 No worries. I'll just do my little spiel. So just so people know the meeting is being recorded and people can find access to this recording on the Amherst, Town of Amherst YouTube site. And you can watch the recording of tonight's meeting. And I'm taking minutes. Just a minute. That's great. Thank you. Yeah. OK, has as everyone had a chance to look at the minutes from last time and dance? So I think we can just move forward with approving them. I'll make the motion. I second. Oh, good. You second. You'll need to do a voice vote. So Allison. Yes, Ruth. Yes, Ragavan. Yes, Drucker. Yes, Rose. Yes, and Breaker. Yes. And just so you know, Jesse will not be with you tonight. His children are on school vacation week, so they're away. I hope they're somewhere fun. OK, so we've done that. So next up. Is public comment. So before we go into public comment, I just wanted to make one note. I I got forwarded some information that was a little bit incorrect about what this group is talking about today. So there was an email that went through the smart solar listserv saying that ECAC was going to be discussing the solar moratorium today. So I just want to clarify that ECAC will not be discussing the solar moratorium. We do not have we don't really have anything to say on that. And it's not in our jurisdiction jurisdiction. The council is voting on that on the 28th. So I would welcome anyone who has thoughts on that to reach out to the council. So I'm going to request that or politely request that if you have a public comment related to the moratorium, this is probably not the best place to make it. We will be talking. There is a solar update on our agenda. That's really for Stephanie to update ECAC on what's been happening at the from from her vantage point on sort of moving forward with the solar study and solar bylaw. So you're welcome to make a comment on that, or if you want to wait till the end to comment on that after we have a discussion or any of our other discussions, that is also welcome. We usually do another public comment at the end of our meeting. So with that, we will open it up for public comment depending on how many hands are raised. We'll see how much time folks can get, but usually it's it's three minutes. I'm not seeing any hands. I'll give it one more second. Great. So otherwise, you know, we again, we do typically do another public comment at the end of the of the meeting. Oh, you have one. Oh, yeah. You do have one. Laura, okay. Laura, you're Laura MacLeod. You're able to speak now. You can go ahead and unmute yourself. Oh, we can't really hear you though, Laura. Thank you, but I cannot see my screen there. I don't know. Let's see. We can hear you now. Yeah. Hi, Laura, Laura, Laura. I see Andra, Steve, yeah, Stephanie. But I cannot. I don't know where is my screen? It was wait a minute. My husband was with this looking and he was going. I'm not sure when I'm here and I'm glad that you're here too. I don't know what to do. Great. You're welcome to make a point or if you just want to listen in, that's always welcome. I don't I don't know how to put my camera. I don't know what is my camera here. But thank you for doing this. It's extremely important. And, you know, the Sierra, they are working on a project to to sort of consolidate this position to have solar on roofs and all the other, not on trees, not cutting down forests. Yeah. OK, great. Thanks, Laura. Um, OK, so. Let's move on to stop updates. They'll be fairly quick today. So the first piece of rather exciting news is that we have two new ECAC members. We don't believe they've been sworn in yet and they are both actually here as attendees. Lori Goldner and Stella Dee will be joining you in the near future. Um, so I could I think I'll maybe Lori and Stella at the next meeting, if you're not already sworn in, will at least give you an opportunity, maybe put you on the agenda so that you can introduce yourselves to the committee and give them some background on on your interest in the ECAC and your background background that's relevant to their work. Um, welcome. Uh, next, I wanted to let you know that the green communities grant round has been announced. Um, so there are two rounds. You can only apply for one used to be just once a year, but now it's twice in the fall and the spring in the fall. We're not likely to apply in the spring, but we are probably if we are going to apply for grant funding, it'll be in the fall. One thing that's different that I noticed this year is that they have a. Um, it's it's up to $200,000 for this grant round of funding, but they do have a $500,000 allocation for building decarbonization. If you apply for that and get it, it's highly, highly competitive. If you do get it, you cannot apply for another green community grant for two years. So I don't know if people are aware, but there is kind of a cap on green communities funding where once you reach $750,000 of funding, then the award that you can be given after that in subsequent years is 100,000. So and that's like it's a cap. So I will be certainly looking into the decarbonization possibility. But, you know, because if we can leverage that with some other funds, we might actually get something really done. But I want to make sure that we're if we are going that route, that it's something that we can really achieve and that it's going to make a significant impact. So I can think of a few places that might be good candidates for that opportunity, like the Munson Library might be a good candidate for that right now. But I'll have to talk with the facilities manager, and we're going to have to sort of put our heads together about what makes the most sense. And then we'll bring that back to you all, run it by you, see what you think. So there's that. And then I had a meeting today with our partner for the Mass CEC and Power Grant. That is the grant we received to do outreach regarding a building disclosure on energy efficiency of apartment buildings. So I met with the folks at Family Outreach who are partners in that effort. We had a really exciting conversation. They've already got some community members lined up to do to be the building captains, which was just great. So I'm really excited. We haven't signed the contract yet because the state hasn't sent it to us yet. So unfortunately, it's I feel like we're