CC MTG MINUTES OCTOBER 1 2012 REGULAR MEETING OF THE AGAWAM CITY COUNCIL
Minutes dated October 1, 2012
President Johnson -I'd call the meeting to order.
Item 1. Roll Call
' President Johnson —I'd ask Barbara to call the roll please.
' ROLL CALL—10 PRESENT, I ABSENT (Councilor Letellier)
President Johnson— With ten present, we have a quorum.
Item 2. Moment of Silence and the Pledge of Allegiance.
President Johnson — I'd ask everyone to rise for the moment of silence and Pledge of
Allegiance please.
' Item 3. Citizen's Speak Time
President Johnson — We have several residents wishing to address the Council this
evening. Those that have indicated that they want to speak on the Stretch Code; we'll
call when the public hearing begins on that momentarily. The only person who's
indicated something other than the Stretch Code is Jill Messick.
' Jill Messick — Good evening. Jill Messick, 118 Princeton Avenue, Feeding Hills. I
would just like to say that I am very, very pleased to see the definitions and word usage
revisions for the zoning ordinance on the slate here tonight. It's been a long time coming
and I would urge you all to vote for it to bring us into compliance with state zoning
codes. There will be more changes to our zoning ordinance coming down the pike from
' the Planning Board and various people who are working on it and I would urge you to
take a look at really doing a serious revision of our zoning ordinances — it's been years
and decades since this was beginning to be needed and it's desperately needed now.
Thank you.
President Johnson—Thank you.
Item 4. Minutes
' 1. Regular Council Meeting—September 17,2412
' President Johnson — Is there a Motion to approve? Moved by Councilor Cichetti,
seconded by Councilors Rheault and Magovern. Questions or discussion on the minutes?
Hearing none, all those in favor say Ay? Any opposed? It's unanimous.
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' Item S. Declaration from,Council President
None.
Item 6. Presentation of Petitions Memorials & Remonstrances
' 1. TR-2012-45 - A Resolution requesting the Installation of"No
Parking" Signs along Moore Street (Tabled 9/17/12) (Referred to
Community Relations) (Councilor Rossi)
President Johnson — Is there a Motion to remove the item from the table? Moved by
Councilor Rheault, seconded by Councilor Calabrese. All in favor of taking it off the
table say Ay? Any opposed? The item is off the table. The Chair would entertain a
Motion to approve the Resolution. Moved by Councilor Cavallo—
Councilor Calabrese— Point of information? I have a-
President Johnson— We have to have the Motion on first.
Councilor Calabrese—Thank you. Second.
1 President Johnson — Motion made b Councilor Cavallo seconded b Councilor
Y Y
Calabrese. I'll now turn to Councilor Calabrese as Chair of the Community Relations
isub-committee for a report.
Councilor Calabrese — Thank you. On September 20, the Community Relations
committee hosted a workshop at the Senior Center and I was happy to see that we had a
number of citizens from Moore Street and Valley Street which are the streets that are
directly impacted, participate very actively and you will see my minutes from the meeting
— you can all read those —you don't need me to read to you to see what happened at that
meeting but what I also have in front of you as a proposed amendment and I this point I
would like to place this amendment on record outlining the results of that workshop and
as you will see, it's a two-page diagram. The first page reads at the top"Moore Street No
Parking Amended" and we have just a small section of Moore Street near the intersection
' of Maple Street that we're intending to designate as No Parking. On the second page, we
have a diagram of what's commonly known as Lower Moore Street and I apologize for
the copy quality. I was having some technical difficulties this afternoon but I have
highlighted and indicated the sections on Lower Moore Street to be No Parking on both
sides and at this point I would like to place this diagram as an amendment to the original
Resolution. Thank you.
' President Johnson —(off microphone)
ROLL CALL — 10 YES, 0 NO, 1 ABSENT
' 2
' President Johnson — With a vote of ten yes, we've approved the amendment. We're
now to TR-2012-45 as amended. Any other discussion on the item? Hearing none and
' after the last vote, voice vote will be sufficient. All those in favor say Ay? Any
opposed? It's unanimous. We've approved TR-2012-45 as amended.
' Item 7. Report of Council Committees
None.
Item 8. Elections
' None.
