001Good evening. It is 6 o'clock and I'd like to call to order the Board of Education Finance and Operations Committee meeting. Would you please rise for the pledge of allegiance? Thank you. As a reminder, please be sure to turn on your microphone when speaking and voting to ensure those online can hear you. You have all received a copy of the minutes in your packet. We will now look for their approval. Are there any corrections or abstensions? This is for the regular finance and operations committee meeting March 11th, 2026. Any corrections or abstensions? I have a motion to approve the March 11th, 2026 regular finance and operations committee meeting minutes as written. So move. >> Second. >> Has been made and seconded. All in favor? I >> I passes. Thank you. Any public comment, Miss Molina?
002Okay. Wonderful. Well, not wonderful. I I welcome and encourage public comment, but wonderful that we're moving on to our next agenda item. I think we probably have some people who are uh finance supporting at our um city board of finance meeting tonight. So, it might be a little bit quiet here on our front. Okay. Um, next we'll look at the 2026 budget update through 33126. Jodie Bond, >> thank you. As of March 31st, 2026, we are in a deficit of 3,11586 with special education driving the deficit at 3,951195. We continue to closely monitor our general education side of the budget which currently shows 2,506310 unencumbered. However, based on our current spending patterns and needs, I do anticipate utilizing all of these remaining funds. And I do anticipate having an endofear overall deficit based on whatever
003our special education deficit will be at the time somewhere in the three probably 3.4 to $3.9 million range. Um, but we continue to monitor that. Are there any questions? Commissioners, any questions? Um, Jody, do you um in your experience, is this this trend sort of on par with what we've seen in previous years? >> Yes. If not, this is actually a smaller deficit. certainly that much smaller than what we saw last year at this time. Um and perhaps the year before also. Yeah. But it's pretty much what we do we do normally see this trend. >> Um anything that is glaring or jumps out to you as to why we may be actually a little bit under the deficit that we've seen in years past? >> Well, I think a lot of it has to
004do with we did bolster special education quite significantly last year. um which absolutely helped. >> Okay. >> So, >> and of course the audit you know may have been a catalyst to sort of >> you know sort of holistic >> I think it grow absolutely and it proved that we really do underfund special education. So that helped >> well we can hope for some structural improvement in that area moving forward and some fiscal support. >> Yes. >> Um to drive that as well. Thank you. Welcome. >> Uh, next we have cafeteria report Jodie Bond. Pending March federal and state reimbursement, the cafeteria snapshot reflects a surplus of $191,229. We served our scholars 45,665 breakfasts, 107,47 lunches, and 1,797 snacks in March. Any questions there? No questions there. Thank you. Next, we'll move to appropriation transfers
005over 10,000. >> I did not have any appropriation transfers over 10,000 last month. Uh, next we'll have pupil personnel services report. Um, okay. We'll defer to all night. >> You're the star. >> Dr. Martino is currently over at city hall. we she stayed behind in case in case there were questions and I was glad that she stayed behind because she was able to hear what what they were proposing so it was very relevant to her department. Um so I will read her report and then any questions if I can't answer them I will certainly forward them on to her. Um, as of April 1st, 2026, 1,821 students of the 7,939 enrolled Bristol students are identified as requiring special education programming. This enrollment reflects 22.94% of the total Bristol public schools population. As of April 1st,
006126 students with disabilities required out of district placements at private special education school programs. There were 91 students requiring special education programming services at other public outofd district schools including magnet schools. During the month of March, 36% which is seven of 34 of the newly registered students were identified as students with special education programming needs at the time of registration. None of the newly registered students required programming and services at an outofd district special education program. During the month of March, there were 49 211 calls and eight 911 calls. >> Thank you. Questions? >> Um, you know, oh, sorry. Go ahead, Mr. Benson. >> Thank you. Um, and I can follow up with the but 22.94% it's pretty big number. Mhm. >> Do we anticipate that holding steady between now and June or there'll be
