1
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Yeah. So, at least I can hear. The last
few times I haven't been able to hear

2
00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:21,320
people like I have to go over and
so allow participants to chat,

3
00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:21,320
rename themselves, unmute themselves.

4
00:00:21,680 --> 00:00:28,560
Oh, okay. Does that mean they should be
good? They should be good. Okay. We'll

5
00:00:26,640 --> 00:00:35,360
see what happens. And the one thing I'm
going to change is to let them

6
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Oh, no. I'm not going to bother. Okay.
Yeah. Should be good. Okay. Well, I hope

7
00:00:38,719 --> 00:00:44,840
your meeting doesn't go too long. It is
what it is. I know.

8
00:01:30,080 --> 00:01:38,320
Did you find a place to park? just
literally squeezed in next to you and

9
00:01:34,159 --> 00:01:42,720
Abby. Oh, good. Yeah, it was.
What time was they do? They start

10
00:01:39,759 --> 00:01:47,520
graduation. I thought it was 5:30. Okay,
that makes sense because we were home

11
00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:50,520
and like traffic was backing up and
people

12
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I had trouble with last time.

13
00:02:05,759 --> 00:02:11,680
A there are nice people in the room
Toby.

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00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:15,920
Now, are you excited about the last day
as well?

15
00:02:14,319 --> 00:02:21,920
And I bet you it's a short day, too,
isn't it? Today was also So, are you

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00:02:19,520 --> 00:02:26,879
learning anything at this point? Yeah.
No.

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00:02:24,400 --> 00:02:32,520
You're learning patience, but you have
to sit there for a few hours. That's

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what you're learning.

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00:02:33,599 --> 00:02:38,200
Good luck with your meeting. You, too,

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This

21
00:09:47,360 --> 00:09:55,279
Hey Jim.
Hey. How you doing Kathy? I'm good,

22
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thanks. Good.
Let's see.

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00:09:57,120 --> 00:10:06,760
I guess the way I'm currently
see

24
00:10:02,640 --> 00:10:06,760
I think we're it for now.

25
00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:37,440
Kathy, you you you can hear me? Yes, I
can hear you. You hear me? That's great.

26
00:10:34,320 --> 00:10:43,839
Yes, I can. Um, sorry. Sorry for the
silly questions. Can you see me? Um, I

27
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can't see you. I can see your name.
Okay. Interesting. I'll um

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I'll I'll uh
I am not sure why.

29
00:11:18,160 --> 00:11:27,360
Hi, Will. Hi. How are you? I'm good. How
are you doing? Well, thank you. Jim,

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00:11:25,040 --> 00:11:31,839
you're the little uh camera next to your
name has a cross through it.

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00:11:29,760 --> 00:11:36,160
Interesting. Yeah, I know. I'm I'm on my
end. I'm not seeing the way to get my

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00:11:33,680 --> 00:11:40,640
camera turned on, so um I I'll keep
playing around with it, but I'm glad the

33
00:11:37,600 --> 00:11:45,839
audio is working. Hi, Will. Hi, Jim. How
are you? Good. Good. How you doing?

34
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Good. Hey, um I had a question. Are we
meeting through the summer?

35
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We usually do. Okay. All right. I only
ask because my wife's on the library

36
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board and they they don't meet during
the summer,

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but uh I'm all for meeting.

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Let's see.

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See,

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how was your trip to Ireland? Oh, it was
marvelous. Um, yeah. And I I saw that

41
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Cara was in Ireland. Yeah. And and um
you know, I guess it didn't dawn on me

42
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to hop on the meeting at midnight, which
is what you must have done.

43
00:12:37,839 --> 00:12:48,240
Had you been before? No. Well, um not
not like this. Just um a blow through

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

45
00:12:51,200 --> 00:13:00,240
It's on my list. Oh, yeah. Well,
yeah. And they they got direct flights

46
00:12:58,079 --> 00:13:04,519
from Bradley, which is I know which is
awfully nice. It's so easy.

47
00:13:09,440 --> 00:13:16,000
My uh my wife and and three daughters
did that um I guess now coming up on two

48
00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:21,360
years ago as sort of a delayed college
graduation trip firstly because it was

49
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so easy as you said. Yeah, it it really
is. And um this was sort of a delayed

50
00:13:23,920 --> 00:13:35,120
graduation gift for my daughter. She
graduated last year. So we Neat. Yeah.

51
00:13:32,320 --> 00:13:38,360
So it was the three of us.
Let's go.

52
00:13:44,079 --> 00:13:53,839
Oh, Jim, I don't I printed off that
document you sent. Okay. And I might

53
00:13:51,440 --> 00:13:59,720
have left it downstairs, so I think I'll
run downstairs. All right.

54
00:13:56,720 --> 00:13:59,720
Um,

55
00:14:16,720 --> 00:14:25,600
well, Kathy, for the life of me, I guess
I can't seem to this evening find how to

56
00:14:22,720 --> 00:14:31,800
turn my video on, so I might just be
audio. Yeah. Okay. All right. H

57
00:14:32,880 --> 00:14:41,000
It's kind of like 80% of the time
everything works, 20% of the time I have

58
00:14:37,839 --> 00:14:41,000
no idea.

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00:14:41,120 --> 00:14:50,000
I think you have to go to settings. Um
and then you select your camera. That

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because that's happened to me in the
past and that's what that's what I did.

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Aha. Well, I didn't go to settings, but

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got it. Okay, here you are. Kept
fumbling and and and there

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00:15:10,000 --> 00:15:14,360
right back. Let's see.

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Good evening. Hi.

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00:15:22,720 --> 00:15:28,720
Will was just briefly describing his
trip to Ireland.

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00:15:26,639 --> 00:15:32,120
Awesome. I think you guys I think you
guys were overlapping.

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00:15:41,440 --> 00:15:45,560
Oh, this is great. Hi, Zach.

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00:16:23,279 --> 00:16:26,279
two.

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00:16:32,160 --> 00:16:38,639
I I bet our numbers will change a little
bit, but Cara, if if if we're five or

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does that make us a quorum or or or not
quite? I believe it does. Yeah. Okay.

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Shall we uh get started?
Ready?

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Yeah, let's do it. I'm good. Let's go.
Okay. Um, so I guess I I officially call

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

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present. Um,
so that will

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lead us to uh review and approval of the
May 13 minutes. Um,

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Jim, I know you emailed some comments.
Um, Kathy,

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I I did. Yeah. Cath Kathy, I guess my
sentiment there was just that and thanks

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00:17:30,240 --> 00:17:37,280
for capturing everything. Um um I know I
sent you the written comment, but the

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sentiment was gee I wasn't trying to say
that the Graanby Land Trust had an NRC

80
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plan because I actually don't know if
they do or they don't. It was farm uses

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elements of one on their land and on the
town owned land. So, I know I sent you a

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couple of words and a phrase, but that
that was that was the sentiment because

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I I I don't know if uh if if GLT
formally uses that, but they certainly

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use elements of it and and sorry, the
Pulk Farm certainly use elements of it

85
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on that land.
So, how do you want that corrected, Jim,

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for the purposes? Um I I emailed you a
sentence. Okay. All right. I'll just

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look that I can look that up. Okay.

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[Music]

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I think um
Jim suggested in email um under the

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bullet point attributed to him uh such
as IPM NRCS conservation practices

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including the use of crop rotation and
cover crops practices used at Hulkcom

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farm and on the fields they lease from
the town and Graanby land trust. test.

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

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Kathy asked that we make our corrections
verbally during the meeting uh rather

95
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than emailing them. Um Okay. And then I
think that

96
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um
as I understand it, the town clerk is

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working on some guidance for town
committees um and facilitation rules. I

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look forward to getting more
information. Um

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but uh as I understand it, the
philosophy of the meeting minutes is not

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to necessarily be a transcript of the
call, but to capture points discussed,

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who was there, motions made. So I think
um you know, it's a it's a lighter

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approach to minutes. I mean, I've in a
past job had to keep minutes and um you

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can you can go all out or focus lightly.
So, I think um as I'm understanding it,

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the town is looking for a lighter touch
on just the overall minutes. So, that's

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00:20:06,160 --> 00:20:15,280
a a less is more approach sounds great.
Yeah, that's that's the idea. Any other

106
00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:18,840
corrections to the minutes or
corrections, additions?

107
00:20:21,919 --> 00:20:29,960
All right. Um,
hi David.

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Hi.

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Right. Um, do I have a motion?
Computer problems, but it will be better

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for you.

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And, uh, Andrew, hello as well.

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Hello. Good evening.
It's great to have everybody here.

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Uh, I move to accept the minutes as
corrected.

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Uh, is there a second?

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Second.
All in favor?

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I. All right. Pass unanimous
unanimously.

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Great.
Okay. Um,

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next item on the agenda is the farm
lease conservation. Um, and Jim, I know

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you've been trying to coordinate with
the, um, agricultural commission, which

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is, uh, I guess undergoing a change in
leadership. The, uh, Heather Lombardo is

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stepping down and they are figuring out,
uh, who will be the next leader to go

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forward. Um, was there anything else you
wanted like what else uh would you like

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to talk about tonight or anything else
you wanted to bring up? Well, from my

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perspective, it was just a couple of a
brief comments about the two-page

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document that I distributed. Um and and
just I mean when we had our last meeting

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it was it was good to have the first
selectman there and and and went through

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that kind of whole dialogue and and and
the broader so so wanted to come back to

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this document and just say um uh give
you the kind of the one minute speech on

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on on how it was developed and and kind
of the fact that it's just a working

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draft. So Cara and I met with the
agricultural commission in April

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and then uh after that meeting they said
yes we'd like to work together. Um yes

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please send us the leasing guides. Um
folks went through those kind of offline

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in advance of the May meeting and the
two page two pages of notes that you see

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were the result of the May the 1st
meeting. Um now I I call it a working

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draft. not looking to make any motions
or anything, but wanted folks to see it.

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And I guess, you know, I'll just say in
in my words, um, that group was pretty

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excited to say, "Yeah, these are these
are important things that we might do."

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Uh, the first page is is is things you
might do in a pre-season meeting. um

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which
uh um I mean I won't kind of read

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through the bullet points but just
captures um uh key points of what would

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be prudent practices. Um and then by the
way the agricultural commission includes

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some of our longtime multigeneration
farmers who reiterated no they don't

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feel that any of this is ownorous. This
is just kind of basic standard stuff.

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Um the second page was kind of more of a
brainstorm list. Again, neither one of

145
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these was expected to be final. Um, it
was the start of a dialogue. Um, and I

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wanted this group to have a chance to
see it and at least react to it and go,

147
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"Oh, okay. Those things seem reasonable.
They resonate to me." Um, now that I've

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read the 2016 plan of conservation and
development, I found it interesting how

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many of the longer term things that we
capture here are already in the POC. Um

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a and then what would be happening with
the agricultural commission is just as

151
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Cara said um uh uh Heather Lombardo is
going to be stepping down. They'll kind

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of reshuffle roles and responsibilities.
And when Cara and I talked offline a few

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days ago, we thought that I will discuss

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and maybe over the next six to nine
months, we'll flush out this two-page

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document further um and and come up with
something that we'd make a motion on,

156
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but but really don't envision any
deliverable until let's call it about

157
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the end of the year. Um, so with that,
wanted to share that story and give

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folks just a chance to scan this and and
provide any any gut reactions. Um, if

159
00:24:55,919 --> 00:25:02,640
you'd like and and Cara, does that kind
of capture, I guess, our discussion and

160
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what we what we think the process might
be over the next six to nine months?

