[0:03] Yeah. So, at least I can hear. The last few times I haven't been able to hear

[0:07] people like I have to go over and so allow participants to chat,

[0:16] rename themselves, unmute themselves.

[0:21] Oh, okay. Does that mean they should be good? They should be good. Okay. We'll

[0:26] see what happens. And the one thing I'm going to change is to let them

[0:33] Oh, no. I'm not going to bother. Okay. Yeah. Should be good. Okay. Well, I hope

[0:38] your meeting doesn't go too long. It is what it is. I know.

[1:30] Did you find a place to park? just literally squeezed in next to you and

[1:34] Abby. Oh, good. Yeah, it was. What time was they do? They start

[1:39] graduation. I thought it was 5:30. Okay, that makes sense because we were home

[1:44] and like traffic was backing up and people

[1:59] I had trouble with last time.

[2:05] A there are nice people in the room Toby.

[2:10] Now, are you excited about the last day as well?

[2:14] And I bet you it's a short day, too, isn't it? Today was also So, are you

[2:19] learning anything at this point? Yeah. No.

[2:24] You're learning patience, but you have to sit there for a few hours. That's

[2:29] what you're learning.

[2:33] Good luck with your meeting. You, too,

[2:43] This

[9:47] Hey Jim. Hey. How you doing Kathy? I'm good,

[9:51] thanks. Good. Let's see.

[9:57] I guess the way I'm currently see

[10:02] I think we're it for now.

[10:29] Kathy, you you you can hear me? Yes, I can hear you. You hear me? That's great.

[10:34] Yes, I can. Um, sorry. Sorry for the silly questions. Can you see me? Um, I

[10:40] can't see you. I can see your name. Okay. Interesting. I'll um

[10:47] I'll I'll uh I am not sure why.

[11:18] Hi, Will. Hi. How are you? I'm good. How are you doing? Well, thank you. Jim,

[11:25] you're the little uh camera next to your name has a cross through it.

[11:29] Interesting. Yeah, I know. I'm I'm on my end. I'm not seeing the way to get my

[11:33] camera turned on, so um I I'll keep playing around with it, but I'm glad the

[11:37] audio is working. Hi, Will. Hi, Jim. How are you? Good. Good. How you doing?

[11:43] Good. Hey, um I had a question. Are we meeting through the summer?

[11:49] We usually do. Okay. All right. I only ask because my wife's on the library

[11:54] board and they they don't meet during the summer,

[12:01] but uh I'm all for meeting.

[12:06] Let's see.

[12:12] See,

[12:17] how was your trip to Ireland? Oh, it was marvelous. Um, yeah. And I I saw that

[12:24] Cara was in Ireland. Yeah. And and um you know, I guess it didn't dawn on me

[12:30] to hop on the meeting at midnight, which is what you must have done.

[12:37] Had you been before? No. Well, um not not like this. Just um a blow through

[12:44] one time. Yeah. Um but um yeah, it's a it's a beautiful country.

[12:51] It's on my list. Oh, yeah. Well, yeah. And they they got direct flights

[12:58] from Bradley, which is I know which is awfully nice. It's so easy.

[13:09] My uh my wife and and three daughters did that um I guess now coming up on two

[13:14] years ago as sort of a delayed college graduation trip firstly because it was

[13:18] so easy as you said. Yeah, it it really is. And um this was sort of a delayed

[13:23] graduation gift for my daughter. She graduated last year. So we Neat. Yeah.

[13:32] So it was the three of us. Let's go.

[13:44] Oh, Jim, I don't I printed off that document you sent. Okay. And I might

[13:51] have left it downstairs, so I think I'll run downstairs. All right.

[13:56] Um,

[14:16] well, Kathy, for the life of me, I guess I can't seem to this evening find how to

[14:22] turn my video on, so I might just be audio. Yeah. Okay. All right. H

[14:32] It's kind of like 80% of the time everything works, 20% of the time I have

[14:37] no idea.

[14:41] I think you have to go to settings. Um and then you select your camera. That

[14:48] because that's happened to me in the past and that's what that's what I did.

[14:52] Aha. Well, I didn't go to settings, but

[15:00] got it. Okay, here you are. Kept fumbling and and and there

[15:10] right back. Let's see.

[15:16] Good evening. Hi.

[15:22] Will was just briefly describing his trip to Ireland.

[15:26] Awesome. I think you guys I think you guys were overlapping.

[15:41] Oh, this is great. Hi, Zach.

[16:23] two.

[16:32] I I bet our numbers will change a little bit, but Cara, if if if we're five or

[16:36] does that make us a quorum or or or not quite? I believe it does. Yeah. Okay.

[16:42] Shall we uh get started? Ready?

[16:49] Yeah, let's do it. I'm good. Let's go. Okay. Um, so I guess I I officially call

[16:57] this meeting to order at 7 7 p.m. Uh, I don't see any members of the public

[17:06] present. Um, so that will

[17:11] lead us to uh review and approval of the May 13 minutes. Um,

[17:18] Jim, I know you emailed some comments. Um, Kathy,

[17:24] I I did. Yeah. Cath Kathy, I guess my sentiment there was just that and thanks

[17:30] for capturing everything. Um um I know I sent you the written comment, but the

[17:35] sentiment was gee I wasn't trying to say that the Graanby Land Trust had an NRC

[17:41] plan because I actually don't know if they do or they don't. It was farm uses

[17:46] elements of one on their land and on the town owned land. So, I know I sent you a

[17:51] couple of words and a phrase, but that that was that was the sentiment because

[17:54] I I I don't know if uh if if GLT formally uses that, but they certainly

[18:00] use elements of it and and sorry, the Pulk Farm certainly use elements of it

[18:04] on that land. So, how do you want that corrected, Jim,

[18:09] for the purposes? Um I I emailed you a sentence. Okay. All right. I'll just

[18:16] look that I can look that up. Okay.

[18:21] [Music]

[18:25] I think um Jim suggested in email um under the

[18:32] bullet point attributed to him uh such as IPM NRCS conservation practices

[18:38] including the use of crop rotation and cover crops practices used at Hulkcom

[18:44] farm and on the fields they lease from the town and Graanby land trust. test.

[18:49] Okay. So, I'll put that in the chat. Um I think uh just a point of procedure. Um

[18:59] Kathy asked that we make our corrections verbally during the meeting uh rather

[19:04] than emailing them. Um Okay. And then I think that

[19:11] um as I understand it, the town clerk is

[19:17] working on some guidance for town committees um and facilitation rules. I

[19:23] look forward to getting more information. Um

[19:27] but uh as I understand it, the philosophy of the meeting minutes is not

[19:33] to necessarily be a transcript of the call, but to capture points discussed,

[19:39] who was there, motions made. So I think um you know, it's a it's a lighter

[19:47] approach to minutes. I mean, I've in a past job had to keep minutes and um you

[19:53] can you can go all out or focus lightly. So, I think um as I'm understanding it,

[19:59] the town is looking for a lighter touch on just the overall minutes. So, that's

[20:06] a a less is more approach sounds great. Yeah, that's that's the idea. Any other

[20:12] corrections to the minutes or corrections, additions?

[20:21] All right. Um, hi David.

[20:26] Hi.

[20:30] Right. Um, do I have a motion? Computer problems, but it will be better

[20:37] for you.

[20:40] And, uh, Andrew, hello as well.

[20:45] Hello. Good evening. It's great to have everybody here.

[20:51] Uh, I move to accept the minutes as corrected.

[20:57] Uh, is there a second?

[21:02] Second. All in favor?

[21:07] I. All right. Pass unanimous unanimously.

