So, I just, there's too many unknowns right now. Any sense of timing and when you will know more, because we did pass the budget, right, Mike? So, budget passed. Yep. Yep. No, I have, I'm totally dependent on what the schools, where they're landing everything and their schedules, and I'm not privy to those schedules. So, I'm in a waiting loop right here. And I don't like to be there. That's not a place I enjoy being. Any comments or questions from people on the committee about that?
Can we get clarification from the schools on what their schedule is? I guess it would be nice to have a sense of schedule.
I can, I can ask them. I, once again, I don't know if they know what they're actually going to do. They're looking to hire people. They're searching. They're doing different things. So, until all that kind of comes around, I don't know if they can put a time on what they're going to hire and when they're going to hire. It all depends on who shows up and how the whole process vets itself out. So, but I can ask the question. There's no doubt about it. I mean, if it looks like they're going to be a while, maybe we should move ahead and just keep them in the loop and say, hey, this is the kind of person we're planning on hiring. You know, if you have any issues, you know, please let us know. So, but yeah, I would hate, I mean, if it's six months before they figure out what they're going to do, I mean, we're not going to wait that long, I hope. Well, the problem there is I don't know if I need an office person or a facilities person. And until I know that, if I hire a facilities person and I need someone who's good in the office, that knows munis, that can make, work their way through the, the, the payroll systems and things like that, then I'm in trouble. So, I'm hoping they pull the trigger quicker than that. They, they're going to have to, because I'm figuring July will be the latest and I'll know. Okay.
Obviously, Mike, you know, from the committee's narrow lens, you know, having someone who's also good at facilities, but can be pursuing some of these additional grant opportunities and has, has, could do that would be, you know, take that off your plate. And, you know, Olivia is, is still new at this. So, you know, you know, my view on this, that it would be really great to have someone who can do some of that work. Um, so, um, yeah, I don't, I don't disagree on, I don't, um, I just, it's, no, I, I know where you're coming from. I, I hear you, Mike. Just, just, just, no, and you're heard. Trust me. I hear you. I really do. Yeah. Mike and I were saying, I was saying to Mike, um, that, um, you know, really he is, I think the facilities department is judged on like work orders, complete projects completed, you know, that kind of stuff, and they don't necessarily get credit for like funds brought in, you know, Bill, when you kind of look at Bill's a, you know, municipal, uh, kind of finance admin guy. So the, it's just something to think about structurally in terms of how the department's judge, you, you, you didn't totally buy my argument on that, Mike, but you know, when we put time and effort into writing grant applications, we bring money in that department should get, uh, credit for having done that and helping to bring in revenue at a time when, uh, the town is, is short on revenue. Yeah. Politically, that is a huge advantage, no matter what department you are claiming that you've brought money in. Yeah. Yes. So in the balance, I think it's, I think Mike's partially saying like, it's not totally my call.
That's what I'm hearing. For Mike, fair, Mike. That's fair. So I think what would be great for the committee, Mike, um, is Olivia and you, as you put in the notice of intent, I didn't know that's a good, good for you, Olivia, figure that out. You know, I'm sure you could reach out to Jillian or Andrea who have completed these, this should be like a paperwork, but just make sure your name's in the pile. I don't know if it needs a lot of technical information or if it's just, uh, factual stuff, Olivia, but if you have any questions, obviously Dylan, but those are two. Communities that have gotten this million dollars. So you have to be very targeted in your question to them. I'm doing this. I'm planning to do this. I'm confused. What did you do? You could, you know, even get a copy of what they submitted. If that's easier. Yeah, definitely. I think I'll definitely reach out to them. Um, and it is, um, in the last green communities town hall, I can, I'll email you all the PowerPoint. It's online, but it does say, um, notice of intent, strongly encouraged, not recommended. So I think it's more so to give DOER a heads up that how many applications they're going to receive. Like it's not super rigid, but okay, we'll let, we should do that. That's best practice. We should let them know we're intending to apply. You're talking to Dylan. You're letting him know you can apply. And, um, let's just make sure what we're thinking of doing is hitting the right notes with them. Yep. Absolutely. I have, I have, I have sort of a budget question and Neil might be able to help with the revolving fund, uh, uh, concept, but, you know, as we get, you know, money in from these grants, uh, does that go into a revolving fund? I guess is one. If it doesn't, then it does, it give Mike more money in his account. Uh, you know, in other words, if Mike has a million dollar budget and now all of a sudden we get, you know, a half a million in a grant, is he able to do more? Uh, in other words, essentially we get able to use this to our benefit. Yes. The answer is yes. Okay. Um, I, I, I do have, so you, you, you were all kind enough to approve my capital projects at town meeting. Thank you, by the way. Um, and once that money is approved, these grants will supplement that. So what that does is that gives me the opportunity to expand my project by, you know, whatever that percentage is, um, so I can get more done. So we've done this in the past, um, where we've gotten some smaller grants and it worked out well. Brian Keveney worked with us. He's a true believer of putting the money back into the project. So it's, it's a definite help. Hopefully that. Yeah. I'm going to let Neil answer the question on the revolving fund. Cause there are some monies that go there, but it's quite narrow. So Neil, do you want to, well, so, so far, nothing has gone to the revolving fund, right? So, I mean, that's the short answer, but is it rebates? It's not grant money and government rebates. So Olivia, any rebates we get in from any projects we have done, right? That could be a utility rebate. It could be even all of it. And so this is on, no, it's going to go to the general fund unless we tag it, Mike and Olivia. So just one, one caveat to that is we have to make sure of the, um, the borrowing, if it was borrowed money, if it's cash, if it's free cash, that goes into the revolving fund. No problem. If we borrowed the money that has to go back into the general, which is pretty limiting. Yes. It's very limiting. Yes. Yeah. But like the EV charger, I guess, did we borrow, we'll have to talk about it is limiting and I'm hoping we could take another bite at that some other day, but this is what we have to do. Yep. No. And, and we are keeping an eye on it, Ellen. If the money can go there, it will absolutely go there. That gives us a little more money to put towards projects. Okay. So those. And this is just one more thing for, for Mike, uh, since I also wear the finance committee hat, you know, as you do your capital budget, you know, for next year or whatever, the idea that we, you might be able to fund from some of it through grants is a really important consideration that the finance committee, you know, needs to know about. So that's a big selling tool. So you can put a footnote or something in, uh, but when we do our deliberation, you know, if I can say, Hey, they're applying for this, but we think that there's a good chance that some of it will be funded. And I think that really helps push these projects along. Oh, awesome. Thank you. That's helpful. Bill. Yep. Absolutely. So there were three things, Mike, um, do you want to talk about this June third meeting? Just let the committee know what's happening. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah, of course I do. Um, do you mean the meeting that shouldn't happen the last of July? Um, that's the meeting. That meeting. So, um, there was a meeting between the planning board and, um, this committee. Uh, to discuss, um, a bylaw for, uh, that Annette wants to put forward. Um, she wants to push this and start doing this. Now our side of the fence is saying, Hey, you know, the state hasn't given us any guidelines. Why waste the time? Let's wait to see what they come out with. Then we can craft something that works for the town. You know, the people of Wayland, um, without spinning our wheels prior to any rules or regulations coming out. I think that's what this is all about. Yeah. I think it's so Annette and the planner and me and Mike and Olivia are going to meet you. You guys all remember what happened in the spring, right? So not to go back over that. I think there's some sense from the planning board that they want to be prepared in case a project comes to them. So what regulations and rules would they follow? I think that's sort of what I was intuiting, but I'm hoping that at this meeting, we can figure out like a schedule, Mike, and a process that involves both committees and utilizes expertise on, um, amongst us to come up with something rational that is aligned with state policy. Um, but I, I, I a hundred percent agree that there's no, no reason to put pen to paper or fingers to keyboards until we have greater clarity from the states. Yeah. You have to know what you're writing too. So basically. Yeah. So I'm hoping that that's what we're, that's what we're doing, but it's unclear to me. It could be a surprise. You are a hundred percent correct. I don't, I don't disagree. Is there any, um, before we let you leave, Mike, I'd sent the revised charge to you and Olivia, the committee will discuss it. I don't know if you had a chance to, we can take that as an agenda item now, but I don't know if you, I'm trying to be respectful of your time and just grab the things that really need your input. Did you have a chance to look at it, Mike? I did. I did. And I, I didn't see anything wrong. It looked fine to me, Ellen. Um, I, I, you know, it's, it was, it was done well done basically. So I, I think, I, I think Carol will like it. Okay. All right. Just want to make, cause I, if I, I, I, John sent some specific, um, minor edits, I would say, but we'll, we'll talk about it as a committee. I just, before we let you go on and make sure there's nothing in there causing you heartburn. No, there is not. And Olivia, you're, but we, when Olivia's on, we can, Olivia will be here, but Mike, is there anything else or Olivia that we need might to be, he doesn't need to be for EVIP or homeworks or climate leaders funding we just discussed, library heat pumps project ongoing. Olivia, you can brief us or Mike, do you want to say something about that? I can, I can brief you real quickly. Um, so that, uh, the equipment's being procured as we speak, it's, um, we're going completely electric heat pump. We are maintaining the small, uh, gas boiler, um, because once again, that's a house in place area, uh, area of refuge for heating and cooling. Um, we don't have a generator there at this point. So if I were to go all electric, we would be in trouble if we had to heat the place. So, um, but we are, that, that project is starting, uh, September. It's getting a new roof replacement. So they'll get some new insulation on the roof or to get a brand new roof. It'll get five new, uh, um, heat pumps to replace the existing equipment that's there. Um, there'll be some upgrades with the, uh, hopefully with the windows, if they, they buckle down and decide to take the package that we put in front of them. And the other one would be the lighting package that, uh, rise, I believe is the name of the company that we worked with. Um, they put together a nice package. Um, they're having some trouble with the style of lighting that it doesn't go with the, um, decor of the library. So we have to need to work through that. Um, so I'm not sure if they're going to accept partial or the entire package for that. So, but we're working with, we're just, we're funding that just out of capital funds, right? Correct. Yes. So like, there's one thing that we hear over and over again is people have no idea. Like, like what we're doing around sustainability or climate in town or, and, and so I'm the Wayland post is always eager for content, our local newspaper. So I was thinking it might be nice once you finalize this scope, Mike, um, maybe Olivia and I could put together a little article for the post saying, you know, here's it here. We're decarbonizing here, new roof. Like look forward to a, you know, uh, uh, brush up at the library or something, you know, whatever, um, um, it's a building people notice and care about. And, uh, do you have any idea when, when your scope, when you'll know what the final deal is there, they have a meeting, I believe next week with the trustees and I'll, I'll know pretty much after that, Ellen. So I would say within two weeks, I'll be, I'll be putting a package together for the PMB seat of a review. Okay. So we could probably do an article in July. I think that's fair. Yeah. I think it's fair. Okay. Let me, I'm just making myself a note here. Um, and I, I can get from Olivia what the specs are and put something together, you know, it's usually like 300 words, Mike, it's not a lot, but, um, you know, I'm just, uh, it'd be not, you know, part of our climate action mobilization plan said, you know, when things break, we're going to try and decarbonize them. So I'd like to talk about this in that context, you know, otherwise the other stuff is just good facilities management. So if there's anything, you know, interesting about the roof that you'd want to highlight or the windows, other than, I don't know if they were single plane or we're making them double paint or what we're doing. Oh yeah. I'll put together little blurts if it'll help. Yeah. And any, um, yeah. And I'm sure people would want to know what's the new roof going to look like. I don't know if they have a, you know, picture of that. So we can talk about that. Yeah, I wanted to raise that, uh, it's in the historic, uh, uh, uh, district and it's the, you know, iconic Whelan historic buildings. So presumably the roof and window work will, um, accommodate that, that fact. Oh, yep. So Tom, the, the roof we're replacing is the flat roof, which is already a white roof. Um, it's a white rubber. We're not, we, we're not touching the terracotta. Um, this is just the flat roof areas because we're moving the units out of the attic area, um, and putting them on the roof. So where they belong. Um, and so they'd stop staining the ceiling. We will be replacing the ceiling while we're there repairing. Sorry. Um, but everything is, it's the flat roofs that we're replacing. So. All right. Got it. And the, um, windows, uh, I am a huge fan of triple paint. What windows, hopefully they're, they can be, uh, acquired in whatever style, um, would, would be required to match the existing. Yeah. The ones, the ones we're looking at, um, are not the ones you would, you're seeing on the old, old portion or the newer portion with the rounded areas or the, the big flat areas. These are more of the double hung in the back of the building. Okay. Um, so they're ground floor, you know, and first and mezzanine level, and they did, they vary in size and a lot of them are operable. Um, we're going to give them the option to do some of the first floor operable because they like the fresh air in the offices, but the rest will be inoperable, but they will look like double hung. Um, yeah, yeah, again, uh, I, I would strongly advocate for triple pain wherever you can do that. I don't disagree. I, I have some in my house and they are really wonderful. Yes, they work well. Okay. Um, anything else, you know, Mike, hopefully Mike and I will stay in touch about this staffing position. Um, um, my, I did, I have identified someone if you need help as a grant writer who does this kind of grant writing for other towns. Um, and so I, I talked to her many years ago before we hired the sustainability manager, because I was thinking of a consultant's option and she's still at that has a couple other people working for her. I haven't not yet reached out to her, so I'm happy to talk to you offline about that individual and it might be even, you know, them perusing if they've submitted these before them perusing it. They, they write a lot of green community, uh, applications. Okay. Perfect. Yeah. No, I'd love to hear about it. Yeah. So, um, okay. I will get, uh, I will get, I have their old contact, but one of the sustainability managers I reached out to suggested this person, um, which I had forgotten who I had forgotten about. So I'll, I'll take care of that. All right, Tom, you still have a question? Yeah, I have one, one other, uh, thing I'd like to raise. Uh, we moved our meeting time to evening to accommodate Julie largely. And, uh, I'm wondering if it might be, uh, more convenient for Mike and Olivia to go back to afternoons, you know, part of their, their work day. So I'll raise that as a question.
