With just over $1-million in energy upgrades identified throughout Rochester’s municipal buildings, Facilities Manager Andrew Daniel said, “We’re getting the biggest band for our buck.”
Daniel told the Rochester Board of Selectmen on March 2 that the $135,960 grant received from the Massachusetts Green Communities Program has been utilized to improve various municipal buildings in ways that provide energy cost savings.
After identifying a massive list of potential energy improvements and prioritizing those improvements, Daniel said the town would be saving approximately $30,000 in energy expenditures. Seemingly small changes will equate to big improvements, he indicated.
Daniel pointed to LED lighting upgrades at the Council on Aging, Highway Department, Town Hall, and Police Department which will bring $20,000 in savings, he said. Other improvements include weather stripping at Rochester Memorial, pipe wrapping for HVAC systems and insulation to building(s). Other upgrades include automatic controllers, smart light switches, thermostats and heat pumps, he said.
“These are good savings on the budget,” Daniel stated, then added, “Now it’s implementation time… we feel good about this.” He also indicated that a small unused portion of the grant will be earmarked for additional consulting fees for Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District (SRPEDD) without whose assistance, he said, would have made the project much more difficult. Daniel also said that additional grant applications would be considered.
In other business the selectmen voted in agreement with the Conservation Commission and the Planning Board in exercising the town’s Right-Of-First-Refusal for property identified as Map 43A Lots 34, 66, and 68, passing on the option to buy.
The selectmen also voted to accept FEMA flood-plain mapping changes and have those changes reflected in the town’s bylaw with the Planning Board implementing the updated mapping details. The annual town meeting warrant will have an article asking voters to approve the mapping updates. The FEMA mapping changes have resulted in some property owners getting relief from the necessity of having to purchase flood insurance, Selectman Greenwood Hartley noted.
Conservation Agent Laurell Farinon stated that FEMA mapping changes would be adopted by the agency and published on July 22, 2022, but that the town needed to change corresponding bylaw language in advance of that date.
The board also discussed with Town Administrator Suzanne Szyndlar upcoming road race permitting. Hartley expressed concern that some roads were simply “dangerous” for such activities. He asked that at the next safety meeting the topic of where to allow these recreational activities to take place be reviewed.
On the issue of the expanding COVID-19 outbreak, Szyndlar said all public health officials, schools, and first responders had been meeting and monitoring all available information. She said that table-top exercises had been taking place to ensure planning was adequate, including meetings with Old Colony Regional Technical Vocational High School, the town’s dispensing center, in the event of area-wide emergencies. “We are all in this together,” Szyndlar said.
The selectmen took no action on this night regarding affordable-housing planning. Instead they asked that it be put on the agenda for their next meeting when the full board would be in attendance.
The next meeting of the Rochester Board of Selectmen is scheduled for March 16 at 6:00 pm in the town house meeting room.
Rochester Board of Selectmen
By Marilou Newell