going to be at least a full month behind of our timeline, but. But we're, you know, we're planning ahead and we've got a meeting next week. So I feel like once we get that contract signed, we'll be ready to hit the ground running. So that's pretty a pretty exciting opportunity. Let's see. And then I forwarded you all some information from EOEA and do your one was about the clean. Clean heat initiative from EOEA. They're having an informational meeting about that. And I think that's March 1st is one of the first meetings, but there's a series of meetings that they're holding. So you can look at the links that I sent you. And then there's another stretch code update meeting. And I think that's March 2nd. I think there's also some initial additional meeting times and dates for that as well. So you just want to dig into those a little more. So that's it. I'm trying to keep it short and sweet tonight. So that's it. Yeah, Andra. So I wanted to get an update on the let's see, the letter about the future of gas process that we submitted. Yeah, it's been sent to the town manager and the town council. So I don't know if it's been I haven't sent it out on their behalf, but I was needing the town manager to give me to go ahead. So there has been a request to do so. OK, it's going to hit a deadline. I'm aware the deadline was March 1st. Yeah, they may have extended it, but I'm not sure. I'll I'll follow up tomorrow. I did send it the town council, I think, was OK with with you all because if you recall, they were going to do a letter and you were going to do a letter and they were going to somehow trying to combine the two. There was one response, I think, from one town council member. So I forwarded it asking if there if it was OK to merge that information in with our letter. And I didn't hear a response yet, so I will follow up tomorrow. There was only one council member, I think, who actually commented. OK, and if. Yeah, I'll find out what the actual deadline is. Sure. But I also wrote in the email accompanying it that it could would be a good idea for the town to also send the letter directly to Berkshire gas, because the the submission on the website portal goes to the consultants and probably not the same people who would read it if we addressed it directly to the CEO of Berkshire gas. I definitely noted that I saw that. And so I'm just waiting for the blessing to send it off. But I think I think it's just a matter of a heavy agenda. I'll I'll follow up tomorrow. Thank you. And also the. Building electrification, people all over the state are asking for municipal officials to sign a letter about the stretch code, I believe. So yeah, yeah, and I don't have an update for that yet. Yeah, but I I I got that request as well. So I'll I'll work on that. But I haven't done any outreach on that yet. That's why I didn't have it as part of my update. OK, any other questions for Stephanie? Great. Seville, it'd be interesting when the community. Outreach the the grant around the building efficiencies gets like running the interesting thing about how we communicate that out because it's a cool project. OK, you can come up for updates. I don't know if people know what the stretch code is or how that might affect Amherst and if that's something that you'd like me to report on as information. Sure. So last year, significant climate bill was passed and the governor vetoed it twice over the stretch code. The state establishes the building code and there's a base code. And then if you're a green community, you have to opt up to the stretch code. That's one of the requirements of being a green community. And the stretch code has, like the base code, has languished. It's not much of a stretch. And the bill last year required a significant update with the idea that there was going to be a net zero opt in stretch code so that municipalities who chose to could adopt a building code that would require all development in the town to be net zero. And the administration missed the deadline in the fall and finally has come out with a straw proposal, they call it, which gives several possible scenarios for how augmented stretch code. They have some word for it. They dropped net zero could could look, but all of them allow for fossil fuels. There is no net zero. So it's very inadequate. Everyone has been working on building electrification is sort of average. So that's that's what the letter that our our own participation as Amherst team in the building electrification accelerator group was about that I asked Stephanie about just now. Just just a question of clarification, Andra, if you if you know, or Stephanie, just because I'm curious, I've heard about the stretch code, but but you mentioned that there's augmented or whatever stretch code. So are there obviously there's the base code which is law in Massachusetts and then green communities need to adopt the stretch code, but are you saying there's two stretch codes, a stretch code and a even further augmented stretch code and green communities would by default need to opt into the updated stretch code, but not necessarily the augmented stretch code. That's correct. OK. It would save municipalities from having to go to the legislature for a home rule petition in order to do it one by one to require fossil fuel free building. Which, you know, is is the other municipal opt up method. Right now, better would be to have, you know, a law that just all new buildings have to be fossil fuel free, which I mentioned at the last meeting. A bill has just been introduced and mothers out front and many other organizations are working on that. Any other updates or questions for Andra? I have one thing I got an email from Anna Devlin Gadier, who's the district five. I'm counselor about. I'll just read it here as part of the joint capital planning committee process, they're examining the current inventory in town in order in order to prioritize capital projects and spendings, which includes buildings, vehicles, et cetera. And so she was wanting to see if there was anything the criteria for the inventory, whether there was anything missing that would help us from the lens of reducing emissions. So I think what makes the most sense is that maybe I and Stephanie can meet with her to go through that and then bring back anything of relevance to to the committee in