[21:15] Great. Okay. Um,

[21:19] next item on the agenda is the farm lease conservation. Um, and Jim, I know

[21:25] you've been trying to coordinate with the, um, agricultural commission, which

[21:31] is, uh, I guess undergoing a change in leadership. The, uh, Heather Lombardo is

[21:36] stepping down and they are figuring out, uh, who will be the next leader to go

[21:41] forward. Um, was there anything else you wanted like what else uh would you like

[21:46] to talk about tonight or anything else you wanted to bring up? Well, from my

[21:50] perspective, it was just a couple of a brief comments about the two-page

[21:54] document that I distributed. Um and and just I mean when we had our last meeting

[21:59] it was it was good to have the first selectman there and and and went through

[22:03] that kind of whole dialogue and and and the broader so so wanted to come back to

[22:08] this document and just say um uh give you the kind of the one minute speech on

[22:14] on on how it was developed and and kind of the fact that it's just a working

[22:19] draft. So Cara and I met with the agricultural commission in April

[22:27] and then uh after that meeting they said yes we'd like to work together. Um yes

[22:33] please send us the leasing guides. Um folks went through those kind of offline

[22:38] in advance of the May meeting and the two page two pages of notes that you see

[22:43] were the result of the May the 1st meeting. Um now I I call it a working

[22:49] draft. not looking to make any motions or anything, but wanted folks to see it.

[22:54] And I guess, you know, I'll just say in in my words, um, that group was pretty

[22:59] excited to say, "Yeah, these are these are important things that we might do."

[23:04] Uh, the first page is is is things you might do in a pre-season meeting. um

[23:10] which uh um I mean I won't kind of read

[23:14] through the bullet points but just captures um uh key points of what would

[23:19] be prudent practices. Um and then by the way the agricultural commission includes

[23:24] some of our longtime multigeneration farmers who reiterated no they don't

[23:28] feel that any of this is ownorous. This is just kind of basic standard stuff.

[23:34] Um the second page was kind of more of a brainstorm list. Again, neither one of

[23:39] these was expected to be final. Um, it was the start of a dialogue. Um, and I

[23:46] wanted this group to have a chance to see it and at least react to it and go,

[23:50] "Oh, okay. Those things seem reasonable. They resonate to me." Um, now that I've

[23:55] read the 2016 plan of conservation and development, I found it interesting how

[23:59] many of the longer term things that we capture here are already in the POC. Um

[24:06] a and then what would be happening with the agricultural commission is just as

[24:10] Cara said um uh uh Heather Lombardo is going to be stepping down. They'll kind

[24:16] of reshuffle roles and responsibilities. And when Cara and I talked offline a few

[24:21] days ago, we thought that I will discuss

[24:28] and maybe over the next six to nine months, we'll flush out this two-page

[24:33] document further um and and come up with something that we'd make a motion on,

[24:38] but but really don't envision any deliverable until let's call it about

[24:44] the end of the year. Um, so with that, wanted to share that story and give

[24:50] folks just a chance to scan this and and provide any any gut reactions. Um, if

[24:55] you'd like and and Cara, does that kind of capture, I guess, our discussion and

[25:00] what we what we think the process might be over the next six to nine months?

[25:05] Yeah, I think that's a great summary.

[25:16] David.

[25:21] Um, I think this is great. Incredibly thoughtful and um I I really like the

[25:27] the uh sort of specific, you know, do it and then thoughts for the future format.

[25:34] You know, lots of issues. Uh my one question is the meeting that should be

[25:39] completed by April 30th. Is that a public meeting? Is the public noticed

[25:44] about that? I mean there's so many fields around that people have, you

[25:48] know, somebody comes and mows that periodically or they grow crops there

[25:51] and maybe they'd be curious and maybe that would be a positive thing. Um

[25:56] whether or not there's like a public process, but you'd think there'd be it

[26:01] would be useful to have some greater education about what's going on there.

[26:06] Great comment, David. I guess we didn't get so far as to say would this meeting

[26:10] be public or not public, but what one of the things we did talk about was saying,

[26:13] hey, we need to have a a mechanism, some some group of folks that may be uh part

[26:19] of an interface team. And and so you're right, people need to be able to provide

[26:24] input. Um um Zach has helped us very specifically, you know, share that boy,

[26:30] if you see this kind of a concern, your first call should be to deep, but but

[26:34] just in terms of town communication, um yeah, in the longer term considerations,

[26:40] we've looked at the guides where many towns have a body um could be members of

[26:45] the ad commission, the conservation commission that I guess would would

[26:49] probably field or be an opportunity for for people to provide input to in some

[26:53] public forum. So, um, great comment, TBD, I guess I would say, but capturing

[26:58] your thoughts. And, uh, does the egg commission or the

[27:05] conservation commission take the lead on that? Seems like it's more their belly

[27:08] wick, you know, if they're interested. T TBD. Okay. Um, you know, it's

[27:16] interesting when you when you read the the missions of the two organizations,

[27:20] um, the missions would probably nudge it more towards us, but I'm I'm not

[27:24] lobbying for one or the other. I just But TBD. Yeah. Just because there's more

[27:28] egg expertise, I guess I was thinking. Yeah.

[27:35] Thank you. Sure. Thanks. Uh I you know I I uh I was intrigued

[27:41] with the section dealing dealing with the Connecticut Agriculture

[27:46] Preservation Program. Um and um it says here that they pay up to 20,000 per acre

[27:53] permanently to preserve farmland. Um yes they do. And um has this I mean

[28:02] that that certainly would be that could generate a lot of revenue for the town.

[28:06] Um I'm I'm not sure when the town initially purchased the land um if it

[28:13] was explic explicitly purchased to set aside for potential schools or

[28:19] low-income housing or anything like that. Um do you have any information on

[28:23] that or Well, let me let me take that and if there's any longerterm residents

[28:28] who have more, go right ahead. So, so well I I did a a little f first off I I

[28:34] put forward the preservation because that's been kind of a passion interest

[28:39] of mine to to learn more about. Um I can tell you that in Connecticut in 2024

[28:46] about 1,600 acres were permanently preserved using this program and over

[28:50] the last 50 years it's 50,000 acres. So it's a it's a wellutilized program. Um

[28:57] uh it is a mix of federal and state money. So, you got to go through a

[29:00] process to figure out what that dollar figure would be. And there might be

[29:05] questions about the federal side currently. Um, but to your to your good

[29:09] question, my understanding is in 2012 that land was purchased um uh for $2.5

[29:15] million and that we're still carrying some

[29:18] bonded debt on it. I don't know the exact outstanding debt figure. Um uh and

[29:25] I've heard I've heard open space. I've heard potential school. I I've heard all

[29:30] of those things. Okay. The POC actually calls out permanently preserving it,

[29:36] which I thought was ironic. Um I only read that in the last few days. Um the

[29:41] TW and and so in in my world where I want to permanently I would want to

[29:47] permanently preserve the egg field, you also need to look at the town and say

[29:51] how do you monetize the asset? And as I indicated in the bullet point, if

[29:56] someone were to pay us two or three million dollars for the permanent

[30:00] preservation, that could provide one very nice revenue stream far in advance

[30:05] of the leasing dollar values today. Absolutely.

[30:16] So I hope that that subject can say part of the dialogue. I mean, and and like I

[30:21] say, it's in the PCD as well. Yeah. And would um just do, you know, off the top

[30:27] of your head, if it wouldn't preclude us from leasing it out as farmland,

[30:32] correct? We could still have another income stream on top of it.

[30:38] Wow. %.

[30:41] So, and one way to say that is you could you could like triple triple quadruple

[30:47] your current revenue on the 107 East Street Field is 32,000 a year.

[30:53] And would there be use restrictions um that come with this, you know, enrolling

[30:58] into this program? So, so in in talking with the CT a team that does this, um I

[31:04] I've had a couple of discussions um and and every agreement is written

[31:10] specifically and sometimes that's a process that could take six to 12

[31:14] months. I see. So that so that you give yourself the flexibility, but it must be

[31:19] agriculture. So okay, but you can think through that and make sure okay I I

[31:23] might need future buildings. I might want to have some solar. I might need

[31:27] fuel tanks. I might sure. So, so um yeah, it's it's a it would be a slow

[31:33] process before you make a a permanent commitment. Okay.

[31:38] Um what is the name of the program you're talking about?

