Appropriations & Oversight Committee — 2017-05-04
Attendance
Robert A. Boisselle ; Donald L. Conn Jr. ; Scott M. Forbes ; Gail Infurna ; Jennifer L. Lemmerman ; Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis ; Monica C. Medeiros ; Peter D. Mortimer ; John N. Tramontozzi ; Francis X. Wright Jr. ; Michael P. Zwirko
Agenda
Minutes
CITY OF MELROSE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE CALENDAR● MAY 4, 2017 Aldermanic Chamber, Melrose City Hall Committee Meeting 7:30 PM 562 Main Street, Melrose, MA 02176 The public should take notice that the Melrose Board of Aldermen may, on certain occasions, have a quorum in attendance due to standing committees of the Board of Aldermen consisting of both voting and non-voting members. Members attending this duly posted meeting are participating and deliberating only in conjunction with the business of the standing committee. Attendee Name Title Status Arrived Peter D. Mortimer Chairman Present Gail M. Infurna Vice Chairman Present Michael P. Zwirko Alderman at Large Present John N. Tramontozzi Ward 1 Alderman Present Monica C. Medeiros Alderman at Large Present Robert A. Boisselle Ward 4 Alderman Absent Francis X. Wright Jr. Ward 3 Alderman Absent Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis Alderman at Large Present Jennifer L. Lemmerman Ward 2 Alderman Present Scott M. Forbes Ward 7 Alderman Present Donald L. Conn Jr. President/Ex-officio Member Present
ORDER-2017-133 Agreement Authorization to execute solar net metering credit purchase agreement Recommend Passage Board of Aldermen City of Melrose Page 1 Updated 5/5/2017 11:10 AM
Transcript
▶ 0:07 Peter D. Mortimer: We've got a sparse crowd here tonight, huh? Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. This is the Committee on Appropriations for the Melrose Board of Aldermen. It is 7 30 on May 4th. I am the Chairman of Appropriations, Peter Mortimer. Our Vice Chairman is Alderman Gail Inferna. This is a committee of the whole. Every member of the Board of Aldermen is a member of this committee. We are joined this evening Besides Vice-Chairman and the Chairman, Alderman Zwirko, Alderman Tramontozzi, Alderman Medeiros, Alderman Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis, Alderman Lemmerman, Alderman Forbes. Did I say Alderman Medeiros? All right. Very good. Thank you, Alderman Medeiros. We have one order before us this evening, but before we proceed to that order,
▶ 1:06 Peter D. Mortimer: I will point out that this meeting is being recorded by MMTV and is available for future viewing on their website or on the City of Melrose website. Motion to open for public participation. Second. Alderman Inferna has made a motion to open the floor for public participation. Duly seconded by Alderman Forbes. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor of opening the floor for public participation, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed, hearing none, public participation is now open. Are there any members of the public wishing to come forward to speak on the one order in front of the Appropriations Committee this evening? Seeing none, motion to close public participation. Second. Alderman Inferna has made a motion to close public participation, duly seconded by Alderman Forbes.
▶ 1:58 Peter D. Mortimer: Seeing no discussion, all in favor please say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed, hearing none, public participation is now closed. We have before us order 2017-133. It is an authorization to execute solar net metering credit purchase agreement. Alderman's Worker has made a motion to suspend the rules that we may hear from. Second. So moved. From Martha Grover. Said motion was seconded by Alderman Inferna. All in favor of suspension of the rules, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed, hearing none, we are under suspension. Ms. Grover, would you please join us at the table? Thank you for being here this evening. Would you please give us a little presentation and then we'll have a colloquy. Sure, I think I can do this pretty quickly.
▶ 2:59 My name's Martha Grover, I'm the Energy Efficiency Manager for the City of Melrose. This is a similar agreement to several agreements that we've entered into before. We did a very similar agreement such as this one back in 2014 for a four megawatt solar project up in Haverhill. That project never got built due to permitting issues and that it expired and didn't happen. So these types of opportunities don't come along very often very often in our grid zone so when they do I like to look into it and jump on it if it looks like a good deal so we recently I recently heard about the MBTA is building solar canopies over about 30 40 of their parking lots around the state at commuter stations and tea stations and they are in search of
▶ 3:57 municipal off takers of the net metering credits that these systems generate and they are first approaching the communities where these projects are located and some of the communities just aren't able to move on it so they approached us about a solar canopy parking lot canopy project at the MBTA Oak Grove station it's going to be a one megawatt project and the developer is a company called Omni Novitas which is the financer and they are leasing the property from the MBTA so the MBTA makes money from from the lease and then the developer looks for municipalities or others to purchase the power that the systems produce at a rate that's less than we'll pay for electricity and then we get an exchange credits on our utility bills from the utility at a rate
▶ 5:08 of usually in the last few years it's been around 16 17 cents so this the difference is about is four cents and our city solicitor rob van campen reviewed the contract patrick de la russo reviewed the financial arrangement as did john shen of public works and then we hired cadmus who's a consultant that we've worked with before to do the economic financial analysis and they look through the agreement and which you have both the agreement and the Cadmus analysis and they project forty thousand dollars annually in savings from that difference between the credit and what we pay for the power so it's very low risk no money that we put you know we're not paying anything until the system is built and they think it's going to get built sometime and they
▶ 6:11 Gail Infurna: said in the next 11 months you know who knows with some of these projects but they're feeling pretty confident about getting it done and it I John Shana and Patrick de la Russo and I see it as a you know a hedge against future electricity prices price increases so I'm happy to take any questions excellent Thank you very much for that presentation. And first in queue, we have Alderman Inferno, please, then Alderman Zwirko, and then Alderman Medeiros. Great, thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for coming this evening and for all that you do in that energy field for us. So science is not my thing at all. So let me just try to put this in simple terms. So they build this solar cover. We're gonna get energy from that.
