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Green Committee presents new option for field lighting, solar array

Date: 11/28/2011

Nov. 28, 2011

By Chris Maza

Reminder Assistant Editor

EAST LONGMEADOW — Board of Selectman and Green Committee Chair James Driscoll proposed a solution to the School Committee that could benefit his committee’s quest for photovoltaic energy in town and the School Committee’s mission of retrofitting the athletic complex with an upgraded lighting system.

At the School Committee’s Nov. 21 meeting, Driscoll and Town Accountant Thomas Caliento, an ex-officio Green Committee member, presented an option that would add the field lighting to the committee’s upcoming request for proposals (RFP) for photovoltaic arrays.

Driscoll told the School Committee that school roofs were one possible location energy companies could “lease, to put it in simplest terms” in order to erect photovoltaic panels and it could be possible to incorporate the lighting project within the RFP.

“The RFP hasn’t been written yet, but my guess on the way this would work is it would include a solar project on the high school roof as well as an agreement to complete the lighting project,” Driscoll told Reminder Publications. “It’s a natural addition because there are a lot of photovoltaic options for lighting that in and of itself don’t qualify as a worthy expense, but as part of a larger project make sense.”

School Committee member Richard Freccero discussed the committee’s sense of urgency in getting the lighting project completed and asked Driscoll if he saw such an option being completed by the spring or the fall of 2012.

“I see no problem with getting it done in the fall,” Driscoll said, adding that it could be stipulated in the agreement with the contractor chosen that the lighting be completed first.

School buildings, as well as the police station and fire station, are among locations well suited for the proposed project, which Driscoll said he hopes becomes town-wide.

“It makes sense because the savings will outweigh the capital we will have to initially put into the project and it will result in lower energy rates at a fixed cost,” Driscoll said. “It’s at a lower cost and it’s renewable, so it’s both environmentally and fiscally responsible.”

This newest proposal was presented on the same day the School Committee was informed by Superintendent Gordon Smith that the option to lease the lighting equipment through a three-year lease-to-own agreement was no longer available.

Smith explained that while he was under the impression that such an agreement would be legal under Chapter 30B of Massachusetts General Law, discussions with the Department of Revenue resulted in a different interpretation.

Smith added that the school department currently leases its photocopiers through a similar agreement.

“When we actually put the lights up they will be part of the construction and therefore a part of the property,” Smith said.“ They felt it was more reflective under Chapter 30, Section 39M, which does not allow multi-year leases.”

Given the new information, the School Committee opted not to vote on how to pursue funding for the project as originally planned.

In addition to the photovoltaic option, the School Committee could go before an Annual Town Meeting in the spring of next year to request the funds or go to a Special Town Meeting.

School Committee member Joseph Cabrera collected more than 200 signatures required for a Special Town Meeting, but said at the start of the meeting he would not submit his petition because he was not able to secure the 500 signatures he promised to get. However, he later said he would continue to mull over whether or not to submit his petition, given the new information.

The School Committee also added the lights to its list of capital projects to be submitted to the Capital Planning Commission in anticipation of a possible Annual Town Meeting warrant article.



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