[31:44] I'm going to pull out the brochure. So, um well,

[31:52] um so, so I can send you

[31:58] the the guide, Kathy. Okay, thanks. Yeah, but uh well, actually, hold on. I

[32:06] mean, it's generally known, I think, as the farmland agricultural farmland

[32:10] preservation act. Okay. But take the formal name from Jim. Yeah.

[32:18] Ju just to say that though Kathy um to sort of capture the theme, the

[32:23] Connecticut Department of Agriculture program exists as do as do other private

[32:28] programs. Okay. So there are there are multiple organizations that do that. One

[32:34] of which is the Grand View Land Trust, right?

[32:44] And what piece of property are you talking about? I I'm not talking about a

[32:49] specific piece of property. Oh, just any Okay. Yeah. just and and just saying

[32:55] that well as as as one of the things brought up was to say

[33:00] um

[33:04] one of the long-term topics to discuss which would be permanent preservation of

[33:12] any town owned agricultural field and there are Connecticut state

[33:18] department of agriculture options and there are private options.

[33:22] Um, and the payments for those conservation easements could

[33:28] substantially increase town revenue. Okay. All right. Thank you. Sure.

[33:40] Um, Jim, do you think there's any chance we

[33:45] could get a representative of one of those programs to speak to us at a

[33:49] meeting?

[33:52] Um, I would love that. I think that's great. Um, um,

[33:57] I guess um, yeah, I I would be be delighted to

[34:02] to reach out um and see if they would join us. Um would you would you want to

[34:10] invite Mike Walsh or somebody from the town to join us in that if we did that

[34:14] or

[34:18] probably would be wise. Okay. I mean, I I think um at this point it's a you

[34:25] know, we don't we're not authorized to begin negotiations, but it's to gather

[34:30] more information about the possibilities and what we might might include. I will

[34:37] start with sending you the brochure which describes it all um electronically

[34:42] to you guys if you want if if that's do that.

[34:47] And David just put in the chat, maybe a joint meeting with the A commission.

[34:52] Well, they asked for this, so they have it already. Yeah.

[34:58] And if a decision was made, um, you know, to enroll some or all of the

[35:04] agricultural fields into this program, um, would that be something that the

[35:11] board of selectmen could act on or Yes. Okay. it wouldn't have to go to a town

[35:16] referendum. So, I'm going to give you an answer based on on experience in town

[35:22] recently. Okay. In 2022, the Grandby Land Trust uh paid the town

[35:29] a half a million dollars to permanently conserve um with a conservation

[35:35] easement, not an agricultural easement, the woodlands of Hulkcom Farm.

[35:41] So, so the Hulk Farm farm fields are not preserved, but 270 acres of the

[35:46] woodlands are, and that was done with Graanby Land Trust and a half million

[35:50] dollar payment. Um, and that was decided by the board of selectmen. Okay. And and

[35:56] they did they felt they did because the land was not being sold, they did not

[36:00] have to go to a town referendum. So, that's a fall 2022 example. Sure.

[36:09] Wow. I I think it's a fantastic uh program and uh I certainly would be

[36:15] in favor of uh getting more information and potentially pursuing that option.

[36:21] Okay. Yeah. Well, I I think that's great. I uh yeah, you know, lots of

[36:25] things. I I I grew up in a town where where the last farm was plowed under

[36:29] when I was a teenager and and you know, we we only have about 200 town owned

[36:34] agricultural acres and they are all incredibly high value agricultural

[36:38] acres. So, sure. Yeah. If if somebody might give us as much as $4 million to

[36:43] to do this, that would be uh I mean, to me, that would be amazing. But, uh um

[36:48] yeah,

[36:52] Kathy, you can just ignore my my rambling on, okay, please.

[36:58] So to summarize um Jim shared a document um that has kind of an overall I think

[37:06] we are all interested or those who have spoken are interested in learning more

[37:11] um and um so I guess any concerns at this point about that

[37:22] and maybe just to clarify the like the go forward plan would be that we know

[37:26] the ad commissions is going to have some changes and

[37:30] working with carara will I I would I would come up with a way to meet with

[37:35] the agricultural commission regularly to progress this further over nominally the

[37:40] next six to nine months but kind of TBD and anybody would be welcome to

[37:44] participate in that but for our first step would be to once they kind of re

[37:49] reestablish their leadership we'll we'll define the process a little bit more and

[37:53] this will be kind of a starting

[37:58] And okay, any other thoughts or questions on

[38:02] the document?

[38:07] Okay, Jim, thanks for your energy in moving this forward. Thanks for all the

[38:12] research. Um, it's very it's very exciting. So, it's good. Thanks.

[38:19] Okay. Um, are we ready to move on to the plan of conservation and development?

[38:28] Okay.

[38:31] So, had the email open a moment ago. Um,

[38:37] there we go. Um, so on May 28th, I got an email from Abby

[38:44] Kenyon. Um, she is looking for a representative from the Conservation

[38:50] Commission. Um we're kicking off the development of the 2026 plan of

[38:58] conservation and development. Uh the last one was done in 2016.

[39:02] Uh we're required to reddevelop them every 10 years. Um

[39:09] and um they are going to be meeting on the fourth Tuesday of the month at 7

[39:16] p.m. U with the first meeting scheduled for September 23rd. Um and in addition

[39:22] to monthly meetings, there will be um public workshops that may require

[39:27] attendance. Um and then they they have an open application as well. Um I think

[39:34] we would be expecting the member uh of the conservation commission who joins

[39:40] this to attend um bring back information um be sort of the official voice in the

[39:47] discussions of the conservation commission um as public meetings. Any of

[39:52] us can attend as much as we want. Um but this would be the person who's

[39:56] committing to make as many um as he or she could. So um

[40:07] is there you know is there anybody uh interested in pursuing this? I mean so

[40:15] uh Jim and I have spoken a little bit about it. Um and Jim has expressed some

[40:20] interest in uh representing us. Um,

[40:25] is there anyone else who'd be interested as well

[40:30] that we need to negotiate over?

[40:36] I nominate Jim. Yeah,

[40:43] David's raising his hand. David. Yeah, I'm not I'm not I would really I'm not I

[40:48] do wouldn't I'm not nominating myself. I'm going back to the last meeting and I

[40:53] think Cara you said you might potentially be interested and in some

[40:56] ways it's better to have the chair on but maybe there are two seats or

[41:01] alternating or something you know if you're still if you haven't ruled it out

[41:05] maybe you and Jim can share it somehow or you know I am very interested in it.

[41:11] Um I am reluctant to take on another commitment officially. I I will continue

[41:17] to monitor it. Uh, I will certainly, you know, I'm I'm happy to be an alternate,

[41:22] but I'm also um happy, although um David, I am

[41:28] curious about your um statement about it being better to be

[41:33] the the chair. Is that based on experience in town or Okay.

[41:38] No, it was just a guess that you know. Okay.

[41:45] Um yeah, I expect I will attend um and will be, you know, involved in many, but

[41:56] I'm happy to let someone else be the official representative.

[42:01] Well, and I guess I'll say from my perspective, um you you're all supposed

[42:05] to laugh at this. Um I will probably overcommunicate what happens at those

[42:10] meetings. Thank you. Um and and and

[42:17] you know look for Yeah. Um you know input to and others joining on it. I I

[42:24] sort of see it as okay uh if if my schedule probably allows the the the the

[42:29] time to make sure, you know, we're there. Um and then also have the the

[42:35] time to sort of put together some key points and figure out what we ought to

[42:40] be uh uh maybe contributing on as a as a group. Um um glad to do that. And I

[42:46] think that that's the that that's a huge key to the the role to say, okay, it's

[42:51] it's not so much the person sitting there, but it's it's making sure that

[42:54] we're gathering all the input. Um, also, as I read the 2016 2017 plan when it was

[43:02] put together, um, uh, I don't know if anybody else had a chance to scan parts

[43:07] of it. It's an excellent document. And I I my honest first read was I'm not sure

[43:14] what I would add to that. Um, so it's it's I I I don't know, but I

[43:19] sort of suspect and hope that we'll be reinforcing a lot of the content that

[43:24] was put together by a, you know, a great group now almost 10 years ago.

