Selectboard Meeting of February 15, 2011.
To read the Selectmen’s agenda sorry, I didn’t get one that was useable and not corrupted!
Highway Department PR and inquiry by resident to plow her road.
At the beginning of the meeting, chair of the Board of Selectmen, James Wettlaufer praised the work of the Highway Department as “outstanding.”The Department’s leader, Brian Johnson came under fire lately for hiring Alexander Haney as driver for the town’s heavy front loader. An investigation by the Holland Blog revealed that Haney had neither the proper training nor the needed license to operate the heavy equipment.
Wettlaufer praised the excellent snow removal work of the Highway Department and provided a much needed PR boost for the Highway Department stating:
“We received a whole bunch of correspondence from town residents echoing those sentiments for the great work they have done. I’m not going to read all these letters.”
The Holland Blog will help boost the image by requesting copies of the “whole bunch” of letters utilizing a public information request. The new Open Meeting Law mandates to include any — during the meeting mentioned documents — to be made part of the official record. The Holland Blog will then publish all letters here to help Brian out.
Kristin LaPlante resigns from her position as Executive Secretary.
Wettlaufer announced that Kristin LaPlante will resign from her position as Executive Secretary at the end of this month. During the televised meeting, Wettlaufer encouraged individuals interested in the position of Town Clerk to contact Kristin LaPlante and get some “on the job” training. In a personal conversation with Kristin LaPlante, she denied to have made up her mind whether to run for re—election as “Town Clerk,” and that she will only give up her position as Executive Secretary. The selectboard will accept applications for the position until February 25, 2011.
Tri Town meeting.
There was an announcement for a tri—town meeting on February 22, 2011. There will be talk about regionalization of garbage collection. Cheaper options are sought.
New computers and a new printer.
A new printer for the tax collector and new computers for eight or nine town officials are planned to be purchased. According to Wettlaufer, the computers to be replaced are five or six years old and the individuals using them have trouble with them.I subscribe to be notified and have the agendas about the selectmen’s meetings emailed to me. Last week, I received an email with the agenda attached as a file with the extension “.lnk”, a clear indication that little is still working on the computer from which the email was sent from.
By googling the term “fix registry lnk file extension” the sender of the email will find easy fixes to repair the registry and the computer will work fine again, and I’m able to get the agenda and not just some corrupted useless file.
Old computers will be passed on to the library and the school.
Retrofits of Public Buildings.
The legislature signed the “Green Communities Act” and the “Global Warming Solutions Act” into law in 2008. These two acts will bring our Commonwealth in a leading position when it comes to improving Energy Efficiency, innovation in the field of renewable energy, and the creation of thousands of new jobs.Selectmen Michael Kennedy did some research and found out that not all internet sites keep their promises; unlike the Holland Blog.
Kennedy is “only in talking stages” with firms who would install solar panels on the roofs of buildings at the Elementary School at no cost to the town. The selected firm will install the panels to receive the renewable energy credit from the state.
Stretch Code.
Duval Patrick combined Massachusetts’ Energy and Environment agencies on the state level under Ian Bowles as secretary to a single Cabinet, the Department Of Energy Resources (DOER). The two agencies that were constantly fighting each other became partners in an economic mission and achieved under Bowles’ leadership great success over the past four years.Effective January 1, 2010, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts brought its “base” energy code to the level of the International Energy Conservation Code (“IECC”) 2009, but the Commonwealth also provided — as the first state in the nation — a set of optional and even more stringent energy efficiency provisions.
These more stringent provisions, which cities and towns may choose to adopt, are know as “Stretch Code” and appear as Appendix 120.AA to the 7th Edition of the State Building Code 780 CMR.
As a first step, DOER in January 2010, announced it would begin taking applications from cities and towns seeking official “Green Community”
status.
May 14, 2010, was the deadline for cities and towns to apply for Green Community status in order to be eligible for the first round of grants.
Holland’s leaders” were sleeping on the job; at the time true leadership in other communities took the necessary steps to comply with the requirements to qualify for the program, James Wettlaufer, Earl Johnson and Christian Petersen of the selectboard were busy with their vendetta against the Lamountains, spending money on one more frivolous lawsuit they lost at the end, as usual.
No rocket science was needed to put it in place, you just needed to follow instructions issued by the DOER. Every housewife baking cookies according to a recipe faces a bigger challenge, click here, to see for yourself.
As of May 14, 2010, 40 communities had adopted the “stretch code,” by November 10, 2010, the number was 58, and the latest count that was released is 64 communities. To see which cities and towns have already adopted the “Stretch [energy] Code”, click here!