161
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Yeah, I think that's a great summary.

162
00:25:16,080 --> 00:25:19,080
David.

163
00:25:21,120 --> 00:25:31,520
Um, I think this is great. Incredibly
thoughtful and um I I really like the

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the uh sort of specific, you know, do it
and then thoughts for the future format.

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You know, lots of issues. Uh my one
question is the meeting that should be

166
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completed by April 30th. Is that a
public meeting? Is the public noticed

167
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about that? I mean there's so many
fields around that people have, you

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know, somebody comes and mows that
periodically or they grow crops there

169
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and maybe they'd be curious and maybe
that would be a positive thing. Um

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whether or not there's like a public
process, but you'd think there'd be it

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00:26:01,120 --> 00:26:08,159
would be useful to have some greater
education about what's going on there.

172
00:26:06,240 --> 00:26:12,400
Great comment, David. I guess we didn't
get so far as to say would this meeting

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be public or not public, but what one of
the things we did talk about was saying,

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hey, we need to have a a mechanism, some
some group of folks that may be uh part

175
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of an interface team. And and so you're
right, people need to be able to provide

176
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input. Um um Zach has helped us very
specifically, you know, share that boy,

177
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if you see this kind of a concern, your
first call should be to deep, but but

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just in terms of town communication, um
yeah, in the longer term considerations,

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we've looked at the guides where many
towns have a body um could be members of

180
00:26:45,440 --> 00:26:51,360
the ad commission, the conservation
commission that I guess would would

181
00:26:49,200 --> 00:26:56,240
probably field or be an opportunity for
for people to provide input to in some

182
00:26:53,440 --> 00:27:01,840
public forum. So, um, great comment,
TBD, I guess I would say, but capturing

183
00:26:58,640 --> 00:27:07,200
your thoughts.
And, uh, does the egg commission or the

184
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conservation commission take the lead on
that? Seems like it's more their belly

185
00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:17,440
wick, you know, if they're interested.
T TBD. Okay. Um, you know, it's

186
00:27:16,080 --> 00:27:22,799
interesting when you when you read the
the missions of the two organizations,

187
00:27:20,480 --> 00:27:26,000
um, the missions would probably nudge it
more towards us, but I'm I'm not

188
00:27:24,400 --> 00:27:31,039
lobbying for one or the other. I just
But TBD. Yeah. Just because there's more

189
00:27:28,640 --> 00:27:34,039
egg expertise, I guess I was thinking.
Yeah.

190
00:27:35,039 --> 00:27:43,840
Thank you. Sure. Thanks.
Uh I you know I I uh I was intrigued

191
00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:50,799
with the section dealing dealing with
the Connecticut Agriculture

192
00:27:46,080 --> 00:27:57,200
Preservation Program. Um and um it says
here that they pay up to 20,000 per acre

193
00:27:53,600 --> 00:28:04,720
permanently to preserve farmland.
Um yes they do. And um has this I mean

194
00:28:02,240 --> 00:28:09,360
that that certainly would be that could
generate a lot of revenue for the town.

195
00:28:06,799 --> 00:28:16,399
Um I'm I'm not sure when the town
initially purchased the land um if it

196
00:28:13,440 --> 00:28:21,360
was explic explicitly purchased to set
aside for potential schools or

197
00:28:19,520 --> 00:28:26,720
low-income housing or anything like
that. Um do you have any information on

198
00:28:23,919 --> 00:28:30,960
that or Well, let me let me take that
and if there's any longerterm residents

199
00:28:28,480 --> 00:28:37,600
who have more, go right ahead. So, so
well I I did a a little f first off I I

200
00:28:34,799 --> 00:28:42,799
put forward the preservation because
that's been kind of a passion interest

201
00:28:39,360 --> 00:28:48,799
of mine to to learn more about. Um I can
tell you that in Connecticut in 2024

202
00:28:46,080 --> 00:28:53,679
about 1,600 acres were permanently
preserved using this program and over

203
00:28:50,799 --> 00:28:59,039
the last 50 years it's 50,000 acres. So
it's a it's a wellutilized program. Um

204
00:28:57,039 --> 00:29:03,039
uh it is a mix of federal and state
money. So, you got to go through a

205
00:29:00,640 --> 00:29:06,640
process to figure out what that dollar
figure would be. And there might be

206
00:29:05,360 --> 00:29:11,600
questions about the federal side
currently. Um, but to your to your good

207
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question, my understanding is in 2012
that land was purchased um uh for $2.5

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million
and that we're still carrying some

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bonded debt on it. I don't know the
exact outstanding debt figure. Um uh and

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I've heard I've heard open space. I've
heard potential school. I I've heard all

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of those things. Okay. The POC actually
calls out permanently preserving it,

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which I thought was ironic. Um I only
read that in the last few days. Um the

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TW and and so in in my world where I
want to permanently I would want to

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permanently preserve the egg field, you
also need to look at the town and say

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00:29:51,600 --> 00:29:58,399
how do you monetize the asset? And as I
indicated in the bullet point, if

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someone were to pay us two or three
million dollars for the permanent

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00:30:00,159 --> 00:30:09,120
preservation, that could provide one
very nice revenue stream far in advance

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of the leasing dollar values today.
Absolutely.

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So I hope that that subject can say part
of the dialogue. I mean, and and like I

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

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of your head, if it wouldn't preclude us
from leasing it out as farmland,

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00:30:32,640 --> 00:30:39,039
correct? We could still have another
income stream on top of it.

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Wow.
%.

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So, and one way to say that is you could
you could like triple triple quadruple

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00:30:47,120 --> 00:30:56,159
your current revenue on the 107 East
Street Field is 32,000 a year.

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And would there be use restrictions um
that come with this, you know, enrolling

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into this program? So, so in in talking
with the CT a team that does this, um I

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I've had a couple of discussions um and
and every agreement is written

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00:31:10,240 --> 00:31:16,240
specifically and sometimes that's a
process that could take six to 12

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00:31:14,080 --> 00:31:21,919
months. I see. So that so that you give
yourself the flexibility, but it must be

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00:31:19,039 --> 00:31:25,600
agriculture. So okay, but you can think
through that and make sure okay I I

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00:31:23,919 --> 00:31:30,399
might need future buildings. I might
want to have some solar. I might need

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00:31:27,279 --> 00:31:35,760
fuel tanks. I might sure. So, so um
yeah, it's it's a it would be a slow

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00:31:33,039 --> 00:31:39,919
process before you make a a permanent
commitment. Okay.

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00:31:38,320 --> 00:31:43,480
Um what is the name of the program
you're talking about?

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00:31:44,720 --> 00:31:52,039
I'm going to pull out the brochure. So,
um well,

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00:31:52,159 --> 00:32:01,760
um
so, so I can send you

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00:31:58,080 --> 00:32:08,159
the the guide, Kathy. Okay, thanks.
Yeah, but uh well, actually, hold on. I

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00:32:06,080 --> 00:32:14,960
mean, it's generally known, I think, as
the farmland agricultural farmland

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00:32:10,960 --> 00:32:21,279
preservation act. Okay.
But take the formal name from Jim. Yeah.

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00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:25,039
Ju just to say that though Kathy um to
sort of capture the theme, the

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00:32:23,360 --> 00:32:31,919
Connecticut Department of Agriculture
program exists as do as do other private

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00:32:28,880 --> 00:32:37,600
programs. Okay. So there are there are
multiple organizations that do that. One

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00:32:34,799 --> 00:32:40,600
of which is the Grand View Land Trust,
right?

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00:32:44,880 --> 00:32:52,080
And what piece of property are you
talking about? I I'm not talking about a

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00:32:49,679 --> 00:32:58,399
specific piece of property. Oh, just any
Okay. Yeah. just and and just saying

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00:32:55,120 --> 00:33:03,960
that well as as as one of the things
brought up was to say

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00:33:00,960 --> 00:33:03,960
um

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00:33:04,799 --> 00:33:16,240
one of the long-term topics to discuss
which would be permanent preservation of

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00:33:12,399 --> 00:33:20,559
any town owned agricultural field
and there are Connecticut state

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00:33:18,640 --> 00:33:26,240
department of agriculture options and
there are private options.

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00:33:22,880 --> 00:33:31,120
Um, and the payments for those
conservation easements could

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00:33:28,480 --> 00:33:35,799
substantially increase town revenue.
Okay. All right. Thank you. Sure.

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00:33:40,880 --> 00:33:46,960
Um,
Jim, do you think there's any chance we

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00:33:45,120 --> 00:33:52,200
could get a representative of one of
those programs to speak to us at a

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00:33:49,200 --> 00:33:52,200
meeting?

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00:33:52,240 --> 00:33:59,840
Um, I would love that. I think that's
great. Um, um,

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00:33:57,679 --> 00:34:05,360
I guess
um, yeah, I I would be be delighted to

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00:34:02,559 --> 00:34:12,720
to reach out um and see if they would
join us. Um would you would you want to

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00:34:10,079 --> 00:34:17,639
invite Mike Walsh or somebody from the
town to join us in that if we did that

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00:34:14,639 --> 00:34:17,639
or

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00:34:18,399 --> 00:34:27,919
probably would be wise. Okay. I mean, I
I think um at this point it's a you

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00:34:25,200 --> 00:34:33,280
know, we don't we're not authorized to
begin negotiations, but it's to gather

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00:34:30,800 --> 00:34:40,000
more information about the possibilities
and what we might might include. I will

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00:34:37,119 --> 00:34:44,800
start with sending you the brochure
which describes it all um electronically

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00:34:42,159 --> 00:34:48,800
to you guys if you want if if that's do
that.

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00:34:47,040 --> 00:34:53,839
And David just put in the chat, maybe a
joint meeting with the A commission.

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00:34:52,240 --> 00:34:57,800
Well, they asked for this, so they have
it already. Yeah.

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00:34:58,480 --> 00:35:07,839
And if a decision was made, um, you
know, to enroll some or all of the

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00:35:04,480 --> 00:35:14,960
agricultural fields into this program,
um, would that be something that the

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00:35:11,040 --> 00:35:19,599
board of selectmen could act on or Yes.
Okay. it wouldn't have to go to a town

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00:35:16,560 --> 00:35:26,480
referendum. So, I'm going to give you an
answer based on on experience in town

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00:35:22,079 --> 00:35:32,720
recently. Okay. In 2022,
the Grandby Land Trust uh paid the town

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00:35:29,599 --> 00:35:38,160
a half a million dollars to permanently
conserve um with a conservation

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00:35:35,359 --> 00:35:43,839
easement, not an agricultural easement,
the woodlands of Hulkcom Farm.

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00:35:41,680 --> 00:35:48,480
So, so the Hulk Farm farm fields are not
preserved, but 270 acres of the

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00:35:46,160 --> 00:35:53,280
woodlands are, and that was done with
Graanby Land Trust and a half million

278
00:35:50,240 --> 00:35:58,079
dollar payment. Um, and that was decided
by the board of selectmen. Okay. And and

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00:35:56,000 --> 00:36:02,640
they did they felt they did because the
land was not being sold, they did not

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00:36:00,240 --> 00:36:08,040
have to go to a town referendum. So,
that's a fall 2022 example. Sure.

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00:36:09,280 --> 00:36:18,320
Wow. I I think it's a fantastic
uh program and uh I certainly would be

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00:36:15,440 --> 00:36:23,520
in favor of uh getting more information
and potentially pursuing that option.