Uh, work day certainly works better for me. Um, but you know, that's up to the committee. I'll, if, you know, if I need to attend that, I'm happy to attend at night as well. So I'll leave it up to you to decide that I'm good either way. So my vote is whatever you decide I'm in. Okay. Okay. I think. Yeah, I would second that, but with a preference during the day, if possible, that would be great, but whatever. We were able to make during the day work, but that was before Steve and Clovis were on the committee. We tended to do like later afternoon, like four to five 30. So it did make you guys stay a little bit later, but so it wasn't in the middle of somebody's work day. Um, Steve and, um, Clovis is we can, you know, it's once a month, so you know, well in advance, we try to make it a regular thing. Um, I know, uh, it seemed like. Steve, you're on mute.
Sorry about that. Um, actually in my case, it's more about the particular night, not the time. And in fact, uh, if I have a conflict, it will be later on. So earlier might actually work better. Um, yeah, so early, late afternoon works better for you, Steve. Yeah. Yeah. Clovis, Clovis with notice, can late afternoons work for you? Yeah. Yeah. And I wanted to insist on the, uh, we've noticed that. Okay. As long as I've got a couple of days advance, I can arrange for, uh, we could do something like four to five 30 enough that gets close to people's dinner hour or three 30 to five. Maybe something is a little bit nicer.
Okay. Sounds like that could work. Um, when we get to the end of the meeting, why don't we try and, um, we could try to switch for that, um, moving forward. It'd be nice to occasionally have an in-person meeting too. I mean, I don't think I've ever met Steve and Clovis in person. So I will second that. I like in-person meetings too. They're very tall, Bill. Well, Tom, I haven't met you in person.
Uh, yeah, well, the memory fades, but yeah. Okay. Well, Juana, summers can be, sometimes we, we usually don't meet in August, but I definitely want to meet in July because of this grant application. Um, I don't think the whole committee needs to read the grant application. I was sort of volunteering Bill and me as people writes a lot of proposals, John has in the past, but if you think you would add value into reading the, the, I think we'll hear about the project, but the actual prose, um, um, gets harder to coordinate a lot of comments and open meeting law. I just want to make it not so complicated because I'm guessing we're not going to get it too far in advance of when it's due. Um, uh, I would like a little bit, but, um, Bill, would you be up for reading something? Sure. Now that the finance committee work is done, I, I'm relaxed a little bit. Sure. Okay. So I'll, I'll just nominate Bill and I for that. And if, you know, if it was a solar thing, we'd give it to John. It's not a solar thing. Um, and, uh, we'll go, we'll go from there. Okay. I think we can therefore release Mike and we'll work with Olivia, Mike on a time for next month. And maybe we can try and shoot for like a, um, September meeting and in person, June is tricky. I'm, I'm out of town a lot of June, July, August. So, um, uh, okay. Mike, you, um, you're officially released. You're welcome to stay, but you're officially released. All right. Good to talk to everybody. Thank you for the time. Thanks. Thanks Mike. Bye guys. Thanks. All right. Now back to our regularly scheduled program. I assume there's no public comment because Olivia, you haven't let anybody in. Okay. All right. Kavi's not here. So Olivia, why don't you go through your update for the ones that we haven't hit yet? All right. Um, I'm going to share my screen. Cause I feel like a lot of times I say a lot of acronyms and it gets confusing. So I think it's easier to look at some writing while I talk. Um, so I'm just, let me know that you can see this Google doc. It's just loading. Can you see that? Okay. Not yet. Not yet. No. I don't see anything. Sorry. One second. Yep. Yep. Getting there. We can see your screen, not the doc though. There we go. There you go. Okay. You see it. Perfect. Um, so I was just going to update you guys on the homework status. So they're going to send some representatives to table at the transfer station. So they'll be there Saturday, May 23rd, um, Thursday, June 11th, and then Saturday, June 27th. Um, and I'm going to pause you right there. Um, I am wondering when they're tabling, if we can also let people know that we have like heat pump and solar coaching available. Yes. Um, I can talk to Rachel about that. And, um, do you have any like paper flyers, Ellen? If not, I could print stuff out. I don't know. I don't, but you could just, um, just, you know, uh, you and I can work offline just like one help thinking about solar for your home or heat pumps. We have local volunteer coaches and then just send them to the energies wayland.org website and they can sign up through that. Okay. And you can put a QR, Olivia, I'd put a QR code on the flyer. Just so someone wants to do it from their phone right there. I'm happy to look at the draft, but let's, let's not miss that opportunity. Yeah. No, I like that. So I'll, I'll look into that for sure. Um, and I was also going to mention, um, they do have representatives from homeworks that are going to be there, but that's open if, um, I don't know how many of you frequent the transfer station, but if you want to go and, you know, table with them or like, you know, talk about energized wayland with them, I can definitely let Rachel know that people are interested from our committee and being there and just showing a familiar face, but no pressure. Cause I know it's, you know, your free time. Um, Olivia, just to, just a thought, um, Thursday is a very light day. You know, they only have one side open on Thursdays. So it's, it's probably worth an experiment. Um, but I don't, it might be worth a phone call to the DPW just to find out, you know, what's their experience, how long, how often do people come in late afternoon? Cause they may want to truncate the hours in similar fashion. And there's going to be a small cohort of people who come earlier than 9am. Um, it just depends who you're using it. Um, translation on both Saturdays and Thursdays opens at seven. I'm not saying they should be there at seven, but they might want to consider going eight o'clock or, you know, doing less time on Thursday and an extra hour. One of those days on a Saturday. I think John's exactly right that Thursdays, John does more of the dump runs, but Saturdays is busy-ish and when I've gone early, there's more people there. So I think that that's, that that's right. I don't know that Thursday would be productive. It's certainly not from nine to three. The, the, uh, attendance is different. Weekday attendance is predominantly older people. In fact, almost exclusively older people. Wait a minute. Okay. I go on Thursdays. What are you talking about? Like I said, older people, how old are you now, John? Apparently I qualify. I think you qualify.
I knew you'd be arped to go to the dump.