[43:30] Um, I think my impression on reading it was there's a lot of great stuff in

[43:36] there. Um, there's a lot of great things that we said would happen that haven't

[43:40] happened. Uh, and so I think that would be my question for the group is how do

[43:46] we how do we make this more actionable? Yes, good. Great comment.

[43:55] So, minus maybe that u suggested 40hour training for all conservation commission

[44:01] members if if if you hadn't se seen that one. I

[44:06] missed that one. That was the deep training that I sent the note to to

[44:10] Zach. Oh, cool. Yeah, it was I was like, "Wow, that's a program."

[44:17] Which I'm glad that like exactly like I told you in in the offline email. I'm

[44:22] glad to reach out and and find out more about it, but um yeah, they didn't they

[44:25] didn't have a set schedule of of when they're going to be offering that again.

[44:31] And I I'm sorry if I missed it, but was was the 2016 plan of conservation and

[44:36] development, was that already circulated? Um, yes, it was a link in

[44:40] Aby's email. I'll add it to the chat again. Okay, thank you. And it's a

[44:46] 6070page PDF, so it takes a it takes a minute to download. Okay.

[45:01] And who's who signs off on the plan? I believe it's adopted by the town.

[45:08] Okay.

[45:11] [Music]

[45:16] So, I think the the commission that develops it submits it to the board of

[45:22] selectmen and then they vote on it and adopt it.

[45:28] Yeah. And I think there's requirements set forth by the state. Um, and if I'm

[45:33] not mistaken, there's actually there's some bills that went through this past

[45:38] legislative session that just ended that added some additional requirements. I'm

[45:43] not sure if they're going to affect the 2026

[45:48] um plan of conservation and development or will affect the future one.

[45:57] Um, that's a great thing to flag. So, um, we had an official nomination

[46:04] for, uh, Jim. Do we need Kathy? Do you know know if we need to vote on this? I

[46:09] don't think you do. Okay. Um, is there

[46:15] I think it's a fine idea. I'm reading unonymity from the nods uh on

[46:22] the the screen. So, thank you uh, Jim, and I look forward to hearing more about

[46:29] it. Yep. Sound sounds great. And I guess um

[46:33] for formal kickoff not till September. So right. Yep. Okay.

[46:41] Okay. Energy conservation.

[46:46] Um so I was very sorry to miss the meeting

[46:50] with Mike Walsh. Um but Kent, can you uh share how that went?

[46:58] Sure. Yeah. Jim and uh Dave David were there as well. Um so I'll let them chip

[47:04] in. Um did you guys not talk about it last last

[47:08] meeting? I guess we ran out of time. Yeah. Okay.

[47:13] Um yeah, it was excellent. I mean Mike uh

[47:18] has a lot of uh uh uh aspirations regarding um

[47:25] in particular solar on town buildings. uh other energy efficiency measures um

[47:32] and expressed

[47:35] um I would say you know somewhat

[47:41] lack of uh staffing and resources to really execute from his his team and he

[47:47] would love all the help he could get. Um there you know one thing he has done is

[47:55] he has negotiated um and maybe you guys help me. I I

[48:01] certainly town uh electricity maybe also board of ed but uh longerterm uh supply

[48:09] contract for electricity which has some portion of renewables commitment.

[48:15] It's not 100%. I don't know if you guys remember if it's 40% but there's a a

[48:21] cost-saving measure with that but there's also there is a commitment of uh

[48:25] renewables you know if you you guys know you can buy your electricity supply from

[48:30] a third party and he's he's he's executed that which I think is a is a

[48:36] good move. Um I'll talk a little bit here about um

[48:41] the solar on town properties and some of the recent developments which um will be

[48:49] new to everybody uh here and then maybe Jim you can follow up and Dave you can

[48:53] follow up regarding our call with Mike and anything else that that um or

[48:58] meeting with Mike and anything else not related to solar on on town buildings.

[49:02] So the solar um now Mike had initiated uh working with the Connecticut Green

[49:09] Bank. They have a program to help you know communities uh assess

[49:15] solar on town buildings and and they they they did you know reasonable first

[49:19] pass for a number of buildings. Uh Mike wants to get you know one or two done.

[49:24] Identified the town garage uh as as one that he'd like to maybe

[49:30] pilot. It seemed like a good, you know, first project to do. Also, the uh former

[49:36] Methodist, this Methodist church, right, David? Um that is now owned by the town

[49:42] or managed by the friends of Hulk Farm or whatever the whole soup of of of that

[49:48] is. So the um the green bank and the green bank

[49:52] is supported by a a solar developer out of I think Meridan called CSW Energy and

[50:01] so they're they're actual you know solar developer installer and they but they

[50:04] helped the green bank and working with communities.

[50:09] So um the feed so they green bank CSW worked on those things and the feedback

[50:15] was that you know what ever source the eversource

[50:19] grid doesn't have the capacity to install solar on those locations.

[50:24] So if you guys are familiar with this to some degree um you know the utility grid

[50:30] really isn't designed for all this distributed generation. There is there

[50:34] are technical limits to how much you can put on on util, you know, the utility

[50:40] system. We're we're kind of at the end of Eversourc's line. We have an older

[50:44] system. There's been a fair amount of solar put on there, but they put a map

[50:49] online. You can go look at it and say, "Well, I want to put solar here." And

[50:53] we're pretty constrained up in Graanby. And the map, and the map's not official

[50:59] like ruling, but the map says you could put at most like 200 kilowatts

[51:06] on most of the locations around by the way. Um, but in those two particular

[51:10] locations, and I think the the assessment wanted

[51:13] like 270 kilowatts on the public garage, but Ever Sourc's map says you can only

[51:19] put up to 200, maybe less. So, the Green Bank

[51:26] kind of said to Mike, you know, you can't you can't do it. Um,

[51:33] and

[51:37] kind of left it at that. Probably took the easy path of saying we don't really

[51:41] know how far they went with Eversource. Cara, Cara, I'm going to say Cara a

[51:44] couple times here. Um, so did they just look at the map? Did

[51:50] they get an early read? they didn't put in an interconnect application, but

[51:54] that's that's the early feedback and Mike was pretty discouraged. He's like,

[51:57] "Oh, okay. Well, this is a this is not good." So, so I volunteered to help and

[52:05] um and then this weekend we we actually made some progress here. So now some of

[52:10] you may know this like David may know this but

[52:14] uh so David connected me with Jenny Emory who has uh successfully

[52:20] um worked to get solar moving forward on the Hulk Farm CSA barn

[52:28] which of course is right next to the church and she's working with CSW Energy

[52:33] and she's really happy with them. So, I think Sunday I connected with

[52:37] Jenny and because Mike Mike said, "Kent, can you help here?" And I still have to

[52:43] meet with Jenny. But what's interesting is that the um putting solar on the CSA

[52:49] barn, you know, Eversource said, "Well, we

[52:53] can't. We'll have to do an upgrade to the system." And but working with CSW

[52:59] Energy, the deal is that they the finances work

[53:05] out such that Eversource is upgrading the system. CSW is it's it's it's the uh

[53:12] buy all sell all approach. So all of the electricity goes to the goes to the grid

[53:15] and we basically sell it. We the developer sells it. And there's a a

[53:19] split. CSW gets something like 20 uh 78% and and and whoever the town or the

[53:26] friends of Hulk Farm gets 22%. That's 78 22% split I believe. So they're moving

[53:32] forward which is great and the but as a part of the cost of that Eversource is

[53:38] upgrading that grid and so now maybe the church will benefit from that. I don't

[53:45] know exactly. I don't know where, you know, I think it's coming from Route 20,

[53:49] so I'm pretty sure. So, that's the long story. Uh, Ella Jim. Um, and, uh, so I

[53:57] think I'm going to connect with Jenny. We're going to go to CSW and see if we

[54:01] can what we can learn about that um, Methodist Church application.