283
00:36:21,040 --> 00:36:27,520
Okay. Yeah. Well, I I think that's
great. I uh yeah, you know, lots of

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00:36:25,359 --> 00:36:32,320
things. I I I grew up in a town where
where the last farm was plowed under

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00:36:29,599 --> 00:36:36,640
when I was a teenager and and you know,
we we only have about 200 town owned

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00:36:34,560 --> 00:36:41,359
agricultural acres and they are all
incredibly high value agricultural

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00:36:38,640 --> 00:36:45,440
acres. So, sure. Yeah. If if somebody
might give us as much as $4 million to

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00:36:43,440 --> 00:36:51,800
to do this, that would be uh I mean, to
me, that would be amazing. But, uh um

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00:36:48,800 --> 00:36:51,800
yeah,

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00:36:52,720 --> 00:37:03,760
Kathy, you can just ignore my my
rambling on, okay, please.

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00:36:58,720 --> 00:37:09,359
So to summarize um Jim shared a document
um that has kind of an overall I think

292
00:37:06,640 --> 00:37:18,160
we are all interested or those who have
spoken are interested in learning more

293
00:37:11,280 --> 00:37:21,960
um and um so I guess any concerns at
this point about that

294
00:37:22,160 --> 00:37:28,160
and maybe just to clarify the like the
go forward plan would be that we know

295
00:37:26,480 --> 00:37:34,320
the ad commissions is going to have some
changes and

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00:37:30,960 --> 00:37:38,240
working with carara will I I would I
would come up with a way to meet with

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00:37:35,760 --> 00:37:42,720
the agricultural commission regularly to
progress this further over nominally the

298
00:37:40,320 --> 00:37:47,040
next six to nine months but kind of TBD
and anybody would be welcome to

299
00:37:44,320 --> 00:37:51,760
participate in that but for our first
step would be to once they kind of re

300
00:37:49,280 --> 00:37:57,520
reestablish their leadership we'll we'll
define the process a little bit more and

301
00:37:53,520 --> 00:37:57,520
this will be kind of a starting

302
00:37:58,880 --> 00:38:06,119
And
okay, any other thoughts or questions on

303
00:38:02,880 --> 00:38:06,119
the document?

304
00:38:07,119 --> 00:38:14,800
Okay, Jim, thanks for your energy in
moving this forward. Thanks for all the

305
00:38:12,240 --> 00:38:22,800
research. Um, it's very it's very
exciting. So, it's good. Thanks.

306
00:38:19,680 --> 00:38:26,720
Okay. Um, are we ready to move on to the
plan of conservation and development?

307
00:38:28,160 --> 00:38:31,160
Okay.

308
00:38:31,520 --> 00:38:41,280
So,
had the email open a moment ago. Um,

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00:38:37,760 --> 00:38:48,640
there we go. Um,
so on May 28th, I got an email from Abby

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00:38:44,560 --> 00:38:55,359
Kenyon. Um, she is looking for a
representative from the Conservation

311
00:38:50,640 --> 00:39:00,000
Commission. Um we're kicking off the
development of the 2026 plan of

312
00:38:58,079 --> 00:39:05,839
conservation and development. Uh the
last one was done in 2016.

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00:39:02,800 --> 00:39:14,160
Uh we're required to reddevelop them
every 10 years. Um

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00:39:09,200 --> 00:39:18,880
and um they are going to be meeting on
the fourth Tuesday of the month at 7

315
00:39:16,720 --> 00:39:25,599
p.m. U with the first meeting scheduled
for September 23rd. Um and in addition

316
00:39:22,400 --> 00:39:31,040
to monthly meetings, there will be um
public workshops that may require

317
00:39:27,839 --> 00:39:38,800
attendance. Um and then they they have
an open application as well. Um I think

318
00:39:34,880 --> 00:39:45,359
we would be expecting the member uh of
the conservation commission who joins

319
00:39:40,560 --> 00:39:48,960
this to attend um bring back information
um be sort of the official voice in the

320
00:39:47,680 --> 00:39:55,520
discussions of the conservation
commission um as public meetings. Any of

321
00:39:52,079 --> 00:40:02,400
us can attend as much as we want. Um but
this would be the person who's

322
00:39:56,720 --> 00:40:10,800
committing to make as many um
as he or she could. So um

323
00:40:07,359 --> 00:40:16,560
is there you know is there anybody uh
interested in pursuing this? I mean so

324
00:40:15,200 --> 00:40:22,079
uh Jim and I have spoken a little bit
about it. Um and Jim has expressed some

325
00:40:20,160 --> 00:40:27,040
interest in
uh representing us. Um,

326
00:40:25,280 --> 00:40:34,680
is there
anyone else who'd be interested as well

327
00:40:30,400 --> 00:40:34,680
that we need to negotiate over?

328
00:40:36,079 --> 00:40:41,000
I nominate Jim. Yeah,

329
00:40:43,040 --> 00:40:51,040
David's raising his hand. David. Yeah,
I'm not I'm not I would really I'm not I

330
00:40:48,800 --> 00:40:54,480
do wouldn't I'm not nominating myself.
I'm going back to the last meeting and I

331
00:40:53,200 --> 00:40:59,040
think Cara you said you might
potentially be interested and in some

332
00:40:56,560 --> 00:41:03,280
ways it's better to have the chair on
but maybe there are two seats or

333
00:41:01,119 --> 00:41:07,520
alternating or something you know if
you're still if you haven't ruled it out

334
00:41:05,760 --> 00:41:15,520
maybe you and Jim can share it somehow
or you know I am very interested in it.

335
00:41:11,920 --> 00:41:20,640
Um I am reluctant to take on another
commitment officially. I I will continue

336
00:41:17,920 --> 00:41:25,040
to monitor it. Uh, I will certainly, you
know, I'm I'm happy to be an alternate,

337
00:41:22,880 --> 00:41:30,800
but I'm also
um happy, although um David, I am

338
00:41:28,480 --> 00:41:34,960
curious about your
um statement about it being better to be

339
00:41:33,040 --> 00:41:40,480
the the chair. Is that based on
experience in town or Okay.

340
00:41:38,400 --> 00:41:42,880
No, it was just a guess that you know.
Okay.

341
00:41:45,440 --> 00:41:58,880
Um yeah, I expect I will attend um and
will be, you know, involved in many, but

342
00:41:56,720 --> 00:42:03,200
I'm happy to let someone else be the
official representative.

343
00:42:01,599 --> 00:42:08,480
Well, and I guess I'll say from my
perspective, um you you're all supposed

344
00:42:05,760 --> 00:42:12,240
to laugh at this. Um I will probably
overcommunicate what happens at those

345
00:42:10,720 --> 00:42:20,880
meetings.
Thank you. Um and and and

346
00:42:17,040 --> 00:42:26,720
you know look for Yeah. Um you know
input to and others joining on it. I I

347
00:42:24,240 --> 00:42:31,359
sort of see it as okay uh if if my
schedule probably allows the the the the

348
00:42:29,760 --> 00:42:38,079
time to make sure, you know, we're
there. Um and then also have the the

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00:42:35,119 --> 00:42:43,200
time to sort of put together some key
points and figure out what we ought to

350
00:42:40,240 --> 00:42:48,960
be uh uh maybe contributing on as a as a
group. Um um glad to do that. And I

351
00:42:46,480 --> 00:42:52,960
think that that's the that that's a huge
key to the the role to say, okay, it's

352
00:42:51,440 --> 00:42:58,480
it's not so much the person sitting
there, but it's it's making sure that

353
00:42:54,240 --> 00:43:05,520
we're gathering all the input. Um, also,
as I read the 2016 2017 plan when it was

354
00:43:02,240 --> 00:43:10,720
put together, um, uh, I don't know if
anybody else had a chance to scan parts

355
00:43:07,200 --> 00:43:16,079
of it. It's an excellent document. And I
I my honest first read was I'm not sure

356
00:43:14,240 --> 00:43:21,599
what I would add to that.
Um, so it's it's I I I don't know, but I

357
00:43:19,119 --> 00:43:27,440
sort of suspect and hope that we'll be
reinforcing a lot of the content that

358
00:43:24,640 --> 00:43:34,640
was put together by a, you know, a great
group now almost 10 years ago.

359
00:43:30,880 --> 00:43:38,720
Um, I think my impression on reading it
was there's a lot of great stuff in

360
00:43:36,640 --> 00:43:43,359
there. Um, there's a lot of great things
that we said would happen that haven't

361
00:43:40,880 --> 00:43:50,640
happened. Uh, and so I think that would
be my question for the group is how do

362
00:43:46,240 --> 00:43:59,599
we how do we make this more actionable?
Yes, good. Great comment.

363
00:43:55,520 --> 00:44:03,440
So, minus maybe that u suggested 40hour
training for all conservation commission

364
00:44:01,520 --> 00:44:08,480
members
if if if you hadn't se seen that one. I

365
00:44:06,400 --> 00:44:14,400
missed that one. That was the deep
training that I sent the note to to

366
00:44:10,160 --> 00:44:19,280
Zach. Oh, cool. Yeah, it was I was like,
"Wow, that's a program."

367
00:44:17,040 --> 00:44:23,920
Which I'm glad that like exactly like I
told you in in the offline email. I'm

368
00:44:22,160 --> 00:44:28,160
glad to reach out and and find out more
about it, but um yeah, they didn't they

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00:44:25,839 --> 00:44:33,359
didn't have a set schedule of of when
they're going to be offering that again.

370
00:44:31,280 --> 00:44:37,680
And I I'm sorry if I missed it, but was
was the 2016 plan of conservation and

371
00:44:36,400 --> 00:44:43,520
development, was that already
circulated? Um, yes, it was a link in

372
00:44:40,960 --> 00:44:50,240
Aby's email. I'll add it to the chat
again. Okay, thank you. And it's a

373
00:44:46,640 --> 00:44:54,359
6070page PDF, so it takes a it takes a
minute to download. Okay.

374
00:45:01,280 --> 00:45:11,400
And who's who signs off on the plan?
I believe it's adopted by the town.

375
00:45:08,400 --> 00:45:11,400
Okay.

376
00:45:11,790 --> 00:45:14,869
[Music]

377
00:45:16,960 --> 00:45:25,280
So, I think the the commission that
develops it submits it to the board of

378
00:45:22,720 --> 00:45:30,480
selectmen and then they vote on it and
adopt it.

379
00:45:28,160 --> 00:45:36,880
Yeah. And I think there's requirements
set forth by the state. Um, and if I'm

380
00:45:33,920 --> 00:45:41,200
not mistaken, there's actually there's
some bills that went through this past

381
00:45:38,720 --> 00:45:46,480
legislative session that just ended that
added some additional requirements. I'm

382
00:45:43,440 --> 00:45:50,240
not sure if they're going to affect the
2026

383
00:45:48,160 --> 00:45:54,599
um plan of conservation and development
or will affect the future one.

384
00:45:57,359 --> 00:46:06,960
Um, that's a great thing to flag.
So, um, we had an official nomination

385
00:46:04,560 --> 00:46:13,280
for, uh, Jim. Do we need Kathy? Do you
know know if we need to vote on this? I

386
00:46:09,119 --> 00:46:18,560
don't think you do. Okay. Um,
is there

387
00:46:15,200 --> 00:46:26,240
I think it's a fine idea. I'm
reading unonymity from the nods uh on

388
00:46:22,000 --> 00:46:30,960
the the screen. So, thank you uh, Jim,
and I look forward to hearing more about

389
00:46:29,440 --> 00:46:36,480
it.
Yep. Sound sounds great. And I guess um

390
00:46:33,760 --> 00:46:44,079
for formal kickoff not till September.
So right. Yep. Okay.

