Climate Smart Task Force

Minutes Climate Smart Task Force of Saratoga Springs 3/20/2024 I. CSTF and Guest Members In Attendance: Chair Laura Faulk, Jennifer Ferriss, Brooke VanBuskirk, Anita Morzillo, Ben Foster, Jacob Gardner, Tara Donadio, Jared Snyder City Staff in Attendance: Beige Berryman, Heather Crocker, Michael Dutre Absent: Jamil Khan, Deirdre Ladd, Jim Gallagher, Dan Barusch, Rayna Caldwell II. Public Comment: No members of the public were present to comment. III. Approval of February Minutes: The minutes were accepted as approved. Michael Dutre will post to the City site. IV. NYSERDA Clean Energy Communities a. $10,000 NYSERDA CEC Grant Application (Due May 22) Chair Faulk reminded the City that the $10,000 CEC grant application is due on May 22 if the City wants to claim the $10k grant. b. EV Campaign Chair Faulk reported that the City Council approved a resolution of support for a City CEC EV Campaign and that NYSERDA approved the EV Campaign Scoping Document. She will write a press release and send it to Deputy Commissioner Crocker to add a quote from Commissioner Sanghvi. Chair Faulk also reported that Sustainable Saratoga is working with the Saratoga Auto Museum to table at upcoming auto shows where EVs will be included in the show. Part of the table would be outreach related to the City’s EV Campaign. c. Public Service Commission 2026-2030 NYSERDA Funding for Municipalities Chair Faulk shared information from Tara Donadio indicating that NYSERDA is proposing a significant change to the Clean Energy Community program, possibly even eliminating the program. The plan would dramatically reduce the funding for local governments made available through the Clean Energy Community grant program along with funding for technical assistance coordinators. There is a template letter that City officials could use to send a comment to the Public Service Commission regarding this change to advocate for continued funding for the CEC program. Michael Dutre will reach out to the administration to send a letter.  Other CEC Updates Michael Dutre has been working with Tara Donadio of CDRPC on getting CEC points for energy benchmarking. He has also been working on the solar park website page and other actions. Chair Faulk stated that the City may be able to get a free building energy audit which would supplement the Climate Action Plan work. V. Climate Action Plan Representatives from the City’s CAP consultants, C & S Companies and Saratoga Associates, were in attendance at the meeting. C & S shared a draft of the GHG Emissions Inventory to date which can be found at this Basecamp link. The consultants are waiting on additional data from the City to complete the inventory. Michael Dutre will look into municipal water and vehicle fleet questions with DPW and DPS to bolster the consultant’s data collection and analysis efforts. There was a discussion as to whether drinking water treatment should be accounted for in the GHG inventory. The consensus of the CSTF and planning department is that it should be accounted for in the inventory since the City controls the water purification process and therefore the emissions generated. The public outreach meeting will be held on May 23rd at the Saratoga Springs Public Library. The consultants advised that the City needs to provide draft CAP goals soon. A Climate Smart sub-committee will meet to discuss goal actions prior to a broader discussion. Beige Berryman would like to involve all of the City departments in the goal setting process. Next Meeting: April 17th 2024 at 9 am