007up to that? >> I don't I don't really know. I I I think it tends to just from from my knowledge and my history, it tends to pretty much stay the same because our population is so transient and even though some are moving in, we do have students leaving. So, it should hover right around there. But we can confirm with >> I can follow up with it, too. Yeah. >> Great. >> Thank you. you know, in just examining I've seen this report month after month, and I think it would be helpful where the um line items read like special ed enrollment. It has the student count as of April 1st and then it has percent change from the um month prior. It would be really helpful to add a column to show the actual number
008like the raw number. Um just so at a at a cursory look we can see what how many students that actually represents from month to month. So the student count was April 1st. You can either have a a a column where it shows how many students that have changed next to the percentage or show have the previous month's information just the previous month to look at the raw data and rather than have to try to convert like percentages in our head. >> Oh yeah, please. Of course, >> just to add on that too, again, not to make anyone's job more harder, but if we could get a a column or page maybe that just shows the breakdown of what the mandation is because that 23 could be a lot of kids were just like getting
009speech services or it could be kids who behavior programs, our autistic programs, our resource room just to see where trends are. I think that would help us >> helpful >> as we plan, you know, through for next year for a budget at the I want to get through this one first, but it'd be helpful to see where the where the hot spots are. That makes sense. >> Yeah, that's a great recommendation. Um and I think also to your point, Commissioner, where the enrollment um the percentage of the enrollment for overall special education where it reached 22.94% maybe even having the previous month's percentage just just to be able to see at glance how are we trending. Um >> these will just be data points as we go into next year for the budget say hey
010this is what was happening prior year right >> you have to assume >> it's gonna continue >> it's on it is it is on the longer page like every single >> but I think in terms of what like people may actually be >> people online too um because this might not go out to the public but these should be public because these would be considered regular meetings so they should be available to um for public inspection. Are these still online? >> That's on board book. So the bigger >> picture is on board book. I just kind of snapped that for this presentation. This is what she >> Oh, sure. Okay. >> Here as well as in the Okay. >> So when people are like if somebody is online viewing this presentation right now, are they
011do they have access to this right now as well? >> If they go on to see that it's under item number seven. Maybe we can talk a little bit offline um about how we can make sure people know to access board. >> So that's why I put like even on number six full report available. >> Okay. Oh, gotcha. Okay. Um Oh, I appreciate that. So maybe we can include if it's possible a little more on just this snapshot we're able to of the previous ones like in in the presentation. Yep. I'll try. It's just it makes the small, >> right? Right. Okay. Thank you so much. Any further questions or comments from commissioners? >> Student activity accounts through 33126. Jody von >> Bristol Central Athletics began the year with a balance of 53,78155. A total
012of 70,323.18 in expenses and $86,794 in receipts left a balance of $7,25256. Please note that of this balance 30,76063 is gate fee net income and the remainder is fundraising proceeds for individual sports teams and I believe we mentioned at I can't remember if it was last month's or the month before um the meeting we're going to make a donation for the press box at Bristol Central. So they'll be utilizing much of this $30,000. The Bristol Central High School Student Activity Fund began the year with $155,10557. They had 78,78860 in expenditures and 114,52261 in receipts. Um, ending the month with 91 $190,83958. Bristol Eastern Athletics began the year with 18,57298. There were 42,77520 in expenditures and 50,84659 in receipts, leaving them with a balance of 26,64437. Of this balance, 600 6,97911 is gate fee net income
013and the remainder are fundraising proceeds for their individual sports teams. The Bristol Eastern High School Student Activity Fund began the year with $147,12242. They had 91,95657 in expenditures, $125,529 in receipts, leaving a month-end balance of 1806524. There any questions there? um at Bristol Eastern where it reads um approximately 7,000 is a gate fee net being >> um I don't see that for Bristol Central >> 30,76063. >> Oh, I see it there. Thank you. Yeah, you're welcome. question. Thank you. Um, next we'll move on to the operations committee component of our meeting and that will be with Karen Landon. Looks like we have Solar Arrays and Bristol Eastern High School and Bristol Central High School. Who's going to be the star? >> Hello. Okay, so I'm literally just standing here for a quick moment. We um