regards to what additional criteria. I know we've talked about this in the past, so it may be that they've already captured some of it, but I haven't looked at it in detail yet. Have they been directed to the relevant parts of the carp? Do you know? Have the joint planning joint capital planning committee been directed to the parts of the carp? I'm not sure. I mean, I know the counselors have themselves been directed and these are all counselors, but I don't know if, like, as part of their committee, they have. Reviewed it. Did you have a specific suggestion? I didn't. OK. I mean, I'm assuming that they are asking this because of the carp because we talk about this in the car. So, Laura, Anna has her hand up. Just I didn't know if you could see that. Oh, yeah. Anna, since we're talking about you, maybe you can speak quickly. A little hard to talk. Anna, you can go ahead. Thanks. Yeah. Sorry, I wasn't sure if you wanted me to. Speak or not. So I can give a little bit of insight into where this is coming from. So JCPC Joint Capital Planning Committee gets an inventory of all the town owned vehicles as well as an inventory about our municipal buildings. And so where this is coming from, Andrew, is from the carp. So in reading it, I noticed the and I don't have it in front of me. I apologize, the five year vehicle. Something five year vehicle, something and a couple of other components that it felt like in general, it would be helpful for us to be considering sustainability as we look at our municipal buildings and as we look at our vehicle inventories. And so I know Stephanie does. I believe Stephanie already does some sort of inventory, but I'd love to combine or actually just ensure that we're looking at this inventory through that lens as well as through just a finance lens. So that's kind of where I'm coming from. And I think, Laura, I sent you, and if not, I will, what we currently get in that inventory. And so just looking to see what might be beneficial for us to add and how we might consider those future additions. And the other only quick thing, JCPC is not just made up of counselors. It is also a member of the Library, Library Trustees School Committee, two members of the Library Trustees School Committee and Council. OK, good to know. Yep. And do you have a timeline on this? Like when when are you guys finalizing this? Realistically, we won't get this in for this year because we've already received the inventory, but I'd love to pitch it for next year. So what the process would look like from what I've been told from Sean and Gano is that I would write a memo to the Finance Committee because they are the ones who decide what's actually in the inventory. And I'm more than happy to do that. So if you all tell me what should be in it, I will I will forward that on and write the memo to the Finance Committee who hopefully will then adopt it into the inventory questions or asks for next year, which would be about this time. Yeah. That that's helpful. So we have a little bit of time, so maybe what we can do then is actually share the list with everybody in ECAC and get folks, anybody who wants to provide some input to provide that. And then we can either have you come back to a future meeting and talk through it or just send you kind of our thoughts. Sure thing. Yeah, that'd be great. OK. Thank you. Thank you, Anna. Thank you for being here to clarify and correct me, because I said multiple things that were not correct. Oh, hi. And now I have a little person here. OK, next up on the agenda. So I have one more announcement. Oh, yeah, go ahead. The local energy advocates is an organization that started with the small group of residents who kind of got the whole ball rolling with the intermunicipal electricity aggregation. And at our next meeting on March 15th, we're hosting two speakers about the Ithaca plan to decarbonize all of their buildings. And they are doing it in a public private partnership, raising private money for it. And we'll have the director of the transformation process and the representative from Block Power, which is the company that is going to be overseeing the project on March 15th at seven o'clock. It will be publicizing this event. It's it's pretty exciting work that they're doing. And I think we can learn a lot from them. OK, great. And so, Andra, you'll send us the fire or something. OK. And what was the group you said is doing this? It's the local energy advocates of Western Mass. And it was the Western Massachusetts. CCA group, we changed the name and made it more formal. Anybody else? So next up is solar updates. So I'll turn back to you, Stephanie. Sure. So after the last meeting, I revised the proposal that was submitted to the town manager. There were also some additional comments from the planning director that revised proposal is posted in your meeting packet on the town's website on your ECAC page. If members of the public are looking to see that, it's posted there. But the changes that we made in terms of the committee membership increased the suggestion that there are at least two or more ECAC representatives and also two or more members of the planning board. We removed the recommendation for solar industry representative and included a member of the Board of Health. And then we also did identify a non-industry solar expert, such as someone coming from new mass energy transition, which was a suggestion, but not necessarily from specifically from the Mass Energy Transition Institute, just an example of who that person might be or where they might come from. So this proposal was submitted to the town manager. Ultimately, it's up to the town manager. Who he ends up appointing and whether he you know, will adhere to these recommendations or have some of his own. So it's what staff recommended, but it could change. So I know that it's under review currently and that's been submitted. It's under review and I think that's it. I know that there were some members of the public who submitted recommendations both to the town manager and copied me or submitted them to me. But anything I received, I did forward to the town manager's office. So there were a few members of the public that made specific requests and they were forwarded on to Paul Bochumann. Great. Thanks, Stephanie. I appreciate it can tell that a lot of our feedback