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Springfield Energy Committee gets new leadership
By SUSAN SMALLHEER
Staff Writer
SPRINGFIELD — After only a year of operation, the Springfield Energy Committee got some organizational tweaking from the Select Board.
The committee, whose stated goal is to save the town energy and make the town’s many municipal buildings more energy efficient, had lost its two founders and coordinators recently.
John Pugh and Mary Ann Remolador resigned because of personnel issues, said Selectman George McNaughton, who is one of two Select Board members on the committee.
The Springfield Select Board heard an update from McNaughton about the various organizational changes at the committee, and it endorsed suggestions from the committee.
The board appointed former Selectman David Yesman to the committee, and also made him and newcomer Charlotte Osterlund co-coordinators of the committee.
Osterlund had been appointed to the committee in winter.
And the board agreed to increase the membership of the committee by one — to eight members.
McNaughton told Town Manager Tom Yennerell he doubted the committee would have to deal with a tie, even with the equal number of committee members.
With that assurance, the board agreed to the new leadership, Yesman’s appointment and expanding the committee.
McNaughton, who often locked horns with Yesman when he was on the Select Board, said the committee wanted Yesman to continue. Last year, when the committee was formed, Yesman was one of the two Select Board members appointed to the committee, along with McNaughton.
McNaughton said Yesman “knew the most” about the effort to make the town buildings more energy efficient, and the committee felt his membership was necessary. Yesman had worked on insulating the top floor of Town Hall, and he has been working on efforts to improve the energy efficiency of the town library.
Selectman Walter Martone, who was elected earlier this month, is the other Select Board representative on the committee.
“This will get all the resignations filled,” McNaughton said.
“David has spent a lot of time on the town buildings, and he was the one that knew the most” about town buildings, McNaughton said.
The committee is now made up of Yesman and Osterlund, the co-coordinators; McNaughton, Martone, Jim Ball, Michael Knoras, Steve Clay-Young and Frank Gould 3rd. Hallie Whitcomb is an advisory member.
Looks like there is a lot of Energy on the committee now.
ReplyDeleteHow much "energy" could be saved by divesting the Park Street School property? How much energy could have been saved by leaving the police department in its old quarters on Main Street? How much energy could be saved by "locking" all thermostats in town buildings at 68 degrees? How much energy could be saved by converting at least part of town operations to an alternative work schedule?
ReplyDeleteThere are numerous ways of saving energy without spending taxpayer dollars! That should be the first rule of this committee - identifying savings that can be attained without any additional expenditures. Otherwise, this will become just another band of do-gooders intent on feeling good about themselves for inventing ways to SPEND MONEY TO SAVE MONEY in the distant out-years; which by that time will require yet more spending for even more efficient technology with an even more distant payback period.
In the end, the taxpayer takes it in the end while the do-gooders continue to pat themselves on their backs for their self-proclaimed good work. Such a sham... Such a shame...
Rockingham upgraded the BF street lights to LED. I replaced 315 watts with 66 watts of led. And both of those are good investments.
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