RTM Committee Approves Town Energy Conservation Project

If the Representative Town Meeting (RTM) agrees, about 20 town buildings, including the high school, the elementary schools, Town Hall, the police building, the transfer station, and the water pollution facility, will receive an energy makeover. The makeover is designed to reduce energy costs and consumption and to save the town money by devising a new energy budget.

The largest price tag will be the schools because they have the greatest square footage, Aldo Mazzaferro, director of project development for the ECG Group, told the Eagle in an interview. Mazzaferro serves as the Owner’s Representative for all members of the Connecticut Council of Municipalities. The CCM has endorsed this program for cities and towns throughout the state. 

On Wednesday the Ways and Means Committee of the RTM voted 3 – 1 with one abstention to approve the $6 million project. The cost will be bonded or leased or come about via other financing, the resolution says. 

Chairman Peter Black (R‑3) and members Robert Imperato (R‑4) (pictured L‑R)and Don Conklin (R‑5) voted in favor. Ali Abulugma (D‑3) voted against and Lisa Ahern (D‑1) abstained.

As a first step, the Board of Finance (BOF) last month approved the project, authorizing a $6 million bond or other financing that will include energy conservation measures such as LED lighting. Other upgrades to the buildings will include updating controls and providing new compressors and building management upgrades when necessary. These include what is termed ​“building envelope improvements,” which apply to 19 buildings and provide changes to windows and shades. Not included in the makeover are two buildings scheduled for renovation, the Community House and the Walsh Intermediate School. 

At the RTM Committee Meeting

First Selectman Jamie Cosgrove, Mazzaferro, and three top executives from Honeywell International, Inc., answered a variety of questions at the RTM committee meeting held at Canoe Brook Senior Center (the third building not included in the makeover). The Honeywell executives included Doreen Hamiliton, the energy accountant representative, Lisa Montalto, the finance specialist and Venkat Iyer, the team’s engineer.
 
The final vote takes place at a special RTM at a special meeting this Wednesday, July 12, at Fire Headquarters at 8 p.m. Cosgrove told the committee that ​“these improvements will pay for themselves.” 

In answering a question from Peter Black, committee chair, about the 18-year-long payback program and the ever-changing tech industry, an issue also discussed at the BOF, Cosgrove observed that, yes, technology is changing but Honeywell was aware of that. ​“We all know the cost of waiting,” Cosgrove said. 

Cosgrove urged the RTM committee to approve the program, saying it will reduce the town’s energy costs by roughly $300,000 a year.
He said the idea came to him after talking to colleagues in other municipalities who are part of the CMM. ​“We have an opportunity to achieve some cost savings in utility bills while making improvements in the buildings,” he told the committee.”

At the RTM committee meeting the Honeywell team said that 95 percent of their projects meet their goals. Actually, it was 96 percent, Conklin observed. 

Jim Finch, the town’s finance director, played a key role in bringing the project to fruition, providing a school and public buildings grid to modernize the town’s older buildings.

At the BOF meeting, Finch pointed out that the energy project does not require taxpayer dollars and that if the savings goal set forth is not met, Honeywell will make up the difference that year. The company said it may make additional improvements to make sure the projected energy savings is met.

Finch described the process, the reviewing of bids, the Board of Education involvement, and how Honeywell was chosen through a competitive process. ​“It is not wise to wait for the state on this,” Finch told the BOF as he explained the number of towns working on similar projects.

The first time around the BOF wasn’t quite certain and asked for additional information. Having received it, they voted unanimously the second time around to approve the project.
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