391
00:46:41,280 --> 00:46:48,240
Okay.
Energy conservation.

392
00:46:46,240 --> 00:46:54,319
Um
so I was very sorry to miss the meeting

393
00:46:50,640 --> 00:47:01,040
with Mike Walsh. Um but Kent, can you uh
share how that went?

394
00:46:58,240 --> 00:47:06,240
Sure. Yeah. Jim and uh Dave David were
there as well. Um so I'll let them chip

395
00:47:04,240 --> 00:47:11,119
in. Um
did you guys not talk about it last last

396
00:47:08,480 --> 00:47:15,520
meeting? I guess we ran out of time.
Yeah. Okay.

397
00:47:13,359 --> 00:47:21,839
Um
yeah, it was excellent. I mean Mike uh

398
00:47:18,079 --> 00:47:28,160
has a lot of uh uh
uh aspirations regarding um

399
00:47:25,680 --> 00:47:33,599
in particular solar on town buildings.
uh other energy efficiency measures um

400
00:47:32,000 --> 00:47:38,960
and
expressed

401
00:47:35,920 --> 00:47:44,800
um I would say
you know somewhat

402
00:47:41,920 --> 00:47:52,560
lack of uh staffing and resources to
really execute from his his team and he

403
00:47:47,280 --> 00:47:57,839
would love all the help he could get. Um
there you know one thing he has done is

404
00:47:55,040 --> 00:48:04,960
he has negotiated
um and maybe you guys help me. I I

405
00:48:01,520 --> 00:48:12,480
certainly town uh electricity maybe also
board of ed but uh longerterm uh supply

406
00:48:09,359 --> 00:48:17,599
contract for electricity which has
some portion of renewables commitment.

407
00:48:15,040 --> 00:48:22,720
It's not 100%. I don't know if you guys
remember if it's 40% but there's a a

408
00:48:21,200 --> 00:48:28,240
cost-saving measure with that but
there's also there is a commitment of uh

409
00:48:25,599 --> 00:48:33,599
renewables you know if you you guys know
you can buy your electricity supply from

410
00:48:30,880 --> 00:48:38,720
a third party and he's he's he's
executed that which I think is a is a

411
00:48:36,640 --> 00:48:46,079
good move.
Um I'll talk a little bit here about um

412
00:48:41,839 --> 00:48:52,000
the solar on town properties and some of
the recent developments which um will be

413
00:48:49,359 --> 00:48:56,000
new to everybody uh here and then maybe
Jim you can follow up and Dave you can

414
00:48:53,440 --> 00:48:59,520
follow up regarding our call with Mike
and anything else that that um or

415
00:48:58,079 --> 00:49:07,599
meeting with Mike and anything else not
related to solar on on town buildings.

416
00:49:02,559 --> 00:49:12,240
So the solar um now Mike had initiated
uh working with the Connecticut Green

417
00:49:09,599 --> 00:49:17,599
Bank. They have a program to help you
know communities uh assess

418
00:49:15,119 --> 00:49:22,640
solar on town buildings and and they
they they did you know reasonable first

419
00:49:19,440 --> 00:49:27,760
pass for a number of buildings. Uh Mike
wants to get you know one or two done.

420
00:49:24,559 --> 00:49:32,319
Identified the town garage
uh as as one that he'd like to maybe

421
00:49:30,559 --> 00:49:38,240
pilot. It seemed like a good, you know,
first project to do. Also, the uh former

422
00:49:36,720 --> 00:49:45,200
Methodist, this Methodist church, right,
David? Um that is now owned by the town

423
00:49:42,319 --> 00:49:50,240
or managed by the friends of Hulk Farm
or whatever the whole soup of of of that

424
00:49:48,400 --> 00:49:55,920
is. So
the um the green bank and the green bank

425
00:49:52,720 --> 00:50:03,359
is supported by a a solar developer out
of I think Meridan called CSW Energy and

426
00:50:01,520 --> 00:50:06,960
so they're they're actual you know solar
developer installer and they but they

427
00:50:04,800 --> 00:50:13,599
helped the green bank and working with
communities.

428
00:50:09,119 --> 00:50:17,839
So um the feed so they green bank CSW
worked on those things and the feedback

429
00:50:15,760 --> 00:50:21,359
was that
you know what ever source the eversource

430
00:50:19,680 --> 00:50:26,559
grid doesn't have the capacity to
install solar on those locations.

431
00:50:24,960 --> 00:50:32,240
So if you guys are familiar with this to
some degree um you know the utility grid

432
00:50:30,880 --> 00:50:37,200
really isn't designed for all this
distributed generation. There is there

433
00:50:34,480 --> 00:50:42,319
are technical limits to how much you can
put on on util, you know, the utility

434
00:50:40,319 --> 00:50:46,480
system. We're we're kind of at the end
of Eversourc's line. We have an older

435
00:50:44,640 --> 00:50:51,200
system. There's been a fair amount of
solar put on there, but they put a map

436
00:50:49,040 --> 00:50:56,559
online. You can go look at it and say,
"Well, I want to put solar here." And

437
00:50:53,839 --> 00:51:03,040
we're pretty constrained up in Graanby.
And the map, and the map's not official

438
00:50:59,599 --> 00:51:08,079
like ruling, but the map says you could
put at most like 200 kilowatts

439
00:51:06,240 --> 00:51:11,760
on most of the locations around by the
way. Um, but in those two particular

440
00:51:10,160 --> 00:51:16,800
locations,
and I think the the assessment wanted

441
00:51:13,680 --> 00:51:23,119
like 270 kilowatts on the public garage,
but Ever Sourc's map says you can only

442
00:51:19,599 --> 00:51:29,520
put up to 200, maybe less.
So, the Green Bank

443
00:51:26,400 --> 00:51:36,920
kind of said to Mike,
you know, you can't you can't do it. Um,

444
00:51:33,920 --> 00:51:36,920
and

445
00:51:37,040 --> 00:51:43,119
kind of left it at that. Probably took
the easy path of saying we don't really

446
00:51:41,599 --> 00:51:47,839
know how far they went with Eversource.
Cara, Cara, I'm going to say Cara a

447
00:51:44,960 --> 00:51:52,000
couple times here. Um,
so did they just look at the map? Did

448
00:51:50,000 --> 00:51:56,319
they get an early read? they didn't put
in an interconnect application, but

449
00:51:54,640 --> 00:51:59,760
that's that's the early feedback and
Mike was pretty discouraged. He's like,

450
00:51:57,599 --> 00:52:08,160
"Oh, okay. Well, this is a this is not
good." So, so I volunteered to help and

451
00:52:05,040 --> 00:52:12,240
um and then this weekend we we actually
made some progress here. So now some of

452
00:52:10,880 --> 00:52:15,920
you may know this like David may know
this but

453
00:52:14,000 --> 00:52:24,960
uh so David connected me with Jenny
Emory who has uh successfully

454
00:52:20,000 --> 00:52:29,920
um worked to get solar moving forward on
the Hulk Farm CSA barn

455
00:52:28,559 --> 00:52:35,760
which of course is right next to the
church and she's working with CSW Energy

456
00:52:33,280 --> 00:52:40,800
and she's really happy with them.
So, I think Sunday I connected with

457
00:52:37,839 --> 00:52:45,200
Jenny and because Mike Mike said, "Kent,
can you help here?" And I still have to

458
00:52:43,359 --> 00:52:51,520
meet with Jenny. But what's interesting
is that the um putting solar on the CSA

459
00:52:49,359 --> 00:52:55,440
barn,
you know, Eversource said, "Well, we

460
00:52:53,520 --> 00:53:01,680
can't. We'll have to do an upgrade to
the system." And but working with CSW

461
00:52:59,839 --> 00:53:08,160
Energy,
the deal is that they the finances work

462
00:53:05,359 --> 00:53:13,920
out such that Eversource is upgrading
the system. CSW is it's it's it's the uh

463
00:53:12,079 --> 00:53:17,760
buy all sell all approach. So all of the
electricity goes to the goes to the grid

464
00:53:15,760 --> 00:53:23,440
and we basically sell it. We the
developer sells it. And there's a a

465
00:53:19,920 --> 00:53:29,359
split. CSW gets something like 20 uh 78%
and and and whoever the town or the

466
00:53:26,400 --> 00:53:36,720
friends of Hulk Farm gets 22%. That's 78
22% split I believe. So they're moving

467
00:53:32,319 --> 00:53:43,119
forward which is great and the but as a
part of the cost of that Eversource is

468
00:53:38,480 --> 00:53:47,359
upgrading that grid and so now maybe the
church will benefit from that. I don't

469
00:53:45,599 --> 00:53:52,400
know exactly. I don't know where, you
know, I think it's coming from Route 20,

470
00:53:49,040 --> 00:53:59,359
so I'm pretty sure. So, that's the long
story. Uh, Ella Jim. Um, and, uh, so I

471
00:53:57,920 --> 00:54:03,440
think I'm going to connect with Jenny.
We're going to go to CSW and see if we

472
00:54:01,200 --> 00:54:10,000
can what we can learn about that um,
Methodist Church application.

473
00:54:07,040 --> 00:54:15,440
Now, I told
I told Mike, I mean, the green bank's

474
00:54:12,720 --> 00:54:20,400
great, but in my experience,
the developer will do this stuff on

475
00:54:17,440 --> 00:54:25,280
their own anyway. So, um, and we can get
a few quotes. It's very easy. But, um,

476
00:54:23,280 --> 00:54:33,680
Jenny likes CSW. I want to start working
with CSW. And then um there's going to

477
00:54:29,040 --> 00:54:38,480
come a time though where like whether
it's the town garage, probably the town

478
00:54:35,839 --> 00:54:41,520
garage is going to be the big one. I'm
I'm going to need to navigate how do I

479
00:54:40,079 --> 00:54:46,160
work with Eversource? I know they have a
formal process for applying and getting

480
00:54:44,319 --> 00:54:52,160
a response,
but I I don't know if there's I have to

481
00:54:48,640 --> 00:54:58,559
refresh there if there's a
a um a quick response you can get sort

482
00:54:54,720 --> 00:55:02,640
of indicative um you know if if if they
can't take 270 kilowatts, could they

483
00:55:00,400 --> 00:55:06,480
take 199?
Um do we have to go through a whole

484
00:55:04,559 --> 00:55:12,160
application? So I think the town garage
will probably be the Mike calls it the

485
00:55:08,800 --> 00:55:17,839
beta. I think it's a good term. Um, at
least get a starting point and then and

486
00:55:16,160 --> 00:55:21,359
then Cara, I don't know if you have any
if you like I've in the past I've talked

487
00:55:19,760 --> 00:55:28,160
to the Interconnection Group because of
my my professional job. Um, the David

488
00:55:25,920 --> 00:55:32,960
Ferrante is retired so I don't I don't
he's not there. I don't know if Joe Debs

489
00:55:30,720 --> 00:55:36,880
or whatever like I can if I can get
maybe you can help me a little bit. We

490
00:55:34,559 --> 00:55:41,440
can get some some better. we get the
feeling that the green bank just sort of

491
00:55:38,559 --> 00:55:46,800
said it's more than the map and let's
not pursue it. So,

492
00:55:44,079 --> 00:55:54,799
um that's uh that's where the solar on
town building stands. Um yeah, I can I

493
00:55:51,040 --> 00:55:59,599
can ask around. Um
I'm deal more with like the data geeks

494
00:55:57,760 --> 00:56:05,760
and and trading information back and
forth about customer information with

495
00:56:02,720 --> 00:56:09,760
some of the um solar folks, but I think
they can point me to the right

496
00:56:07,359 --> 00:56:15,200
direction. Also
um what I have, you know, I know who in

497
00:56:13,280 --> 00:56:20,960
the energy efficiency group would be
more than happy to work with the town.