014have been approached by um Sha Dunn and Adam Taps Adam and um they Adam's going to present along with Sean um their conceptual idea of adding some solar arrays to our Bristol Central Eastern and Bris Bristol Central and Bristol Eastern campuses and I will pass it on over to the two of them. Come on up. I also told them they had just 15 minutes to present. So >> it's okay. >> Hi everybody. Appreciate you having me here tonight. Uh my name is Adam Te. I'm the general manager of Titan Gen. I'm actually an energy consultant that works directly with the city. Um we've taken on a number of renewable energy initiatives over the last five years. Um this is one that um really is focused on the board of ed, hence why you probably never
015seen me before and don't know who I am. Um but I work closely with municipalities under the uh CCM to Connecticut conference of municipalities renewable energy program. We're available as a resource for cities and towns throughout the state that are interested in renewable energy um and would like help with the project management side of having the systems built. And typically where that starts is with issuing RFPs, selecting vendors, acting as the owner's rep throughout the entire process. Um generally speaking, you know, um there aren't in-house residents or in in-house um expertise related to solar. So that's where we basically become like an adjunct member of staff to see the project from concept to completion. So hopefully that gives a little bit of context of who I am and what I do. Um we did identify
016for both high schools um pretty interesting opportunity for both rooftop and solar canopy parking systems for those locations. Um what I'd like to do tonight is just set some context for where we are with the renewable energy programs here in the state federally. you know, what's possible for these two sites and answer any questions that folks have. So, um I don't know if I have control of this way, but this is just really just a summary of the topics I want to cover. Um I guess I'll I'll start with um perhaps the most important piece is that the financial impact on these projects could be very significant. um over the course, you know, the system's useful life, we've estimated that the district could save about $8 million operationally. And that's zero out-of- pocket expense. That's
017just pure utility savings. Um and it's really important uh I think to understand that generally the way these projects are done is that they're owned and operated by a third party. So if we put out the RFP and ask for those proposals, solar developers will come in and then part of the the exchange is they'll own, operate, maintain the systems and then they'll either sell power back to the schools or offer utility bill credits. They can be structured either way. And there's some existing solar deals within Bristol that we'd want to work around. So, my recommendation, and without getting too much into the the fine details, is to have a mix of utility bill credits um and also perhaps some revenue coming in from the projects that would go directly to the board of education.
018Um, as of where we are today in terms of timing, the federal government has uh planned to eliminate the investment tax credit for solar uh much earlier than was originally anticipated when the law was set um under the inflation reduction act. So we basically have until July for solar developers to con, you know, to contract with a solar developer so they can safe harbor equipment and still preserve that investment tax credit, which equates to about 30 to 40% of their cost. So that $8 million figure that I listed at the top is contingent upon Bristol being able to act in time to capture that investment tax credit. So, we have a plan to help you do that, but it's a very important detail these days as it relates to, you know, timing and how we
019contract for these projects. Um, so we can go through the concept. Um, and I, you know, I think from our perspective, from Titan's perspective, you know, we've worked with the the city procurement folks to put a draft RFP in place should uh the board of ed decide to go forward with this. So, we do have a plan to be able to run this process in sufficient time where you could make um an award to a vendor and still meet that July deadline if you choose. Um so, we did Sean and I um did have an opportunity to walk both of these sites and evaluate to make sure that the the schematic here is buildable and realistic. Um the one caveat with the rooftops just being that we do understand that there's um the potential for
020rooftop equipment to change to move. So I'd want to em embed some flexibility into the plan if you did decide that you wanted to do solar on the roofs. Um, you know, we would just work in conjunction with the the facilities team to make sure that whatever was built on the roof didn't interfere with or, you know, create complications for, you know, uh, new or different rooftop air handling equipment. Um, for the carports, again, this was incredibly helpful to be able to walk the site because when we did our main objectives here really twofold, maybe three-fold, I guess you would say. First and foremost, we don't want to disrupt kind of natural flow of the parking area. Um, you know, we don't want to overbuild to the extent where uh the actual construction of the