So, uh, whereas on Saturdays, it's, um, it's a much more eclectic crowd. Okay. That's good to know. Um, I did speak to, um, I believe her name is mayor. Is it Marianne at the transfer station? Yes. Marianne. Um, so I'll, I'll check in with her and see if there's wiggle room. Cause she gave me some dates. She was like comfortable with them coming. So I'll, I'll kind of like, maybe I'll ask her to just talk on the phone quick and see if there's better time. Like I met with our committee and they gave me this feedback that sometimes people, you know, eight 30 might be a reasonable start. So a bunch of people show up before nine on a weekend and what's the traffic really like on Thursdays, you know, might be, you know, she knows when people tend to drive through. So, yeah. Okay. And Olivia, the, um, will they take numbers of people that they talk with when I'm thinking of, it would be good to get some data about how effective they are. You know, if they talk with two people on Thursday, well, that's good note to make for the next year. Um, I don't know, but that's a good question. And it's definitely like a suggestion. I mean, if you think that would be valuable, it makes sense. I can ask Rachel. They do. They definitely, when we've done this before with like Nico and we did it with somebody else before that they do keep track of how many people they, that they certainly get to sign up, but they do try to keep track of how many people they talk to. But let's be explicit with Rachel about that, that the committee would love to learn about how effective these are. Right. That's your point, John. You know, is it, is, uh, the squeeze where is the, you know, we're, it's, we were using the transvestation as a proxy. We're making the assumption that's a good location. Um, but there are other places in town that we may choose to go to next year, you know, in front of the stop and shop or somewhere in Southwind. Don't know. Yeah, right. Yeah, for sure. We've done stop and shop before and Donland's, um, previous, um, home performance contractors have actually had very, very good looking way, very good luck in Wayland door knocking more so than in most other communities. People answer their doors in Wayland. So, um, I would, um, remind her of that. Okay. One that's kind of a little bit offbeat, but not that far offbeat, um, Longfellow Health Club in Wayland. Um, the people, the people who own that are very gung ho about energy efficiency. They've got solar on the roof, et cetera. Um, and a portion of their clientele is going to be from Wayland. So I think it's useful for us to think about non-traditional locations, you know, even a, um, uh, an open house at one of the elementary schools, a back to school night type of thing. Um, okay. Yeah, no, these are great ideas and I, I hadn't heard of Longfellow Health Club. So that's, that's helpful. Thank you. Um, and then if there's nothing else on the transfer station stuff, um, I did get two A-frame posters from HomeWorks. Um, they, you know, cover the cost of marketing materials. So that was nice. Um, one is at the COA in the front lobby and one is in the front of the town building lobby. Um, there's a QR code and a brief explanation about what HomeWorks is, home energy audits and those opportunities. So hopefully that drums up some more, um, interaction because, you know, there's a lot of foot traffic at the COA and the town building. On the QR codes, are you using unique Bitly links? So we'd know whether people did, um, whether, uh, the click-throughs are coming from that or something else? That I don't know because they're, um, HomeWorks QR codes and it would, you might just ask them. Yep. I'll make a note and I'll ask Rachel about that. That's a good question. It's all just to John's point. And then we're learning which outreach channels, um, are effective. Okay. No, that's a good point. Okay.
Okay. Um, and then I don't know how many of you had a chance, but Rachel put together this spreadsheet on Google Sheets. Um, and it does have all the months so far that they've been in Wayland. So you can go between like March, April, May, and just kind of see the numbers and how it's fluctuating and just see the progress of, um, their work. I, I can open it up now if you want me to, or just for sake of time. Let's take a quick look. Like what were the take, what were the key takeaways, Olivia? Okay. Give me one second.
Okay. And yeah, everyone should be able to access this. I know the first time it was sent, it was a little tricky. Um, so I'll just look at May first. So it just shows us, um, oops.
So in total, we've had six in the month of May, um, about halfway through May and then six upcoming. So 12 in total for the month of May so far, um, and then canceled or rescheduled, there's been two, um, and then for weatherization, two appointments. Um, so that's pretty good. But they were showing there how people heard about them. So the lead, the lead partner, what does that mean? Does that mean mass save? What does that mean? Um, that I don't know. Um, it could be from mass save. Ask her what that means, partner. Where'd it come from? Yep. No, good point. Um, let me just see if there's like a coat or something up here, but yeah, nothing there. So I'll definitely ask her about that. That's a good point. Um, but yeah, it is part, if you look at it, some direct, so I assume she must have like a, it'd be great if she had like a pie chart or something that summarized all that data on, um, the source. So you have to look in one place to say, okay, we got 35 and 20% were this and 10% were this. So you don't have to kind of like, kind of put it together. I'm, you know, it's very easy to do that from this data. Yeah. And that's something, I mean, I don't know if I can ask her if she minds if I edit it, but I could also put that together myself. Um, but I'll, I'll talk to her about that. I would think they'd want to know too though, right? Yeah. Yeah. No, exactly. I'm actually speaking with her. We have a bi-weekly check-in and it's tomorrow in the morning. So I'll, I'll bring this up to her. It's good timing. Um, so are we good to move on from homeworks or do you want me to say anything else about that? There's not too much else. I think Neil has a question. Just a quick, quick question, Olivia. That great to see the actual numbers for each month. Did they, did they have goals for those months? I mean, and, and are we doing better, worse as predicted? Like, you know, well, 12 means nothing to me. Right. Um, when we did the RFQ, we didn't break things down by month. I did send you guys the RFQ. I can re-forward you the email, but it is there with our goals, um, for our, our year contract with them. And I don't know off the top of my head what they were. I think it was like 200 or something. 200. Yeah. I mean, Olivia, I think that's a number you got to try and own, like, you know, what the goal of the program is. So if someone asks you what the goal is. So I think it was around 200. These numbers seem really low to me, Neil, but I don't know what Rachel thinks. Yeah. I mean, in, in April we did really well. There were 51. So that's pretty good if we're, you know, trying to get to 200. Yep. Um, and then in March 6th, so not as great. And this was kind of the beginning too. So that was right when we were kicking off. So hopefully, um, they're getting out there and doing the transfer station. So you have to hope that in the, um, a frames are out there as well. So hopefully that'll be drumming up some more interest too. It would be good to ask her in your bio legally, like why, why there was that big spike, right? If you're like two, six, and then suddenly you have 50 and now you're back down to under 10, what were they doing that created that spike? That's the question, right? Or maybe they weren't doing anything. What? Maybe. Did they have any idea why that was happening? All that, all that news about the cost of energy. Who knows? You know, was it cold? And wind was whistling through people's doors. I mean, you know. Um, yeah, these were, this was the direct mail when it went out. That's why it did so well. All of these reasons are direct mail. Yeah. Yep. So that, that's what, that's the reason. Okay. So yeah, that might be, you know, that's a question for them. Direct mail was productive. Would they want to do a second direct mailing in like September? And I think they do plan to do another mailer. Um, just obviously we like just did it in April, so we have to wait a little bit, but I can get back to you guys on when she plans to send out the second mailer. Yeah. Okay.