that we gave you last time was incorporated. So I really appreciate that. Yeah, it's Wayne. Yeah, just also want to express appreciation to Stephanie on on the revisions to this and putting it forward. I definitely appreciate and am very approving of having at least two members of the back on this committee, because I think it's worthy of at least two of us and be great to for more than one of us to to represent ECAC and have feedback on that committee. There was one thing that I read in here that was a little bit new to me. And it sounds like it may be too late to revise anything, but I just want to get your feedback on Stephanie or at least my clarification, my understanding of what the resource assessment will be because it indicated in actually a couple of spots that the the deliverable that's being expected is a you know, a mapping, I think, is as here include a map showing sites in town that are considered to be suitable for installation of large scale ground mounted solar arrays, which I think is great and critical and important. But I was expecting and hoping and thinking that it would be very important for this resource assessment to also be very clear and also on all the other sighting opportunities for solar in Amherst, including rooftops, parking lot canopies and small, small scale project ground mounted projects because I think we need very much need that information as well in order to help with the zoning process as well as with the planning process in terms of where a suitable amount of solar might be able to fit appropriately and distributed in various different ways across Amherst. So can you clarify a little bit in terms of the expectation on the scope of work for the resource assessment in that in that area? I think the concern was that some of the smaller scale was somewhat already addressed in the existing bylaw to a degree, not specifically to solar, but certainly for sighting energy, renewable energy and I think in utilities. And I think the concern was that it was the really the larger scale that was not addressed. So some of this was this wasn't all my. This wasn't all just me. The planning director had some input into this as well. So I am I am very fully cognizant and aware of what we as an ECAC are looking for. And I think there's also the concern about the amount of available funding. And we have seventy five thousand dollars for this effort. And if you recall when I got the original quote from the consultant, it was a minimum of 80 for a six month study up to, you know, a hundred thousand or more for a more comprehensive study. So I think I think it's one of those things where we might have to look at this a little more and see what's possible. I'm certainly advocating for a more full scale assessment. I mean, that's what I knew I understood we wanted as an ECAC. But again, I think the concern was that that was the that was the big hole. I guess I would suggest it's really critical. I mean, as part of the community conversation about where and how to site solar and how much and so forth. If we if we, you know, if the resource assessment sets out, you know, large areas where large large arrays might be suitable and the and the community is, you know, pushing back on that, saying, let's do it on parking lots instead. We don't have the information to suggest. Well, parking we, you know, we've looked at parking lots and parking lots will get us X number of megawatts or kilowatts. And we're all, you know, and that's very suitable and appropriate. But it's it it will or won't, you know, come close to our needs. And if we don't have that information and extending that to roof, roof tops, generally. And I know these resource assessments, they don't necessarily go roof top to roof top to roof top, particularly residential. They will for the larger ones. But that's in Amherst, there's not that many of them and there's not that many parking lots. I don't see how it could be that would be that costly for a consultant to look at the parking lots and the and the larger rooftops of which there's not too many. The residential ones, they do more by sort of algorithms of suggesting, you know, that, you know, X percentage of solar in roofs in general are appropriate, you know, that type of analysis. But still to get some some sense from an outside expert on what the capacity opportunities are for these other types of solar. I think it's a really critical part of the equation that we need to pull together. I completely agree with you 100 percent. And I think this is a proposal. It doesn't mean that this is what's going to necessarily be specifically in the RFP. And I understand that, yes, it's important that that should be in there. But I I think, you know, I'll certainly be advocating for for a more comprehensive look. Thank you. Yeah, that's great. You're welcome. I have a question. Um. Are the committees that are going to be represented? Are they going to be nominating members or how is Paul going to pick pick names? I think he, you know, it's really up to him. And my guess is he may ask the committees to appoint one or two people. He may say, you know, he might reach out to Laura and say, we're putting together this committee and would you please, you know, identify a member of your committee to serve or two or three or whoever. He may reach out. So I think, you know, obviously, I don't think he's going to just certainly wouldn't just appoint people if they're not interested. So my guess is that's probably what he'll do. And any idea on the timeline? How long he'll be thinking? I don't know. I don't know. I mean, I I've submitted this and I haven't really heard anything yet. So but I'll I'll follow up because I feel like I'm, you know, we've got the funding and we're looking to do the assessment sooner than later. So I'll definitely be following up because we we want to come to that first meeting with a draft RFP, which, you know, I'll be reaching out to Dwayne about in terms of the prioritization. Thank you. Thank you for your work on this, Stephanie. Sure, you're welcome. Is there I think the only other because anybody else have any comments or questions? One sort of just like in the week question for me is whether or not there's like if we would one person fit more than one of these buckets or are you trying to have like? I think we're