498
00:56:18,240 --> 00:56:26,079
there are some new um weatherization
incentives on buildings um that might be

499
00:56:24,160 --> 00:56:33,200
good that you know so they're expanding
the commercial weatherization programs

500
00:56:28,559 --> 00:56:38,000
um so I can uh I can put Mike in touch
with with the correct people there and

501
00:56:36,000 --> 00:56:43,359
that's something maybe Jim and and David
might be interested to help on that on

502
00:56:40,400 --> 00:56:49,440
those things that's where
um I mean that's the solar story I don't

503
00:56:45,839 --> 00:56:54,160
know Jim if um you know he I mean Mike
was looking for help just with good

504
00:56:50,960 --> 00:56:59,839
oldfashioned energy management or
facilities.

505
00:56:56,079 --> 00:57:07,520
Yeah. Yeah. As as we talked um Mike kind
of told the the the the story of of of

506
00:57:03,599 --> 00:57:12,400
of you know great town resources and and
what different folks had were kind of

507
00:57:09,359 --> 00:57:17,440
focused on. And so something that has a
little bit of structure to it, but he's

508
00:57:14,000 --> 00:57:23,280
hoping to develop some more is is really
a a look at all town buildings um that

509
00:57:21,440 --> 00:57:29,680
would kind of fall under the capital
plan. Uh and actually it extends down to

510
00:57:25,839 --> 00:57:34,559
every town vehicle. Um so so what Mike
had shared was like he would be

511
00:57:32,240 --> 00:57:40,559
delighted to have some additional help
just kind of uh uh working through and

512
00:57:37,280 --> 00:57:47,040
and structuring and trying to prioritize
capital plan uh items which would h all

513
00:57:45,359 --> 00:57:54,240
would many would have a energy
efficiency component but but uh not not

514
00:57:50,079 --> 00:57:59,839
exclusively. Um, so I uh I I offered uh
some time to Mike and he sent me the

515
00:57:55,920 --> 00:58:05,040
draft plan and um uh I I don't have uh
uh uh no no deliverables yet, but uh we

516
00:58:02,799 --> 00:58:13,359
suggested a a process of of maybe
meeting monthly and um I will uh follow

517
00:58:10,640 --> 00:58:17,520
back up to to to Mike and see if he's uh
ready to initiate that. He was uh he was

518
00:58:16,160 --> 00:58:23,240
looking to get some other things done in
May before we uh got got into this. So,

519
00:58:25,040 --> 00:58:33,920
I guess let's see. I'm just trying to
share what u I think it's relatively

520
00:58:29,680 --> 00:58:39,599
recent that the school um uh the school
district hired a facilities manager and

521
00:58:36,400 --> 00:58:42,319
and I I guess I'd say Kathy, don't don't
quote me on this. I I don't know if he's

522
00:58:40,880 --> 00:58:46,400
been there a year or maybe this is his
second year, but but he was he was

523
00:58:44,319 --> 00:58:51,359
delighted that that position was now in
place because that that helped provide

524
00:58:48,799 --> 00:58:58,599
some some more kind of longer longer
term thinking on um on uh on on projects

525
00:58:55,280 --> 00:58:58,599
for the school.

526
00:59:03,520 --> 00:59:08,359
David, do you want to add anything to
this?

527
00:59:09,119 --> 00:59:16,160
Um, I don't have the technical expertise
that these guys have. I'm happy to help.

528
00:59:14,319 --> 00:59:21,200
You know, I I said in the meeting that I
could probably help more with, um, you

529
00:59:18,160 --> 00:59:27,040
know, public awareness and acceptance,
um, information, that kind of thing,

530
00:59:24,079 --> 00:59:31,760
building off the Solariz campaign from
almost 10 years ago, I say eight years

531
00:59:28,799 --> 00:59:35,040
ago. Um, and Cara, I think you and I
were going to talk about audits. I'm

532
00:59:32,880 --> 00:59:38,640
happy to help with that or not help with
that, whatever is useful.

533
00:59:40,240 --> 00:59:49,040
would it be? Um I will look for contacts
about solar and interconnections at

534
00:59:45,440 --> 00:59:57,520
Eversource. Um, I can maybe I'll send
from my work email an introduction to um

535
00:59:53,839 --> 01:00:02,079
Mike Walsh and you guys to um Dana Mauy
who's the energy efficiency consultant

536
00:59:59,359 --> 01:00:06,559
who work with Graanby um and she'd be
happy to talk through what programs are

537
01:00:04,160 --> 01:00:10,440
available if you guys think that Mike
would be receptive to that.

538
01:00:10,640 --> 01:00:19,520
Yeah, I think that's um
really something that we should

539
01:00:16,559 --> 01:00:25,520
pursue. Um
so what would

540
01:00:22,640 --> 01:00:30,799
do do you think like uh just set up a
business hours meeting? Uh, could we do

541
01:00:28,400 --> 01:00:36,960
I don't know if Kathy I'm not sure if
team uh if uh Mike does um I guess Zoom

542
01:00:34,720 --> 01:00:43,359
calls or how we could do it in person
but

543
01:00:38,559 --> 01:00:47,599
he does. Okay. I think um I would
certainly

544
01:00:45,599 --> 01:00:51,920
um
think that could be valuable and just to

545
01:00:49,760 --> 01:00:57,200
understand the the opportunities
programs that are out there. Um

546
01:00:55,520 --> 01:01:02,640
you know maybe and you know we could
help

547
01:00:58,720 --> 01:01:06,480
pick a building or two to to to try
based on Mike's priorities.

548
01:01:04,880 --> 01:01:10,240
Um
I don't know Jim and David if you'd want

549
01:01:08,319 --> 01:01:14,000
to attend such a meeting and see see
where it goes

550
01:01:12,400 --> 01:01:18,720
just
whether it's a you know a building

551
01:01:15,920 --> 01:01:23,119
envelope or other energy efficiency
measures or

552
01:01:21,200 --> 01:01:28,240
and that's that's really what that it's
a is that is she is it a woman I thought

553
01:01:25,440 --> 01:01:34,559
it's a woman yeah uh is is she's an
Source employee.

554
01:01:30,160 --> 01:01:41,200
Yeah. So she would then there are um
some firms that would be on hand to do a

555
01:01:37,440 --> 01:01:45,119
technical assessment and so so she's uh
the energy efficiency consultants are

556
01:01:42,880 --> 01:01:52,160
kind of the internal project managers
who work to you know connect um we also

557
01:01:49,440 --> 01:01:57,760
have so they're sales account executives
for energy efficiency and then energy

558
01:01:54,079 --> 01:02:00,960
efficiency consultants um so
um

559
01:01:59,359 --> 01:02:04,640
but the energy efficiency consultants
are really the project managers and we

560
01:02:02,480 --> 01:02:10,160
have internal engineering resources but
they hire out firms much like Greenbank

561
01:02:06,880 --> 01:02:16,480
works with CW or CSW
you know it's it's the on the ground

562
01:02:11,839 --> 01:02:22,079
engineers that would do the assessments.
Does anybody know if uh Brian Murak

563
01:02:18,880 --> 01:02:27,200
still lives in town? He he he had that
role at Eversource for a while. Um he's

564
01:02:25,440 --> 01:02:30,640
no longer with Eversource. now has an
independent consulting firm and I've,

565
01:02:29,359 --> 01:02:33,839
you know, worked with him both when he
was in Eversource and and outside. I

566
01:02:32,480 --> 01:02:38,559
didn't realize he lived in Grimby.
That's interesting. Uh, yes, he's still

567
01:02:37,040 --> 01:02:41,920
So, you still work with him? He must
still be here. I

568
01:02:40,640 --> 01:02:47,480
I don't know. I mean, I think he's still
in the state, but uh, Right. Yeah.

569
01:02:51,119 --> 01:02:59,760
Can So, sorry. What's just on that on
that topic? So, how do we how do we

570
01:02:56,559 --> 01:03:06,240
conclude that? Cara, are you going to um
I I will make an introduction to Dana

571
01:03:02,799 --> 01:03:09,920
and say that, you know, see if Mike
would be interested in in a meeting to

572
01:03:08,480 --> 01:03:15,119
discuss it. Just going to send an email
and you can copy us and Kathy. Okay,

573
01:03:11,839 --> 01:03:20,319
that's perfect. It'll it'll probably
come from my Eversource email. Um

574
01:03:18,400 --> 01:03:27,599
so, just,
you know, generally um that's I try to

575
01:03:25,520 --> 01:03:35,599
keep business and personal life
separate. Um so but that one will I will

576
01:03:31,599 --> 01:03:38,880
do for my work email. Um I'll and I'll
ask around and see if I can find you

577
01:03:37,520 --> 01:03:45,200
know more about the interconnection
process and see who the appropriate

578
01:03:41,039 --> 01:03:52,960
person to come to would be on the side.
Um and just well kind of a a curiosity

579
01:03:50,240 --> 01:03:57,599
on like just economies of scale. So, so,
um, um, I I you'd already, you'd said

580
01:03:56,480 --> 01:04:04,000
pretty clearly, it sounded like, you
know, Jenny Emery was was was moving

581
01:03:59,839 --> 01:04:08,480
forward with with a, um, with CSW and
and and and had things in progress. So,

582
01:04:06,880 --> 01:04:13,200
yeah, we don't want to slow anybody
down, but but I just I think about it,

583
01:04:10,640 --> 01:04:19,119
whether it's the buildings on Hulcom
Farm or the Methodist Church building or

584
01:04:16,079 --> 01:04:25,119
or the town garage, all are owned by the
town of Granby. So I I don't know. I I

585
01:04:23,520 --> 01:04:29,440
wouldn't want to trip anything up, but
in a way it almost I I mean maybe the

586
01:04:27,760 --> 01:04:35,119
friends of Hulcom Farm is signing an
agreement with CSW, but but they're the

587
01:04:31,599 --> 01:04:39,200
lei. So So it would seem to me that
maybe they're heavily involved, but it's

588
01:04:36,799 --> 01:04:44,720
a town probably a town contract as well.
But anyway, just

589
01:04:42,240 --> 01:04:49,440
I I'm not trying to muddle things, but
but uh all three of those buildings, I

590
01:04:47,680 --> 01:04:56,160
believe the the common denominator is
they are all owned by the town. So

591
01:04:52,319 --> 01:05:00,720
anyway, I don't know that uh yeah, I I
mean that deal is is done. It's uh okay.

592
01:04:59,440 --> 01:05:04,000
I mean, David could tell us. I don't
know. Do you see any activity over

593
01:05:02,079 --> 01:05:09,520
there? But it's she say it's like
imminent. Um, and that's great. I think

594
01:05:07,280 --> 01:05:13,599
economies of scale,
three buildings for a company like CSW

595
01:05:11,680 --> 01:05:18,960
Energy wouldn't wouldn't result in in
too much. Yeah.

596
01:05:16,480 --> 01:05:24,160
Um, it could possibly make a difference
though with the upgrades to the grid,

597
01:05:21,680 --> 01:05:28,000
you know, so like the
they're

598
01:05:26,240 --> 01:05:34,720
and I don't want to get out over my
skis. I'm demand side, not supply side.