021system is a burden. Um, or you know, for emergency vehicles coming in and out, school buses, etc. So that you know, being able to walk the site and to see the elevations and and kind of natural traffic flow was super helpful. Um we settled on this layout after our first iteration which also um accomplishes two other goals which is being mindful of how snows plowed and where that ultimately is piled and making sure that the systems would not create an obstacle um for what I think this last year could probably be considered you know a a worst case scenario generally of how you know the snow um would accumulate over the course of a winter. And also we want to make sure that we're preserving trees as much as possible. You know, we don't want
022to um build these systems and take down trees unnecessarily. So, we did move some of the the systems. Um there is in the western corner just one small area where we'd have to do some tree work, but that's pretty much it. Um same goes for the eastern rooftop. Again, we understand the plan is, you know, there's some fluidity there in terms of what could go on that roof, but given your current layout, this is what's currently possible there. And these are very straightforward projects. Generally, um, you know, solar on school roofs is is incredibly common. I've been doing this now for about 15 years. I think generally is the tallies that you know 80% of school districts I think even Bristol as well has some solar on the roof but um you know it's become
023very common common place um to have these systems on top of roofs and similar situation here with Eastern um you know we did have a chance to walk the site tried to be mindful of um you know all the criteria that I mentioned for this is based on those sidewalks, the extent of what is possible there. And these system sizes could change um you know with future input from folks who would like to see them placed in other other areas or if they'd like to see them um you know smaller than they're depicted here. But um you know we feel that this is an attainable project that um you know would not interrupt the natural flow department. And I just included some examples of other projects that we've worked on um here in the state.
024That's in the town of Killingly. That's in the town of East Hartford. And that's in East Hartford as well. Just give you an example of you know where the where the footings would go, where the columns would go. I mean, generally what we try to do is um put columns on the grass to stay out of the parking lot. Try to, you know, and do everything we can to preserve the number of spaces that you have now. We don't want to eliminate any. Um, and as I mentioned before, we don't want to make snow clearing any more challenging than it would have to be in any given winter, good, bad, or otherwise. I think generally what people find is they like the accommodation of being able to park under a covered spot. Um, I know
025that's not necessarily a reason to do it in and of itself, but um, generally speaking, most people would prefer to park under something covered rather than not. And also these systems for the canopies, they'd have LED lighting underneath. So, it could potentially also improve the lighting atmosphere um, for the parking lots as well. So, um, and this is just the last slide about Titan. You know, we don't need to go over this, but we've been doing this a long time. Like I said, I've been in this role for about 15 years. Uh we work closely with CCM and um and we're excited about this opportunity if personal want to move forward with it. Take any questions that folks have. >> Do you happen to have any pictures or examples of what parking lots for schools
026would look like? Have you done >> Those were schools. Okay. >> Could you go back? >> Sure. >> Slide. I know you mentioned Killingly >> and town East Hartford. >> East. >> Yeah. >> So, I know Mr. Fusco's here, but we have all the roof, you know, mechanicals and all those um repairs. So, this can all happen like at the same time or after. Like I don't like I've heard people who needed a new roof and they couldn't get them taken off. So >> we have had spirited conversations and myself from the energy commission, Mr. Te as well, uh about where we're going as a district with rooftops and parking lots and good stuff. We felt it was imperative at this point because there's a deadline on the money that we considered this, get it
027in front of you. didn't want to be an obstructionist. We did talk about where we're going with the roofs and the mechanicals and all that stuff, but I think we agreed, and I'll speak for Mr. Dunn, uh we don't want to miss out on this opportunity. You do not have to do anything, but it gives us an opportunity to secure money. Correct. >> So, you could wait till after like secure the money and wait till after >> this. Go ahead. You want to go through the timing? We we've talked about this though. >> Yeah. So, let me let me explain. I think because it's helpful how from a timing perspective this would go. And generally what we would do is let's say for instance you uh decided that both the canopy and the rooftop was
