← Appropriations & Oversight Committee · 2026-04-27 · Appropriations & Oversight Committee
Acceptance of a Climate Leaders Technical Assistance Grant in the amount of $139,000
Agenda original PDF
Minutes original PDF
A. (ID # 2026-775): Acceptance of a Climate Leaders Technical Assistance Grant in the amount of $139,000 Motion to Recommend made by Councilor Williams Seconded by Councilor Karamcheti All were in favor and motion passed RESULTS: ACCEPTED [UNANIMOUS] TO: City Council AYES: Jason Chen, Cal Finocchiaro, Bradley Freeman, Maya Jamaleddine, Manjula Karamcheti, Elizabeth Kowal, Christopher Park, Devin Romanul, Kim Vandiver, Ryan Williams NAYS: None ABSENT: John Obremski Comments and Discussion: Lori Massa presented the $139,000 Climate Leaders Technical Assistance Grant for solar panel design on a salt shed and heat pump installation at schools. This grant covers the design only and the city will apply for another grant to cover the implementation cost. The contractor will work 2 through the summer to complete the design plan. Motion by unanimous consent to take Item ID# 2026-749 out of order. All were in favor and motion passed
Transcript
▶ 1:33 Devin Romanul: All right. If there's no objection, I will motion by unanimous consent to close public comment. Seeing none, we are now closed for public comment. First item on our agenda tonight is ID number 2026-775, acceptance of a Climate Leaders Technical Assistance Grant in the amount of $139,000. Joining us this evening is Lori Massa. Good evening. Thank you for coming.
▶ 1:57 Speaker 3: Hello, good evening. Thank you for having me. So I'm here tonight to request acceptance of the $139,000 of the Climate Leaders Technical Assistance Grant. This is from the Department of Energy Resources. And this money would go towards technical assistance for the design for placing solar panels on the salt shed in the DPW yard, and also, the design for installing heat pumps at the middle school auditorium and the high school, the administrative offices there. So both of these projects would advance our climate goals of electrifying our buildings, and then also with the heat pumps for the middle school and the high school, those portions of the building would be able to be heated and cooled in separate from the rest of the school, which would have big energy savings. And also with this project, with the design of the project, we would then have the construction-ready plans to be eligible to apply for Climate Leaders Community Decarbonization Accelerator Grant for implementation. And we are a climate leader, and so therefore, we have the ability to apply for these grants, and the number of applicants is fairly low at this point. We're pretty progressive in our energy sustainability efforts in Melrose. So, we hear it, we'll likely get the grant to implement these projects. Thank you.
▶ 3:34 Devin Romanul: Wonderful. Thank you so much. We're also joined by Councilor Jamaleddine. Good evening. Thanks. Up first, I have Councilor Finocchiaro.
▶ 3:41 Cal Finocchiaro: Thank you. Thank you for being here. So you sort of answered the question. I think I was premature with my asking a question. So the grant is for the design of both- Mm-hmm ... items, and then once the design is done, you'll know approximately what the cost would be to get them implemented? Yes. That would be part of it. And then you'd go back to request another grant? Right. Okay. And you think that the $139,000 will cover the design, or do you foresee it being more than that? We've gotten estimates and are confident with that number.
▶ 4:18 Speaker 3: Okay. All right. Thank you.
▶ 4:20 Devin Romanul: Up next, I have Councilor Williams.
▶ 4:21 Ryan Williams: Thank you. It's great to see that we're continuing Melrose's very strong history of sustainability and energy innovation. I know Martha would be happy to see the work that she sort of kicked off move forward. And I want to make a motion to recommend this to the full council.
▶ 4:38 Devin Romanul: Second. We have a motion to recommend by Councilor Williams, seconded by Councilor Karamcheti on discussion. Up first, I have Councilor Chen.
▶ 4:47 Jason Chen: Are we putting this out to bid for two different contractors, one for an HVAC designer, and then another one for a solar architect?
▶ 4:53 Speaker 3: We actually have the contractors in place already through the proper procurement. So Elena Proakis-Ellis is a partner in this project, and so she would have more detail on exactly who those people are. But we have checked that we are able to use those contractors to continue the design. So for the salt shed, it was originally designed with the intention that we would put solar panels on that, so we're able to use, I believe it's Weston & Sampson to continue the design within the law of being able to use the grant and also the state procurement laws. And then the same for the middle school and high school project.
▶ 5:48 Devin Romanul: Thank you. Up next, I have Councilor Park.
▶ 5:50 Speaker 5: Thank you. Lori, thank you for presenting this. As you know, through our previous meetings during the capital improvement project, I'm a big fan of trying to decrease costs anywhere we can. I'm curious, have you done anycost analysis savings and potentially what we could be gaining in terms of installing these solar panels on the shed as well as the heat pumps in the schools.
▶ 6:15 Speaker 3: I don't have that information, but we do work with engineers that come up with those calculations. So, that is a big advantage, not only advancing our climate goals, but reducing the utility costs.
▶ 6:31 Speaker 5: Absolutely. It'd be a great thing for us to broadcast that in addition to just using it from funds outside of the revenue that we, or the levies that we get from the city, but, just a way that we're proactively trying to save money for the city itself. So- Yes ... I would love to see those numbers at some point. Thank you.
▶ 6:50 Devin Romanul: Any other questions from my colleagues? Oh, I'm sorry, President Freeman.
▶ 6:54 Bradley Freeman: It's quite all right. Ms. Massa, thanks so much for being here. I think this is a great project and exciting for the city. Can you just talk a little bit about timing here, in terms of how long will this technical assistance study take, and then when will we be looking to apply for the next step of any available grants?
▶ 7:09 Speaker 3: So we have the contractors in place, and I believe that they will be working through the summer. I don't know the exact deadline, but this is a kind of quick turnaround- Mm-hmm ... for getting the study done. And then we would apply, sorry, I don't remember the date of when the acceptance for the Decarbonization Accelerator Grant is happening, but we'll apply for the next
▶ 7:39 Bradley Freeman: round. Awesome. No, that's good to hear that just that it's a quick study. Mm-hmm. Recognizing that we're one of the few communities that have this designation right now, it's great to hear we'll be in the queue for that grant shortly. So thank you.
▶ 7:51 Devin Romanul: Wonderful. If that is the last of the commentary, Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?
▶ 7:55 Speaker 2: Yes. Vice Chair Vandiver? Yes. Councilor Chen? Yes. Councilor Finocchiaro? Yes. Councilor Jamaleddine? Yes. Councilor Karamcheti? Yes. Councilor Kowal? Yes. Councilor Park? Yes. Councilor Williams? Yes. President Freeman? Yes. Chair Romanul? Yes. Motion passes.
▶ 8:15 Devin Romanul: All right. Wonderful. That will be presented at our next full council meeting. Thank you very much. Up next, I know that we have some overlapping meetings tonight. We're doing well. Everyone's dance card is full, so, as a professional courtesy, I wanted to make a motion by unanimous consent to take item number 2026-749, an informational order on the Affordable Housing Trust, out of order.