The Marion Energy Management Committee would like a response from the Select Board as to the former’s request to redefine the committee’s scope to include the effects of climate change as they relate to short and long-range issues facing the town.
While that implies a name change, the preoccupation of the membership during Monday’s public meeting was rather with its desperation to be heard where it concerns two major construction projects, the proposed Maritime Center and the proposed Department of Public Works.
The EMC wants net-zero power in both buildings, and a sense of desperation for relevancy beyond the committee’s ongoing efforts to save the town money through many small upgrades is setting in.
EMC Chairman Christian Ingerslev said he has been told that the proposed DPW operations building is being designed to hold solar panels, but there has been no news about net-zero energy.
EMC member Eileen Marum said she has been told the same thing, that the floor would have radiant heat, but that may require fossil fuels.
“You have the building, you have the plan, but you’re willing to use ancient technology to heat the floor. I think we have the opportunity, we should go net-zero,” said Marum. “The governor wants everything net-zero by 2030, at least 50 percent of it, the other half by 2050. Anything … starts from the ground up, it doesn’t start from the top down. As the EMC, we should encourage them as much as possible to go net-zero, not half and half.”
While the DPW design is budget based in order to gain voter approval at the May 9 Town Meeting, Ingerslev has come away with the impression that “They’re not going to look at anything that’s going to cost more on Day 1. … I think our recommendations are falling on deaf ears, unfortunately,” he said.
EMC member Jennifer Francis thinks the message may not be getting out as it should, and she suggested writing letters regarding both buildings. Referencing a recent letter to the Select Board, Francis said, “I don’t think the town is moving in the direction fast enough.”
EMC member Tom Friedman referred to Article 10 of the Town Meeting warrant on the DPW building, noting that the anticipated $4,500,000 budget for design and construction aims to transfer $1,500,000 from free cash and borrow the other $3,000,000.
Friedman said the impacts on Proposition 2 1/2 are concerning to the Select Board and to the Finance Committee. “If we could perhaps get some input with financial experience on how to spend more now and pay less later, perhaps make an argument on that ground,” said Friedman, who thinks a leader might be hatched on the Select Board or the FinCom.
Friedman said that “pragmatists who insist I don’t want another dollar coming out of my pocket if I don’t have to, and the future be damned” exist in too high a number outside of the committee.
With every passing week that the town’s two big construction projects get closer to the construction phase, the frustration among the EMC membership grows.
“Anything would be better than what we’ve got, which is lots of crickets,” said Francis.
Ingerslev said he will write a note to the Select Board seeking a written response to the committee’s request.
Marum recommended that people listen to Laura Gardner, chair of the Climate Realty Massachusetts project who will appear at the Marion Natural History Museum on Wednesday, May 4, from 10:30 to 11:30 am.
The next meeting of the Marion Energy Management Committee is scheduled for Monday, June 13, at 5:00 pm.
Marion Energy Management Committee
By Mick Colageo