Okay. Um, anything else from anyone? Yeah. I wonder if there's, there's another, um, I don't remember the name of it, but the, the event that, that we had last fall at the town center. Yeah. That was a great event. But it's like Wayland Days or whatever you call it. Yeah. Wayland Days. Okay. So, uh, if that happens again, that's an obvious place that this ought to be set up. Yep. Good point, Tom. Oops. Okay. Thank you, Tom. Yeah, that's a great point. Um, okay. Anything else on homeworks from anyone? Um, okay. Um, so I'll just move on to, I had spoke about this, um, the, uh, Massachusetts EVIP application last meeting a little bit. Um, so we applied for, um, and got approved for, um, excuse me a second. One, one other tabling opportunity for Russell's, the farmer's market. Okay. You thought about that? Um, I, I thought about it, but it was just easy to do the, um, transfer station because it's like a town property. So I figured it wouldn't be a big hurdle, but I'd also, I think that's a good point. So I, I can definitely reach out to them. Yeah. Russell's will be supportive. Okay. Russell's is very supportive of the, the, uh, river councils setting up. Okay. Yeah. That w that's good to know. No, I can, I mean, honestly, I can just go over there during the day. It's right there and ask. So that's, that's a good point. Um, so the mass EVIP application. So we did get approved for the installation of the blank, um, level two charger at the police station. So this is not going to be for emergency pursuit vehicles. It's going to be for supervisors vehicles. Um, and it's not going to be open to the public. It's going to be set kind of behind the public safety building. Um, so that's just kind of important information to know. Um, so we did hear back from them and we got the funding. Um, we do have to accept the funding. Um, I have three weeks to respond to them. Um, one of the caveats to the EVIP application is if you install, um, a charging station that's for municipal employees or for private employees, there needs to be an electric vehicle on site that's charging there, not just someone's personal vehicle. Um, the problem with that is the police station does not yet have their fully electric vehicles that they were purchasing. So, um, there are two, um, passenger vehicles, like supervisor vehicles, like I mentioned that we were going to apply for, um, through the green communities funding. The problem with that is we don't hear back from green communities until the end of July. Um, so it's kind of like a chicken and the egg situation. Um, so Mark Hebert, the stand-in police chief kind of has to make a decision if he wants to pay out of pocket for the cars or for the station. And then, you know, vice versa, um, the funding for the station is significantly less than green communities. So I would assume he's probably going to end up covering the cost of the, um, install for the charging station and then use green communities for the cars, but I am not sure what he's going to do. Couldn't they park another municipal vehicle there? It doesn't have to be a police car, does it? Point. Um, that I don't know, like for technicalities, but I can ask them. That's a good point. Yeah, it's really a town, not a department level. Right. We have a Mach-E and we have a couple of Leafs, right? Yeah. Um, yeah. So let me confirm that. That's a great point. So let me confirm that. Yeah. Another tactic. I like that one because that's even simpler, but another fallback would be, um, are we committed? Have we committed funds to buy the cars? Because maybe you could go to the, whoever's doing these grants and say, look, the commitment's in place. It's being delivered on X date. Uh, I can't imagine they, they would be sticklers about that if we can show binding. I don't know. We've got to put it in our green communities, but if we don't get the green communities funding, is it in our budget to buy it in our budget off the state procurement list, Olivia? Um, it's not in facilities budget, but it's in Mark's budget. So he can't afford it. Um, and then, yeah. So I don't think, like you said, because it's a grant and we're not entirely like, sure, we're going to get it. We can't say that we're, we're planning on it. I don't think that would be enough. The answer is no to John's question. Like we could say we put it in the grant, but if we don't get the grant, please. Right. I think it's kind of like, you have to have the car there. So I think the best. Just park the leaf over there. Yeah. That's a simpler solution. Yeah. That would be a good tactic. So let me reach out to them. Um, they're pretty responsive and I can confirm that the vehicle, cause maybe I'll just say an out of department vehicle, I'll, I'll work with Mike on the proper worry. Yeah. You can say that we have several, uh, vehicles and, uh, that we've had more demand for chargers and we need this to meet the demand for charging for our existing EV fleet. Okay. Yeah. No, I think that's great. Cause that could, that could help save them some money. So that's awesome. I mean, as far as dealing with the state, it's just a municipal vehicle. I mean, I wouldn't say out of department for them. I mean, internal to Whelan, you could, but, uh, yeah, I guess it's just a municipal vehicle. Yeah. Okay. Don't raise a flag. I, they might say, well, how are you charging it now? Why do you need this? And I think you'd have to say, we, we, we, we, you know, time to require electric vehicles and we're running out of charging capacity. Yeah. We timeshare. Yeah. Ellen, your, your formulation, I think has the additional advantage of being true. We have more vehicles than chargers. So simple. Okay. Yeah. Um, definitely I'll reach out cause it's, that's a good point. Um, so, um, this is a little outdated. We did hear back, so we got approved for that. Um, and then I just put here the potential funding. So the, um, grant cover 60% of the proposed costs, including install materials, software and labor. So they would fund up to 9,829, which, um, we did receive that funding if we do accept it pending that we can just park the leaf there. So that's a great point. Um, so I'm definitely gonna tomorrow, that'll be the top of my to-do list. Cause I think that's a really good point. Did not think of that myself. So thank you very much. Um, on the, uh, on the not for emergency pursuit vehicles, I think I, I told you guys already, I, uh, once had a long conversation with Mark Hebert about, um, how electric vehicles with such fantastic acceleration would make wonderful chase cars. And he said, basically you've been watching, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, too many cop shows on TV. Um, so, um, they don't want that as a primary purpose, but once they have some experience with electric vehicles, maybe they can segue long term into entirely equipping the department with them, I think we should keep that in mind. Yeah, I think, um, it's definitely on the horizon. I think this is a really good stuff in the right direction, getting a charger over there for them and then them having two cars that they can get comfortable with, like you said. Um, and he, he does seem very interested in decarbonizing their fleet, um, cause he was the one kind of pushing for this charging station and then the two vehicles. So I think that's definitely could be on the horizon. Okay.
Um, right. So then moving on, is there any other comment about the charging station over there? Okay. Um, so then this is just a screenshot, um, from the green community's funding application. So like we were saying earlier, um, Julie did apply for this before, um, she left. So the funding is awarded at the end of July. Um, hopefully we hear back a little sooner than that, but, um, she submitted an application for, um, lighting upgrades in the town building, in the library, um, the facilities van. This is a work van for, um, one of our facilities, um, guys in the town building. Um, and then for the police cruiser for, um, Mark Hebert. So, um, the total request is just over a hundred thousand. Um, and one of the stipulations is we can't begin work until the grant's awarded. So those lighting projects have to wait and the purchase of both of those, um, all of those vehicles, I should say, has to wait as well. Um, and then another little caveat that I found was we can't double up on EVIP and green communities. So it would have been in my original plan. We could have applied for EVIP and green communities for the van and the cruiser, but, um, EVIP doesn't allow that. So we have to just do one and green communities has more funding. So that's, we're going to hold out on green communities and hope we receive that funding at the end of July. Um, and then at the end, I just put, um, just so you kind of have an idea of like what I'm working on in the office. Um, green communities has an annual reporting that's due every year. Um, it's due in November, 2026. Um, I was actually responsible for doing our last reporting last year. Um, I don't know if you remember the transition when Abby Schuette left. Um, it kind of fell on me to submit the report and I was able to do it. So I'm working on it again this, um, summer to get it ready for November. Um, and it's on my radar. I plan to start gathering data mid-summer, so it's not a rush. Um, and we have to do this yearly just to stay in compliance and stay eligible for a green community climate leader funding. I don't know if there's any questions on all that. Nope. Nope. All right. And then climate leader funding, Mike already spoke about that. Um, we're going to work with Ryan, Ellen had suggested working with, um, and a grant hiring and a grant writer. Um, so I'll just keep you guys as updated as I can. Um, when we hear, you know, different updates on that, we are working on our, um, letter or notice of intent, I should say. So I'll, um, I can let the committee know when that's submitted. Um, Ellen, I can send that your way before we