Arlington Energy Committee Meeting Minutes 8-27-25

Arlington Energy Committee 

Regular Meeting 

Public Meeting, Wednesday, August 27, 2025 at 6:30 PM 

Committee members in attendance:  Alex Ernst, Mardi Crane, Jenny Murtaugh, Mary Anne Holmes, Stephanie Moffett-Hynds, Joan Nash 

Also present: Alternate Garret Siegel, Karen Lee, Bill Laberge 

Meeting began at 6:44 PM, after technical difficulties:  

1. Additions or Deletions from the agenda: Add Hazard Mitigation update from Garret 

2. Minutes from previous meeting:  Mary Anne moved to accept; Mardi seconded. All approved.   

3. Old Business 

1. Electric Buses Debut at AMHS: Update from Bill Laberge 

AMHS is starting the school year with 4 electric school buses. Bill spoke with Jamie Paustian at AMHS (while Jamie was actually inside one of the buses!). A $1.6 million grant made this possible. Holly Anne Andersen, Southwest Vermont Supervisory Union Director of Facilities Management and Operations secured the grant. Jamie reported that chargers are being installed now by GMP.  Bill asked if AEC could have a tour and if we could help publicize this significant development as another indication of what the school system is doing to save money and reduce its carbon footprint at the same time. Jamie said yes.  

1. Schedule AEC tour with Jamie Paustian (Best time would be between 9 and 10 AM)   Bill will communicate with Jamie, saying that Friday, Sept. 19^th would be first choice; second choice Wednesday, Sept. 17th, or whatever else would work for him that week of September 15 – 19th. 

2. Publicity  

• Bill spoke with Andrew McKeever at GNAT-TV; Karen and Bill will encourage him to include Holly Andersen.  Andrew will reach out to Jamie. 

• We should also get The Manchester Journal involved.   

• Perhaps The Bennington Banner will also pick it up. 

• VT Digger:  Mardi suggests we put this on their tip line; Bill suggested that we wait until Andrew does hid outreach first and then Bill will reach out to VT Digger. 

2. Window Dressers 

1. Logistics in Final Stretch of preparation for Oct. 2-8 Build at the American Legion in Arlington: 

• Jenny reported that all the measurements are complete for this season: 37 customers!  Most have paid. There are 4 special rate customers.  The measurers shared the Efficiency VT DIY $100 rebate information with the customers and urged them all to sign up for their build sessions.   

• Stephanie needs to get back up to speed as WD volunteer coordinator, and use the Sign Up platform to track and increase sign ups to help set up, build, provide food, clean up, and take down.   

• All who can participate in the Build are encouraged to sign up on the WindowDreessers website: WD SignUP for Northshire Community Build.   

2. Roger Hanson, the new Coordinator for the Northshire Build (taking over from Jim Salsgiver), met with the Arlington Select Board on August 18^th and secured a donation. He provided them with compelling data that show how many Arlingtonians have received inserts in the past and, of those, how many were provided for free or at a reduced cost. The Select Board agreed to donate $600 from discretionary funds for this year’s Window Dressers Community Build.  Should WD wish to secure future annual funding from the town, they will need to put this request on the ballot for voting next spring.  This will probably require signatures, so the thinking is that we (Steph and Roger) will draw up some signature pages for people to sign who attend the Build in October (those Arlingtonians who participate). The request will come from the Window Dressers organization, we think. 

3. Table at Farmer’s Market: Friday, August 29 (Window Dressers, Incentives*, etc.). Steph will set up; Alex and Garret will take down. 

1. Let’s focus on tax breaks!  Steph will make a poster: “TAX BREAKS, BEFORE THEY EXPIRE!  Let’s talk!” A deposit on an EV must be made by December 31, for example, if one were to want to get the federal rebate up to $7,000. Karen will put together a handout and will bring copies: What’s going away; what will still be available.  Everyone should become familiar with the article from Efficiency VT on How to get clean energy tax breaks before they expire, from Efficiency Vermont.  Alex and Garret will also prepare some materials on expiring funds. 

2. Shout out to Peggy Hansen for all her hard work administering the Farmers Market this year! 

3. And, as far as our survey, Alex will walk around with it.  Have container where they can deposit it. 

4. Red Mountain Road property update from sub-committee: 

1. Alex shared a report she put together outlining a long list of interesting facts about Red Mountain.   

2. She also researched other similar-sized towns who have town forests to see how they are managed.  She identified 3 and found that none of them spend much money on them.  They might provide paint for trail markers and small signs, for example, but everything else is provided by volunteers. 

