June 14, 2007

By Diane Chiddister

At Village Council’s June 4 meeting, Council unanimously passed a resolution which allows local energy users to choose, for a slightly higher price, to pay their utility bill into a program that utilitizes renewable energy sources. The voluntary program, Amp Ohio’s Green Mountain Energy Company Nature’s Energy, will soon be offered to interested villagers if a sufficient number of power users commit to the program.

The green pricing resolution passed 4–0, with Council members Judith Hempfling, Kathryn Chase, Karen Wintrow and Kathryn Van der Heiden voting for the resolution. Bruce Rickenbach was absent.

An amendment to the resolution, which requires the Village to get commitments from a percentage of local green pricing customers before moving ahead with joining the program, passed 3–1, with Wintrow, Chase and Van der Heiden voting for the amendment, and Hempfling voting against.

The Green Mountain program will promote increased use of renewable energy by strengthening the market for renewable energy sources, according to Village Manager Eric Swansen. The program offers participants the assurance that electricity equivalent to their usage will be generated by renewable sources somewhere on the power grid “knowing that the earth benefits equally from power that replaces fossil fuels regardless of location,” according to a written report from Swansen.

Those who sign up for the green pricing will pay $.013 to $.015 for each kilowatt hour of renewable power, in addition to their regular charge.

The green pricing program had been proposed to Council several months ago by the Yellow Springs Environmental Commission, Swansen said when introducing the resolution. At the June 4 meeting, several EC members spoke in support of the program.

“It’s a statement our village is making that we’re interested in getting away from using fossil fuels,” said EC member Eli Hurwitz. “It helps people who have a concern do something simple.”

Ultimately, according to EC member Chad Runyon, the Village needs to move toward using more renewable energy itself, but the green pricing program is a good first step toward promoting sustainability.

“It’s a starting point. It gives people an option,” he said.

In response to a question from Council Acting President Karen Wintrow about how the Village could include more renewables in its own energy portfolio, Swansen said the Village is looking into the possibility of doing so. The Village currently has the option of buying into a hydro electric project in the Ohio River Valley, although that option will not be available much longer, he said. However, the Village needs a clearer idea of the future growth rate of population and of power usage before doing so, he said.

Currently, the Village’s energy portfolio includes two renewable energy sources, landfill gas (23 percent) and hydro power from the New York Power Authority (5 percent). The Village’s portfolio also includes energy from the coal-operated Gorsuch plant (38 percent), Western Area Service Group Pool (31 percent) and DPL contract (3 percent).

The Village’s 28 percent use of renewable energy sources is more than twice the national average of 13 percent from renewable energy, according to Swansen’s report. Supporting green pricing programs such as Green Mountain is a way to increase demand for renewable energy, he wrote.

But the Green Mountain program does come at a cost of about $6,000 to the Village, according to Swansen in a written analysis of alternative actions. This cost includes start-up costs of about $5,000 and annual operating costs of at least $1,000, according to Swansen’s report. Also, the program’s cost to the Village could be higher if only a small percentage of local customers use it, and a break-even participation rate of about 10 percent of all power delivered would ensure that the cost would not rise, according to the report.

Given the potential for rising costs, the Village is taking a risk in signing up for the Green Mountain project, according to villager Becky Campbell, who suggested that the Village seek commitments from interested parties before signing on to the program.

And Council member Kathryn Chase questioned whether the Village should participate in the Green Mountain program at all, given the increased cost and increased use of Village resources.

“I hate to see our already overworked and underpaid staff” be given more responsibility, she said.

Ultimately Council members agreed to offer the green pricing program, although the majority agreed with Campbell, and voted to add an amendment requesting that Swansen seek year-long commitments equal to 10 percent of Village power used before signing on with the program. Wintrow, Chase and Van der Heiden voted for the amendment, and Hempfling voted against it.

But the Village should be willing to take a small financial risk to provide leadership on such a critical global issue, according to Pat Murphy, executive director of The Community Solution.

“We’re arguing about $6,000 in this rich town?” he said. “We’re talking about the death of the planet.”

In other Council business:
• In new business, Council discussed a request from members of the Green Environmental Coalition that the Village send a letter to the Regional Air Pollution Control Agency (RAPCA) that raises concerns about Fairborn’s Cemex plant proposed tire burning. Cemex has not yet commenced burning tires, but the company has stated that it plans to do so, and will run a test burn sometime later this summer or fall.

The letter, a draft of which had been written by GEC members, raised questions about the effects of increased diesel exhaust caused by the increased number of trucks bringing tires to the plant, the need for a fire plan and the need for continuous emissions monitoring.

Wintrow stated that she disagreed with the tone of the letter, which she saw as too opinionated. She volunteered to work on another draft of the letter with EC member Steve Conn, who wrote the original.

• Council discussed changes to Council meetings rules and procedures, which Council members had considered at their retreat this spring. The proposed changes were minimal, according to Wintrow, who wrote them up following the retreat.

But Council meeting procedures are important, especially regarding the public’s access to information, Hempfling said. Especially, she encouraged Council to consider ways to provide community members electronic access to each meeting’s Council packet.

But the current Village Web site would need about $15,000 worth of redesigning before that sort of access could be provided, Swansen said.

• Council discussed for a second time revisions to the Village Charter proposed by the Charter Review committee. The revisions, after approval by Council, will be put on the November ballot for voter approval. Council will address the first reading of the revisions on June 18 and the second reading on July 16.

The most discussion has been sparked by the committee’s recommendation that the Village Planning Commission no longer contain a voting member from Miami Township. According to committee member Jerry Sutton, the committee made that recommendation after reviewing the practices of other planning commissions and finding that it was unusual for a municipal planning board to contain a voting member who lived outside the municipality.

However, former Planning Commission President John Struewing, who lives in the township, expressed strong opposition to the change.

“I think there was wisdom 50 years ago in including a Township member in the planning board,” Struewing said, stating that township residents must already accept that Village leaders, who affect much of township life, are elected by only Village residents.

Wintrow suggested that the charter be revised so that one Planning Commission member could be from the Township, but would not necessarily be a Township representative. Other Council members agreed to this compromise, which Chambers will review before the next meeting.

• Council unanimously approved the second reading of an amendment to the Village’s investment policy, which requires that the Village finance director and Village manager be included in investment decisions. Currently, the Village treasurer makes investment decisions.

The change “adds another layer of oversight” to investment decisions, Wintrow said.

• Council unanimously approved a resolution opposing Ohio House Bill 154, which would abolish Mayor’s Court.

• Council unanimously approved an amendment to the Village’s solid waste contract with Rumpke.

• Council appointed Kathryn Chase as liason to Community Council.

• Council’s next meeting is Monday, June 18, at 7 p.m. at Council chambers in the Bryan Community Center.

Contact: dchiddister@ysnews.com