599
01:05:31,280 --> 01:05:40,319
But um if
um usually they like to plan for things,

600
01:05:37,039 --> 01:05:45,280
multiple things at once. So if we're it
might make some sense to say, all right,

601
01:05:42,240 --> 01:05:50,960
we're doing it at Hulcom Farm also doing
the um Methodist church at the same time

602
01:05:48,319 --> 01:05:59,039
and then you know the town garage which
is you know next to the the I'm correct

603
01:05:55,520 --> 01:06:03,520
that's next to the high school, right?
Yeah. Two miles away. So doing those two

604
01:06:01,359 --> 01:06:10,160
at the same time might also make sense
from a grid planning perspective. Yeah.

605
01:06:05,760 --> 01:06:17,039
Yeah. The the again that the CSA
barn is is a done deal. Um it'll and I

606
01:06:13,760 --> 01:06:23,520
I'll learn we'll learn what Ever Sourc's
upgrade policy is. it I mean I think it

607
01:06:20,720 --> 01:06:26,880
is sort of the way it it works is the
they'll they'll install solar until they

608
01:06:25,359 --> 01:06:31,680
can't and then the next person has to
pay for it right and but I don't know

609
01:06:29,599 --> 01:06:35,359
how much they I'm sure they oversize it
to some degree like you know it's

610
01:06:33,119 --> 01:06:39,200
obviously very technical but I think
there's probably a good chance that the

611
01:06:36,880 --> 01:06:44,240
Methodist church then project wouldn't
wouldn't have that additional cost

612
01:06:41,680 --> 01:06:49,440
that's that's our hope it won't be very
big project so I think that's our hope

613
01:06:47,119 --> 01:06:54,720
but Yeah, as we start to go down in
toward the garage and the schools, then

614
01:06:52,000 --> 01:07:01,039
I think very much let's we talk to them
about a bigger plan,

615
01:06:57,680 --> 01:07:05,200
you know, and maybe something more um
forwardlooking

616
01:07:02,960 --> 01:07:09,599
rather than just one one project at a
time.

617
01:07:07,039 --> 01:07:15,440
From um from Jenny Emry's updates to the
town on um the Methodist church, I mean,

618
01:07:12,559 --> 01:07:19,760
one thing that was 100% clear is it's an
all electric building. So, oh yeah, the

619
01:07:18,160 --> 01:07:24,400
heat source is electric as well. So,
yeah, boy, what a what a great candidate

620
01:07:21,520 --> 01:07:28,480
for solar and a great candidate for
insulation.

621
01:07:26,880 --> 01:07:33,520
Yes.
And and uh usually like in projects like

622
01:07:31,039 --> 01:07:41,839
this, if there's excess uh revenue
generated by the surplus power, um would

623
01:07:37,200 --> 01:07:47,520
would that revenue go to the town or
Well, the pro there's a few programs and

624
01:07:45,039 --> 01:07:52,720
ways to install
solar these days and on the CS the CSA

625
01:07:50,319 --> 01:07:59,680
barn there's no electrical load right so
all all of that energy is being sold to

626
01:07:56,319 --> 01:08:06,480
Eversource under this particular program
and then the uh all of that revenue

627
01:08:02,640 --> 01:08:11,920
comes back to
the project owner and apparently I see

628
01:08:09,920 --> 01:08:16,240
okay apparently under this deal that
they that they've done with CSW Energy

629
01:08:16,400 --> 01:08:27,279
I mean, CSW Energy probably own probably
owns owns the solar system, probably

630
01:08:22,239 --> 01:08:33,520
have a a nominal lease with the roof or
whatever, right? And and then or or the

631
01:08:30,880 --> 01:08:41,120
town gets the 22% as obviously as a
lease. And does anyone have an update on

632
01:08:36,960 --> 01:08:47,759
the the 100 I think it's a 100 megawatt
project that's going in um on salmon?

633
01:08:44,880 --> 01:08:51,759
Good good question. Um Monrovia. Yeah,
Mike I mean from the meeting we had

634
01:08:49,679 --> 01:08:57,920
about I don't know five or six weeks
ago, Mike said they've been silent.

635
01:08:55,199 --> 01:09:01,600
Okay. The the the solar developer has
like

636
01:08:59,920 --> 01:09:05,679
I don't even I don't even I think he
said they're not returning their calls.

637
01:09:03,199 --> 01:09:10,719
They're just basically
um there's no communication with them.

638
01:09:08,719 --> 01:09:14,159
Oh, okay. I don't know if anybody has
any other Maybe that's not going

639
01:09:12,080 --> 01:09:19,839
forward. Maybe David has an update.
Yeah,

640
01:09:16,239 --> 01:09:25,679
I Yep. I don't have an update on the
solar going in, but part of our meeting

641
01:09:21,920 --> 01:09:32,319
with Mike Walsh, um he was giving us an
update on the battery project and the

642
01:09:29,199 --> 01:09:36,880
town's um appeal, I guess, of the
Connecticut Sighting Council decision to

643
01:09:34,080 --> 01:09:42,080
allow it to go through. And, you know,
he he brought out the arguments that

644
01:09:39,440 --> 01:09:47,199
we've all seen. And I thought Kent did a
really good job of saying, "Hey, it's

645
01:09:44,560 --> 01:09:53,120
not that it's it's not fireprone the
kind of u batteries that they're using.

646
01:09:50,080 --> 01:09:57,280
Um, a lot of the concerns are not uh
wellounded." And, you know, forgive me

647
01:09:55,199 --> 01:10:01,600
if I'm paraphrasing you too much, Kent,
but it was, you know, was was not at all

648
01:09:59,679 --> 01:10:06,239
a discussion back and forth, but it
seemed like a whole bunch of good new

649
01:10:03,280 --> 01:10:11,360
information for him. um given that he's
not, you know,

650
01:10:09,040 --> 01:10:15,679
a solar battery expert or whatever.
Yeah, that's a good reminder, David. I I

651
01:10:13,120 --> 01:10:21,679
I I need to do a little research and
send it over to Mike. Um I mean, look,

652
01:10:18,480 --> 01:10:27,440
they're a the
win appeal against the sighting council.

653
01:10:23,920 --> 01:10:32,320
It's I don't know. He didn't seem very
The only idea maybe is you you tire out

654
01:10:30,000 --> 01:10:37,360
the battery supplier and they give up.
But um I I I pointed out and I'll I'll

655
01:10:35,440 --> 01:10:43,920
I'll try to keep this brief, but I'll
copy you on on this. Um there's a lot of

656
01:10:41,040 --> 01:10:48,159
concern about the the
safety of of lithium-ion batteries,

657
01:10:46,400 --> 01:10:53,600
rightly so. There's been a lot of fires
across the world that we we should all

658
01:10:50,080 --> 01:10:58,000
be concerned about. Um, but there's six
different type of lithium ion batteries.

659
01:10:55,679 --> 01:11:03,760
And the the ones that make the news that
catch fire and all this other stuff.

660
01:11:00,239 --> 01:11:08,000
Those are nickel, manganese, cobalt, NMC
batteries that were the first ones that,

661
01:11:06,400 --> 01:11:11,520
you know, are all in all the original
Tesla cars and everything because they

662
01:11:09,360 --> 01:11:15,440
have the highest power density and a
good price and all that kind of stuff,

663
01:11:12,640 --> 01:11:23,760
but they're also have this thermal
runaway challenge. and the stationary

664
01:11:19,760 --> 01:11:29,520
battery industry. While starting with
NMC batteries, you can almost not buy an

665
01:11:26,800 --> 01:11:36,000
NMC battery these days. They're all
lithium iron phosphate,

666
01:11:32,000 --> 01:11:41,600
which are um not
um without any risk, but they have

667
01:11:38,480 --> 01:11:48,000
orders of magnitude less risk of thermal
runaway than uh NMC batteries. M

668
01:11:46,400 --> 01:11:51,600
and I just kind of mentioned that and
Mike's like, "Well, that's interesting.

669
01:11:50,159 --> 01:11:56,880
We've never heard such a thing." And and
to me, I can't believe the battery

670
01:11:53,120 --> 01:12:03,440
company didn't talk about this. So, I I
I I need to find some

671
01:11:59,679 --> 01:12:08,640
good third party uh independent
writeup and uh I'll share it with

672
01:12:05,280 --> 01:12:13,520
everybody and and with Mike and with he
can share it with the first selectman.

673
01:12:11,440 --> 01:12:22,000
Um, I don't know if that'll change
anybody's mind, but the primary concern

674
01:12:16,239 --> 01:12:29,199
is concern over over fire safety um
and uh threat to the water um table and

675
01:12:26,320 --> 01:12:33,679
water supply in that area. Um, and there
may be all sorts of real concerns there,

676
01:12:30,880 --> 01:12:41,040
but I just want to make sure people know
be maybe a little less um, fearful of

677
01:12:38,560 --> 01:12:44,880
batteries from, you know, that
perspective.

678
01:12:43,280 --> 01:12:49,040
What was the chat that was put about
fire? Um, do the batteries require any

679
01:12:47,600 --> 01:12:54,080
additional investment for our
firefighters? So, that's Andrew. I would

680
01:12:52,159 --> 01:12:59,520
think they need there's additional
training and um, I would equipment

681
01:12:57,440 --> 01:13:04,320
I I would think that's that's and
usually I mean the whole the sighting

682
01:13:01,920 --> 01:13:08,800
council um
the whole reason it's set up is to

683
01:13:06,400 --> 01:13:12,560
prevent not in my backyard. That's the
whole reason the sighting council

684
01:13:09,920 --> 01:13:16,960
exists. Um
but generally when you install big

685
01:13:15,199 --> 01:13:24,400
things like that you want to go to the
fire departments um and get their

686
01:13:21,679 --> 01:13:28,880
approval and things. Um I I don't know
anybody know if if the

687
01:13:26,960 --> 01:13:33,199
if our volunteer fire departments have
been involved in this,

688
01:13:31,679 --> 01:13:37,679
but they would want some training. Even
even though it is much more safe than

689
01:13:35,280 --> 01:13:42,400
NMC, there's still certainly a risk and
it's certainly certainly training would

690
01:13:39,520 --> 01:13:47,040
be warranted. I I read a bunch of the
testimony, but it's been too many

691
01:13:44,640 --> 01:13:54,719
months, so apologies. I I there there
were definitely concerns expressed about

692
01:13:50,800 --> 01:13:59,840
uh firefighting. um uh uh equipment and
and capability um especially if you're

693
01:13:57,440 --> 01:14:05,440
in a town with an all volunteer force.
uh but I I don't recall specifics if

694
01:14:03,679 --> 01:14:11,199
there was any you know agreement or
offer from the developer uh to provide

695
01:14:07,760 --> 01:14:16,000
but you yes from my experience in
communities where my former employer

696
01:14:13,040 --> 01:14:20,560
used to operate we uh um we had to
provide all that equipment um our

697
01:14:17,760 --> 01:14:26,800
ourselves um and then also make sure
that um uh um the local municipalities

698
01:14:24,800 --> 01:14:31,280
were were well outfitted as well. So
it's it's typical, but

699
01:14:29,679 --> 01:14:36,719
yeah, I mean certainly and the other
things with these with these products

700
01:14:32,880 --> 01:14:44,560
that are out there, they have like fire
suppression systems all throughout the

701
01:14:39,840 --> 01:14:51,600
cabinets. Um I mean this is obviously
a big concern and topic for the the

702
01:14:47,040 --> 01:14:54,600
battery industry. Um
so

703
01:14:59,840 --> 01:15:11,400
Okay. Um All right.
Anything else we wanted to talk to on

704
01:15:07,120 --> 01:15:11,400
energy for tonight?