028which one to do. Canopy would go first and then the rooftop would be built um the next summer. So it would not all be done in one shot. Um and really the name of the game here for locking in that money from the federal government is getting the projects contracted, not necessarily built. So we have three years to then build the systems. Um so we have what I would consider to be a fairly long runway to ultimately finalize where on the roofs um panels would go and um you know how that would integrate into the re-roof process for the for the district. And I've also I've had contracts with solar developers that basically say, you know, if for some reason you fail to do the roof for whatever reason, right? I'm not saying that that's
029possibility, but different contingencies within these contracts that say if you know, ABC conditions aren't met, um, the contracts essentially void. So there are ways to build in flexibility. So you're not commit. So what you're committing to today has room to change in accordance with the plans that you put in place future. And kind of going along with that idea, if we ran into issues with the roof, like something happened that, you know, they discovered something while they were doing the repair and it was going to take longer, would that three years be flexible where there's a contingency and they're saying, "Hey, if something is discovered that delays the roof, we can delay the >> It would depend on the amount of time. If you start to stretch into four years, 5 years, then that investment
030tax credit would terminate unfortunately." Um, so ideally we'd like to try to keep it within the three years from July. So July 2029 B for the rooftop and you know the rooftops I'm I'm envisioning are the ones that have the most ambiguity around them still because the air handling equipment. Um, that would be that'd be the goal to try to have those built. And you know, you could apply for extensions within the Connecticut incentive program that would also support this. Um and the political winds are kind of always blowing in different directions these days too. So the future of investment tax spreads for solar beyond know different election cycles is sort of you know it's hard to say but we're planning for an environment in which what we know today will you know carry on
031throughout the next presidential cycle at least. has cost savings for districts like these have they been realized and if so what does that look like? How long have they been up and what kind of cost savings and they realize? >> Sure. So coincidentally enough um minute I leave here I have to get on a Zoom meeting for the Killingly board event um to give them their annual update on their projects. So those projects were installed about 5 years ago. there's a portfolio that encompasses all of their buildings. Um they're a smaller district, so their systems are smaller, but in the aggregate, it's uh their systems are would still be a little bit larger, but um I can share the report that I'm going to present to you folks. It's about a quarter million dollars a
032year for them for realized on their utility bills. And that's been steady and predictable over the last 5 years that they've had these systems. How these contracts work is that the value that you get. So if you're buying power back from these systems um you know you're doing it at a fixed price over a period of time or the credit that you receive has a fixed value so that as your energy budgets of inevitably grow as costs increase um you know the value of these projects frankly just gets better and better um as it stays fixed and the market continues to creep up. So I can most certainly share um examples for other municipalities with portfolios similar size that have been operational for you know for years well you know substantiated. >> How long are
033the contracts good for? So is there do they time out and then you have to renew a contract with the same conditions different conditions? >> Sure. So the baseline contracts generally 20 years. There's a few reasons for that. one being the term of the incentive program with Eversource is 20 years and number two the useful life is really a minimum of 20 years. So, um, at the end of the 20-year mark, though, I think that's, you know, the most important part in these contracts, there are different offramps. And the one that I, yeah, the one that I like to make sure everyone understands and is always written into these agreements is that if for some reason at year 20, you don't wish to continue with the system or, you know, you need a new roof
034earlier than you thought you would, etc., for whatever the reason, the vendor would take their equipment back at their cost and and restore the site. Reasonable wear and tear notwithstanding, right? 20 years on a roof. They obviously they're not going to give you a brand new roof at the end of it, but they'll take the equipment back and then you'll be able to start fresh with whatever the next thing is that you'd want to do. >> And you're saying we pay that, >> right? It's that their cost or let's say there's still at least, you know, 3 to 5 years of life left in the roof. you could ex um do an extension on that contract so everything stays in place. Um I see that as probably the most realistic option. Um or the district
