Coordinator report November 17, 2016

Warwick owes DOER a report on our Green Communities activities. Building
Energy Committee chair Janice Kurkoski will attend to provide overview
of the report. It's an excel spreadsheet with multiple tabs. Here is the
narrative summary says: "Building energy use has dropped by 21.4%, but
our target is at least 40%. Note that energy use in buildings has
dropped 45% since we started tracking and implementing conservation
measures in 2007. The elephant in the room is still vehicle fuel use,
which has stayed relatively flat. Vehicle fuel use is now about 2/3rds
of total town energy use, with the highway dept. using 80-90% of vehicle
fuel. Short of snowless winters, we continue to struggle with methods to
reduce vehicle fuel use in this rural town with 50 miles of roads. Our
initial plan to weatherize buildings is almost complete. Now we move
onto HVAC and other building control projects."

The Town is net meter host of a 6 Meg solar project that is being built
under the municipal cap in West Brookfield MA. The project is under
construction and needs to be live by Jan 1.  In addition both our
elementary school building and other town buildings are contracted under
a net meter credit purchase agreement that will start accruing credits
in February of 2017. We will be getting a 22% discount on our electric
bills with this financial instrument. 
The net meter host project, based on actual production, will pay the
town a royalty of about $30k per year. The underlying basis is 1/2 cent
per Kwh. These funds will be deposited into our general fund. Sometime
in our future when we can document this is dependable we may be able to
list this as an estimated receipt and shorten the time between receipt
of funds and our ability to expend, to treat like tax receipts.

Rosa reminded me that the board never approved the employment of Jason
Cook. He is proving to be a valuable addition. I ask that you make the
appointment and that you approve a beginning pay rate of $16 per hour.

The Broadband Committee met recently and considered its future role. I
am urging them to take on cellular phone service. They will appear and
make a report.

Financial statements for broadband are included in your packet. As of
late October the broadband department books tie to the town's books. We
are working on a cash rather than accrual departmental income statement.
The town's records are on a cash basis. Expenses through four months
equal $25,560. We have billed $39,550 (includes November which is billed
20 Oct) and collected $33,269 through Oct 26. Our net income is $7,708
on a cash basis. We have spent $83k in capital outlay. Please see the
more detailed report attached.

No decision on the MBI grant has been made and there is no guarantee we
will be on the December meeting agenda which is scheduled 12/6. Their
October meeting was cancelled. It appears MBI Directors meet every other
month. Any vote they take must also be approved by the parent, MTC (Tech
Collaborative) The town has received Cultural Council grant of $4400, an
unexpected $3000 DEP equipment grant. I've submitted a $2200 grant for
emergency response radios to MEMA, and requests to MIIA for dash and
body cameras and an equipment maintenance survey. The hazard tree piece
where I requested assistance from FRCOG to deliver the study didn't
happen when they withdrew. Decisions on MIIA grants are expected 11/18.

No word yet on our small bridges grant request for Gale Rd. Larry needs
to develop Chapter 90 project for the board's consideration.
I had planned to attend a rec committee meeting which I posted with an
incorrect start time. They didn't get a quorum. I'll meet with them next
month. Four individuals were appointed last June and Rec has two sworn
in members according to town clerk.

Here are some matters we need to address in the coming weeks: We are
going to need to review and update our practices for responding to
records requests thanks to the change in law. The good news from my
perspective is the law is about existing documents and can't be used to
force a body to answer questions. We are going to have to watch for "9C"
cuts as there is a projected  $300M state revenue shortfall. 9c cuts are
actions the Governor can take without legislative approval.  We should
consider acting on properties that are abandoned and not paying taxes.

The FRCOG has some environmental site remediation funding available and
Attorney General's Office's Abandoned Housing Initiative and
Receivership are options. The ballot initiative that legalized marijuana
allows the town to tack on a 2% tax. And our personnel policy should
reflect that even if legal, it is not allowed to be high on the job. The
revised personnel policy is in front of our labor counsel currently. 
We may want to know more about changes in the building code and
specifically whether renovations will trigger other code work. We need
to complete our current GC grant, including town hall heat pumps and
plan for the future. We have FRCOG technical assistance funding on the
latter.

I sent a letter to prospective tree warden Sharon Matthews. I recommend
we don't replace the fourth highway worker until the construction season
and use part-time help as needed for the winter. I wrote our DOR
representative regarding our free cash approval which is in progress.
Things are somewhat better with accounting and reports. The assignment
to develop a priority list and post a calendar could be better
accomplished. We have a tax rate and DOR calculation of "excess
capacity" is greater than I calculated. Their version says we left
$189,595 of taxing ability unused. Our tax rate is $20.10. Based on the
taxing room we have, the tax rate could legally be $2.53 higher.