[54:07] Now, I told I told Mike, I mean, the green bank's

[54:12] great, but in my experience, the developer will do this stuff on

[54:17] their own anyway. So, um, and we can get a few quotes. It's very easy. But, um,

[54:23] Jenny likes CSW. I want to start working with CSW. And then um there's going to

[54:29] come a time though where like whether it's the town garage, probably the town

[54:35] garage is going to be the big one. I'm I'm going to need to navigate how do I

[54:40] work with Eversource? I know they have a formal process for applying and getting

[54:44] a response, but I I don't know if there's I have to

[54:48] refresh there if there's a a um a quick response you can get sort

[54:54] of indicative um you know if if if they can't take 270 kilowatts, could they

[55:00] take 199? Um do we have to go through a whole

[55:04] application? So I think the town garage will probably be the Mike calls it the

[55:08] beta. I think it's a good term. Um, at least get a starting point and then and

[55:16] then Cara, I don't know if you have any if you like I've in the past I've talked

[55:19] to the Interconnection Group because of my my professional job. Um, the David

[55:25] Ferrante is retired so I don't I don't he's not there. I don't know if Joe Debs

[55:30] or whatever like I can if I can get maybe you can help me a little bit. We

[55:34] can get some some better. we get the feeling that the green bank just sort of

[55:38] said it's more than the map and let's not pursue it. So,

[55:44] um that's uh that's where the solar on town building stands. Um yeah, I can I

[55:51] can ask around. Um I'm deal more with like the data geeks

[55:57] and and trading information back and forth about customer information with

[56:02] some of the um solar folks, but I think they can point me to the right

[56:07] direction. Also um what I have, you know, I know who in

[56:13] the energy efficiency group would be more than happy to work with the town.

[56:18] there are some new um weatherization incentives on buildings um that might be

[56:24] good that you know so they're expanding the commercial weatherization programs

[56:28] um so I can uh I can put Mike in touch with with the correct people there and

[56:36] that's something maybe Jim and and David might be interested to help on that on

[56:40] those things that's where um I mean that's the solar story I don't

[56:45] know Jim if um you know he I mean Mike was looking for help just with good

[56:50] oldfashioned energy management or facilities.

[56:56] Yeah. Yeah. As as we talked um Mike kind of told the the the the story of of of

[57:03] of you know great town resources and and what different folks had were kind of

[57:09] focused on. And so something that has a little bit of structure to it, but he's

[57:14] hoping to develop some more is is really a a look at all town buildings um that

[57:21] would kind of fall under the capital plan. Uh and actually it extends down to

[57:25] every town vehicle. Um so so what Mike had shared was like he would be

[57:32] delighted to have some additional help just kind of uh uh working through and

[57:37] and structuring and trying to prioritize capital plan uh items which would h all

[57:45] would many would have a energy efficiency component but but uh not not

[57:50] exclusively. Um, so I uh I I offered uh some time to Mike and he sent me the

[57:55] draft plan and um uh I I don't have uh uh uh no no deliverables yet, but uh we

[58:02] suggested a a process of of maybe meeting monthly and um I will uh follow

[58:10] back up to to to Mike and see if he's uh ready to initiate that. He was uh he was

[58:16] looking to get some other things done in May before we uh got got into this. So,

[58:25] I guess let's see. I'm just trying to share what u I think it's relatively

[58:29] recent that the school um uh the school district hired a facilities manager and

[58:36] and I I guess I'd say Kathy, don't don't quote me on this. I I don't know if he's

[58:40] been there a year or maybe this is his second year, but but he was he was

[58:44] delighted that that position was now in place because that that helped provide

[58:48] some some more kind of longer longer term thinking on um on uh on on projects

[58:55] for the school.

[59:03] David, do you want to add anything to this?

[59:09] Um, I don't have the technical expertise that these guys have. I'm happy to help.

[59:14] You know, I I said in the meeting that I could probably help more with, um, you

[59:18] know, public awareness and acceptance, um, information, that kind of thing,

[59:24] building off the Solariz campaign from almost 10 years ago, I say eight years

[59:28] ago. Um, and Cara, I think you and I were going to talk about audits. I'm

[59:32] happy to help with that or not help with that, whatever is useful.

[59:40] would it be? Um I will look for contacts about solar and interconnections at

[59:45] Eversource. Um, I can maybe I'll send from my work email an introduction to um

[59:53] Mike Walsh and you guys to um Dana Mauy who's the energy efficiency consultant

[59:59] who work with Graanby um and she'd be happy to talk through what programs are

[1:00:04] available if you guys think that Mike would be receptive to that.

[1:00:10] Yeah, I think that's um really something that we should

[1:00:16] pursue. Um so what would

[1:00:22] do do you think like uh just set up a business hours meeting? Uh, could we do

[1:00:28] I don't know if Kathy I'm not sure if team uh if uh Mike does um I guess Zoom

[1:00:34] calls or how we could do it in person but

[1:00:38] he does. Okay. I think um I would certainly

[1:00:45] um think that could be valuable and just to

[1:00:49] understand the the opportunities programs that are out there. Um

[1:00:55] you know maybe and you know we could help

[1:00:58] pick a building or two to to to try based on Mike's priorities.

[1:01:04] Um I don't know Jim and David if you'd want

[1:01:08] to attend such a meeting and see see where it goes

[1:01:12] just whether it's a you know a building

[1:01:15] envelope or other energy efficiency measures or

[1:01:21] and that's that's really what that it's a is that is she is it a woman I thought

[1:01:25] it's a woman yeah uh is is she's an Source employee.

[1:01:30] Yeah. So she would then there are um some firms that would be on hand to do a

[1:01:37] technical assessment and so so she's uh the energy efficiency consultants are

[1:01:42] kind of the internal project managers who work to you know connect um we also

[1:01:49] have so they're sales account executives for energy efficiency and then energy

[1:01:54] efficiency consultants um so um

[1:01:59] but the energy efficiency consultants are really the project managers and we

[1:02:02] have internal engineering resources but they hire out firms much like Greenbank

[1:02:06] works with CW or CSW you know it's it's the on the ground

[1:02:11] engineers that would do the assessments. Does anybody know if uh Brian Murak

[1:02:18] still lives in town? He he he had that role at Eversource for a while. Um he's

[1:02:25] no longer with Eversource. now has an independent consulting firm and I've,

[1:02:29] you know, worked with him both when he was in Eversource and and outside. I

[1:02:32] didn't realize he lived in Grimby. That's interesting. Uh, yes, he's still

[1:02:37] So, you still work with him? He must still be here. I

[1:02:40] I don't know. I mean, I think he's still in the state, but uh, Right. Yeah.

[1:02:51] Can So, sorry. What's just on that on that topic? So, how do we how do we

[1:02:56] conclude that? Cara, are you going to um I I will make an introduction to Dana

[1:03:02] and say that, you know, see if Mike would be interested in in a meeting to

[1:03:08] discuss it. Just going to send an email and you can copy us and Kathy. Okay,

[1:03:11] that's perfect. It'll it'll probably come from my Eversource email. Um

[1:03:18] so, just, you know, generally um that's I try to

[1:03:25] keep business and personal life separate. Um so but that one will I will

[1:03:31] do for my work email. Um I'll and I'll ask around and see if I can find you

[1:03:37] know more about the interconnection process and see who the appropriate

[1:03:41] person to come to would be on the side. Um and just well kind of a a curiosity

[1:03:50] on like just economies of scale. So, so, um, um, I I you'd already, you'd said

[1:03:56] pretty clearly, it sounded like, you know, Jenny Emery was was was moving

[1:03:59] forward with with a, um, with CSW and and and and had things in progress. So,

[1:04:06] yeah, we don't want to slow anybody down, but but I just I think about it,

[1:04:10] whether it's the buildings on Hulcom Farm or the Methodist Church building or

[1:04:16] or the town garage, all are owned by the town of Granby. So I I don't know. I I

[1:04:23] wouldn't want to trip anything up, but in a way it almost I I mean maybe the

[1:04:27] friends of Hulcom Farm is signing an agreement with CSW, but but they're the

[1:04:31] lei. So So it would seem to me that maybe they're heavily involved, but it's

[1:04:36] a town probably a town contract as well. But anyway, just

[1:04:42] I I'm not trying to muddle things, but but uh all three of those buildings, I

[1:04:47] believe the the common denominator is they are all owned by the town. So

[1:04:52] anyway, I don't know that uh yeah, I I mean that deal is is done. It's uh okay.