Item 9. Public Hearings
1. PH-2012-4 (TR-2012-46) - A Resolution Accepting the"Massachusetts
Stretch Energy Code" in the City of Agawam (Councilors Calabrese
and Cichetti)
President Johnson — At this point, I'll declare the public hearing open and ask anyone
' who wishes to speak in favor of accepting the Massachusetts Stretch Energy Code to
come forward. The public hearing is open. I'd ask you to please identify yourself by
name and address please.
1 Joel Cummings—Joel Cummins 118 Meadowbrook Road. Good evening to the Town
g g � g
Council and thank you for allowing us to speak tonight about the Stretch Energy Code
' and Resolution TR-2012-46. As you are aware, this Resolution is the last piece of
Agawam's application to be approved as a Green Community which opens the door to
' grant money for the Town of Agawam to work on various energy efficiency projects for
our town buildings and vehicles. I understand the concerns of the Town Council
members. They have been voiced over the past three years and I hope the workshop that
' was held by Jim Barry last month, Jim Barry of the PVPC, addressed your concerns and
questions. From our point of view, this really is a win, win, win for the Town of
Agawam and the adoption of the Stretch Code has no financial impact to the builders,
' homeowners of the Town of Agawam if passed. As we have stated the past several years,
we will set up a reimbursement fund for the builders in town based on the grant money,
that will help pay for any incurred costs from builders that would adopt the Stretch Code
and build towards the Stretch Code. Those costs would be anything from HERS rating
fees or any additional insulation or any other fees incurred by the inspectors. In short,
this is a really zero impact on the Town of Agawam. It's a zero impact financially on the
1 builders. It's a zero impact on the homeowners as these costs will not be passed along to
the builders or to the homeowners because we will pay for them through the
reimbursement fund set up here in town. As a result, the town gets homes that are built
with the new Stretch Energy Code which are approximately twenty percent more fuel
efficient according to studies, it increased the resale value of a home and it qualifies the
homeowner for additional Energy Star rebates because of the approval. As of today,
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ithere's 103 towns in Massachusetts that have adopted the Stretch Code and those towns
receive anywhere between $150,000 and one million dollars a year in grant money from
' the state. The Town of Agawam would receive approximately $150,000 to $160,000 a
year in grant for our energy efficiency projects. In closing, I'll thank the Council again
for allowing us to speak on this matter tonight and please urge the Council to vote yes on
' Resolution TR-2012-46 and let's make Agawam a Green Community. Thank you.
Jill Messick—Hi. Jill Messick, 118 Princeton Avenue in Feeding Hills. I want to thank
the Council for undertaking this matter once again. The last time we discussed it, it was
not something that Agawam wanted to vote for, the Council voted it down last time. Two
years ago what the Council rejected was then the Stretch Code. It was the Council's
' option to not vote for the Stretch Code and during the two years that have passed since
then, the Stretch Code has become the Code. So what was voted down two years ago is
now the Code and it is now what the builders have to build to and they are required by
the State to meet what was two years ago the Stretch Code. The current Stretch Code is
twenty percent more efficiency than what the current Code is and in approximately two
years will become again the Code. So the Stretch Code is an option that you can adopt
from the State that makes the houses being built currently twenty percent approximately
more energy efficient than they would be if they were built to what is now the current
Code. This is all part of a statewide push for energy efficiency in residential buildings,
commercial buildings, town buildings, government buildings, energy efficiency in
vehicles, improvements in renewable energy resources, it's part of a very large push in
the state to become more energy efficient. I have no quarrel with that. I hope you don't
either. So two years ago in not adopting the Stretch Code, the carrot if you will from the
state for Agawam was approximately $300,000 depending on what projects we would
have chosen to pursue and over the past two years, given our current analysis of what our
energy use is, had we taken that $300,000 done several of those projects, a very
conservative, a conservative estimate we would have saved approximately $35,000 a year
for the last two years with energy efficiency and by not spending money on energy, it's
ttaxpayers' dollars that we're saving. What's before us now is the Stretch Code which in
two years will be the Code so all we're doing is adopting the Stretch Code early and in
1 exchange we would be guaranteed a minimum of $135,000 and as Joel said up to
depending on what the entire purse is and how many people apply and become
designated as Green Communities, could be up to a million, I think that's a pretty high
estimate, but depending on what we apply for in a grant, could be another $300,000.