send it in. If you want to just put eyes on it and give us some feedback. Um, I don't know if anyone has any comments on that. Notice intent sounds pretty basic. I'm happy to look at, but don't hold it up for me. Just text me. Okay. Yeah. I just figured you'd look at your email. You know, I can quickly look at it, but that, that, that, that, that shouldn't knock us out. It's just giving, as you say, a heads up to them. Yeah. All right. Yeah. No problem. Um, and then we're on a schedule so that Bill and I know if we're going to be reviewing like when to block out time. Okay. Would Amoresco do all of the work, Olivia? Is that, you're only talking to Amoresco about helping you write it? Um, well, as of now, yes. But like you had brought up, you know, maybe an outside contractor to work on writing it. So I think TBD, I have to talk to Mike more about that. And then actually doing the, oh, the actual work. Yes. Um, we're working with Amoresco. Okay. They should be pretty good at writing some of this stuff too. Okay. Um, okay. And then the, sorry, did you say something? Um, and then the, um, large building energy reporting, um, all Massachusetts buildings over 20,000 square feet have to submit a report. Um, I did talk to Dylan from DOER. Um, there is no like super hard deadline or penalty on this. I personally would really like to get this done before the summer. Um, cause the facilities department's pretty busy in the summer working in the schools and just different, different things. And then climate leader application. Um, oops. So I'll be working on that for our schools, the town building, public safety building library and DPW. Um, and what's nice about that is we can use our data that I've put in, um, the database for green communities, annual, annual reporting for this large building, building energy reporting. They share information between the two. So it shouldn't take too much of a lift, but that's just something else that I'm working on in the office. Right. As well. That data like comes out of MEI basically. Right. Yep. Yep. So they send it from MEI to energy star, and then I'm able to kind of tweak things as I need to. So it's, it's nice. They do that. Makes it easier. Um, and then Mike spoke about the heat pump project. Um, it's an ongoing thing. So there's just the past phases, um, one, two, and three. These are completed. I'm sure you've seen the exterior improvements, interior improvements, and then the ADA upgrades. Um, they had an elevator modernization. And then like Mike said, currently, um, they're replacing, um, five HVAC cooling units with heat pumps. And, um, Mike plans to go through the cooling season this summer with existing equipment, maintaining the gas boiler because the library is a shelter in place. And then the work is being done by MRSCO. Um, and then this at the end is kind of, I had planned to talk about it. I didn't know we were going to hear back so soon. Um, unfortunately we didn't get the green school works funding. That was, um, the application Julie submitted just before she left. Um, it was for the middle school for the domestic hot water and the rooftop unit replacements. Um, so we're going to utilize a lot of her work that she already put into this for the climate leaders application, as Mike said. So, I mean, it's helpful that she, you know, put so much effort into this. So I think we're definitely going to capitalize on that and it, as we need to, and work with Amoresco to kind of work through, you know, not to reinvent the wheel because she did have some good, good information already there for us. Um, and that's really it. I don't know if anyone else has any like questions, um, about what I've said. I just say on the green school thing, Julie was not that optimistic because it was really focused on EJ communities, but we thought it was worth a shot. Mostly because we could. Right. Yeah. It did say on the application that 40% had to be for low income or environmental justice communities, um, students in those categories. So obviously Waylon doesn't really fall into that. We don't qualify at all for that. Right. So I think like, if you see Olivia and who got awarded those, I'd be curious if that, if that, yeah, that's something I can definitely follow up with you guys on. Um, and I do think a lot of our rejection had to do with, um, number one, they said the volume of applicants for a small pot of money was just, um, very uneven. And then also not being any JC community or low income, you know, but, um, I think her application was solid and we can utilize her hard work. So that's the plan. Um, are there any other questions? No, I am really interested in that, uh, air to water heat exchanger arrangement. You have the heat pumps outside the building. And for, we, we talk about that a lot at the heat smart Alliance side, um, and, and that's an area where the technology is, um, evolving. So I'd, I'd like to learn more about that. It might be nice. Like if MRESCO, as they write it up, we can share that with the whole committee, just so people can understand what's being proposed, not so much for editing, but just for education. I think that'd be nice. Okay. I'm making a note of that right now. Cause, um, we could probably have, um, maybe Ryan, he's the head engineer we work with. I don't know what his, how much after hours he works, but if we do change our meeting times and it's during the work day, maybe he could pop in and share too. Um, I'll make a note of that and let you guys know. That'd be great. That'd be great. Okay. Is that, I think that's it for me. Yep. Okay. So let me, um, how are we doing on time? Sorry. I lost track. We're okay. Um, we'll finish up here. Um, I'd like to go to the charge, the revised charge. Did people have a chance to, I want to thank Neil for helping me draft this. Um, I got, all right. I got some edits, John, I'm sorry. I haven't looked at them, but, um, these look like pretty minor, like, uh, wordsmithing, nothing. Are you sharing your screen, Ellen? Cause we can't see it. No, I'm not sharing my screen. I'm just reading your, your, um, I sent you a comment, which was not wordsmithing. It was about, no, no, no, John. I'm talking about John's comments. I'm going through the comments in order. So, um, yeah, I can share my screen. That's fine. That might be easier. Okay.
All right. This is John's comment. John, do you want to speak to your comment? Um, why don't you show the text? Um, well, that's fine. Um, uh, the first one sounds fine. That's just like, yeah, that's just showing trade it. The, uh, the, the current wording says in pursuing any significant town policy initiatives, and we're clearly just about energy and climate. So I was suggesting that we put those words in front, uh, before the word policy so that it's clear that our, our lane is just energy and climate. Can we see the, the entire text? I have not had a chance to look at it. Then it's hard to look at, um. That's fine, Ellen. I can talk to those. Okay. Let me, uh, let me just pull that up.
Okay. Um, so the main things I did, um, and I would love to get a vote on this tonight. Let me just say, uh, Carol Martin asked me to update this because some things were out of date, um, and so I changed titles. So we're nowhere to long go to the select men. We are now a town manager and we're facilities director. So those things were changed. And I think those things are fine. Um, and, um, so John, do you want to, John, can you, um, it's okay. I'm, I'm fine where you've got it. The parent second paragraph says the committee will work in consultation with a select board in pursuing any significant town policy initiatives. Just put the words energy and climate there. Perfect. All right. Well, let me just, uh, try and make this suggestion.
Okay.
What was the other one? Um, if you go all the way to the top, um, you've got in May, the board of select men. That's not man, but men. Well, they were the board of select men in 2006. I know, but this says man, not men. Oh, thank you. Okay. Gotcha. Um, and you don't have to say agreed to modify. They did do it. So just say, um, modified, just tighter.
And you don't need a comma, a comma after the word committee on the third line, third line climate committee, comma, take out the comma.
Great. That was it. All right, Tom. Yeah. Major issue I, I had was, uh, lack of, uh, adaptation in, in the charge, which, uh, if you're addressing climate issues is half the problem. In fact, is now arguably more of the problem because, you know, we failed guys. We didn't stop climate change. Yeah. We have to, I mean, this would be a change in the mission, a more significant change. I agree, but how I interpreted being the climate committee and not just the energy committee. So that would be, we could do a related energy use. Yeah. What if you said mitigating climate risks and fostering adaptation, climate adaptation? I just put it here. The, the, um, yeah. Does that answer your question, Tom? But, um, it gives them the next sentence. There's nothing that. We would have to add something here. So, uh, these include blah, blah, blah. And I think, uh, uh, uh, I would do it here. Well, all our, all of our surrounding towns are regard, uh, flooding risks as the major adaptation issue. And, uh, I, it's, it's in the camp, um, but there's no, no mention of it here. How about this? I mean, some of this is other boards is what I think, you know, well, make it flooding comma drought, because that's also part of the adaptation, uh, efforts to adapt to a changing climate. And I'm just going to say working with other, um, appropriate committees. I think you could delete the words efforts to, and just say adapting. You want to chunk kind of words. I just want to be make, I just, uh, sure. One second. Uh, you think Carol might say that's not, you know, other people in that lane. So I'll do it this way. How about that? You do, you do already have the other town boards and committees in, in the second line. Okay.