trying to get from people trying to have to review it. OK, yeah, I don't think we want one person feeling more than one sort of identified role. OK, great. OK, this is exciting. So hope fingers crossed, we can move forward quickly. And I will add that the point of this assessment, as we've said before, and I just wanted to reiterate because there have been some people asking for members that are not experts to be part of this committee, but this is supposed to be a very technical assessment. So it's supposed to be at that level and the opportunity for people to weigh in with various expertise is when it goes before you, when it goes before the planning board, when it ultimately goes before the town council. You know, there'll be opportunities for people to have public comment and weigh in on the process and provide feedback. But in terms of doing this, this is really a very. You know, it's supposed to be a very non. Bias, a very unbiased approach. It should be done in a very technical way. That's what we're looking to get from this assessment. Great. So seeing no more hands, I'll move on to the next item on the agenda, which is outreach and communications. So we have three items here, outreach to counselors, outreach on C pace and mass government outreach, both of which I think are covered under the work that this has been doing with his timeline. So maybe we'll just start quickly to see if anybody has any updates to share around engagements with counselors that haven't already been discussed. Yeah, yeah, I've just reached out to Andy and to Mandy, Joe. I haven't heard back from them yet, but I did reach out. And if I don't hear anything by the end of this week, I'll reach out again. So they have been contacted. Great. Yeah, that's him. Yeah, I continue to having conversations with Shalini around the timeline where I brought up, you know, having a festival and Amherst and, you know, she's been really interested and been talking to me about it. You know, Stephanie, I know you mentioned that it's a lot of work and Shalini's response was, well, could we get other people to support? She talked to Alex from the Jones Library committee and he's interested as well. And he, Shalini also brought up potential partners for this and we'll read this off our list. She brought up Bid, Amherst area, Chamber of Commerce, Hitchcock Center, Tony and Nancy at UMass Outreach Office, Amherst College, Hampshire College and Amherst College, Tom Davies, Director of Sustainability Initiative. There's the State Rep Mindy Dome and then the Energy Transitions Institute. So she's still very keen on having some sort of a festival, whether it's a day-long, week-long, she thinks that we can make it happen in the fall. I know you've gone through this more than anybody else and you said it's more complex, but she's willing to take the lead and assign potential partners to help us with it and also wants to know whether we want to take a lead role or more of a supporting role or no role at all. But at least have that conversation with the few people that she listed. Yes, Stephanie. So, Vasu, I think what I had responded was that we actually do have a sustainability festival annually and we have it right around Earth Day. It's in April. We just haven't had it the last couple of years because of COVID, but the last event was in 2019. What I was suggesting was that you build around that. And what I was saying is a week-long festival is a lot of work. You know, and I was saying that if you wanted to do things around it, you know, maybe if you really wanted to extend it, make it a two-day, but a week-long festival is a huge, huge undertaking. Like, it's enormous. It takes me a year just to plan the one day that we do. So that's what I was that was what I was responding to. But we do have a festival. It's in April. I would love to see more involvement and engagement. We're always looking for ways to change it up each year. I think I mentioned that one year, I think it was 2000. It was either I think it was 17 where we actually had a climate march and UMass was involved in that. In fact, it was UMass professors that organized that piece. And there were about 300 people that marched from from Kendrick Park to to the town common. So we've we've done things like that. And Amherst College was part of that event that year as well. They had something going on like in the center of the common. We gave them space for kind of a multi multi artistic musical exhibit. And it was it was really a pretty cool year that that year in particular. So, you know, we we are already we do partner with the bid. When we do this event, we do partner with the chamber. So those relationships are established. There is an event that happens. I would say, please build around that and I would be happy to work with you and Shalini on expanding it a bit more. We're not doing it this year again because of covid, but I fully anticipate that next year we will get back to get back to it. And that would be year 11. This will be the 11th year, the 11th event. And that's in addition to we used to have a renewable energy fair that we did used to have in the fall, but after several extraordinarily rainy events and cold events, we moved it to the spring, which has still sometimes been rainy and even snowy when they're in April because it's New England. But so, yeah, I would I would really advise you not to do an additional event. I would want to build around the one that we already do. But yeah, and thanks for sending the flyer to us. I sent it over to us. So let me take that discussion to Shalini and the conversation. Sure. Thank you. Great. Any other updates from discussions with councillors or. Yeah, I just mentioned, I did have the opportunity to talk to a councillor who's not my councillor, but Pam. Pam Rooney. And I'm not sure if somebody else has covered her, but she came to me through the Energy Transition Institute. She had engaged with them on on questions about solar and bylaws and so forth. And it got pushed to me. So I had a chance to have some interactions with her, which was helpful and it pointed her to some resources on our website. But just thought I mentioned that. Great. Yeah, Andrea. Yes, and I met with the district three councillors and they asked a lot of really good questions. And I think that there's going to need to