What I know for sure is that some of the arguments that I have heard from Councilors
and I have heard no arguments from anyone who's not a Councilor. I haven't had any
' citizens say that I've talked to about this say well that's a lousy idea, you shouldn't do it,
one of the arguments was two years ago was that another layer of government would be
created. In the last two years, there are agencies who have been handling the
' administrative duties of the HERS rating system, has been handling the training of the
raters, has been helping for HERS rating companies to start up and grow and employee
people. There are about a dozen new companies who are doing the HERS ratings in the
Pioneer Valley and they're employing fifty or so people so jobs have been created
because of this and not just here but in the whole state. Another argument I've heard
against the Stretch Code is what if the funding dries up? The funding right now is very,
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' very stable. It's not coming from the taxpayers of Massachusetts. It's coming from the
Greenhouse Gas Initiative auctions which are a cap and trade device where companies
who are polluting less than their permitted amount get credits and can sell them to other
companies. The ultimate result of that is that companies are encouraged to not pollute so
that they have credits to sell. Part of the money from these auctions, part of the profit,
goes to the Green Communities Act and that's where the money comes from. As Joel
said, the blower door test which is the main new requirement of the Code. If you go
through the whole HERS rating process, the cost is about $900; if you just go through the
' blower door test, it's about $650. We can easily set up a fund. It's quite possible.
Worcester did it, another community whose name I can't remember right now did it, we
can set up a fund to cover those costs, we can set up a fund to cover additional insulation
and it was interesting that Jim Barry from the DOER said that when Worcester set up the
fund, it was fairly well-publicized, people should have known about it, the builders all
knew about it, they were notified, no one has taken advantage of that so obviously this is
not an undue burden on homeowners. In these tough economic times, I would very much
hesitate to not pursue grant money in the amount of $135,000 to $300,000 possibly;
minimum of$135,000 is what Jim Barry has been telling us, that can be used to reduce
our energy costs which is a benefit for the next five to ten, for however many years. As
far as what this applies to — new construction, commercial buildings are already being
built to this Code and then substantial rehabilitations where you're talking about, you
would have been doing insulation and windows and doors so given the fact that Agawam
doesn't have an awful lot of new construction going on right now, again, not an undue
burden on any builders or new home purchasers. I think you all know how much I have
rinvested in the Energy Commission and in the Green Communities. I think the benefits
for Agawam to be a Green Community go far beyond just this grant money. It opens up
other opportunities for other grant money and I would really urge the Council to pass the
rEnergy Code or I'm sorry the Stretch Code this second time. Thank you.
Jay Berger — Good evening. I'm Jay Berger. I live at IOG Castle Hill Road, Agawam.
rAt this Council's session, I urge you to pass the Stretch Code, part of the requirement to
make Agawam a Commonwealth of Massachusetts Green Community. I'm aware of
some of the questions that have been voiced to me and I cannot do as good a job in
' explaining these answers as Jim Barry from the state did in his presentation two weeks
ago at a Council session. As Councilors, you represent 29,000 Agawam residents as well
as representing one or two contractors and developers due to the inaction, our 29,000
residents have been unable to receive close to $300,000 that would have been available
had our Council approved the Stretch Code two years ago. Now we have another
opportunity, granted Chicopee by a whopping thirteen to zip turned it down but there are
103 other communities in the Commonwealth that have approved it—many of them close
to our own Agawam, Springfield included. We have to do what is best for Agawam and
as Jim Barry has said so eloquently "get on board and if you find it too tough, bow out".
Thanks for the opportunity of addressing you. I look forward to an excellent result
tonight.
President Johnson -- Anyone else wishing to address the Council in favor? Anyone
wishing to be recorded in name only in favor? Anyone wishing to address the Council in
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' opposition? Anyone wishing to address the Council in opposition in name only? Seeing
no one, I close the Public Hearing. We have before us TR-2012-46. Is there a Motion?
' Moved by Councilor Calabrese, seconded by Councilor Cichetti and Councilor Mineo.
Questions or discussion? Councilor Cavallo?
Councilor Cavallo — Yea, what Jill brought to light tonight, there's discrepancy in the
figures here. I believe when Mr. Barry made the presentation, he said it was $125,000,
wasn't it? I believe the amount that we would get in the first year, correct me if I am
' wrong.