3. Peter Hildick-Smith is still looking at two potential access points, without which this project will not go forward. 

Garret noted that the Arlington Planning Commission has sent a letter in support of the town’s acquiring this property, and he got the Planning Commission added to the Select Board agenda for September 8^th to talk about it.  Stephanie and others on the AEC will also be in attendance to voice support from the AEC.  

4. Update on letter to Select Board:  Steph and Joan drafted a letter; the committee has sent Steph additional edits that she and Joni will incorporate. Steph will share the revised version one more time before submitting it. She will also ask that the AEC be added to the agenda for Sept. 8^th. 

5. Update on carbon tracking tool by Joan:  She has entered all the data for 2024 and is ready for committee members to audit her work.  Committee members are asked to sign up for an hour or two with her. 

In going over the invoices, she found some odd purchases that she is going to investigate.  She thinks a propane purchase by the town hall was misidentified, and that it should have been assigned to a different town entity.           

There is also a new solar panel attached to a caution light that is apparently generating revenue for the town ($1300 to $1400!), but she doesn’t know where that came from.  How do we account for this in our spreadsheet tracking tool? To which department, in other words, should it be assigned? It uses zero kwh. This should be noted in the Sequestration column. 

Karen reported that Cynthia wants us to report to the Select Board on Sept. 8^th on what we have learned about our town’s carbon footprint.  This will be a great opportunity to use the tool to help the Select Board.  Joni and Steph will prepare for this. 

4. New Business 

1. Meeting with the new Arlington Town Administrator: key goals 

1. Mary Anne pointed out that Cynthia Browning is now the interim Town Administrator and, because of this duty, resigned from the Select Board. She knows this because she always reads the Select Board minutes. 

2. Stephanie applauded Mary Anne for doing this and for the reminder that all of us should be reading the Select Board minutes. (Mary Anne also suggested that this could be another committee role: we should assign someone to report on these at the AEC meetings.) 

2. Mapping out AEC future projects. We discussed a short list, with more to be added: 

List of Items to discuss with new Arlington Town Administrator 

• Website update and ability of AEC to update its own page 

• Town Energy Coordinator position – liaison to select board from the AEC 

• Strategies on how to work more productively with the select board 

• Update on use of MERP funds, particularly those assigned to municipal weatherization projects approved for the Town Hall, etc. 

• Can we meet for mixers with other energy committees and the public (ie. Quarterly potlucks)? – contact BCRC to coordinate 

• Even though the size of a subcommittee can only be 3 or fewer, can that committee also include interested citizens to help with a given project? 

• AEC goals: list and prioritize.  

• Be familiar with updated VT Climate Action Plan, posted on the Vermont Government website on July 1^st. 

Discussion ensued regarding the fact that so many of the efficiency and resilience projects and plans to address climate change and hazards have now lost funding and educational support from the Trump Administration. The AEC will need to engage the community to understand these changes and to help figure out how to protect and respond to the climate developments now that we as a state and as a town are largely on our own. 

3. Hazard Mitigation Committee:  Garret reported that the update is due August 28^th.  The committee has been working on this.  It is a very interesting document, well worth the read. The biggest missing thing is how we communicate in emergencies.  There is no one satisfactory way.  In an emergency, there might not be any electricity. The town needs sirens, most likely. The Hazard Mitigation/Arlington Planning Commission should bring this up with the Select Board; the AEC supports this inquiry (as well as the following one). 

It is clear that Arlington needs site-specific information.  The AEC discussed the need for water gauges in all of its rivers. Mary Anne will look into these. What is the protocol? Will the town install these for the Hazard Mitigation committee and/or the AEC to monitor? Or are we allowed to install them ourselves?  We might need volunteer community weather data gatherers.  Mary Anne will reach out to Julie Hutchinson-Smith, who is a weather climate coordinator. She will also contact Mark Anderson about how one goes about setting up a volunteer climate monitoring group. 

5. Upcoming Events:  

• Please attend September 8^th Select Board meeting! 

• Window Dressers Build, October 2-8, Set up October 1. 

Next meeting: October 1, 2025 

Motion to adjourn by Mardi, Joan seconded; Adjourned at 8:12PM.   

Minutes taken by Mary Anne and Steph.