Athol Town Hall and Main Street.
STAFF FILE PHOTO/PAUL FRANZ
ATHOL – Athol and Royalston will be among the beneficiaries of a three-year Mass Save Municipal Energy Manager Grant to undertake projects with the goal of reducing energy use and carbon emissions in municipal buildings.
The funds will be used to hire an energy manager who will assist Athol, Berlin, North Brookfield and Royalston carry out Mass Save programs and incentives aimed at improving energy efficiency and cutting carbon emissions. The grant is being administered by the Montachusett Regional Planning Commission.
Karen Chapman, planning and development director for MRPC, said the amount of the grant is $157,485, or approximately $52,500 per year over three years.
The funding is part of a statewide program which will help a total of 63 municipalities across Massachusetts become more energy efficient through the hiring of 24 energy managers.
“These funds provide the town access to a qualified individual that can help implement local energy efficiency and building decarbonization projects while freeing up planning department staff to advance other community initiatives,” said Town Manager Shaun Suhoski.
“Basically, I’m kind of doing all the Green Communities-related work, including all the annual reporting work,” Planning and Development Director Eric Smith told the Athol Daily News. “There’s a lot of time involved – meeting contractors, arranging meetings and site visits. It will be really helpful to have somebody else actually focus on these initiatives. It really is a huge opportunity.”
Smith said he has been advocating for creation of a full-time sustainability manager or energy manager, but there has been no available funding in the budget, “especially the way things are now. So, having this three-year grant opportunity is going to be really huge.”
Hiring for the position will be done by the MRPC. Smith said MRPC plans to advertise it widely to “hopefully get some qualified individuals to apply. The consultant will be working 20 hours a week out of MRPC, but we’ll get a bucket of time out of that every week. The person will come out here for site visits, Energy Committee meetings, Decarbonization Task Force meetings. I’ll interact with them, as will the Energy Committee and the town manager, and we’ll have another go-to person to handle some of these issues.”
Smith cited coordination of the installation of a new rooftop heat pump system at the Athol Police Station as the kind of project to be taken on by the new energy manager. He said the goal is to see someone hired to fill the position by the end of summer.
Mass Save is a collaborative of Massachusetts’ electric and natural gas utilities and energy efficiency service providers including Berkshire Gas, Cape Light Compact, Eversource, Liberty, National Grid, and Unitil.
Christopher Porter, director of customer energy management at National Grid said in a release announcing the funding, “This grant is an incredible opportunity for cities and towns from Hampden to Barnstable counties to invest in their communities while simultaneously advancing Massachusetts to a more energy-efficient future. The work of these energy managers will provide resources to create healthier and more sustainable schools and municipal buildings across the state.”
Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.