Sustainability, Energy, & Resiliency Committee

CITY OF SALEM RENEWABLE ENERGY TASK FORCE Meeting Minutes - Final May 4, 2017 7:00 pm 120 Washington Street, 3rd Floor Attendance: Jenna Ide (staff), Jeff Cohen, John Hayes, Gail Kubik, Chrissy Kobyljanec Not in attendance: Matt Rusteika, Rick Nye, Jeff Barz-Snell, Craig Thomas Public in attendance: None 1. Review Meeting Minutes: April 20, 2017 The Task Force reviewed the Minutes. Minor corrections were noted, and the Minutes were approved before the conclusion of the meeting. 2. Proposed name change of the RETF: Discussion of proposed name change resulted in a consensus on four possible new names: • Sustainability and Resiliency Committee (SRC), • Sustainability, Energy and Resiliency Committee (SERC), • Resiliency and Energy Task Force (RETF acronym retained), and • Sustainability, Resiliency and Energy Task Force (S-RETF). Several other possibilities were discussed including “Sustainable Salem” [Note added by JH: There are 9 other cities or towns named Salem in the U.S. and the use of “Sustainable cityname” is very common and often co-opted by various entities that are not part of a city or town]. It was decided to reduce the number of possible names to two to allow for easier input by the Mayor. The Committee strongly preferred choice #1 above, the SRC, with choice #2 being the SERC. It was agreed that the use of the words “Task Force” implied a committee formed for a specific shorter-term “task” that should be disbanded after the “task” was accomplished. To make constructive efforts to help Salem be more resilient in the face of climate change and to be more sustainable in all of its functioning, will require a consistent, long-term strategy. 3. Proposed revision of the Mission Statement of the RETF - to accommodate our name change: A good discussion of this proposed revision was held and resulted in a consensus for the following revised Mission Statement: The mission of the Sustainability and Resiliency Committee (SRC) is to promote a resilient environment and community. The SRC focuses on practical applications that enhance the sustainability of the city’s municipal operations, businesses, and residents by: • advocating for the environmental well-being of all of the city’s inhabitants • developing long-term strategic planning focused on creating a more resilient community • implementing effective city-wide energy management including applications of sustainable energy technologies • achieving 100% clean energy procurement for the city’s municipal operations - to reduce the city’s greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change  Minutes - RETF 5-4-17 Final • leveraging with the private sector and other groups to accomplish the above goals and to help the city’s businesses and residents reduce their carbon footprint 4. Updates: 4a. Proposed creation of a City Council liaison to the RETF: At our April meeting, we discussed the possible benefits of having a member of the City Council serve as a liaison to the RETF; Jeff Cohen proposed that Beth Gerrard would be a logical choice because of her interest in the environment. Since our April meeting, Jenna spoke with Beth and Beth asked for the RETF to develop a rationale for her serving in such a role. Points made in our discussion: 1) some city projects that the RETF offers advice to the Mayor on which will eventually go to the City Council are complicated, such as the topics of municipal aggregation, wind energy siting, solar energy ordinances - including solar access, to name a few, and having a CC liaison would help the Council to be better informed, 2) to help keep the CC informed as to what we do, and 3) keep the Council aware of technical subjects up for consideration. 4b. The city could be investigating the adoption of an air-source heat pump since the city needs a new boiler, however Jenna says she needs to hire an engineer to do the calculations and analysis to set the city up but this costs money; if the city had a line item in its budget for “resiliency and sustainability” the city could do this for itself, along with other assessments related to wind energy assessment and other energy assessments. If we invest money to do technical assessments that enable the city to invest in infrastructure, said investments then pay for themselves. We need to spend money in order to save money. The RETF could propose to the Mayor that the city budget have a line item, perhaps $50,000/year, for resiliency, energy, and sustainability assessments and technical analyses as needed. 4c. Update on the DRAFT 2017-2018 Goals for the RETF - handout by Jenna based on discussions at our April meeting. • Update the FAQ for wind: time frame Sept. 2017, led by John Hayes. • Update wind feasibility study - including islands: proposed Part One - a feasibility study including for input from the community - to have a conversation with the City, and proposed Part Two - prepare for how to obtain funding, permitting, etc.; to be led by Jeff Barz-Snell. • Update on city council representative by FY2018: to be led by Jeff Cohen. • Update database for energy use (MEI): to be led by Jenna Ide; John Hayes will advertise for intern from Salem State for either this summer or Fall 2017 semester. [note added by JH: because of the drastic cutbacks by SSU in the Continuing Education program during the summer - no intern was found for this summer. JH will advertise for an intern for the Fall 2017 semester and will serve as faculty advisor to liaise with Jenna.] • Update on city energy use analysis and GHG emissions analysis: to be led by Jenna Ide with help from Chrissy Kobyljanec. • Update on solar opportunities for city-owned buildings/assets: no update. • Update on finding a city champion for “Resiliency”: to be led by Gail Kubik. 120 WASHINGTON STREET, SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS 01970  TEL: 978.745.9595 FAX: 978.740.0404  WWW.SALEM.COM T  Minutes - RETF 5-4-17 Final • Update on RETF website: to determine which links do not work, to suggest new links, to propose new changes; to be led by Chrissy Kobyljanec. • •Update on awareness-raising event for resiliency: to be led by Gail Kubik. [note added by JH: SSU is interviewing this month for a campus sustainability coordinator; if a person is hired, JH would work with Gail for possible energy tours of the SSU campus.] 4d. Update by Jeff Cohen on RETF Facebook page: the page now has 400 “likes”. Jeff posts 3-4 new items each day. He asked the Committee to send him suggestions. 4e. At our April meeting, Gail suggested that the city paint (tape) a blue line on the city’s downtown buildings to show where sea level rise is projected to be by the year 2100. Jenna suggested that the RETF could work with Deb Greel, Public Art Planner and manager of Artist’s Row; Deb has a limited budget of approximately $10,000/year. Meeting adjourned at 8:22 PM. Minutes respectfully submitted by John Hayes, June 12, 2017. 120 WASHINGTON STREET, SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS 01970  TEL: 978.745.9595 FAX: 978.740.0404  WWW.SALEM.COM T