be some thought and maybe on our part of, you know, the kinds of things that the council can and should do and and help sort of help them clarify what's their role and what is just in the town manager's hands and stuff. So I think that should be a part of our discussions as we're, you know, coming up with thoughts and saying, you know, oh, yes, let's bring that to our councillor that we're liaison to. We should always keep in mind. Well, what what role do they actually play and could they, you know, what's the value added and the appropriate role for them to play in? Initiatives. Yeah, that's a good point. And we've talked about that several times. I don't think we've ever actually pulled together like the list of policies that we think the councillors could be pushing. So maybe that's an action item for us to do. I don't know if folks have an idea on the best way to do that. Should one person just try to pull a list together and share it? Should we split up sections of the carp? I don't know if the Sue and you and Darcy were doing your your review and the matrix development. I don't know if you remember seeing like things that were specifically policy focused. We're actually very few related to policy. Yeah, it was more around governance. And I think it was around hiring people, consultants, and then it was outreach. OK, that's good to know. I mean, so I think we have this this inventory idea that on our on arrays, which is great. That's certainly one place that we can utilize the council. They I think we'll be getting a liaison. So I think that will also help. I don't know if you have any updates on that. No, OK, so maybe that's something that we can does a conversation we can start with them. I I also know we talked about like the policy piece. So how are the budget piece? Excuse me, how do we get ECAC involved similar to the inventory discussion where it's like how do we make sure the right lens is being applied to the inventory? I think we want to also be able to have that same discussion with the budgeting process. And so I think that's another question. I don't know who's the right person to raise that question with. Do you know, Stephanie, would it be like the finance committee? Yeah, so I sent an email a while ago regarding process because there was outreach to counselors and there was some discussion and confusion around that. And I think and I'm sorry, I just don't remember off the top of my head. But I think the response had to do with that the budget requests from a committee that's a town manager appointed a committee need to go through the town manager. So the initial pathway is that you want to speak to the town manager or provide that information or feedback to the town manager to get to the town council. And I know it seems like a sort of roundabout way. But that's why I was suggesting your conversations one on one with counselors is a good way to raise information. But officially, you should be going through the town manager. But if you've worked with your counselors, established a relationship and can give them a heads up, you know, I mean, I think that was the point of having these conversations is just establishing a relationship so that you can give them a heads up about initiatives. And background information before it comes to them. OK, great. So it sounds like we we need to and Anna just actually just sent me a note that we should know about liaisons after the meeting on the 28th. So that's actually next week. So maybe this is a good maybe this is a good agenda item to put on our next meeting, assuming that we'll have a liaison and they can attend. We can maybe talk a bit about about this. And then Stephanie, maybe we can send a note to Paul or I can send a note to Paul or we can figure out how to discuss the budget piece because I do think that would be a really helpful lever for. You have to be able to do some of the work that's outlined in our charge. OK, great. Do I think in terms of the CPAC, the CPACE next steps, Vasu, did you include outreach about CPACE in your timeline? Did not. OK. I mean, I think we still have to review that timeline and start writing that information, right? I think what we created, I don't think we had a discussion around what are some of the things that need to be added. Maybe we could talk about that next next week. And get some alignment with everybody. OK. That sounds good. The CPACE, I think what we were what we needed to get Stephanie, sorry, keep forgetting to email you to to remind you about this is like what information what information we can get about those in town that would be eligible for CPACE so that we can get information out to them. So I think it's building owners, business owners. I think that's the main two. Yeah, we're we're aware. I mean, Sean and I had talked about this way back in the beginning when we became a CPACE community. So. Just in the list of things we haven't been able to do much about it. But I can certainly circle back with him about his thoughts also because I think he had some thoughts to. Do yeah, let's do. Yeah, can I meet with somebody else before our next ECAC meeting to just look at the timeline, work on it together? And then we can talk about it. If that's what we want to use. Yeah, yeah, I'm happy to maybe you and I can can meet. OK. Um, and actually this is making me think, I don't know, Andrea, is there a way to the event you talked about on the 15th? Is it maybe this is already in the plans? But I know it's not just Amherst as part of the CCA, but I'm wondering if there's some preliminary information that can be shared at the start about. Cat Carp and. You know, the goals of Massachusetts, you know, kind of our goals. Massachusetts goals are like how why we're kind of having this conversation in the first place to set the stage. That's a really interesting idea. I don't think that that would happen at this meeting. It's also our annual meeting. So we're starting at six with just sort of. Voting on the board and things. So it's a very full agenda. But we could do that at a subsequent meeting and and also. Combined with, well, what are Palms goals? What are Northampton's goals? Where do we overlap and. Yeah, I mean, that could be to our discussion. Around like being somewhere from the state and, you know, things like that. I mean, maybe that would be