The Marion Energy Management Committee met on Monday in part to review its October 18 audience with the Select Board.

            In a rare opportunity to be heard where it concerns the committee’s accomplishments on behalf of Marion and state its case for an influence on the energy decisions facing the town’s two major municipal construction projects, several members of the EMC took turns to report to the Select Board.

            The Select Board was admittedly impressed by the work that the EMC has done to procure $691,667 in Green Communities grant funding for the town.

            As a volunteer committee appointed by the Select Board, the EMC is eager to continue reporting its work in hopes to strengthen its influence on municipal construction.

            “It seemed like they were open to our achievable ideas, as long as we are willing to do the work. … I appreciated that invitation,” said member Alanna Nelson.

            EMC member Eileen Marum agreed the committee should report to the Select Board on a regular basis.

            “I think quarterly is going to be a challenge; every other month I think is too much,” said EMC member Jennifer Francis. “I don’t want to go there without having substantive stuff to talk about.”

            “We could move forward with a quarterly planning. Part of what I sense is going on here in the last year is we’re ready for other responsibilities,” said Nelson. “I say let’s aim for February and put an agenda item on specifically what we’d like to be talking about in January.”

            EMC member Tom Friedman suggested the committee send a representative to explain the Stretch Code. “The sense I got from them is that’s the kind of thing they’d like to see us coming forward with,” said Friedman.

            EMC Chairman Christian Ingerslev said the Stretch Code would necessitate town-meeting approval.

            “We could translate it, and I think it’s a really good idea to have a focused topic,” said Francis.

            The other main issue the EMC wants to follow up with is expert grant-writing help. Francis said that Facilities Manager Shaun Cormier has done some grant-application writing, but that “there’s no one looking for new money.” The EMC will also look to SRPEDD and Green Communities for further guidance.

            Reminded by Ingerslev that the committee was tasked by the Select Board to get an estimate for cost of solar on the DPW roof, Francis suggested that the EMC procure copies of Will Saltonstall’s architectural drawings and get a couple of bids.

            Ingerslev asked, “Does anyone here know him?” Laughter ensued.

            Francis talked about a recent conversation she had with Select Board member Toby Burr, whom she said “had so many questions” that he “didn’t feel like he should ask them all (during the EMC’s report to the board on October 18.)

            “He sounded very engaged and interested,” said Francis. “We went over a lot of stuff and it was good.”

            Bill Saltonstall suggested that some aggregation agreements are that had been in place in Marion are now run out and that there should be an opportunity to pick a new electric company or aggregator.

            “This isn’t saving energy, this is just saving money,” he said. “We could play a role in that. It goes way beyond what I’ve been doing, but it seems like there’s a hole in the system there.”

            Nelson recommended the EMC get all the information and make a strong proposal to the new town administrator.

            The EMC is still looking at net-zero energy consumption where it concerns the new Marine Center and the new Department of Public Works headquarters.

            Ingerslev noted that the roofs are being designed to carry solar power.

            The upgrading of outdated temperature controls at the Wastewater Treatment Plant is on Saltonstall’s radar for a grant application. Saltonstall said it fell off the priority list behind three applications that were ready to go.

            “We’re halfway through 2023 fiscal year,” he said, noting that six or seven months of clean-energy performance at Taber Library will count toward helping Marion reach the 20% energy-reduction that Green Communities holds as its standard.

            The Music Hall was rejected for a Green Communities grant for the same kind of work as the library. That is now being paid for by the Sippican Historical Society with funds from a Music Hall endowment, according to Saltonstall.

            Marum said she wants to look at the Wastewater Treatment Plant to pursue energy and water savings, but Saltonstall suggested the committee wait until the next Green Communities report is submitted. He would like show the committee comparative numbers for energy consumption in all town buildings.

            Saltonstall submitted a Mass Energy Insight report to a representative of the Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District (SRPEDD), but told the committee that once corrections were made, the report is complete. A town authority will sign off on the report and submit it during the first week of November.

            “I feel that they’re good now,” said Saltonstall. “I think, in the course of (making corrections), I lost a little in the energy-reduction. I think it went from 18.7% to 18.2%.”

            Energysource is reportedly auditing the EMC’s changeover to heat pumps (electric instead of oil-burning) in three locations: Cushing Community Center, Fire Station No. 1 and Fire Station No. 2. “If we don’t get (state-sponsored grant funding for) all three, it’s very likely that we’ll get at least two,” said Saltonstall.

            The committee discussed the meeting schedule for 2023 and is sticking with the fourth Monday of the month at 5:00 pm via Zoom.

            According to Francis, Jonathan Howland has expressed interest in joining the EMC.

            The final scheduled meeting of the Marion Energy Management Committee for 2022 will be held on Monday, November 21, at 5:00 pm via Zoom.

Marion Energy Management Committee

By Mick Colageo