HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-10-22 Climate Advisory Committee Minuteso+'� orgpgo
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Meeting Minutes ECEIVEU
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AUING. MASS.
Board - Committee - Commission - Council:
Climate Advisory committee 2014 DEC -8 P 4 02
Date: 2014 -10 -22 Time: 7:00 PM
Building: Reading Town Hall Location: Conference Room
Address: 16 Lowell Street
Purpose: Bi- monthly meeting
Attendees: Members - Present:
loan Boegel, member; David Williams, Chair and member; Ron D'Addarlo,
member; Laurie Ann Sylvia, member, Gina Snyder, associate member
Members - Not Present:
Michele Benson, associate member; Ray Porter, member
Others Present:
Michael Scola
Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Joan Boegel
Topics of Discussion:
• Review and approve minutes of recent meeting. The committee voted to approve
minutes of the 10/08/2014 meeting as written by Joan Boegel with revision by Laurie
Ann Sylvia.
• Reading Climate Change Adaptation Report and Emergency Preparedness message.
Ron contacted Town Manager Bob LeLacheur regarding the request to present a two
minute report at Town Meeting. The answer from Town Moderator Alan Foulds was
no; however, Bob suggested we would get more exposure via the by- weekly
Community News with 3,000 to 4,000 subscribers. Ron will draft a 1 -2 page
summary of our Climate Adaptation report and send to all committee members for
review. We can each send edits or comments back to Ron (not reply all). Laurie
Ann will embellish the final version with pictures.
• Cardboard recycling for businesses. Ron spoke with
Town Manager. He agreed to help obtain a space in the parking lot if the committee
does a survey of the businesses regarding whether they would use the bin for paper
and cardboard, be willing to walk to it, and be willing to give up a parking space.
Dave suggested that we also ask businesses whether they have 15 or more
employees (for the a -car charging station grant). Gina volunteered to draft the
questions and send to committee for review. Ron volunteered to visit businesses to
conduct survey.
• Reading Library Building Project. Joan contacted the chair of the Reading Public
Library Building Committee to request the design documents and to ask for a
meeting with the project electrical contractor. She was told that detailed bid
documents could be obtained from Town Manager's office (Note: on -line access to
the bid documents including detailed electrical design was obtained from SVT
Construction project manager on October 29) and learned that the Library Building
Committee will meet on Thursday, October 30 at 7 p.m. in Town Hall to review bids.
We could attend this meeting and make the proposal regarding LED outdoor lighting.
Mike Scola and Joan plan to attend the meeting. Laurie Ann reported that she spoke
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Town of Reading - Meeting Minutes
with Tirzah Shakespeare at RMLD regarding investigating any rebates available from
RMLD for the library lighting project. She will plot the lighting on GIS and email to
Mike Scola.
• Emergency Preparedness Kit. Ron spoke with Town Manager for his input on the
idea of selling kits. He was skeptical and didn't think this was appropriate for a town
committee.
• RMHS Environmental Club - Ron and David will meet with Martha Moore's
Environmental Club at RMHS tomorrow, Thursday, October 23, at 2:20 p.m. Joan
had emailed committee members the Envirothon 2015 guidelines regarding
community research on this year's current issue, Climate Crisis - Taking Action in
Massachusetts Communities.
• Adopt an Island. loan had emailed David her Adopt -an- Island program contacts
from last year.
• Energy Efficiency financing. There is a program in Winchester that Reading may
want to replicate. Gina has been in contact with Council on Aging to determine
whether they would support this idea. She reported that the Council on Aging put it
in their agenda to discuss at next meeting.
• Train Station. Mike Scola asked about next steps for train station. After meeting
with BJ Finnell of Keohs, Mike wrote to META and received no response.
• Opportunities for Solar Energy and Energy Efficiency in Town Buildings. Mike Scola
would like to advocate for solar energy and energy efficiency in town buildings. The
committee discussed history of School Department having responsibility for all town
buildings, ESCO for energy management. Committee agreed it would be valuable to
connect with the newly appointed Director of Facilities, Kelly Colon. Mike Scola
volunteered to contact her.
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