Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2006-02-22 Cities for Climate Protection MinutesMeeting notes Reading Neighbors Climate & Energy Committee February 22, 2006 Present: Ron D'Addario Tracy Sopchak Michele Benson Ray Porter Stephanie Anderberg Absent: Gina Snyder Climate Protection Grant As Peter was available to sit in on the first part of our meeting, until his next meeting started, we took the agenda item on the Climate Protection Grant out of order. Peter reported that he has had a lot of response from Town department heads regarding possible projects for the grant application. The Library dept is interested in replacing their lighting. The Light dept is interested in the emissions-control retrofits. The Fire dept has concerns about whether or not the retrofits will affect their vehicles' acceleration. No reply yet from DPW on their interest in either the vehicle retrofits or the tree planting options. Peter has asked all departments to get back to him by Friday. Ron asked if we can help in any way. Peter thinks possibly not, but it will depend on what the final proposal is. Shade trees - Peter thinks South Main St would be a good place, as there is some room in the right of way, but in other areas, the town would need easements from property owners. We also talked briefly with Peter about the mechanics of hiring an intern with the RMLD grant money. This fiscal year, we won't have a separate billing account, just money in the general fund under community development. It may be possible to have a separate account next fiscal year. n Ron asked about the leftover funds from our CCP dues. We have it until 6/30. Also, if we immediately transfer all of the money RMLD has agreed to donate, then we'd have to use them up by the end of the fiscal year. Instead, it may be better for the town to invoice RMLD against the $2000, as we go. We will do some number crunching as to how much money should be transferred now. Peter left our meeting at this time. Approval of minutes A motion was made and seconded to approve the meeting minutes of the February 1 Stn meeting. The motion passed 4-0. Mission Statement The committee went over revisions and we will have a version to vote on at the next meeting. PR Blurb The committee made some edits. We will double-check the count of CCP communities. We discussed ideas for where to send the blurb and ideas about continual outreach, frequency, and desired outcome for each venue. We also talked about the possibility of getting on the meeting agenda for Peter's meeting Y with the department heads. Tracy will keep a spreadsheet of what was sent to whom, when & why, with any known outcome. Stephanie will make an initial spreadsheet of potential contacts. Tracy will send copies of our blurb, mission statement, and goals to Peter & Paula, and will ask Paula if we can get the contact info for dept heads & community groups. We discussed the email account. Michele will check it regularly. Others are welcome to check the email, but to avoid confusion, Michele will be in charge of replying to those that she can reply to, and assigning others to committee members for reply. If she needs to get more info and reply later, she will send a short email reply to confirm that we received the message. At this time, we don't know how many emails to expect, so if it turns out, at any time, that we are getting a lot, we will make that a regular agenda item. We talked whether or not to get a monthly newspaper column for outreach. Ron suggests that we hold off on this until we have an outreach plan. Timeline update Ray explained how to read the Gantt chart. Some of the time estimates are more of a guess at this time, based on how much discussion there may be (for example) later in the project timeline, we may know more about the need & can adjust items. With the current time estimates, the baseline inventory would be completed in August. To keep this on track, we will need to focus on the intern-hiring process at the next meeting. Ron will check with Peter on what we need to do, through the town, before posting the job description. Next meeting: Tracy will be out. Stephanie will be late.