[1:04:59] I mean, David could tell us. I don't know. Do you see any activity over

[1:05:02] there? But it's she say it's like imminent. Um, and that's great. I think

[1:05:07] economies of scale, three buildings for a company like CSW

[1:05:11] Energy wouldn't wouldn't result in in too much. Yeah.

[1:05:16] Um, it could possibly make a difference though with the upgrades to the grid,

[1:05:21] you know, so like the they're

[1:05:26] and I don't want to get out over my skis. I'm demand side, not supply side.

[1:05:31] But um if um usually they like to plan for things,

[1:05:37] multiple things at once. So if we're it might make some sense to say, all right,

[1:05:42] we're doing it at Hulcom Farm also doing the um Methodist church at the same time

[1:05:48] and then you know the town garage which is you know next to the the I'm correct

[1:05:55] that's next to the high school, right? Yeah. Two miles away. So doing those two

[1:06:01] at the same time might also make sense from a grid planning perspective. Yeah.

[1:06:05] Yeah. The the again that the CSA barn is is a done deal. Um it'll and I

[1:06:13] I'll learn we'll learn what Ever Sourc's upgrade policy is. it I mean I think it

[1:06:20] is sort of the way it it works is the they'll they'll install solar until they

[1:06:25] can't and then the next person has to pay for it right and but I don't know

[1:06:29] how much they I'm sure they oversize it to some degree like you know it's

[1:06:33] obviously very technical but I think there's probably a good chance that the

[1:06:36] Methodist church then project wouldn't wouldn't have that additional cost

[1:06:41] that's that's our hope it won't be very big project so I think that's our hope

[1:06:47] but Yeah, as we start to go down in toward the garage and the schools, then

[1:06:52] I think very much let's we talk to them about a bigger plan,

[1:06:57] you know, and maybe something more um forwardlooking

[1:07:02] rather than just one one project at a time.

[1:07:07] From um from Jenny Emry's updates to the town on um the Methodist church, I mean,

[1:07:12] one thing that was 100% clear is it's an all electric building. So, oh yeah, the

[1:07:18] heat source is electric as well. So, yeah, boy, what a what a great candidate

[1:07:21] for solar and a great candidate for insulation.

[1:07:26] Yes. And and uh usually like in projects like

[1:07:31] this, if there's excess uh revenue generated by the surplus power, um would

[1:07:37] would that revenue go to the town or Well, the pro there's a few programs and

[1:07:45] ways to install solar these days and on the CS the CSA

[1:07:50] barn there's no electrical load right so all all of that energy is being sold to

[1:07:56] Eversource under this particular program and then the uh all of that revenue

[1:08:02] comes back to the project owner and apparently I see

[1:08:09] okay apparently under this deal that they that they've done with CSW Energy

[1:08:16] I mean, CSW Energy probably own probably owns owns the solar system, probably

[1:08:22] have a a nominal lease with the roof or whatever, right? And and then or or the

[1:08:30] town gets the 22% as obviously as a lease. And does anyone have an update on

[1:08:36] the the 100 I think it's a 100 megawatt project that's going in um on salmon?

[1:08:44] Good good question. Um Monrovia. Yeah, Mike I mean from the meeting we had

[1:08:49] about I don't know five or six weeks ago, Mike said they've been silent.

[1:08:55] Okay. The the the solar developer has like

[1:08:59] I don't even I don't even I think he said they're not returning their calls.

[1:09:03] They're just basically um there's no communication with them.

[1:09:08] Oh, okay. I don't know if anybody has any other Maybe that's not going

[1:09:12] forward. Maybe David has an update. Yeah,

[1:09:16] I Yep. I don't have an update on the solar going in, but part of our meeting

[1:09:21] with Mike Walsh, um he was giving us an update on the battery project and the

[1:09:29] town's um appeal, I guess, of the Connecticut Sighting Council decision to

[1:09:34] allow it to go through. And, you know, he he brought out the arguments that

[1:09:39] we've all seen. And I thought Kent did a really good job of saying, "Hey, it's

[1:09:44] not that it's it's not fireprone the kind of u batteries that they're using.

[1:09:50] Um, a lot of the concerns are not uh wellounded." And, you know, forgive me

[1:09:55] if I'm paraphrasing you too much, Kent, but it was, you know, was was not at all

[1:09:59] a discussion back and forth, but it seemed like a whole bunch of good new

[1:10:03] information for him. um given that he's not, you know,

[1:10:09] a solar battery expert or whatever. Yeah, that's a good reminder, David. I I

[1:10:13] I I need to do a little research and send it over to Mike. Um I mean, look,

[1:10:18] they're a the win appeal against the sighting council.

[1:10:23] It's I don't know. He didn't seem very The only idea maybe is you you tire out

[1:10:30] the battery supplier and they give up. But um I I I pointed out and I'll I'll

[1:10:35] I'll try to keep this brief, but I'll copy you on on this. Um there's a lot of

[1:10:41] concern about the the safety of of lithium-ion batteries,

[1:10:46] rightly so. There's been a lot of fires across the world that we we should all

[1:10:50] be concerned about. Um, but there's six different type of lithium ion batteries.

[1:10:55] And the the ones that make the news that catch fire and all this other stuff.

[1:11:00] Those are nickel, manganese, cobalt, NMC batteries that were the first ones that,

[1:11:06] you know, are all in all the original Tesla cars and everything because they

[1:11:09] have the highest power density and a good price and all that kind of stuff,

[1:11:12] but they're also have this thermal runaway challenge. and the stationary

[1:11:19] battery industry. While starting with NMC batteries, you can almost not buy an

[1:11:26] NMC battery these days. They're all lithium iron phosphate,

[1:11:32] which are um not um without any risk, but they have

[1:11:38] orders of magnitude less risk of thermal runaway than uh NMC batteries. M

[1:11:46] and I just kind of mentioned that and Mike's like, "Well, that's interesting.

[1:11:50] We've never heard such a thing." And and to me, I can't believe the battery

[1:11:53] company didn't talk about this. So, I I I I need to find some

[1:11:59] good third party uh independent writeup and uh I'll share it with

[1:12:05] everybody and and with Mike and with he can share it with the first selectman.

[1:12:11] Um, I don't know if that'll change anybody's mind, but the primary concern

[1:12:16] is concern over over fire safety um and uh threat to the water um table and

[1:12:26] water supply in that area. Um, and there may be all sorts of real concerns there,

[1:12:30] but I just want to make sure people know be maybe a little less um, fearful of

[1:12:38] batteries from, you know, that perspective.

[1:12:43] What was the chat that was put about fire? Um, do the batteries require any

[1:12:47] additional investment for our firefighters? So, that's Andrew. I would

[1:12:52] think they need there's additional training and um, I would equipment

[1:12:57] I I would think that's that's and usually I mean the whole the sighting

[1:13:01] council um the whole reason it's set up is to

[1:13:06] prevent not in my backyard. That's the whole reason the sighting council

[1:13:09] exists. Um but generally when you install big

[1:13:15] things like that you want to go to the fire departments um and get their

[1:13:21] approval and things. Um I I don't know anybody know if if the

[1:13:26] if our volunteer fire departments have been involved in this,

[1:13:31] but they would want some training. Even even though it is much more safe than

[1:13:35] NMC, there's still certainly a risk and it's certainly certainly training would

[1:13:39] be warranted. I I read a bunch of the testimony, but it's been too many

[1:13:44] months, so apologies. I I there there were definitely concerns expressed about

[1:13:50] uh firefighting. um uh uh equipment and and capability um especially if you're

[1:13:57] in a town with an all volunteer force. uh but I I don't recall specifics if

[1:14:03] there was any you know agreement or offer from the developer uh to provide

[1:14:07] but you yes from my experience in communities where my former employer

[1:14:13] used to operate we uh um we had to provide all that equipment um our

[1:14:17] ourselves um and then also make sure that um uh um the local municipalities

[1:14:24] were were well outfitted as well. So it's it's typical, but

[1:14:29] yeah, I mean certainly and the other things with these with these products

[1:14:32] that are out there, they have like fire suppression systems all throughout the

[1:14:39] cabinets. Um I mean this is obviously a big concern and topic for the the

[1:14:47] battery industry. Um so

[1:14:59] Okay. Um All right. Anything else we wanted to talk to on

[1:15:07] energy for tonight?