President Johnson — I believe he said that's the guaranteed minimum was $125,000 or
$135,000 based on—
Councilor Cavallo — I never heard $135,000. He said $125,000 1 think, that's what I
heard.
President Johnson — That's what, the way I understood his explanation based on our
community size, we're guaranteed a minimum of$125,000 but it's a competitive grant so
we could get more depending on the quality of our grant application.
Councilor Cavallo —In the first year?
President Johnson —In the first year.
Councilor Cavallo - Yeah, and then after that it's competitive, more competitive in
terms of the amount of money.
President Johnson — Yes, that's what he had indicated but he also indicated that he
didn't believe any communities had been denied grant funding in the subsequent years.
' Councilor Cavallo — The other concern I have and Jill mentioned it tonight because we
all were under the assumption that it was not a state funded program and she mentioned
some other whatever it was, some consortium or whatever it may have been, that
contributed the money. I wish that had been discussed by him when he came here that
night and because all of us I think were under the impression that it was state funded
number one and I would like to see more information about how that money is disbursed.
Is there a committee? I think that would satisfy me more to know how it's happening and
I don't know to me, that's ambiguous and I would like more information on that.
President Johnson — I can only share with you what my understanding is. My
understanding is that the funding for the grants is by way of utility companies cap and
trade auctions and such, it doesn't come from the taxpayers of Massachusetts and from
what I understand the Department of Energy Resources has a committee that evaluates
the grant applications on an annual basis. The funding source is static which means that
it's as close to guaranteed as you can get as far as the state is concerned and it all depends
on every community is not required to submit a grant applications annually, it depends on
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the number of applications they receive and the quality of those applications as to how
they divvy up that pool of money.
Councilor Cavallo — I understand but who is this committee? Who appoints this
committee?
' President Johnson —I believe it's the Department of Energy Resources.
Councilor Cavallo— In the state of Massachusetts?
President Johnson--Yes.
Councilor Calabrese — Yes, first of all, I want to thank Jill Messick and everyone else
here — Jay and Joel and everyone on the Energy Commission and my fellow City
Councilor Jim Cichetti for really putting their nose to the grind stone on this provision
and I was happy to be a co-sponsor of this resolution. Rarely do we have the opportunity
to do something that not only is good for the environment, good for the future, good for
the present but hey, we've got an out. If we get into this thing and approve it and
somebody's not happy with the way the funds are administered, if — we can say you
know what? Forget it but keep in mind this is what the Code will be in another two years
so I think this gives us a tremendous advantage as a community to kind of work with our
builders, to set up this pool of funds so that they can get some reimbursement for the
additional inspections that are needed and I really do encourage all of my fellow City
' Councilors to vote in favor of this measure. Thank you.
President Johnson —Councilor Magovern?
' Councilor Magovern — I'd rather not get in favor and vote for something that we may
have to bow out of after six months or so. I know it's an option but I'd rather not get into
that position in the first place. I've studied it as well, I studied it two years ago and I've
looked at it this time. I've spoken to builders. I've spoken to architects. I've spoken to
many other people and it would raise the cost of a home. Our building industry is in
enough problems in Agawam right now and the builders that I've spoken to said that it
would be very detrimental to the cost of new housing. It would raise the cost. A lot of
the new builders are building as it stands right now so that it will get energy efficiency. I
don't think anybody is against having efficiency today. You'd be a fool not to put the
most efficiency energies into your town, into your buildings that you could possibly do
because it does save the long range cost so they are building for efficiency but I don't see
where we need more state regulations coming down on the builder to mandate things that
really are not necessary. I think that they will do on their own what's necessary to build
an efficient house. Again, it's Big Brother coming down our neck telling us what we've
got to do. As I stated that if we don't vote for it tonight, it will become law anyway in
two years well I don't see why we've got, why are we voting on it if it's gonna become
law anyway in two years? I think that we should follow Chicopee's lead. Chicopee went
thirteen - zip not to pass the Stretch Code and I'm really not, from what I've seen, I've
7
looked at it as I said two years ago, I went to the meeting the other night with Mr. Barry
and I didn't see anything there that we should be passing this this evening. Thank you.
President Johnson—Councilor Mineo then Councilor Rossi.