Yeah. One of the things, this is, these are all good measures. They're all, um, there's heavily focused on energy reduction. I think the climate action plan, and I could call it up, talked also about carbon reductions. And we're sort of soft peddling that aspect here. Oh, that's a good point. So relating to reducing energy. Yeah. I, I'm, I'm also wondering what adapting to climate risks. What does that mean? We're adapting to a change of climate. That's flooding, drought, and extreme heat. Yes, but yeah, which is redundant to what we just added. Yeah, that's okay. I think it's okay to be a little redundant here. Okay. Because this is broad, and then we're kind of being more specific below, Steve. I think that's okay. But John raised an interesting point, because this, this is old language, right? Director, on all issues related, reducing, reducing energy use. It really predates the climate, the camp. Yeah. Reducing energy, reduce, reducing energy use. Why don't we say reducing? Reducing, we usually say reducing emissions. Yeah. The first, in the camp, the very first sentence is, the town is committed to developing a camp to achieve a minimum 50% reduction in the, the town's aggregate greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, and seek a higher 75% reduction as possible. So it really puts carbon reductions or greenhouse gas emission reductions front and center, not these technical measures. These are just ways to achieve the goal. Yeah. I think I want to just put all of them and not make this appeal to everybody. Reducing energy, reducing, reducing energy use feels redundant.
Well, you know, I wouldn't care about reducing energy use if we can get it all from, you know, non-carbon emitting things. I know, but it's a, it's a, we've always sold ourselves at also reducing costs to the towns. I don't want to get rid of that politically, Tom. Okay. You're right. Reducing. How about reducing energy and greenhouse gas emissions? Reducing energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions. Thank you.
And admitting and adapting, mitigating and adapting to a changing climate. Yeah. You may want to make. You don't need mitigating then, because that's what was covered earlier. I think you want to make emissions plural. You can do a final, like. Once you do the acceptance, then it's easier. Well, I want to share with track changes for Carol. So. Yeah. Um, I think Tom's point is, uh, so now we're down to here that, uh, any significant in pursuing any energy and climate related, that's fine.
Yeah, that's good. And I, Neil had suggested that we put, include something like, we'll report to the select board and progress strategic or climate goals. We had had in there also to town meeting, but I kind of took it out because I wasn't sure I wanted it in our charge. Yeah. We're, no one reports to the town meeting. Everyone, the whole town staff reports to the town meeting.
So this is what I put in. You're comfortable with this.
Yeah. I mean, the, the, the only thing about that is, but it's, I think it's clear is that the report that the select board is a public report. So I, I think I'm fine. Okay. Um, in the first line there, what you're showing committed will work in consultation and pursuing any significant town, energy and climate related policy initiatives. Buying a car is not a policy initiative. So I'd suggest deleting the word policy. We don't need, do we need significant?
Yeah. Get rid of any insignificant just in pursuing town. Yeah. Um, and this suggests that we're doing the initiatives and it's really more that we're fostering other departments to do the initiatives. We don't do anything ourselves. In, uh, I can constantly in recommending or, um, this was the previous language. So I don't want to diminish our, um, significance in a way we're pursuing. It doesn't mean we're implementing them. I don't know. Yeah. All right. I don't feel strongly about that one. Okay. Bill, and now you're reading at the first. So the other thing, these were like administrative changes. I changed, I got rid of stuff that seemed to make no sense to me anymore.
We don't expend, I don't, we don't expend funds, you know? Yeah. I get rid of it. Yeah. That's fine. Getting rid of that. Right. It won't surprise me if Carol takes the will be authorized to and changes it to may be authorized, but that's for her to say. Where are you? Access to town council and other paid professionals. The word will is a very strong word. Yeah, we'll just leave that. Yep. Okay. Any, all project has been required prior from the select board. We don't have a budget. Um, we could leave. If they would put that in there, I think you'd want to have a de minimis, you know, all expenditures more than X amount or something, you know, significant expenditures. What projects are we undertaking? We don't have any. We don't have a budget. This committee will never have a budget. Yeah. I'd say less words is better. I just got, yes, I'm proposing. Right. Sure. Um, so Tom, you re-upped and I re-upped. Of course we can resign at any moment. Um, the, um, everybody else, Clovis and Steve just got appointed. And Bill, I think you just recent, these are correct. And John never had a date. So I'm just. Do you want to make me June 30th? Or is there a reason why I'm June 20th? Oh, that is a typo. Thank you. Um, June 30th. And I just made it 2009. Or 29 just to be a different year. Does that sound okay to people? Sure. All right. Uh, Olivia, did you have any comments?
Um, no, it, oh, sorry about that. No, it looks good to me. And I think the edits are, they, they look very to the point. Looks good. Okay. I'm going to stop sharing and just save it. Um, uh, Ellen, last thing on Tavra or Kavya, you've got November, 2027. Is that right? Yeah, I think it is. She's a junior now. Right. But why November? Uh, I think if she was appointed in that month, we can always extend her or something. Oh, okay. All right. It seems a lot with the school year. That's all. I know. I think, um, we can always vote to extend it or something. I don't know. I can ask the question, you know, that she would graduate. I actually think I would rather have a new student starting to have like a, every two years or something. Yeah. I don't feel like dealing with that tonight. I guess is what I want to say. It's not the most important thing. And I, it's not the most important thing is what I want to say. Um, oh shit. Um, some, uh, you're being recorded on, well, someone else should take the agenda. Oh, I have, um, I'm just having trouble. I'm saving this thing. So you just guys, you have to wait one second.
It's just not, it's okay. They can see that I curse sometimes. Totally fine.
