2005-08-31 Cities for Climate Protection Minutes

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t\J J. 8-31-05 Members: Ron Daddario Steve GoldY (and also attending concom meeting; G a Snyder and Stephanie Anderberg Attendees: Ray Porter and guest: George Katsoufis from the Master Plan Committee, and later, Peter Hechenbleikner, the town manager The committee described the CCP program to George for background Many examples were discussed: -The CCP plan from the City of Keene NH was mentioned - they used the year 1995 as a baseline, 1997 to get trends, their report was in 2000 with their target date as 2015 They used the five milestone steps of baseline, setting targets, planning, implementation and tracking and followed each step for each sector. They found benefits to fuel efficiency and reduced fuel consumption. -An example from Minnesota was provided, a law with a clause called "this old house" where to save older properties, improvements were not taxed for ten years. -ICLEI's top ten: Green your fleet, change traffic lights to LED, recycling, transit, Energy efficiency for municipalities, green power, stop sprawl, landfill methane, energy smart homes and businesses, EPP (policies and recycled products). -Monitor turn off and stand-by was also discussed. -There is a group called Massachusetts Interfaith Power and Light, for religious institutions, where members get an energy efficiency audit. -Anti-idling campaigns -Iwalktoschool.org -bicycle planning and rail trails - there's a web survey for bike paths that Stephanie will send George noted that many of the CCP issues transcend all chapters of the Master Plan, and sustain its vision. He thought we should coordinate with the master plan and should also be within the town administration as a permanent town committee. The Master Plan committee presents to Selectmen on Sept. 20, George will send the mission statement and executive summary. Town Manager Peter Hechenbleikner joined the meeting at about 9 PM (he had been in another meeting). The committee members would like to recommend that we join the CCP, that the town set up a committee, spend the $600 for the start up and software under ICLEI's CCP program and get staff support. They asked the town manager outline the process. He suggested the selectmen would have to have a public hearing to set up a permanent committee, which would give flexibility for changes. Right now the town has no administrative capacity to have staff work on it. Maybe capacity could be built into the FY07 budget, for which planning is starting up now (Town Meeting will vote on the FY07 budget next April). The committee needs to outline what they've done and their recommendations for the Selectmen and then they can decide if they want to set a public hearing to set up a permanent committee.