' Councilor Mineo — I disagree. I agree with everything that CeCe said. In two years, no
matter what, it's gonna become law so we might as well take advantage of it right now,
get this grant money, I mean maybe this grant money could help us do something with
' some of the buildings in town but I think at this point, no matter what in two years, it's
coming. Might as well take the money now!
President Johnson—Councilor Rossi?
Councilor Rossi — Thank you. I don't know that there's anybody on this dais or in this
' room here that's spent more time than I have looking at this Stretch Code and agonizing
over it in whether or not it's good for the community of Agawam. As part of the Energy
Commission, part of my heart says that I would like to see this go because I know that the
people here are for a Green Community and really believe in their hearts and minds that
this is a good fit but it's a good fit only because they want the, the prospect is so very real
to them for becoming a Green Community, they're losing sight of the fact that whether
this Energy Code, this Stretch Code, is actually a good fit for the community of Agawam.
I've heard a lot of arguments saying we should adopt the Stretch Code because we want
to be a Green Community but I haven't had anybody say that we should adopt the Stretch
Code because it's a good fit for the community of Agawam. I haven't heard that yet.
There's a lot about this Stretch Code that troubles me and one of it is its double standards
that it applies mostly to residential single family dwellings. It doesn't' apply so much to
commercial dwellings. The single family dwelling, you're talking about a $3,000
increase in construction costs. Commercial development you're talking about one to
three percent increases in the total cost of the construction — just to apply the Stretch
1 Code. I don't see where we need to mandate a twenty percent increase in the baseline of
what the state requires that our construction energy efficiency should be. Now you say,
I've heard the argument say well it's only gonna be the law anyway, well that's not true.
' The Stretch Code is exactly what it means, clearly by definition, it's a stretch. Whatever
the baseline is for the state of Massachusetts, it's gotta be stretched by twenty percent.
' That's what the Stretch Code means, stretched by twenty percent. Now there's a
drawback on that, you have to live with the draw back; in fact there are disadvantages of
having that and you take the disadvantages to the residents, the homeowners, the business
' owners, the developers who are entitled to incentives: energy credit incentives, incentives
through the Internal Revenue Service, federal and state incentives, once we adopt this in
the community of Agawam, this becomes mandated in this community, that our baseline
has been extended by twenty percent. So any improvements that you make to your home
has to be improved by more than twenty percent to be entitled to these incentives so you
see the disadvantages of applying the Stretch Code to the Town of Agawam. You're
disadvantaging the community of Agawam residents by adopting this Code because now
they have to apply a higher standard in order to be eligible for tax credits. Now that's not
my wording. That wording comes from the Massachusetts Municipal Association who
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' penned a letter to the Senate requesting them to change this spec code and I have excerpts
over here and I don't want to bore anybody with it but it's an MMA letter to the State
Senate President and it was penned on March 28, 2012 asking them to eliminate the
section 6 or making serious corrections to it because what it does, it hampers the
communities that adopt this Code to make a Green Community. The final analysis over
here I think it's more hassle than it's worth to adopt this Stretch Code: Once you adopt
the Stretch Code, it becomes law in this community. There's no getting away from that.