[1:15:12] Okay. Um so topics for the next meeting. Um which I

[1:15:19] guess would be looking at here.

[1:15:25] Um,

[1:15:28] July 14th or no, sorry, July 15th.

[1:15:33] Okay. Does July 8th here? That's it. Oh, sorry. Yeah, July 8th. I was looking the

[1:15:38] wrong. Yeah. So, July 8th will be our next meeting. Thank you. Um

[1:15:45] I think um should we continue to talk about the

[1:15:51] farm lease wording and um or do we want to wait until we've had

[1:15:59] more of a chance to talk to the agricultural commission?

[1:16:02] Yeah. Yeah. Car my sense is we probably won't have anything new. Okay. Um, but

[1:16:08] yeah, we'll just be looking to make contacts and see what Heather has to say

[1:16:12] and establishing a process. But can I suggest can I suggest that we just leave

[1:16:18] it on the agenda so if something does come up we can talk about it and if not

[1:16:22] we can just breeze over it. Sure. Yeah. um plan of conservation development

[1:16:30] probably won't have any develop anything to report on until uh late September. Um

[1:16:39] energy conservation I think we should keep on

[1:16:44] um composting will do you want to um have

[1:16:49] something on that next month? Sure. Yep. That's fine.

[1:16:54] Um, I might just mention that I am locked in for um a uh presentation at

[1:17:01] the library on September 16th between 6:30 and 7:30 and I'm going to um

[1:17:07] hopefully uh line up a Blue Earth uh

[1:17:11] representative to attend. Great. Okay. Um any other topics we want to add

[1:17:18] to the agenda for July 8th? David, David, were you raising your

[1:17:25] hand? No. Okay.

[1:17:30] Okay.

[1:17:33] All right.

[1:17:37] Um, any final comments?

[1:17:44] I um uh was at a a meeting with some of the MLAN folks and they have done

[1:17:51] tremendously well on their early fundraising. I sorry I guess some of

[1:17:56] this was in the paper so just say it very quickly.

[1:17:59] they they've achieved about 500,000 of their $800,000 goal uh for fundraising,

[1:18:05] which is going to be a total revamp of the um

[1:18:09] facility on on Barnor Hills Road and and that'll be office space and laboratory

[1:18:15] storage, meeting space, research space. Um, so kind of tangential to our work,

[1:18:21] but uh but just a great a great win for MLAN such that they're going to be

[1:18:26] moving forward, I believe, with bidding and maybe even construction on that

[1:18:30] project uh before the year's out. Wow.

[1:18:34] I didn't know there was a facility on Barn Hill. It's a It looks like a

[1:18:39] garage. It's like a double garage. Oh, okay.

[1:18:43] And I've been there to, you know, to talk with them and they're having like a

[1:18:47] meeting around a card table, you know, with a concrete floor, no

[1:18:52] heat. It's it's really for, you know, Connor has definitely built this

[1:18:56] organization up from the, you know, occasional staff person

[1:19:01] pre before him and uh they need more space.

[1:19:06] Uh very much like Joe O'Grady has built up Hulk Farm to a big steady crew that

[1:19:12] deserves a place to hang his hat and wash their hands and stuff. Sure.

[1:19:17] Yeah. Con I guess this is year eight or nine or something like that for Connor

[1:19:20] and he's had now about 25 college interns go through there and he's

[1:19:26] normally has four or five at a at a time with him each year at least. So, so this

[1:19:31] is great and and I guess yeah, some of the renderings and whatnot were in the

[1:19:34] drummer, but uh um I know they'll be using one of the things he said uh to me

[1:19:39] was uh in a in a world with with tariffs on lumber because they'll be using a lot

[1:19:44] more of their own lumber um from from the farm which is already you know store

[1:19:49] being stored and dried over in a barn that's off of Firetown. Um so but just

[1:19:55] you know anyway great great news for MLAN.

[1:19:59] My daughter was one of those 25. Oh, yeah.

[1:20:03] That's great. She great experience at Sustainable Connecticut also. The same

[1:20:08] daughter or all. No, not No, my daughter didn't do that. No, she didn't get No,

[1:20:12] that was Maybe you're thinking Jim Mafa's daughter.

[1:20:16] Oh, right. Fred Maf. Yeah, sorry. Jim Maf Fred Maf.

[1:20:23] Um, David, you were raising your hand for additional comment.

[1:20:32] Um, David, did you raise your hand to make an additional comment for final?

[1:20:36] Not on not on the agenda. It was in comments by commissioners.

[1:20:40] We're in comments comments by commissioners. You is there one? Oh, my

[1:20:43] um next not wanted column is coming up uh deadline Monday. You know, if

[1:20:49] anybody's putting anything that in the drummer, it's noon on Monday. Um, and

[1:20:53] I'm sorry my cam is so terrible, but uh

[1:20:59] this is is this backwards? No, we can see it. We can see it. How can I help?

[1:21:04] Um, yeah. So, it's the latest uh Doug Talamy Talamy book. People may know his

[1:21:10] name. He's a um entomologist at University of Delaware.

[1:21:17] And sorry, I just had to turn that off. Um,

[1:21:22] and it's a great book because it's 499

[1:21:27] uh questions that have come up in his public conversations with people. So,

[1:21:31] you know, think of all the times you've had conversations with people about uh

[1:21:34] poison ivy or, you know, how bugs are eating my oaks. Is that really a good

[1:21:40] are oaks really? You know, should I should I kill the bugs that are eating

[1:21:43] the oaks? You know, all the all the sort of funny little questions that come up

[1:21:47] along with the, you know, the big picture items. Uh

[1:21:53] uh but I so I started thinking okay this is

[1:21:58] a great book to recommend to everybody and then I zoomed in on one issue and

[1:22:02] it's mosquitoes and very much like Kent's column a couple years ago in the

[1:22:07] drummer uh I'm going to focus a bunch of it on you know the the the downsides of

[1:22:16] the fogging industry and how they kill everything and how if you want to kill

[1:22:21] mosqu if you want no mosquitoes around, you know, as Kent said, they don't

[1:22:25] travel far. So, I think the title of the article, Kent, was uh if they if you

[1:22:29] don't want mosquitoes, uh kill them before they get launched or something. I

[1:22:34] don't remember. It's on our it's on our the conservation commission website.

[1:22:37] It's a great very succinct article. Um and

[1:22:42] you know, so it's it might be a little controversial. I'm not going to name,

[1:22:45] you know, I'm not going to say Mosquito Joe, you know, boycott Mosquito Joe, but

[1:22:49] I'm going to make it clear that if if you hire someone to kill all the bugs in

[1:22:52] your yard, you're also killing all the birds and all everything else. If you

[1:22:56] know, we have a a um uh Carolina Ren family that's come I don't know if it's

[1:23:05] the same family, but they sure look the same. um three years in a row and they

[1:23:09] they live in this g they bear their their they make a nest for like two

[1:23:14] months and right now they're bringing uh caterpillars every couple of minutes.