more. Attractive if it was multiple communities together. Anyway. Yes. OK. All right. So if it's to you and I can look at the timeline and maybe we can. I'll talk a bit more about that next time. Any sort of find through this agenda today, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Next item up is grant timelines. So this, I think we had talked about maybe to be helpful to understand when the grants typically come up. Are ideas we might need to be generating in advance so that it's not as much of a. What can we do to help you be at least, Stephanie? If anything, with the grant process. I know that this was Andra's suggestion. So I don't know if you had some specific ideas, but. I mean, it's like I said, at the last meeting, we can certainly identify when grants are coming up and when they're due. I typically know the ones that, you know, we. You know, that we there's some that are annual and we go for. There's some that are just opportunities that suddenly arise that we pursue. I think even when there is something that it seems like we should go for, we won't always just because there's only so much we can do at any given time. And I can tell you, you know, like I just recently was working on a grant for the Conservation Department that had the most arduous reporting requirement ever. And it took up so much time and it was for not much money. So I think we're. Going to be a little selective. It doesn't like I just don't want to put a whole lot of time on trying to identify all these grand opportunities when they're pretty clear when they come up, especially, you know, I'm on enough list serves that I get bombarded with opportunities. So I think, you know, if there's something that comes up and I really feel like, you know, it's an opportunity and that we need help, I would certainly reach out to you all. Or if there's something that you are aware made aware of and let me know if we can, we'll pursue it and I'll look for help. I mean, I think a great example of the collaboration was the work, you know, on the electrification effort. I feel like that was a really great process. It still is an ongoing process. And it's going to result in something pretty cool, I think. So more of that kind of opportunity, I think, is great. Again, that grant is not for a lot. It is going to be a lot of work. But I think the end result is going to be really important for the town. I think it's going to be a great process. So if we could do more of that kind of thing and that kind of collaboration where it's not entirely all just, you know, town getting a grant. I just, I guess, again, I just don't want to spend a lot of time on just identifying grants, they come up. We see them, if you know of them, direct them to me. So I think when I brought it up at the last meeting, I was thinking about, well, I don't know much about the Green Community's grant program. And you told us some at the beginning of this meeting that was helpful. But I guess I feel like I kind of need an intro. Maybe I just look it up online. But I, you know, what? Sundance, you know, what funding sources are we going to use to. Get through our priorities in a sensible order. And we can't always. Know what's going to come down the line, but we could be looking for opportunities for something in the next two years around blank. You know, I don't have it on my head what. Kind of things in the car that that we're going to want. To seek outside funding for, but I just feel like that that should be that that should be a, you know, a forward thinking process rather than a reactive process. Yeah. And I think there are some things that, like for me, I feel like there are some next steps that I want to pursue and have happened, like in terms of the building benchmarking that needs to be done. And that's very time consuming. And there's also the realization that and that, you know, and sort of getting that established first for me will help us be able to pursue some of the grant funding, because unless we have that sort of in place, I feel like some of these grant opportunities, we just don't have the right information, if you know what I mean. Like there's always, you know, engineering that needs to be done. There's other information that, you know, that if we can just like attach, you know, well, here's the inventory. These are the buildings we know we need to address, like immediately that kind of information is like we don't. It exists on some level, like honest, seen it, but it's not as comprehensive as I think I would like to see the tone do. So I feel like I'd like to make something like that a priority. And as far as funding goes, we are in a point where we never had any funding in the past. And we now have money that's being allocated towards sustainability work, which is in we're in a very different place than we were in the past. I mean, it's in it. It's not huge that we all know how quickly we can utilize and eat up the funding, but it is. Way more exponentially more than we've had up until now. So I think there's. It's not it's not that it's not critical. It's just that it's not. There's some money to do some work, I guess is what I'm saying. So I'm not saying we shouldn't be planning ahead. It's just that I feel like I want to have some time to do some work and I keep getting pushed into these projects that I feel like derail my ability to focus on some of the work that we want to get done. And I like I really want to get this building benchmarking thing done. And I really want to get the vehicle inventory done in a way that's we've worked on it to a level. But I feel like I'd like to bring in an intern to sort of get more. More more pieces of information that are relevant to this work included in that inventory, which doesn't have right now. So anyway, there's just, you know, there's some of those things I feel like need to happen. And they sometimes I feel like I'm spending a lot of times pursuing these some of these smaller grants, which can be great. But I just feel like there's other work that needs to be done and we're not getting to it. Yes, Steve. Yeah, I guess my perspective is that we know what our priorities are. We don't need to go out and look for grants that then become our priorities. And, you know, what Stephanie just said, it's really true. We're asking her to do a lot. She's doing