The first round of grants last year paid out 11 millions in state grant money available to “Green Communities.” $125,000 was the smallest amount awarded last year. It is fair to claim that under Wettlaufer’s watch, the opportunity to ring the register and cash—in at least $125,000 in (easy) grant money was missed.
State grant were, and are again this year available for programs such as efficiency initiatives, renewable energy projects and innovative programs. To qualify for “Green Community,” status, the following five conditions need to be met:
- As—of—right sitting for at least one of the following: alternative energy generation (requires language in the zoning bylaws providing of the construction of power plants for renewable energy), manufacture, or research and development;
- Expedited permitting for Holland’s as—of—right sitting choice (requires language in the zoning bylaws requesting the town to either approve or deny plans for new and renewable and alternative energy research and development establishment within one year of a developers filing a request for a site plan review to the Planning Board of Holland);
- Creation of a plan to reduce municipal energy consumption by 20% within 5 years;
- Purchase of energy—efficient vehicles for town use (many exemptions, such as emergency vehicles, apply); and
- Adoption of the Massachusetts Stretch Building Code by Town Meeting. The Stretch Building Code is roughly 20% more energy efficient than the current code for residential and commercial buildings and is anticipated to become the baseline residential code when the state updates its regulation in 2012.
As the opportunity to put the required articles on last years ballot was missed, the taxpayer will have to shell out additional funds for a special town meeting. The deadline for filling applications to become a “green community,” must be submitted to DOER no later than May 14, 2011. A ruling from DOER is usually swift and typically after less then a week made. There will be little time or reasons to celebrate if the Department of Energy Resources (DOER) grants Holland “Green Community” status, as the deadline to file grant applications is May 28, 2011 as far as I know.
As time goes on, more and more communities qualify for “Green Community” status and it will be more and more difficult to get a sizable piece of the pie.
But the selectboard is not the only government body that missed the boat. I was attending a Planning Board of Holland (PBH) meeting back on October 27, 2009. The PBH at that time was busy drafting legislation to add paragraphs to the Zoning bylaw allowing the creation of so called “Estate Lots.” (Wettlaufer has a parcel of land big enough but lacking the frontage to further divide the parcel under the existing zoning bylaw. The thing with the “common driveway” doesn’t work any longer for Wettlaufer since the Holland Blog exposed the LandGate scheme by the Johnsons’).
The “Estate Lot” legislation was left by the wayside, the economy was not cooperating with plans to cash—in on unneeded land. What would have made more sense in these for many difficult times would have been adopting new legislation allowing the construction of “in—law apartments,” as more and more people loose their homes to foreclosure and are forced to live with relatives. As mentioned above, two of the requirements to qualify for “Green Community” status pertains to the zoning bylaws.
The Stretch Code is significant because it allows cites and towns to impose requirements that surpass the State Building Code. However, unless or until a municipality legally accepts the Stretch Code, the energy provisions of the base energy code, found within the State Building Code at 780 CMR 13, 34, 61, or 93, as applicable, will apply.
Stretch code requirements will take definitive effect after its acceptance by the voters of Holland at a special town meeting. There will by a grace period of six month during which a building can be built either in compliance with the stretch code or not.
Stretch code for instance will require the use of code—compliant windows if you change the existing windows on your house, but if you are just replacing a broken window, you can use a none compliant window (I guess you just have to break your windows first before you replace them; but then again, why would anybody replace windows if not to save energy? But if you change your heating system, you can keep your old windows. Of course, these are just two examples.
If you have questions about the technicality of the code, contact Jack Keough or any of the following:
Dep. of Energy Resources (DOER)
Jim Barry
(attended the public hearing on March 22, 2011, and gave the presentation on the proposed Stretch Code bylaw amendment)
Green Communities Western MA Regional Director
436 Dwight Street
Spriingfield, MA 01103
www.mass.gov/doer
(413) 755-2232 (office)
(617) 823 4588 (cell)
(413) 784 1149 (fax)
Jim.Barry@state.ma.us
Dep. of Energy Resources (DOER)
Regional Coordinator
Kelly Brown (508∿2703
kelly.brown@state.ma.us
Dept. of Public Safety
Mike Guigli (617) 826—5215
mike.guigli@state.ma.us
Energy & Environment (EOEEA)
Ian Finlayson (617) 626—4910
ian.finlayson@state.ma.us
Marc Breslow (617) 626—1105
marc.breslow@state.ma.us
February 25, 2011, Peter Frei, revised March 23, 2011.