[1:23:19] Where are they getting them all? I mean they're they're feeding their kids on

[1:23:23] these caterpillars that they're bringing every couple of minutes. Um and it's the

[1:23:27] whole whole point that a brood of chick, you know, a family of chickades needs

[1:23:33] four to six thousand caterpillars to raise their young. So if you kill all

[1:23:37] the bugs, you're not going to have caterpillars for the birds and you know,

[1:23:42] etc., etc. So I'm going to make the point as clearly as I can and um look,

[1:23:47] you know, find some other resources so that it's not just, you know, oh, it's

[1:23:51] just crazy Doug telling me, but uh there can well be some push back um from um

[1:23:58] you know, from people who really love their their fog

[1:24:04] and and I really recommend the book. Uh, anybody, you know, it's not that

[1:24:07] expensive. It's like 25 bucks. Uh, and if anybody wants to has a question like,

[1:24:12] "Oh, what does he say about poison ivy?" Well, he's a little hardcore, so I'm not

[1:24:16] going to tell. No, he's like, "Don't cut down your poison ivy. It's such a

[1:24:20] useful." Oh, geez. Okay. We all know that if you you can kill as much poison

[1:24:25] ivy as you want. We're not going to make a dent in it. So, even though it's

[1:24:30] native, it's not invasive, it's just a problem. So, that's my update.

[1:24:35] Thank you.

[1:24:38] Um, so Kathy and I corresponded a little bit about um, meeting rooms and

[1:24:46] um, Kathy, I'm I'm going to paraphrase, correct me if I get this wrong, but it

[1:24:50] sounds sounds like given the constrained technical resources, both people and

[1:24:58] rooms, um, there's not really the capacity to have

[1:25:02] a hybrid meeting. Um, so I am interpreting that is that we can

[1:25:07] continue to meet by Zoom or we can meet in person but having hybrid will be

[1:25:13] difficult. So Kathy, did I interpret that correctly?

[1:25:17] Yes. Okay. Um, so I think um

[1:25:25] given some of the public comment, it would be good to at some point have a an

[1:25:31] in-person meeting. Um but and so I think um

[1:25:41] just trying to figure out how to navigate um would you know do you do you

[1:25:47] feel strongly that we should continue to meet only by Zoom? um would you be open

[1:25:53] to an in-person meeting um perhaps in

[1:25:58] um you know in September or you know I I'm around all summer so uh I've done my

[1:26:05] traveling for the year so we'll or until the fall so um

[1:26:12] yeah uh any any thoughts or reactions to that.

[1:26:21] So, um, David or David, yeah, I'm I'm for at least one

[1:26:28] inerson meeting if we could pull it off this year. We don't all know each other.

[1:26:33] You know, it'd be nice to to meet face to face and maybe have a have a meal or

[1:26:38] just a longer conversation or a conversation that could be wide wider

[1:26:42] ranging than we can have uh in in this way. Okay.

[1:26:48] I I agree. I agree. Uh I think it would be good to do some inerson meetings now

[1:26:55] and then. It would be great to be able to do that and have somebody call in

[1:27:01] remotely if possible. I don't know if if that's possible. Let's just say

[1:27:07] like July 8th. I'm not going to be in town, but I could call in somewhere I

[1:27:11] am. And if it's in person and I can't call in, oh well, I guess. So, I don't

[1:27:17] know. Just is that is that an option for like a September? Even if it's

[1:27:23] September, does it have to be all in person or can it be hybrid?

[1:27:27] Well, I think the issue is that um we don't have the abil like it would

[1:27:32] require GCTV if I understood correctly. So, it's sort of all or nothing um one

[1:27:40] way or the other. Um but we have seven people now. It is

[1:27:45] been easier to get a quorum. Um so, if we had a in-person meeting, would

[1:27:52] September be the right time to do it? Um or would you want to do it sooner?

[1:27:59] Uh I would I wouldn't recommend before September personally. Yeah, September

[1:28:03] sounds good to me. Yeah. Um so Kathy, would you be so kind as to find us um if

[1:28:11] possible uh an a room for an in-person meeting? We know it won't be hybrid um

[1:28:17] for our September meeting. Sure. Thank you so much. You're welcome.

[1:28:25] Okay.

[1:28:30] Any other comments? Um I I have a comment. Um I was

[1:28:37] or kind of a question. Um you know, I recently reviewed um the

[1:28:43] Connecticut General Statutes um section on municipalities and the establishment

[1:28:48] of conservation commissions. And you know, as everyone here probably

[1:28:54] knows, uh, the conservation conservation commissions don't have a lot of, you

[1:28:59] know, power or authority. Uh, we don't have subpoena power, for instance, which

[1:29:04] I wish we had. Um, or to levy fines or anything like that. But, um, the the one

[1:29:10] pull out the National Guard, though, anytime, right?

[1:29:14] But but the the one thing that's that's appears to be mandatory in the statute

[1:29:20] is it says conservation commissions shall keep an index of all open areas

[1:29:27] public or privately owned including open marshlands, swamps and other wetlands

[1:29:32] for the purpose of obtaining information on the proper use of such areas. So my

[1:29:38] question is, do we have an index of all open areas

[1:29:42] including marshlands, swamps, and other wetlands? Because if we don't, we're in

[1:29:47] violation of the statute. Arguably, [Music]

[1:29:52] there was a link on our old website to um an inventory, I think it was called.

[1:29:59] Um and it wasn't something we produced, but I think we had some ownership over

[1:30:05] it. I don't know if we have to do it or uh

[1:30:09] reference it, but I'm so glad you brought it up because there aren't many

[1:30:12] things that we're that we have to especially since we don't have inland

[1:30:15] wetlands responsibilities like some other conservation commissions do.

[1:30:22] Yeah. Um, I think it I think maybe that's a pro project that we may want to

[1:30:28] undertake uh because that dovetales with other aspects of the um sort of the

[1:30:35] enabling statute. And by the way, the statute is Connecticut General Statute

[1:30:39] 7-131A and or yeah 131A.

[1:30:45] Um because there's also reference to um uh

[1:30:54] establishing um proposing greenway plans for inclusion in the plan of

[1:31:00] conservation. Um and greenways are becoming increasingly important um with

[1:31:07] the you know the ongoing development of uh lands.

[1:31:12] So, um, any I just thought I would raise that, uh, for consideration. Um, maybe

[1:31:20] we can we can talk about that at the next maybe we can put that down as an

[1:31:24] agenda item. I am open to it. Um, I have some

[1:31:31] thoughts, but it's probably better to put that as an agenda item for next

[1:31:34] time. So, okay. Definitely. I don't know if David concluded this,

[1:31:39] but there there's something out there, right? I thought Zach found it as part

[1:31:43] of the sustainable CT thing, but this

[1:31:48] I don't know. I think there's there's an inventory available. I just a few years

[1:31:51] ago. I thought it was I thought it was even on our website, town website,

[1:31:56] something. I'll poke around and see what I can find. Yeah, between the land trust

[1:32:02] um and the tax assessor database, I'm sure there's a fair amount of um

[1:32:09] information about what's out there. We could always use the wayback machine to

[1:32:14] to find our old website,

[1:32:19] you know, on that topic. or will and Carol. also touched base with Eric

[1:32:23] Luckenville who was on well done a lot of things in town but was on the last

[1:32:29] plan of conservation development and and and he's talked at length when we've

[1:32:34] just been talking about open spaces in town about how

[1:32:39] um you know the Graanby Land Trust which he's also on the board of um has worked

[1:32:44] on identifying specific properties to to to have interconnectivity etc etc. Um

[1:32:52] anyway, I I'll touch base with Eric to see if there's something there that we

[1:32:56] can talk about next time as well. Um that you know it was something

[1:33:02] my my impression is there is something formalized but I'm not sure if if it

[1:33:07] lies within the town or the land trust or anyway I'll explore it. That'd be

[1:33:12] great. Yeah. Uh great uh great addition will

[1:33:18] and I think it would be good for the next agenda. uh next meeting especially

[1:33:22] as a ramp up to the plan of conservation and development. So that's good.

[1:33:28] All right. Any last comments?

[1:33:34] Do I have a motion to adjurnn? So moved.

[1:33:39] Second. Second. Uh all in favor? I I Okay. Thank you very much.

[1:33:51] Thank you. Very good. And thank you. Thank you. Have a good week. Bye.

6/10/2025 Conservation Commission Regular Meeting 6/10/2025

Transcript