I don't know of anybody, I haven't heard of anybody to this point saying whether or not
it's a good fit for the community, how it's going to be enforced in this community,
whether or not it's even consistent with the Building Codes in this community. No one
has ever approached that. The only argument I've ever heard is we should adopt this
because we want to become a Green Community and we want to get funding. Well the
funding, if I understand that correctly, the funding is only guaranteed for one year, the
second years beyond that, second and subsequent years beyond that, is all based on
competitive grant applications. We have to qualify according to need with every other
Green Community in this state in order to be eligible for the money and believe me it's
not millions, it's not hundreds of thousands, it may be a couple of grand here and there
but it's not a lot of money and I commend Joel over here by saying well he's gonna try to
reimburse these homeowners and other small business owners for the cost. There's not
possible way that you could get the funding that could reimburse the homeowners and the
small business owners. The big business owners aren't going to be effected by this
because they're exempt, it's only the small business owners, it's only the residential
people of this community have to be complied with the Stretch Code. Do you realize that
' major renovations, commercial major renovations, are exempt? Major renovations for
residents have to comply. I don't get it. I don't get that. It's right in the mandates. It's
written right here. It's right here. It says it right in here. Did you read it? That's what it
1 says. Commercials don't have to pay. Residents do. I don't get that. If it's a Stretch
Code that's supposed to be good, it's supposed to be good for our environment, then why
isn't it good for everybody? See, that bothers me. I'm troubled by those kinds of things
' and the last thing I'm going to say on this thing over here and I understand that
everybody wants to be a Green Community, I even wrote a Resolution and Jill Messick
knows I did this and I tried to get it passed to the Town Hall. They watered that thing
down so much that it was rejected by the state. Now there is an avenue and everybody
out there who spoke in favor of it would know this, for a waiver for the Stretch Code to
become a Green Community, to be designated a Green Community. There is a waiver,
There's a process for it. There's an avenue to be taken. Has anybody ever gotten a
waiver? No. I don't get that. Why not? What's so important about this thing? And
lastly, I'm gonna say what my belief for the community is simply this — we don't need
some committee or commission in Boston to staple a badge to our lapel to make us a
Green Community. We can do that ourselves, okay, and I don't know that I have to
remind anybody or have to tell anybody this but I certainly should remind you, it's not
' who you are, it's what you are in practice that makes the difference. So being labeled a
Green Community is not an end all and this Stretch Code certainly isn't justification or an
' end all for being a Green Community. So if we truly wanted to be a Green Community,
maybe we should make some efforts to do that. I don't think this Stretch Code's the
1 9
answer here. My answer is simply no at this point. I don't think it's clearly an option at
this point for me.
' President Johnson—Councilor Perry?
' Councilor Perry — Yes, thank you, Mr. President. Well Bob you took a lot of the
thunder on the local level that I was going to say and I agree one hundred percent with
you. I'll take it up to the top level and it's the same thing it was two years ago when we
discussed this. Paul you asked the question where's the money coming from? The
money is coming from large corporations that are being fined because of not making or
meeting energy savings and things of that nature. They're being fined. That money's
' being collected by the federal government and it's being disbursed so Bobby you spoke
about the double standard —there it is. Start there then bring it down to here. I've said it
last year, two years ago, and I'll say it again and yes I do feel it's another layer of
1 government, it's another layer that's being developed, there's salaries, they work for the
state, they're being paid by the taxpayers to control this whole system so Bobby spoke
eloquently on the local level, make it up top first, make them comply, make them meet
the standards that are set by the federal government, don't fine them. Shut them down,
okay, and then bring it down to us, not the other way around. That's the way I felt two
years ago and it's the way I feel now. Thank you.
' President Johnson —Councilor Rheault?
Councilor Rheault— Yes, with due respect to Jay and Jill, I certainly I think everyone of
us wants to save on energy and the town has already taken several steps to go forward
with that. Previous speakers, Councilor Rossi and Councilor Perry and Councilor
' Magovern, have said almost, almost, everything that I wanted to say. You mentioned that
Chicopee defeated it 13-0 if you take a look at some of their reasons, they make some
strong arguments why they didn't support it and you say that they're only one community
' but 103 keeps coming up that did support it but 248 refused it and have not endorsed it.
So to me two-thirds of the cities and towns in the Commonwealth, if it was so fantastic I
' think would have taken a different position. The reason why it's called the Stretch Code,
I think, is because it's another arm that the state gets involved in and I think it's a high
price for our own freedoms and for that reason and other reasons I think the small
' homeowner gets hit the most and I'll just quote a couple of things from the Chicopee
reasoning — `the local business didn't oppose it but they didn't want to have it mandated'
and I think that's the main reason behind my thinking. I'm so tired of the state dictating
policy to our communities as to what we've got to do and how we're gonna spend our
money. The other, the final point they made was they said the new Senior Center which
is going to be built in Chicopee was estimated to be $8million. If the Code would add
' between $400,000 to $800,000 in the cost which is probably one of the reasons why they
rejected it but the real main reason is I don't like the state mandating anything to our
situation because there's no reason why we can't utilize a stronger energy efficiency
without passing this. So I'm not going to support it at this time.