a lot. And I think it'd be great if more of us were able to take the lead on projects and do as much as we can ourselves. And Stephanie can help us here and there. But we're going to have to do a lot of the legwork on it. And some of those areas are that I think the sea pace would be great if one of us was to take the lead on helping develop that finding partners and to introduce building owners to see pace. That'd be an excellent one. Other projects are figuring out ways for residents to do energy retrofits. That's a huge priority. And if one of the ECAC members wanted to take charge and lead on that, that'd be great. I think so we got lots of tasks that we can do. And. Yeah, I wonder if I almost like don't want to say this out loud, but I wonder if we should try to set up a retreat in person, if we can, with our new members. It feels like we have, I think we have never been able to get together and really talk through this stuff in a way that I feel like could be a bit more beneficial than our meeting time. So I don't know what people thought. I don't want to put you on the spot and we can make it hybrid if people don't uncomfortable, but I'm just thinking that maybe with maybe it's a good time to to do something like that. And then Stephanie really have you lay out like the things you want to get done and how can we support you on those? What research would he help do? And then what projects do we do we need to take the lead on? I think we have these like buckets, right? What do we need the what do we need the council to focus on? And when we have a new council liaison, that's going to be helpful. What Stephanie, are you focusing on and how can we be supportive? You and the town and sort of the town staff and then where where is there? Nobody working on something and that's where you can't needs to come in and fill fill the void. Because I think that would really help us, you know, we know we've got the solar work coming up that some people will be involved in. But that's taken up a lot of bandwidth these last few months. And but I think we're starting to see that move into a move into a process. So I feel like it's just feels like the right time. I think that's a great idea. And also, I think the CCA effort is really. On the cusp and I feel like the very first thing that's probably going to happen is, you know, a public education campaign. And that's going to really for that to be successful. And I know Andrew and Dwayne, especially are very fully cognizant of that for that to be successful. We really need to get people educated and on board, because if people don't sign on, it's not, you know, it'll be a lot of work for nothing. So we really need to get people educated to understand why there's a benefit to this. And it's not just about. A better electricity price, utility price can be competitive. Yeah, I just want to for those who may not know. It's not actually an opt in. It's an opt out. So people, people still have to want to do it or, you know, and not opt out. But the the. You know, it's happened all over the state, these these kinds of aggregations. And people don't tend to opt out. So but we still want enthusiasm. Well, right. And we need, yeah, we do still need people to stay in. So and it's important for people to understand what it's all about so that when they get the letter, it doesn't feel like there's just some utility person sending them something that they don't fully understand, you know, so I think we just want to make it so very clear for people that this is something that this committee in the town is fully behind. And why it's so important. And I think we have an incredible consultant when we get this going. I think we have a wonderful consultant and I think they'll be great to work with. Yeah, and that just reminds me. I think it would be helpful. I think for all of us and certainly our newer members to get an update on the CCA more, more holistically and maybe what we could do instead of spending our retreat time updating on projects, maybe we can put that on our agenda for our ECAC meeting ahead of a retreat. So an update on CCA, an update on the building electrification, just getting everybody up to speed on some of the stuff that we have ongoing so that we can spend the retreat time really like. As a working session, so I don't know what the right timeline for timing for that is if it would be next meeting that we do that or maybe we need to wait and see what happens on Monday if we get a liaison and we get our new members appointed on month. I think if I remember correctly, I think Paul mentioned the 28th was like the deadline for the council to say something about the appointees and if they don't say anything, the appointments go through automatically, right? So we may have a liaison and new council members at our next meeting. And then we can think to me, Stephanie, we can send out a poll to folks about like weeks. I know the colleges spring breaks are coming up and stuff, so we probably need to work around some of that. But about times, if people want to do a retreat, if they would be comfortable doing in person or hybrid and like what weeks wouldn't work for them. Yeah, we can wait until our new members are on board to have that conversation. Totally. OK. I think we're basically at the end of our agenda for today then. So in terms of next agenda items, the Sue and I will meet on the timeline and we'll come back with some more information there. We may have new members and a new liaison so we can spend some time with introductions there. We'll circulate the inventory information that Anna sent. And then we can have a discussion about that at our next meeting. And. I don't know, do folks want to do updates? Assuming we have new members and a liaison for next meeting, do folks want updates on CCA and building electrification next week next time or should we hold that for the following week? Can I recommend you hold it? Sure, just because you'll have the new members and you might want to. Put it off till another meeting when it's not all brand new for the very first meeting. OK, that sounds good. Um, anything else folks want to raise right now? Does anyone in the public want to make a comment? OK, I don't see anything. So I think with that we can call it a little early today. Thanks, everybody. Thanks, everybody. Bye bye.