Elon’s town council has given its staff the green light to pursue an advisory board’s recommendations that could ultimately let a shaft of solar energy in to some of the town’s buildings.
The council agreed to steer this new course toward the sun – at least figuratively speaking – after its members heard a long-awaited report on Tuesday from the town’s six-member sustainability committee.
Brian Kennedy, the chairman of this appointed advisory board, pitched several proposals to the council that evening that he said could make the town’s operations less wasteful of energy. Yet, it was the option of solar power that he said could have the biggest impact on both the natural environment and the town ‘s bottom line.
“No matter how you slice, it the town will save money. But finding the most efficient way forward for the town will require getting into the weeds a little bit. . .
“We’ve looked at a lot of towns and municipalities that have implemented these monitoring plans, and a lot of these plans are very robust. We didn’t think that the town of Elon was prepared to handle something that robust. So, we scaled the plan down to something that we think would get 80 to 90 percent of the same results.”
– Brian Kennedy, chairman of Elon’s Sustainability Committee
“No matter how you slice, it the town will save money,” Kennedy insisted. “But finding the most efficient way forward for the town will require getting into the weeds a little bit.”
Kennedy told the council that its members must eventually decide what kinds of solar devices they want to install in precisely which of Elon’s facilities. The committee’s chairman also touched on the issue of cost, alluding to potential revenue sources and organizational partnerships that may offset the town’s upfront expenses. He noted that one tax credit, which is temporarily available from the federal government, could reimburse up to 30 percent of these costs if the town has its ducks in a row by the end of 2027.
In addition to the proposed introduction of solar power, Kennedy presented the council with a plan to monitor the town’s greenhouse emissions with the long-term objective of reducing its overall energy consumption.
Kennedy said that the committee’s members initially looked to other cities and towns for some guidance in tracking greenhouse emissions.
“We’ve looked at a lot of towns and municipalities that have implemented these monitoring plans, and a lot of these plans are very robust,” he conceded. “We didn’t think that the town of Elon was prepared to handle something that robust. So, we scaled the plan down to something that we think would get 80 to 90 percent of the same results.”
Kennedy said that this lite approach to what other communities are doing would begin by calculating the total amount of energy that Elon’s brick-and-mortar facilities consume. This figure could then be extrapolated for each square foot of floor space to give the town a useful metric for gauging its emissions.
Kennedy went on to ask the council to endorse the committee’s overall vision for both the monitoring program and the introduction of solar power. In the latter case, he also suggested that the town’s staff could begin hammering out a request for proposals from contractors who specialize in solar energy systems.
The council, for its part, generally applauded the committee’s efforts – particularly when it came to the promotion of solar energy.
“The work that has gone into this has been phenomenal,” said councilman Randy Orwig, who serves as the council’s liaison to the sustainability committee.
“I know that it’s been more than a year,” added councilman Steve Exum, “and your willingness to carry the water has been admirable.”
“I’m all for diving into this,” concurred councilman Michael Woods, “using the options that would be best for the town.”
The committee’s proposals drew a more skeptical response from Elon’s mayor pro tem Monti Allison, who feared they may lead to an unsustainable increase in workload for the town’s municipal staff.
“We’re short-staffed as it is, so the question is ‘how much of an additional burden would it be?’”
– Elon mayor pro tem Monti Allison
“We’re short-staffed as it is,” Allison said, “so the question is ‘how much of an additional burden would it be?’”
Kennedy went on to assure the mayor pro tem that the town’s staff wouldn’t be put out by the committee’s proposal for monitoring greenhouse emissions.
“It’s just as simple as sending us the bills at this point,” he declared.
The committee’s chairman admitted, however, that the implementation of solar energy would require some staff time to draw up a solicitation for prospective contractors. He added that the contractors could do much of the heavy lifting themselves provided that the town asks them to provide a range of options for the council to mull.
Elon’s town manager Richard Roedner warned the council that state law “frowns on” overly open-ended bid requests that effectively let contractors dictate their own terms. Even so, Kennedy said that he and his colleagues are merely looking for the latitude to fine-tune the bid process as needed.
“I’m hoping that we get a hunting license from you for the next six months,” he said. “But it will require some staff time to draw up the RFQ.”
In the end, Woods made a motion to have Elon’s municipal staff begin to pursue the committee’s recommendations without actually committing any funds to the group’s proposal at this juncture. The motion passed 4-to-0 in the absence of councilman Quinn Ray, who wasn’t present when the council convened its latest regularly-scheduled meeting on Tuesday.