Okay. Great. Thank you. Um, okay. Um, those are the minutes agenda. Let me minimize Tom. No offense, Tom. That's where you're showing up on my screen. Uh, plug-in updates. Um, we are doing a plug-in, uh, webinar on EVs in June. Seemed, uh, this is the, the nearby five pounds. Someone from Green Energy Consumer Alliance is doing it. It's great. Seemed like price of gas going through the roof. Good time to promote EVs. Um, and, uh, I had lined up some testimonials from people from Energize Wayland, um, to, to do that. We get all this stuff from plug-in and then we just promote it. So Olivia, um, you should have that text to put, have we missed the June newsletter for the town? Um, um, no, I submit it next week so I can definitely include that and I believe you sent it to me. Uh, Fabiani probably sent it to you. It's in that folder from plug-in, but why don't you look to me if you haven't? I'll reach out if I don't, but I, I definitely will include that in, in the submission. Great. And then Ann Harris and I usually coordinate all the other outreach to all the other local channels. I was thinking about the price of gas the other day because I was thinking it's one of the few commodities where the price is literally on a billboard on every road you're driving. Unlike the price of eggs, you might not buy eggs every time you go to the grocery store, but literally it's in very big numbers as you're driving everywhere. So you really, you really notice it. Um, which is not true of EV chargers. Right. You know, the, the price varies and you have no idea. Look at that screen and figure it out. Yeah, no, that is true. That is definitely true. Um, plug-in that is the last webinar from plug-in of our plug-in effort. And, you know, I think Olivia, you and I say it's taken a huge load off of us to have somebody else organize these, not us. So it's been great. Um, the collaboration is applying for a subsequent MAPC grant to continue with these same towns. It would be Acton, Ashland, Natick, Wayland, Sudbury, Framingham's dropping out. And they're trying to add three more to work with us on promotion of stuff. Um, and Tom, you'll be pleased to know the grant application includes also resiliency. So, uh, it's talking about also making sure we're, um, engaging folks about extreme heat, uh, particularly seniors. I saw there was a heat advisory that went out, but sort of pairing that with other options around heat pumps and pairing that with, um, uh, support from your neighbors if something's really hot. So that's in there, um, and the other communities are more at what's called the Tri-River area. It's like Medfield, Canton, Quincy, Dover, Shearborn. It sort of has its own name. Um, so we'll, we'll see if the, the funding continues, but it's really been helpful to us in our outreach efforts. Um, no new updates from last month, still doing multi-family property owner outreach to condos, getting some good responses. I just have to follow up. Um, so I think those are the, um, those are my updates and I will, you know, we'll see what happens at this meeting on June 3rd. I, as I'm hopeful, we'll have a schedule and clear understanding of what, how the town will respond once the model language comes out from the state and the model bylaws. I don't know if there's a project planning board is anticipating, um, that they're worried about not having a clear process for, um, I don't know that. Um, and we certainly wouldn't want our bylaw. We would want any policy in the town to completely clarify, as John has pointed out many times that, you know, rooftop residential solar by right is, is allowed and we're not regulating that. Um, so, um, that is it. Are there any other things not anticipated by the chair? Any other things from people? I do want to make sure we'll get to the minutes.
Okay. So I think next would be to prove the minutes. Olivia, you just sent them around. Do you want me to share my screen? If people want to take a quick look, cause I'd love to vote. These are people, they just came around to people and just take two minutes and glance through them. If you haven't read them. Um, I did send them like a couple of weeks ago when I had sent out the decarbonization roadmap, um, and the couple other items, but I just send it to follow up in case anyone missed it. Which I definitely did. So appreciate that. Thank you. No worries. Everybody just take a minute. I don't think this is right on this, the page under your update, Olivia, it says green communities grant application and progress focusing on lighting upgrades, EV charge, charges. I think you meant chargers at the police station and EV for the facilities department in combination with other funding. That's not what you just told us tonight you applied for. Um, did you just say it says green communities? Yeah. Green communities grant. So that is, that is what I had said tonight. I can share my screen again if you want. But that's the one that Julie already submitted. You're saying. Yes. That last, um, I think I meant in progress. I can change the way I said that, but in progress in the sense, like we don't know if we got it or not. It's still in progress, no, at the, the green communities grant application submitted is what I would put submitted to D O E R. Okay. That was lighting upgrades. EV charges is not, I think you mean charger. That's what you put in. I thought the charger you took out. Cause you got it for EV and that the green communities app grant application had two vehicles in it.
Okay. Let me share. Okay. That's, that's my fault. I'm, I misworded that. Okay. So I think you need to change that wording to reflect what was actually in the grant application. Okay. Okay.
Okay. I'm good with the, um, I'll take a motion to approve the minutes with the modification. I just suggested, uh, to update the green communities grant submitted. So moved. Thank you, Tom for the notes. Tom moves who seconds. Uh, second, uh, Steve, further discussion on this. Okay. All in favor. I'm going to go around the room. Neil. Tom. Hi. Steve. Hi. Clovis.
Yes. Hi. Bill. Hi. Ellen. Hi. Okay. So you got one, two, three, four, five. I think it's five, right? Six, two, four, six, six, six, six, six, or an even number. Oh, okay. Um, okay. Um, that takes us back to, um, takes us back to the agenda. Let's, um, talk about this. I'd like Tom's suggestion that maybe we move off evenings. So our next meeting, Olivia would be when I should know that June 16th, June 16th. So we could stay on this date, um, just stay on the dates we were on, but instead of making it seven 30, make it three 30. Cause then if we went to five, that still doesn't, you know, mess up people getting close to, you know, eat early evening. What do you think about three 30 to we're typically. I'd like four, if we could four to five 30. I actually will not, will not be at the meeting on the 16th. I have tickets to the world cup game. Oh, or the next week, but no, do you need somebody to go with you? I do. You have enough money to pay for the ticket.
Maybe. Or at least the train ticket that half, half the cost. Yeah. We just bought our train tickets, uh, to go to our game. Um, well, who are you seeing play bill? Uh, it's the, uh, Iraq, Norway game. We're seeing France, Norway, which should be good match. Um, fun. Um, but you would be out that whole day anyway. That's whether it's at four or seven. That's right. All right. So let's switch it to four. Olivia. Um, let me just, I'll say yes right now. Let me confirm. Is this going to be on zoom? I just have to make sure they have space. Okay. Let's do that. If not, we'll go back to seven 30, but we just want to say. Four to four to six. Okay. And then, um, um, six or four to five 30. Well, the truth is we don't get it done in an hour and a half. The truth is we don't usually. So I think people should, I don't keep, I mean, I'll try to do it in an hour and a half, but tonight we started at nine seven 30 and we're at nine 11.
So you're the, you're, you're the host. You said, so if you're, you can host, what's the limit on ability to schedule this? Um, I'm the host, but I'm using Waylon zoom account. Cause it gets recorded and automatically sent to the it department. It's not my own personal zoom account. So we just have to make sure I really don't think other committees meet that early, but I just want to say like tentatively, let me confirm. Yep. That makes sense. Um, when would the July one be then? Do we have a July one scheduled, John? I don't have it on my calendar. I would have been the 14th, but I, I, no, I don't think we scheduled that. Um, I, I can't make the 14th. I'm on vacation that week, but we may just be hitting like vacation without John. Um, or we, I think we, I think we should stay with the regular. We shouldn't adjust these and just people miss them. So I think you would do it on the 14th and see if you have a quorum. Um, and then usually skip August. We still talking about 4 p.m.? Yep. Okay. So Olivia, can you check and then send out invites, but I will not be there and John will not be there. Um, July, August. So that would be the meeting before the, um, submission of the climate leaders application. So I'm assuming you and I would touch base offline before that. Okay. Yep. Or yeah. Yeah. And bill, you know, we can do that offline. It wouldn't be a big commune, but you know, you know, you guys to do the final presentation to the committee and what you're doing, but hopefully by June, we'll know what we're doing so we can do it then. And then, um, yeah, but I can't make it, but I, you know, I think we should stick with a regular monthly thing and not adjust it for people's vacations unless it's like you, you know, you can't be there that that's a problem. Okay. Sounds like a plan. How do other people feel about that? Uh, so Neil, you'd have to chair that meeting for real. We'll see. Okay. And then we, and then you guys can decide, but typically we take August off.
Okay. All right. I move, uh, motion to adjourn.
Thanks. All moved. All right. Without objection. Thanks guys. Thanks Livia. All right. Thank you. Bye everyone. Bye everyone.