Town of Rocky Hill

Board of Education

Joint Finance/Facilities Committee

March 2, 2004

Minutes of Meeting

 

 

A special joint meeting of the Finance Committee and the Facilities Committee of the Rocky Hill Board of Education was held on Tuesday, March 2, 2004, in the superintendent's conference room.  Present were:  Anne Schmidt, Kirk Bostwick, Neil Geldof, Charles McMonigle, Catherine Vargas, Peter Arico, Nadine Bell, Francis Palazzolo, Director of Finance & Operations Gregory P. Turansky, and Supt. of Schools Dr. J. A. Camille Vautour.  The meeting was called to order at 5:35 p.m.

 

Dr. Vautour informed the group that he attended a meeting sponsored by LEARN, one of the state’s regional educational service centers, on the topic of possibly forming an energy consortium.  At that meeting Strategic Energy, a firm specializing in energy distribution, discussed the concept of Connecticut school districts forming a consortium for the purchase of electrical power at discount rates.

 

The projected savings through pooling of electrical needs were estimated at between 10 – 13%.  Districts interested in exploring the viability of a consortium were told three preliminary steps were required.

 

  1. The front page of the energy bill for each school
  2. or town facility must be forwarded to Strategic Energy for analysis.
  3. A letter of authorization needs to be signed and submitted to Strategic Energy so that they can obtain detailed information on district electrical consumption.
  4. A resolution needs to be passed authorizing the appropriate town official to enter into a contract with Strategic Energy in the event they are able to generate the projected savings.

 

Dr. Vautour informed committee members that the electrical costs for the Board in this year’s budget were projected at $410,000, while the municipal budget projected $136,000.  Based on a combined budget of $546,000 the savings estimated from Strategic Energy would range between $54,600 to $70,980.

 

Committee members discussed the merits of joining the energy consortium and concluded the potential benefits to Rocky Hill were such that the matter should be referred to the Council’s Government Operations Committee for further review.

 

Dr. Vautour was asked to arrange the appropriate meeting.

 

The meeting adjourned at 6:00 p.m.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

Dr. J. A. Camille Vautour

Recording Secretary

 

APPROVED BY:  _______________________                           DATE:  ________________________