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President Johnson — Stepping from the Chair momentarily, it's really in my mind a no-
brainer. The current edition of the Stretch Code will likely become the law when the
2012 version of the State Building Code is finally adopted by the state so what we're
looking to adopt will likely go into effect next year anyways. The Resolution that's
before us brings it into effect in July of 2013. We're giving up potentially hundreds of
thousands of dollars in grant money which will go to reduce our energy bills — our being
the taxpayers of Agawam's energy bills. If you looked in your town budget you'd see
large line items to pay those energy bills for the heat, light and power of all of our
schools and municipal buildings. It seems ridiculous to say we're not interesting in
obtaining that money simply because we don't want to ask a home builder to incur a cost
of$3,000 to $5,000 on a 3,000 square foot home — a cost I have several clients who are
' builders and they all say the same thing to me, we pretty much do it now anyways and we
would get back more by having an Energy Star rated home than the cost through the
additional price we could charge the clients buying—everyone wants high efficiency now
' anyways, they're building to it. The City of Springfield post-tornado adopted the Stretch
Energy Code and they have the lowest priced housing in the Valley and it's not affecting
their ability to build homes in Springfield or sell homes in Springfield. If you talk to
1 Councilor Cichetti, a realtor here in town, you're not gonna find new construction in
Agawam probably for less than $350,000 and that's gonna buy you an 1800 square foot
home. Your 3,000 square foot houses in Agawam are going between $450,000 and up so
to add $3,000 to $5,000 to the cost, a cost by the way that we can write into the grant as
they did in Worcester to absorb at least a portion if not all of it on behalf of the builders,
in my mind it seems like a no-brainer to help reduce the overall energy cost for the
taxpayers of Agawam, savings that once implemented will be there year after year, after
year, after year. I know the decade I spent in the Mayor's office, we took advantage of
grants from Western Mass Electric Company, from BayState Gas, any source that we
could get them to try to reduce our energy costs because one of the largest bills the town
faces is the heat, light and power bill. Here's an opportunity to get some money in so that
we can reduce our heat, light and power obligations moving forward and contrary to
' what's been said, the money that funds this doesn't come in from fines. When a
company achieves lower than required emissions, they're allowed to sell by way of the
public auction, that capability to other businesses. The rationale is the federal
government put in a reward system to say if your business and this is large power plants
and such, if your business operates at a greater efficiency than the law requires, then
we're gonna give you the benefit of being able to sell your excess capacity emission
requirements. That's like when Berkshire Power came online, that being a natural gas-
fired facility; they were able to sell those credits off because they're operating at far
below what that megawatt power plant would be from an emissions stand point. So it's
not coming from fines, it's coming from companies who have the capacity in the
emissions world, selling that capacity as an incentive to generate funds to comply, or
actually not to comply, to be better than what's required. So in my mind, as Mr. Barry
pointed out, if it's too onerous, we can get out. It seems ridiculous not to get in to see
what's required because what was before the Council three years ago is the law now and I
haven't seen builders go out of business. I haven't seen homeowners not be able to make
additions or renovations to their homes from what you were asked to adopt three years
ago and is the law now. If the next version of the Stretch Code is too onerous, we simply
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repeal it and go through the same process. A simple vote of the Council undoes it. In the
meantime, we're guaranteed at least $125,000 up to $170,000 or $180,000 in grant
money. It seems kind of ridiculous to say no to $125,000 to $170,000 because we don't
want to adopt something that if we had done it three years ago we would have got
hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants and guess what? It would be the law today
' anyways. Stepping back into the Chair, Councilor Mineo?
Councilor Mince — Again, just to reiterate, this Code makes sense. I know what
Councilor Johnson was just saying, it's something I said before, no matter what it's going
to be mandated. We're gonna have to accept it no matter what. We might as well take
advantage of this funding now.
President Johnson — Seeing no more discussion, I'd ask Barbara to call the roll. If
you're in favor of adopting the Stretch Code, vote yes. If you're opposed, vote no.
1 ROLL CALL — 4 YES (Councilors Calabrese, Cichetti, Johnson, and Mineo), 6 NO
(Councilors Bitzas, Cavallo, Magovern, Perry, Rheault and Rossi), 1 ABSENT
(Councilor Letellier)
President Johnson — With a vote of four yes, six no, we've failed to adopt the
Massachusetts Stretch Energy Code.
