Swampscott in favor of hiring green planner

SWAMPSCOTT – Town officials expressed support for using approximately $14,000 of a Green Communities grant to partially fund a town planner position devoted to community development and energy issues.”I see reducing the town’s energy consumption as part of a planning role,” said Town Administrator Andrew Maylor, whose 2012 budget proposal includes money to fund the remainder of the estimated $45,000 to $50,000 salary. “This gives us the opportunity to do both. We must invest energy and effort to make a reduction to our energy costs and be a sustainable community.”Swampscott was awarded a $143,800 grant this year for becoming a Green Community under the Green Communities Act, which offers grant incentives to communities that achieve several steps for reducing their energy consumption and promoting sustainability. Ten percent of this award can be applied to fund the full-time position. Maylor said that the eventual hire will dedicate two thirds of his or her time to planning issues, and the remaining third of the time to energy issues. The town will have to apply for the grant each year, he added.But Swampscott eliminated the Town Planner position in 2007 after only two years and Maylor acknowledged that “identifying the product they deliver is very difficult.”Board of Selectmen Chair Jill Sullivan said that she hoped the combination of grant and town funding would help overcome resistance to a new planner position.It’s a fantastic thing to have a planner,” Sullivan said, noting that she had been heavily involved in planning issues as a member of the Planning Board and the Humphrey Street Revitalization Committee. “I’ve always been one of the people who said we needed a planner,” Sullivan said. “A lot of people don’t get (the position) but it really helps when you want to work with developers and improve your community.”Assistant Town Engineer Victoria Masone also expressed support for the position. Masone has been the point person for many of the energy initiatives that qualified the town as a Green Community last December. But she said that these tasks have been “supplemental” to her main role as assistant engineer and that the town could benefit from somebody devoting a portion of their time to energy-efficiency tasks. She said that many of the initiatives that the town has adopted to become a Green Community – for instance demonstrating a 20 percent reduction in municipal energy use in five years – require constant monitoring and reporting. Masone said that the town has not pursued many grant initiatives because of the time commitment of these requirements.”There are lots of other initiatives that we want to take on and we want to be able to take them on with this new person,” Masone said.Maylor and Masone both acknowledged that grants – whether they partially fund the position and/or fund the projects the proposed planner will pursue – were not guaranteed sources of funding.According to Northeastern Massachusetts Green Community Coordinator Joanne Bissetta, the state has dedicated up to $10 million to fund the Act each year, but as more communities become participants (there are 53 communities including Swampscott after two rounds of applications) the grant process will likely become competitive and project based.But Green Communities Deputy Director Meg Lusardi said that Green Communities funding is generated through the auction of carbon emission permits through the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a nonprofit corporation of 10 northeastern and mid-Atlantic states. She said this has generated stable revenue but that there are other revenue streams available to Green Communities.”Our plan is to be able to offer the same grant awards and we think we’ll be able to do that,” Lusardi said.Masone said that the current availability of grant funds through the Green Communities Act and stimulus funds make the proposal for a planner more rather than less compelling.”There’s a big push for energy projects now and hopefully that c