Minutes from Arlington Energy Committee Meeting 7-15-2026

Arlington Energy Committee

Regular Meeting

Public Meeting, Wednesday, July 15, 2026 at 6:00 PM  

Members Present, in person: Stephanie Moffett-Hynds, Mardi Crane, Grace Katrick, Mary Ann Carlson, Mary Anne Holmes.

Via Zoom: Joan Nash

Absent: Bill Laberge; Alexandra Ernst, Garret Siegel

Also Present: Marcus Jones

The meeting was called to order at 6:04 PM, by AEC Chair, Stephanie.

Additions to or Deletions from the Agenda:

Marcus Jones is present to discuss Thermal Energy Networks (TENs) for Arlington.

Select Board meetings report and scheduling.

Minutes of the previous meeting of June 3, 2026: MAH moved to approve the minutes. Grace seconded. One Correction: Chris Bates that Steph will contact on the Bennington Energy Committee. Motion carried.

New Business

  1. Additions or Deletions from the agenda:
    1. Update energy portion of Town Plan / rewrite

Energy Committee members are willing to assist with communication re: Town Plan update.

Suggestion: Expand ideas of what to ask on proposed Town Survey; e.g., landfill will be filled in 15 yrs; 60% of our waste derives from construction + demolition waste. How can we reduce?  

We propose to offer a series of lunch/coffees on Moving Arlington Forward. Start with Problem Statement.

Note: the Arlington Planning Commission will host a Walking Tour, probably during Norman’s Attic, September 19.     

  • Energy Committee Convergence

Steph has been in touch with BCRC’s Callie Fishburn and Sunderland’s Energy Committee Chair, Jeff Dexter to see about having another meeting with all the other Bennington County energy committees to make share goals, updates, projects, etc.  The suggested date was July 28 at Sunderland Town Hall, but this will be changed to August to give more notice.

  • Plug-in solar

Now that this legislation (S. 202) has passed and was signed into law by the governor, energy committees can promote it. Apparently to install, a Smart Meter is required. Something like 90% of homes do have these https://www.pluginsolarmap.com/vermont. However, Vermont’s meters will be old because we were early to adopt them, and so may require upgrade before plug-in can work.

  • Old Business.
    • Grace Katrick appointed to AEC

Will fill Jenny Murtaugh’s remaining term. Orientation document shared with Grace.

  • Farmers Market AEC booth (including our WindowDressers display)

Mary Ann Carlson, Mardi, Grace, and Steph helped with the booth on July 10th. Mardi and Grace provided information on energy savings from growing one’s own sprouts, and provided seeds, jars and screen lids. This saves energy by reducing gas to grocery for fresh greens. They also created a handout on how sprouts help reduce CO2 emissions, along with a card with instructions on how to grow the sprouts. Low cost, eating whole plant is very nutritious; ready in 2-3 days; fun; very doable; collecting contributions to pay it forward; $32 collected to buy new seeds, jars, bands, screens. Uses wide-mouth jar, so bands must match. People happy to get them. Steph made signs for the display. People were excited.

WindowDressers: Former AEC member Bryan Dalton helped with the table at the Arlington Farmers Market. We need to strategize ways to increase engagement. The AEC has a table again this Friday, July 17th.  Mardi and Grace will be there w/their sprouts display again. Bryan Dalton will set up and staff the WindowDressers table again. We need to work on signage that hangs over the front of the tables and clearly indicates who we are and why folks should come talk to us. The final Farmer’s Market table for us is on August 21.

  • LEDs and MERP update regarding Town Hall

MAH spoke with Katie, the Town Administrator, and learned the Town has enough funds to pay for the panel upgrade to install the heat pumps.

  • Select Board attendance schedule – 7pm

Next Meetings: July 20 – MAH; Aug 3 – Mardi; Aug 17 – Grace; Aug 31- Steph

  • Updates on AEC including AMHS students

We discussed adding students from AMHS to the AEC, including how these members might be engaged in assisting with the Carbon Tracking Tool, including close tracking of C output with the installation of the Town Hall heat pumps; assisting with WindowDressers, including signing up volunteers for the build; and research on additional ways the town might think about energy savings, perhaps even developing a board game to determine how to assess one’s resources and C outputs.

  • TENS exploration update

Steph and Marcus are meeting with Debbie New again re: Thermal Energy Networks. They will further investigate having some sort of community discussion to share information about this technology and the possible benefits for Arlington if it were to build one.  

  • New Business
    • Legislative Update on Energy matters: bills that have made it through crossover

We discussed S. 202, Plug In Solar, above.

  • Other

No other business.

Motion to adjourn: 7:40; MAH moved to adjourn; Grace 2nded. All approved.

Next meeting: August 5, 2026 at 6:00 PM

Minutes taken by AEC Secretary MAH