2021-10-25 Special Town Meeting Minutes

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SPECIAL TOWN MEETING Virtual Town Meeting October 25, 2021 via Zoom Webinar The meeting was called to order by the Moderator, Alan E. Foulds, at 7:30 PM, there being a quorum present. The Pledge of Allegiance was said by all. ARTICLE 6: Motion made by the Select Board that the Town vote to appropriate the sum of five million dollars ($5,000,000) to pay costs of making energy and water conservation and other similar improvements to Town owned properties, including the payment of any and all other costs incidental and related thereto to pay costs of this project, said sum to be expended by and under the direction of the Town Manager, the School Committee and/or the Superintendent of Schools; and, for the purpose of meeting such appropriation, the Town Treasurer, with the approval of the Select Board, is authorized to borrow said sum In accordance with M.G.L. c. 44, §7(1), or any other enabling authority; that the Select Board, Town Manager, or any other agency or official of the Town, is authorized to apply for a grant or grants, to be used to defray the cost of all, or any part of, said project; and that the Town Manager is authorized to enter into any and all contracts and agreements as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this Article. Any premium received upon the sale of any bonds or notes approved by this vote, less any such premium applied to the payment of the costs of issuance of such bonds or notes, may be applied to the payment of costs approved by this vote in accordance with M.G.L. c. 44, §20, thereby reducing the amount authorized to be borrowed to pay such costs by a like amount. Background: Annual Town Meeting in 2009 approved $4.95 million in 15 -year debt for Energy Improvements phase I, as we explored joining the 'Green Communities' program which began in 2008. A hurdle with RMLD serving four communities could not be overcome at that point, but Town Meeting voted to move ahead with the energy improvements resulting in significant energy (and dollar) savings for our public buildings (and budget). As of this past summer, this first phase saved 2.5 million pounds of CO2 annually; and saved 1,902 pounds of NO annually. Through ten years, the Town saved $3.9 million dollars in the energy budget, including the most recent year consisting of $430,000 in savings. We sold 15 -year debt to fund this first phase of energy improvements, with the last debt payments due in FY25. We had planned to investigate a second phase of energy improvements to be timed to begin around FY25, but a recent push to join Green Communities has produced the desire for faster implementation. For that first phase Town, School and Facilities staff worked together with an independent consultant and created a complex procurement process, resulting in the selection of NORESCO. We have enjoyed a great working relationship since then, as NORESCO measures and inspects our energy use, and makes sure that Facilities is doing the required preventative maintenance - because NORESCO is financially on the hook to guarantee minimum savings, which total $3.6 million over those first ten years. The second phase begins at this lower energy use baseline, and significant improvements are more challenging. However as proposed, the second phase is projected to save an additional 1.9 million pounds of CO2 annually and 1,258 pounds of NO annually, in excess of 15% energy savings. A Green Communities application looks for 15% of 'hard' measures and an additional 5% in 'soft' measures. While this second phase satisfies that first measure, perhaps more importantly it reduces town /school energy use. Here is the background presented to that 2009 Town Meeting, especially for the benefit of newer Town Meeting members, as this Article 7 makes a very similar request again: Reading Public Schools and the Town of Reading have launched an exciting new project to evaluate and then implement a set of comprehensive energy conservation measures in our municipal and school buildings. , Inage