705
01:15:12,800 --> 01:15:22,000
Okay. Um so
topics for the next meeting. Um which I

706
01:15:19,520 --> 01:15:28,040
guess would be
looking at here.

707
01:15:25,040 --> 01:15:28,040
Um,

708
01:15:28,320 --> 01:15:36,960
July 14th
or no, sorry, July 15th.

709
01:15:33,520 --> 01:15:41,120
Okay. Does July 8th here? That's it. Oh,
sorry. Yeah, July 8th. I was looking the

710
01:15:38,719 --> 01:15:49,120
wrong. Yeah. So, July 8th will be our
next meeting. Thank you. Um

711
01:15:45,440 --> 01:15:56,640
I think um
should we continue to talk about the

712
01:15:51,040 --> 01:16:00,480
farm lease wording and um
or do we want to wait until we've had

713
01:15:59,040 --> 01:16:05,120
more of a chance to talk to the
agricultural commission?

714
01:16:02,800 --> 01:16:09,920
Yeah. Yeah. Car my sense is we probably
won't have anything new. Okay. Um, but

715
01:16:08,159 --> 01:16:16,000
yeah, we'll just be looking to make
contacts and see what Heather has to say

716
01:16:12,239 --> 01:16:20,159
and establishing a process. But can I
suggest can I suggest that we just leave

717
01:16:18,320 --> 01:16:28,400
it on the agenda so if something does
come up we can talk about it and if not

718
01:16:22,000 --> 01:16:33,280
we can just breeze over it. Sure. Yeah.
um plan of conservation development

719
01:16:30,960 --> 01:16:41,040
probably won't have any develop anything
to report on until uh late September. Um

720
01:16:39,120 --> 01:16:44,199
energy conservation I think we should
keep on

721
01:16:44,239 --> 01:16:52,080
um
composting will do you want to um have

722
01:16:49,360 --> 01:16:55,920
something on that next month? Sure. Yep.
That's fine.

723
01:16:54,080 --> 01:17:03,840
Um, I might just mention that I am
locked in for um a uh presentation at

724
01:17:01,199 --> 01:17:09,520
the library on September 16th between
6:30 and 7:30 and I'm going to um

725
01:17:07,920 --> 01:17:15,840
hopefully
uh line up a Blue Earth uh

726
01:17:11,360 --> 01:17:23,360
representative to attend. Great.
Okay. Um any other topics we want to add

727
01:17:18,960 --> 01:17:29,880
to the agenda for July 8th?
David, David, were you raising your

728
01:17:25,040 --> 01:17:29,880
hand? No. Okay.

729
01:17:30,320 --> 01:17:33,320
Okay.

730
01:17:33,679 --> 01:17:36,760
All right.

731
01:17:37,760 --> 01:17:42,199
Um, any final comments?

732
01:17:44,480 --> 01:17:55,040
I um uh was at a a meeting with some of
the MLAN folks and they have done

733
01:17:51,440 --> 01:17:58,239
tremendously well on their early
fundraising. I sorry I guess some of

734
01:17:56,719 --> 01:18:01,679
this was in the paper so just say it
very quickly.

735
01:17:59,280 --> 01:18:07,040
they they've achieved about 500,000 of
their $800,000 goal uh for fundraising,

736
01:18:05,199 --> 01:18:12,719
which is going to be a total revamp of
the um

737
01:18:09,840 --> 01:18:18,960
facility on on Barnor Hills Road and and
that'll be office space and laboratory

738
01:18:15,600 --> 01:18:24,400
storage, meeting space, research space.
Um, so kind of tangential to our work,

739
01:18:21,760 --> 01:18:28,480
but uh but just a great a great win for
MLAN such that they're going to be

740
01:18:26,640 --> 01:18:33,360
moving forward, I believe, with bidding
and maybe even construction on that

741
01:18:30,320 --> 01:18:36,880
project uh before the year's out.
Wow.

742
01:18:34,880 --> 01:18:42,560
I didn't know there was a facility on
Barn Hill. It's a It looks like a

743
01:18:39,920 --> 01:18:45,280
garage. It's like a double garage. Oh,
okay.

744
01:18:43,600 --> 01:18:50,560
And I've been there to, you know, to
talk with them and they're having like a

745
01:18:47,360 --> 01:18:55,520
meeting around a card table,
you know, with a concrete floor, no

746
01:18:52,000 --> 01:18:58,560
heat. It's it's really for, you know,
Connor has definitely built this

747
01:18:56,880 --> 01:19:04,880
organization up from the, you know,
occasional staff person

748
01:19:01,840 --> 01:19:09,199
pre before him and uh they need more
space.

749
01:19:06,480 --> 01:19:14,400
Uh very much like Joe O'Grady has built
up Hulk Farm to a big steady crew that

750
01:19:12,239 --> 01:19:19,280
deserves a place to hang his hat and
wash their hands and stuff. Sure.

751
01:19:17,040 --> 01:19:23,520
Yeah. Con I guess this is year eight or
nine or something like that for Connor

752
01:19:20,640 --> 01:19:28,800
and he's had now about 25 college
interns go through there and he's

753
01:19:26,080 --> 01:19:32,719
normally has four or five at a at a time
with him each year at least. So, so this

754
01:19:31,199 --> 01:19:37,760
is great and and I guess yeah, some of
the renderings and whatnot were in the

755
01:19:34,000 --> 01:19:42,080
drummer, but uh um I know they'll be
using one of the things he said uh to me

756
01:19:39,679 --> 01:19:48,000
was uh in a in a world with with tariffs
on lumber because they'll be using a lot

757
01:19:44,719 --> 01:19:51,760
more of their own lumber um from from
the farm which is already you know store

758
01:19:49,840 --> 01:19:56,960
being stored and dried over in a barn
that's off of Firetown. Um so but just

759
01:19:55,360 --> 01:20:02,080
you know anyway great great news for
MLAN.

760
01:19:59,199 --> 01:20:06,560
My daughter was one of those 25. Oh,
yeah.

761
01:20:03,600 --> 01:20:10,800
That's great. She great experience at
Sustainable Connecticut also. The same

762
01:20:08,320 --> 01:20:14,239
daughter or all. No, not No, my daughter
didn't do that. No, she didn't get No,

763
01:20:12,960 --> 01:20:19,280
that was Maybe you're thinking Jim
Mafa's daughter.

764
01:20:16,640 --> 01:20:22,840
Oh, right. Fred Maf. Yeah, sorry. Jim
Maf Fred Maf.

765
01:20:23,280 --> 01:20:29,719
Um, David, you were raising your hand
for additional comment.

766
01:20:32,239 --> 01:20:38,080
Um, David, did you raise your hand to
make an additional comment for final?

767
01:20:36,320 --> 01:20:41,600
Not on not on the agenda. It was in
comments by commissioners.

768
01:20:40,320 --> 01:20:47,360
We're in comments comments by
commissioners. You is there one? Oh, my

769
01:20:43,520 --> 01:20:51,280
um next not wanted column is coming up
uh deadline Monday. You know, if

770
01:20:49,920 --> 01:20:57,840
anybody's putting anything that in the
drummer, it's noon on Monday. Um, and

771
01:20:53,840 --> 01:21:01,920
I'm sorry my cam is so terrible, but
uh

772
01:20:59,600 --> 01:21:07,120
this is is this backwards? No, we can
see it. We can see it. How can I help?

773
01:21:04,480 --> 01:21:14,320
Um, yeah. So, it's the latest uh Doug
Talamy Talamy book. People may know his

774
01:21:10,320 --> 01:21:19,679
name. He's a um
entomologist at University of Delaware.

775
01:21:17,360 --> 01:21:25,679
And
sorry, I just had to turn that off. Um,

776
01:21:22,000 --> 01:21:29,040
and it's a great book because it's
499

777
01:21:27,199 --> 01:21:32,719
uh questions that have come up in his
public conversations with people. So,

778
01:21:31,440 --> 01:21:38,800
you know, think of all the times you've
had conversations with people about uh

779
01:21:34,880 --> 01:21:42,480
poison ivy or, you know, how bugs are
eating my oaks. Is that really a good

780
01:21:40,800 --> 01:21:45,520
are oaks really? You know, should I
should I kill the bugs that are eating

781
01:21:43,679 --> 01:21:49,840
the oaks? You know, all the all the sort
of funny little questions that come up

782
01:21:47,520 --> 01:21:54,880
along with the, you know, the big
picture items. Uh

783
01:21:53,120 --> 01:21:59,760
uh
but I so I started thinking okay this is

784
01:21:58,000 --> 01:22:04,960
a great book to recommend to everybody
and then I zoomed in on one issue and

785
01:22:02,159 --> 01:22:10,719
it's mosquitoes and very much like
Kent's column a couple years ago in the

786
01:22:07,600 --> 01:22:19,120
drummer uh I'm going to focus a bunch of
it on you know the the the downsides of

787
01:22:16,080 --> 01:22:24,080
the fogging industry and how they kill
everything and how if you want to kill

788
01:22:21,600 --> 01:22:27,280
mosqu if you want no mosquitoes around,
you know, as Kent said, they don't

789
01:22:25,600 --> 01:22:32,239
travel far. So, I think the title of the
article, Kent, was uh if they if you

790
01:22:29,679 --> 01:22:36,239
don't want mosquitoes, uh kill them
before they get launched or something. I

791
01:22:34,159 --> 01:22:41,040
don't remember. It's on our it's on our
the conservation commission website.

792
01:22:37,600 --> 01:22:44,480
It's a great very succinct article. Um
and

793
01:22:42,719 --> 01:22:47,040
you know, so it's it might be a little
controversial. I'm not going to name,

794
01:22:45,760 --> 01:22:51,199
you know, I'm not going to say Mosquito
Joe, you know, boycott Mosquito Joe, but

795
01:22:49,600 --> 01:22:54,880
I'm going to make it clear that if if
you hire someone to kill all the bugs in

796
01:22:52,960 --> 01:23:02,080
your yard, you're also killing all the
birds and all everything else. If you

797
01:22:56,800 --> 01:23:07,120
know, we have a a um uh Carolina Ren
family that's come I don't know if it's

798
01:23:05,040 --> 01:23:12,719
the same family, but they sure look the
same. um three years in a row and they

799
01:23:09,360 --> 01:23:17,199
they live in this g they bear their
their they make a nest for like two

800
01:23:14,480 --> 01:23:21,920
months and right now they're bringing uh
caterpillars every couple of minutes.

801
01:23:19,760 --> 01:23:24,960
Where are they getting them all? I mean
they're they're feeding their kids on

802
01:23:23,440 --> 01:23:30,880
these caterpillars that they're bringing
every couple of minutes. Um and it's the

803
01:23:27,840 --> 01:23:35,520
whole whole point that a brood of chick,
you know, a family of chickades needs

804
01:23:33,360 --> 01:23:39,199
four to six thousand caterpillars to
raise their young. So if you kill all

805
01:23:37,679 --> 01:23:44,400
the bugs, you're not going to have
caterpillars for the birds and you know,

806
01:23:42,080 --> 01:23:48,639
etc., etc. So I'm going to make the
point as clearly as I can and um look,

807
01:23:47,040 --> 01:23:53,360
you know, find some other resources so
that it's not just, you know, oh, it's

808
01:23:51,040 --> 01:24:00,639
just crazy Doug telling me, but uh there
can well be some push back um from um

809
01:23:58,560 --> 01:24:06,000
you know, from people who really love
their their fog

810
01:24:04,239 --> 01:24:10,239
and and I really recommend the book. Uh,
anybody, you know, it's not that

811
01:24:07,120 --> 01:24:14,639
expensive. It's like 25 bucks. Uh, and
if anybody wants to has a question like,

812
01:24:12,320 --> 01:24:18,400
"Oh, what does he say about poison ivy?"
Well, he's a little hardcore, so I'm not

813
01:24:16,480 --> 01:24:23,920
going to tell. No, he's like, "Don't cut
down your poison ivy. It's such a

814
01:24:20,080 --> 01:24:27,920
useful." Oh, geez. Okay. We all know
that if you you can kill as much poison

815
01:24:25,600 --> 01:24:32,080
ivy as you want. We're not going to make
a dent in it. So, even though it's

816
01:24:30,159 --> 01:24:38,360
native, it's not invasive, it's just a
problem. So, that's my update.

