Arlington Energy Committee meeting – August 4, 2021 in Town Hall AND via Zoom, recorded
Next meeting: Henceforth, the AEC will meet at Town Hall and via Zoom the FIRST WEDNESDAY of every month from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. The next meeting is September 1.
Present: Stephanie Moffett-Hynds (Chair), Karen Lee, Via Zoom: Mardi Crane-Godreau and Mary Ann Carlson.
Guests: Town Administrator Nick Zaiac and Jenny Murtaugh (great to have another fresh new face!)
Old Business
· Videos: Mardi and Karen have made two great new AEC Climate videos: “Climate Hack: Fire the Dryer” https://youtu.be/XeYD1Ju–2k and “Climate Hack: Carbon WHAT?” https://youtu.be/kwk9Ujfbf5w Check them out!
Garret and Alex have offered to post information. It would be great for them to post these links to Happening in Arlington, as well as the video on GNAT to advertise Window Dressers.
· Window Dressers:
o Reminder that all committee members and interested community members should go ahead and sign up for volunteer slots for our “barn raising” style build at Arlington Common (former St. Margaret’s Catholic Church). Register at https://signup.com/go/NFqMowf (our Northshire event is called “Manchester VT 2021 Community Build” on the link, but it really is in Arlington). The schedule for those days: Nov. 10 move materials from Southshire to Northshire site; November 11-15 our community build; Nov. 16 breakdown and move materials to next location.
- Karen had just returned from the Measurers’ training session in Guilford, just before this meeting, and gave a great report on the key role that measurers will play:
- Going with a partner to measure the windows, recording measurements on the software downloaded on their laptops
- Taking payment (in the form of checks) before leaving the client’s home and/or negotiating an appropriate payment, as needed
- Signing the client up for a build session, if possible, using SignUp.com
Karen also expressed how impressed she is with the quality and efficiency of the windows and with how well organized the whole process is. She hadn’t been sure before the training session, but said that now she is sold. The price of the windows is so low simply because almost all the work that goes into preparing them is done by volunteers. No matter the number of windows fitted, each one will help make a house more snug and bring down fuel bills.
- The committee discussed outreach, which really needs to step up. The library, fire stations, and Federated Church could all benefit from such weatherization. We should reach out to them to see if they would be interested. (Steph will check with Jim Salsgiver to understand better what the ratio of residential to commercial orders should be – if there are any limits at all.)
- Mardi raised the question, “Shouldwe ask the town to allocate money for next year for those in need in our community?” (Steph will also check with Jim about this.) Nick said he could advise us on how one can go through that process.
· Arlington Farmers Market Table:
o Volunteers:
- 8/6: Steph load in with John & Becca Herrington for first shift; Jeff Dexter and Dixie Zens for second shift and load out.
- 8/13: #1 – Steph & Karen, #2 – Noah Forest & Mary Ann (Steph will help with load out)
- 8/20: #1 (Steph to load in) Karen & Mary Ann; #2 Garret & Alex (Steph to help with load out)
o Jeff Dexter of the Sunderland EC will lend his tent; Steph will provide table, chairs, flyers, our AEC sandwich board. Jeff has an additional board with Window Dressers info and will also have some Window Dressers videos on his ipad to show at the booth.
o Thank you to Alex and Garrett for hosting training on the information needed to staff the table at their place last weekend.
Outreach:
· The AEC is most grateful to Ali who is almost finished putting together the AEC page on the former Arlington Area Renewal Project (AARP) website. It will soon host around six civic groups in town, including Lions, Fire Department, Rescue Squad, Arlington Arts & Enrichment, and the AEC. It is not a Town page, rather a civic one. Steph sent her some information on our WD build and she hopes to have our landing page ready by Friday’s Farmer’s Market. If we have graphics, Ali can upload them in 2 to 4 weeks.
· Steph will also send her the links to the volunteer sign-up form.
· Reminder: Nick’s Town Administrator phone number can receive and send texts: (802) 379-9916.
· Websites:
o Official Town site: https://arlingtonvermont.org
o Promotional site: https://www.arlington-vermont.com
There was not enough time to discuss other goals for the committee. We have a lot to focus on to make sure that the Window Dressers build is a success.
All those present were delighted that Jenny Murtaugh joined us today.
Without objection, meeting was adjourned.