12. PH-2012-3 Public Hearing Date set for October 15, 2012 for TOR-2012-
' 3 An Ordinance to Amend the Code of the Town of Agawam Zoning
Ordinances§1$0-2 "Definitions and Word Usage"(Two Readings)
' (Referred to Planning Board and Legislative Committee) (Mayor))
Item 10. Old Business
' None.
Item 11. New Business
1. TO-2012-26 -An Order Granting or Renewing a LICENSE for
' Class I or 11 Dealer(s) —Falcor Auto Sales,Inc.,373 Springfield
Street, Agawam, MA. (Clerk)
President Johnson — I would refer these two items to the Admin. Committee, next
Agenda.
' 2. TO-2012-27 - An Order Granting or Renewing a LICENSE for
Class I or II Dealer(s)—Agawam Auto Mall, Inc., 825 Springfield
Street, Agawam, MA. (Clerk)
President Johnson —See Item 41.
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Item 12. Any other matter that may legally come before the City Council.
President Johnson —Councilor Rossi?
Councilor Rossi — Thank you. Just item I have. Barbara, would you please set up a
' meeting next week preferably maybe Tuesday if you would but I'll take whatever day we
can get obviously for the items for discussion are going to be these two licenses on the
Agenda now and also would you notify the Sewer Sub-Committee members to be in
attendance also because I will give them a status update. I have a meeting this Friday
with the Mayor so I will give them a status update from that meeting and let us know
where we stand and whether or not we're going forward or whether or not we're not on
' the sewer project. So that will also be an item of Agenda and any other business that may
come before it. Thank you.
1 President Johnson—Councilor Mineo?
Councilor Mineo—Nothing tonight.
' President Johnson— Councilor Magovern?
Councilor Magovern— I just wanted to say I hope we've all made the right decision this
evening and remind everybody that Wednesday night we have a Presidential Debate and
Republican, Democrats, Independents, Libertarian, whatever, I hope that you tune into
the debate so that you can become informed as to a little bit more of the answers and
again I think we have Columbus Day coming up, I wish everybody a Happy Columbus
Day and I'm surprised that Mr. Rossi didn't mention Columbus Day. It takes an
' Irishman to remind you? And again, have a great evening, thank you.
President Johnson —Councilor Rheault?
' Councilor Rheault—Nothing g this evening.
President Johnson —Councilor Perry?
' Councilor Perry- Nothing this evening, thank you.
President Johnson—Councilor Cichetti?
' Councilor Cichetti — I'd just like to take the opportunity to thank everyone over at The
Big E that invited all of us over there. I think it was a great day. It was a nice turn out
for the town and also to thank all the kids and everyone that marched in the parade.
Thank you.
President Johnson—Councilor Calabrese?
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Councilor Calabrese — Thank you, yes. I also got a lot of compliments from people
about all the kids from Agawam in the parade, people that have gone to The Big E
' multiple days and see the parade, a number of people went out of their way to say geez
everybody is there from Agawam which is wonderful so we have some great kids here in
town. Have a nice evening.
' President Johnson--Councilor Bitzas?
' Councilor Bitzas -- One thing again to remind the Councilors and all the people that are
watching us, save the date for October 20'`. We have a very, very great fair Harvest
Festival, the Rotary Club, hot air balloon rides, and many, many activities so you are
going to enjoy it. I guarantee that. Thank you.
President Johnson—Councilor Cavallo?
' Councilor Cavallo —Yeah, I'd like to commend Councilor Calabrese and also Councilor
Rossi, at the meeting that we had regarding the Moore Street and all of that situation we
had there. We had a nice group of people there and they were very faithful, they attended
both of the meetings but your expertise, Councilor Rossi, having been a police officer,
helped out immensely because I think I would have had a problem explaining all those
' streets to them and CeCe you did a good job on your report. I just wanted to mention that
but it was a good meeting and I think Joe Mineo was there as well, he came to the
meeting but it was probably one of the easiest, not the easiest things, it was complicated
' but we had to really explain things in a real deliberate manner to the people and I think
we established a good rapport with them and that's what I liked about that meeting and I
think they were extremely satisfied when they left.
' President Johnson — The Chair will entertain a Motion to adjourn. All in favor of
adjournment say Ay? We are adjourned.
Councilor
' President Johnson —
' Adjournment.
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