▶ 7:07 We're just going to, we're going to, we've agreed to purchase, buy the power that it produces, but we can't really say that we're getting that power because no one really knows where electrons end up. But we're agreeing to buy the power that comes, you know, that the meter records at a rate of 15 cents. And that will decrease our general use of power here. It ends up being a financial transaction, so it really just reduces what we pay for electricity. it won't have any impact on how much we use okay thanks it's a financial mechanism more than anything and you may not know this answer but I'm just gonna throw it out there just as a question this the solar canvas or canopy yeah that they're going to build will that decrease any sort of parking spaces down
▶ 7:58 there um I don't know it's an interesting question just because people are always fighting for spaces as much as I would you know want to support this one I'm just kind of yeah I think it's gonna get built whether you know it's gonna get built yeah so if it's going to we might as well sure but I don't know about the logistics or what the layout exactly is interesting I know on the side there you know but great thank you yeah Thank You alderman Inferno alderman's work hopefully Thank You mr. chairman it's just a quick question the so the proposed savings that's that's a maximum amount correct based on the kilowatts that they would uh be able to uh grant us yeah so it's not it's not a guarantee yeah okay right thank you
▶ 8:46 Monica C. Medeiros: thank you alderman's worker alderman Medeiros police thank you and i think so some of my questions answered is is this canopy is this on top of the existing structure that's there are these the over the parking lot over the parking lot so yeah and so I guess my question would be is there an opportunity for us if they're going to build something over the park parking lot is there an opportunity for us to say lobby and maybe ask them to make some new parking spaces if they're gonna build up to build up a little bit more because obviously there is huge demand especially for right here in Melrose to be able to park there and if you don't get there by you know 730 ish no no go right right as much as there are buses
▶ 9:31 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: yeah I don't know that this gives us any leverage to ask for more parking I think that that's a question for the for the MBTA or whoever but this is something that manages the parking lots yeah but I agree and I'm hoping that at least by paving the road maybe some more you know yeah spots will will be easier to park there anyway. Thank you. Thank you Alderman Medeiros. Motion to recommend. We have one more speaker please. Thank you Mr. Chairman. Thank you for always being on the lookout for these kinds of things Ms. Grover and ultimately saving us money in the city. You mentioned and I recall that we had done this in 2014 and that project did not go forward. Are we currently in contract with any other
▶ 10:22 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: net metering programs that we're getting credits for only on only on the the one that is here in Melrose on the high school middle school that is a net metering did we have a DPW one happening or no one at the DP yes and that that is also a net metering the same idea and has that has that been completed the equipment's delivered and there's been a glitch with that deal we are that we're resolving but everything's there and they're ready to go but those projects we assumed some financial responsibility for installation and whatnot and upkeep there are no upfront costs to the city for any of those yeah not for any of them the only ones that we've paid for is just the three original arrays that
▶ 11:09 we have on the middle school those those we paid for and are responsible for and maintain, but the rest, we're just buying the power that it produces and then getting those net metering credits on our utility bills. So I would just be interested down the road in when this comes to fruition and the one at DBW comes to fruition, like kind of a total picture of how much we're saving by utilizing this program. Yep. Great. another potential project that is doing a similar canopy over the high school parking lot is that going to happen you hope it's it's we're chugging along the incentive structure in the state is going through a lot of changes right now and so developers aren't aren't bidding on new projects under the new tariff
▶ 12:03 Peter D. Mortimer: regime until it's settled and done so well that's one or two years off certain And then when that becomes available, you'll be right on it, right on it. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, I make a motion to recommend. Okay, thank you, Alderman McAteer-Margolis, your motion to recommend is accepted. Alderman Zwirko is trying to do one, so I'll take you for the second. Second. Alderman Zwirko has seconded that motion. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor of the motion to recommend this order for passage, please say aye. Aye. Aye. I'm sorry. point of order scott forbes was in uh sorry mr chairman please proceed i just said it's more or less for informational purposes uh for anybody watching at home this is a 20-year agreement
▶ 12:49 Peter D. Mortimer: that we're entering correct it's not open-ended from year to year 20 years um you know it's always good to have an order before us where we can see cost savings uh immediately with no upfront cost from the city so um just for the people at home it is a 20-year agreement and uh you know we'll And we'll look forward to see how the project launches and we'll be watching it. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Alderman Forbes. We will now take a vote on that motion to recommend this order for passage. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed, hearing none. This order will be recommended for passage at our next full board meeting, not the special meeting. We're having a special meeting on the 8th, not that one, but the one after that on the 15th.
▶ 13:29 Great. You need not attend again. You may have a question or two, but probably not. The presentation was thorough as always, and the questions were incisive and complete as always. We appreciate your time here tonight. Motion to adjourn. Motion to adjourn by Alderman Forbes, duly seconded by Alderman Zwirko, and all in favor please say aye. Aye. Any opposed, hearing none, the committee on appropriations is hereby adjourned. Thank you, one and all. Good evening, the Protection and License Committee will come to order please. I'm Chairman McAteer-Margolis. With us this evening from the committee is Alderman Medeiros, Alderman Inferna, Alderman Lemmerman. Present as well, non-voting members from the full committee