817
01:24:35,040 --> 01:24:38,360
Thank you.

818
01:24:38,719 --> 01:24:48,320
Um, so Kathy and I corresponded a little
bit about um, meeting rooms and

819
01:24:46,000 --> 01:24:54,080
um, Kathy, I'm I'm going to paraphrase,
correct me if I get this wrong, but it

820
01:24:50,639 --> 01:25:00,800
sounds sounds like given the constrained
technical resources, both people and

821
01:24:58,239 --> 01:25:06,400
rooms, um,
there's not really the capacity to have

822
01:25:02,800 --> 01:25:10,639
a hybrid meeting. Um, so I am
interpreting that is that we can

823
01:25:07,840 --> 01:25:15,120
continue to meet by Zoom or we can meet
in person but having hybrid will be

824
01:25:13,120 --> 01:25:21,360
difficult. So Kathy, did I interpret
that correctly?

825
01:25:17,280 --> 01:25:27,199
Yes. Okay. Um, so
I think um

826
01:25:25,280 --> 01:25:34,719
given some of the public comment, it
would be good to at some point have a an

827
01:25:31,440 --> 01:25:44,320
in-person meeting. Um
but and so I think um

828
01:25:41,040 --> 01:25:49,440
just trying to figure out how to
navigate um would you know do you do you

829
01:25:47,679 --> 01:25:56,159
feel strongly that we should continue to
meet only by Zoom? um would you be open

830
01:25:53,199 --> 01:26:02,560
to an in-person meeting
um perhaps in

831
01:25:58,719 --> 01:26:07,920
um you know in September or you know I
I'm around all summer so uh I've done my

832
01:26:05,679 --> 01:26:15,520
traveling for the year so we'll or until
the fall so um

833
01:26:12,159 --> 01:26:18,520
yeah uh any any thoughts or reactions to
that.

834
01:26:21,120 --> 01:26:30,080
So, um, David
or David, yeah, I'm I'm for at least one

835
01:26:28,159 --> 01:26:35,600
inerson meeting if we could pull it off
this year. We don't all know each other.

836
01:26:33,920 --> 01:26:40,800
You know, it'd be nice to to meet face
to face and maybe have a have a meal or

837
01:26:38,639 --> 01:26:45,440
just a longer conversation or a
conversation that could be wide wider

838
01:26:42,639 --> 01:26:51,440
ranging than we can have uh in in this
way. Okay.

839
01:26:48,639 --> 01:26:58,000
I I agree. I agree. Uh I think it would
be good to do some inerson meetings now

840
01:26:55,679 --> 01:27:04,080
and then. It would be great to be able
to do that and have somebody call in

841
01:27:01,760 --> 01:27:09,040
remotely if possible. I don't know if if
that's possible. Let's just say

842
01:27:07,440 --> 01:27:13,679
like July 8th. I'm not going to be in
town, but I could call in somewhere I

843
01:27:11,120 --> 01:27:21,679
am. And if it's in person and I can't
call in, oh well, I guess. So, I don't

844
01:27:17,600 --> 01:27:24,560
know. Just is that is that an option
for like a September? Even if it's

845
01:27:23,120 --> 01:27:31,120
September, does it have to be all in
person or can it be hybrid?

846
01:27:27,040 --> 01:27:36,080
Well, I think the issue is that um we
don't have the abil like it would

847
01:27:32,560 --> 01:27:42,639
require GCTV if I understood correctly.
So, it's sort of all or nothing um one

848
01:27:40,560 --> 01:27:50,000
way or the other.
Um but we have seven people now. It is

849
01:27:45,840 --> 01:27:55,840
been easier to get a quorum. Um so, if
we had a in-person meeting, would

850
01:27:52,320 --> 01:28:01,120
September be the right time to do it? Um
or would you want to do it sooner?

851
01:27:59,280 --> 01:28:07,040
Uh I would I wouldn't recommend before
September personally. Yeah, September

852
01:28:03,120 --> 01:28:14,639
sounds good to me. Yeah. Um so Kathy,
would you be so kind as to find us um if

853
01:28:11,520 --> 01:28:20,800
possible uh an a room for an in-person
meeting? We know it won't be hybrid um

854
01:28:17,280 --> 01:28:25,080
for our September meeting. Sure. Thank
you so much. You're welcome.

855
01:28:25,440 --> 01:28:28,440
Okay.

856
01:28:30,320 --> 01:28:40,239
Any other comments?
Um I I have a comment. Um I was

857
01:28:37,120 --> 01:28:46,480
or kind of a question. Um
you know, I recently reviewed um the

858
01:28:43,280 --> 01:28:52,400
Connecticut General Statutes um section
on municipalities and the establishment

859
01:28:48,639 --> 01:28:57,840
of conservation commissions. And
you know, as everyone here probably

860
01:28:54,480 --> 01:29:02,480
knows, uh, the conservation conservation
commissions don't have a lot of, you

861
01:28:59,920 --> 01:29:07,520
know, power or authority. Uh, we don't
have subpoena power, for instance, which

862
01:29:04,239 --> 01:29:11,920
I wish we had. Um, or to levy fines or
anything like that. But, um, the the one

863
01:29:10,800 --> 01:29:17,840
pull out the National Guard, though,
anytime, right?

864
01:29:14,719 --> 01:29:23,840
But but the the one thing that's that's
appears to be mandatory in the statute

865
01:29:20,239 --> 01:29:29,679
is it says conservation commissions
shall keep an index of all open areas

866
01:29:27,360 --> 01:29:34,159
public or privately owned including open
marshlands, swamps and other wetlands

867
01:29:32,159 --> 01:29:40,960
for the purpose of obtaining information
on the proper use of such areas. So my

868
01:29:38,000 --> 01:29:45,280
question is, do we have an index of all
open areas

869
01:29:42,880 --> 01:29:51,070
including marshlands, swamps, and other
wetlands? Because if we don't, we're in

870
01:29:47,360 --> 01:29:56,000
violation of the statute. Arguably,
[Music]

871
01:29:52,639 --> 01:30:03,600
there was a link on our old website to
um an inventory, I think it was called.

872
01:29:59,440 --> 01:30:06,719
Um and it wasn't something we produced,
but I think we had some ownership over

873
01:30:05,360 --> 01:30:11,440
it.
I don't know if we have to do it or uh

874
01:30:09,679 --> 01:30:14,560
reference it, but I'm so glad you
brought it up because there aren't many

875
01:30:12,639 --> 01:30:17,760
things that we're that we have to
especially since we don't have inland

876
01:30:15,840 --> 01:30:21,880
wetlands responsibilities like some
other conservation commissions do.

877
01:30:22,080 --> 01:30:31,600
Yeah. Um, I think it I think maybe
that's a pro project that we may want to

878
01:30:28,400 --> 01:30:37,040
undertake uh because that dovetales with
other aspects of the um sort of the

879
01:30:35,440 --> 01:30:41,679
enabling statute. And by the way, the
statute is Connecticut General Statute

880
01:30:39,120 --> 01:30:52,159
7-131A
and or yeah 131A.

881
01:30:45,520 --> 01:30:58,639
Um because there's also reference to um
uh

882
01:30:54,080 --> 01:31:04,000
establishing um proposing greenway plans
for inclusion in the plan of

883
01:31:00,800 --> 01:31:11,199
conservation. Um and greenways are
becoming increasingly important um with

884
01:31:07,440 --> 01:31:16,239
the you know the ongoing development of
uh lands.

885
01:31:12,960 --> 01:31:22,880
So, um, any I just thought I would raise
that, uh, for consideration. Um, maybe

886
01:31:20,320 --> 01:31:27,440
we can we can talk about that at the
next maybe we can put that down as an

887
01:31:24,639 --> 01:31:32,880
agenda item.
I am open to it. Um, I have some

888
01:31:31,600 --> 01:31:37,600
thoughts, but it's probably better to
put that as an agenda item for next

889
01:31:34,480 --> 01:31:40,719
time. So, okay. Definitely.
I don't know if David concluded this,

890
01:31:39,040 --> 01:31:47,880
but there there's something out there,
right? I thought Zach found it as part

891
01:31:43,040 --> 01:31:47,880
of the sustainable CT thing, but this

892
01:31:48,320 --> 01:31:53,120
I don't know. I think there's there's an
inventory available. I just a few years

893
01:31:51,920 --> 01:31:58,080
ago. I thought it was I thought it was
even on our website, town website,

894
01:31:56,480 --> 01:32:07,040
something. I'll poke around and see what
I can find. Yeah, between the land trust

895
01:32:02,800 --> 01:32:12,480
um and the tax assessor database, I'm
sure there's a fair amount of um

896
01:32:09,760 --> 01:32:18,600
information about what's out there. We
could always use the wayback machine to

897
01:32:14,159 --> 01:32:18,600
to find our old website,

898
01:32:19,040 --> 01:32:26,960
you know, on that topic. or will and
Carol. also touched base with Eric

899
01:32:23,520 --> 01:32:31,440
Luckenville who was on well done a lot
of things in town but was on the last

900
01:32:29,199 --> 01:32:36,880
plan of conservation development and and
and he's talked at length when we've

901
01:32:34,639 --> 01:32:42,000
just been talking about open spaces in
town about how

902
01:32:39,360 --> 01:32:48,320
um you know the Graanby Land Trust which
he's also on the board of um has worked

903
01:32:44,639 --> 01:32:53,920
on identifying specific properties to to
to have interconnectivity etc etc. Um

904
01:32:52,159 --> 01:32:59,040
anyway, I I'll touch base with Eric to
see if there's something there that we

905
01:32:56,400 --> 01:33:04,239
can talk about next time as well. Um
that you know it was something

906
01:33:02,239 --> 01:33:08,960
my my impression is there is something
formalized but I'm not sure if if it

907
01:33:07,360 --> 01:33:13,760
lies within the town or the land trust
or anyway I'll explore it. That'd be

908
01:33:12,159 --> 01:33:20,000
great.
Yeah. Uh great uh great addition will

909
01:33:18,159 --> 01:33:24,560
and I think it would be good for the
next agenda. uh next meeting especially

910
01:33:22,719 --> 01:33:33,480
as a ramp up to the plan of conservation
and development. So that's good.

911
01:33:28,560 --> 01:33:33,480
All right. Any last comments?

912
01:33:34,719 --> 01:33:46,159
Do I have a motion to adjurnn?
So moved.

913
01:33:39,360 --> 01:33:50,440
Second. Second. Uh all in favor? I I
Okay. Thank you very much.

914
01:33:51,040 --> 01:33:57,480
Thank you. Very good. And thank you.
Thank you. Have a good week. Bye.