Name of committee: Marblehead Municipal Light
Meeting Date: Feb. 27, 2024
LWVM Observer: Maggie Smist
In Attendance:
Light Commissioners: Jean Jacques Yarmoff, Michael Hull, Simon Frechette, and Lisa Wolf (chair)
Light Department: Joe Kowalik (General Manager), Colin Coleman, and Matt Barrett.
1. Call to Order at 4:40 p.m.
Minutes approved, reading of land acknowledgement, and there were no public comments.
2. Outstanding items and requests from previous meetings
a) Polco Survey (Employee Satisfaction Survey) – Joe spoke to Polco yesterday about concerns of MMLD. Small employee population so identifiable demos will NOT be used on the survey (gender, age etc). MMLD wants to emphasize confidentiality and anonymity of employees – there will be no way to track back to employee. Survey will be MAILED to employee by Polco and will take 15 minutes to complete. The MMLD will see questions before they go out. A summary report will be provided back to MMLD once info is gathered. Polco is preparing price for survey and MMLD would like to get it done by end of April.
b) Fiscal year 2023 Goals Review – Progress tracking report was sent out over the weekend by Joe on a word document. Commission members should review and send comments on goals directly to Joe.
c) FY24 Goals Setting – The GM proposed some minor wording changes to of a few items on the GM objectives document which were briefly discussed. This document was voted and approved.
d) FY24 Budget Comparison with FY23 Budget and Actuals – Financial spreadsheets were reviewed, including the expanded headcount. There a discussion about reviewing portfolio reallocation for 2024 and the Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company will come to discuss in March when all of the commissioners are in attendance.
3. Itemize payroll for expected new hires Green Marblehead Committee and MMLD – Aligning goals and priorities: Lisa Wolf introduced the new sustainable coordinator, Logan Casey, and he introduced himself. Logan gave his past work experience and how he started a car-share program. He will be working initially on transportation with bike plan/EV chargers and town buildings where he will work with the DPW and the town Planning Department, especially with all the municipal buildings. All of this will involve applying for state and federal grants. He discussed Green Communities and working with them as Marblehead moves forward. GC will open us up for more grant funding.
Lisa presented out a planning document to begin aligning Green Marblehead with MMLD with carbon-free goals – she reviewed MMLD goal and Logan will begin working on this document after he has settled in a bit more. MMLD goals are 10-20-year goals. Joe asked for more specifications on these goals, which will be discussed in March. There was further discussion on Logan’s work in town and the coordination between the departments in town.
4. General Manager Updates
a) Critical hires: IS (Information Services) manager positions will have interviews next week and Simon and the new HR director will be assisting Joe with interviews. Lisa asked if this will possibly become an assistant GM in the future. Joe said this is possible as the IS position is crucial for working with the billing systems and other infrastructure. Our future work with MMWEC will also rely on good and timely data.
Capital project manager position is the new focus of the recruiter. A posting is being prepared for a new department mechanic.
b) Tioga Way
A map was reviewed of the Battery Electric Storage facility along Tioga Way/Hood Lane. The site looks adequate and Joe will begin working on easement access. An outside engineering firm will likely be contacted about a final evaluation of the full parcel including drainage and the wetlands. There was a discussion about whether to install ballistic walls, which would be quite expensive (about $500K). There was further discussion about battery storage options and further expansion.
c) Village 13
Joe stated there have been two bid documents sent out.
Land Bridge Precast contract signed. Bridge install bids are opening on Feb. 28 and work should be done by early May. Transformer will be delivered on April 29. There was a discussion about timing of project and minimizing of costs with the project. Joe would like the MMLD to speak to the Select Board further about the project scope and timing.
d) Power portfolio ’23 actuals
Good news: Wholesale power costs were down 6.3% and total wholesale power costs down 4%. ISO NE peak was in September and those costs are down 16.9%, which gives us capacity cost relief in 2024.
Sobering news: Carbon-free generators such as wind and nuclear didn’t perform as well in 2023, and the carbon free percent of the MMLD portfolio was down to 41% from 44%.
There was a discussion about the results and what that may mean.
e) Pilot (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) Payment to the Town
Joe was approached about this. Usually the MMLD votes on this in March. There is data out there on how it will impact rates. The MMLD will discuss this further in March once they can analyze the data. It was discussed how Green Marblehead surcharges may also affect cost to ratepayers.
The Next Meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 26
5. Meeting adjourned at 5:58 p.m.
RECREATION & PARKS COMMISSION
Meeting Date: Feb. 27, 2024
In person – Not Recorded
LWVM Observer – Bonnie Grenier
Members in Attendance: Matt Martin, Karin Ernst, Linda Rice-Collins, Shelly Bedrossian, Rossanna Ferrante, Jaime Bloch, Peter James, Amanda Viecelli (secretary)
Arts Festival at Crocker Park: Brian Wheeler – Essentially the event will be run the same as in prior years. There will be three shows a day on July 4, 5 and 6. Equipment will be removed from the park on Sunday. Two policemen will be on duty every night from 6 to 10 or 10:30. Brian has had significant success working with neighbors to mitigate the noise problem during concerts. It was voted to approve the Festival of Arts Concerts at Crocker Park with the appropriate permits submitted.
Dog Park: Stephen Cooper explained that he and Linda spent 45 minutes with Ted Moore at the Dog Park to review the need for an easement to allow public access to the park which runs across Moore’s property. The conversation was very encouraging.
Mr. Moore said he is fine with the group taking down trees to create better access to the park. The park is in rough shape but now that they have Ted Moore’s approval to access the park, they can install a gate, do some fund raising and eventually regrade and resurface the park.
Beach Discussion: Rec. & Parks found out that it can raise the cost of a parking sticker without the approval of Town Meeting. Discussion centered around whether or not they would raise the fee, and if they did, by how much. Revenue from the stickers is shared with the town, necessitating further discussion as to how the proceeds would be divided. There was a vote to postpone pending further discussion.
Parks Update:
- New plastic benches and picnic tables are being ordered for the pavilion at Devereux Beach. The cost is $13,000.
- General clean-up/clearing of overgrowth will begin now that that weather is getting better. They are working on getting equipment ready for spring.
- The department is still one person short but at least one person has expressed interest in the position.
- There are still two boats at the Vine Street property. One seems to be abandoned. Peter will follow up with the owner of the other.
- Planting trees at Seaside Park is on Jon Fobert’s radar. The Hammond Nature Center and Gatchall’s Playground are other places where trees can be planted.
Recreation Update:
- The new session began on Feb. 26.
- Jaime has been working to get ready for summer programs. A large number of staff will be returning though the sailing program is still short-staffed. Many other sailing programs are experiencing the same need for help with sailing programs.
- During the summer sessions there is a need to transport children from various clinics to other programs that run later in the day. Jaime will reach out to the school department to put together a memorandum of understanding.
The Sweetheart Dance will be April 5 at 6:30; Mad Science: Up, Up, and Away will be March 13 at 2.