035could buy out the equipment at fair market value is option three. I think option one or two is really the way that you go. But option one is your off-ramp free and clear without any costs or responsibility to decommission the equipment yourself. >> And you were talking about the useful life being 20 years. So then if you're renewing another contract for another 20 years and they are deeming that there's only like 5 years left, would they like replace as they go? Again at the no >> you'd only do an extension for a 3 to 5 year period. I mean you'd have to make the the developer would have to assess, you know, how much useful life is really left here and in conjunction with with the district to say how much useful life left do
036we have on our route. >> Yeah. whether a threeyear or a fiveyear extension at made sense, it would really be on those um you know circumstances around the age of the roof and the >> performance of the equipment at the time. But the equipment's all warrantied for 20 years and generally it's about 25 years is when you know you're looking at a new roof cycle anyway. >> And then at that point though we might not have like a federal incentive for like the next 20 years. >> Yeah. the landscape, >> right? It's it's impossible to predict um at that stage, you know, where things will be. But um you know, the infrastructure is still good. It's just how are the panels performing? >> Sorry, two things. Would there be any upfront costs to get this
037going for the for the board of ed? And two, I don't know if this is the same on the commercial as residential. Would we be in jeopardy if Eversource ever ever changed their reimbursement rate, credit rate? Um, you know, I think right now Connecticut has one of the highest in terms of we produce X amount, we get X amount back where that is that something that could be in jeopardy and that could hurt any potential savings over the 20 years. >> Sure. So, first question is zero. Um, all the costs are borne by the company that you'd select through the RFP process. Number two, the commercial program and and the residential program function a bit differently from each other. With the commercial program, when you secure your incentive and you enter into what's called the
038NRES program, the non-residential renewable energy solutions program, that is effectively a 20-year agreement with Eversource as well to uphold their terms. So, there's no, you know, fluctuation, if you will, on how the program would work once it's locked in. One more thing is probably out of your control, our control. Would that affect the gener or distribution rate with Eversource? Would that be locked in for 20 years or is that still some states control? >> Yeah. So, we wouldn't be offsetting every single dollar spend for your Eversource bill. We'd be reducing a significant chunk of it, but not all. So, um, we just don't have enough physical real estate to be able to offset 100% of your use and cost. So there would be some portion that you'd have to account for still. And the number
039that I gave the $8 million projected in savings roughly, you know, I I did kind of a soft test on the market for this. So I didn't just pull these numbers out of thin air. And I'm also using um examples from other school districts I've worked with within the last 6 months that have put out RFPs and selected vendors for projects just like this. So just for some context, the rate at which we feel is reasonable to expect like if you're buying power directly from this array, similar projects based on similar experiences, it's about 4 cents per kilowatt hour, which is about as low as you could possibly hope for. I think realistically, um, you know, ever source rates being in the teens and 20s, to be able to lock in a significant portion of
040your cost at 3 to 4 cents per kilowatt hour for 20 years, it would naturally produce huge benefit. It's like if you could, you know, you got to fill up your car. If there's a gas station on like quarter A that's selling it for four bucks a gallon and there's gas station on corner B that's selling, you know, exact same gas, same octane for, you know, $150. You're going to go to the other one all day. Yeah. Right. So, um, and that again what I like to say in terms of guarantees because sometimes we get the question about, you know, can you guarantee savings? You can guarantee this. Um, there are ways we can structure this where we can guarantee savings. Then there are also ways that we can structure it where you know we're
041guaranteeing the performance and also that the rate at which you buy power is fixed. So that's a guarantee as well. So there's there's a whole slew of different contracting mechanisms that we put in place to make sure that you guys get what you are anticipating to get. >> Any maintenance would be handled by that company. So a panel breaks or all of a sudden it's not producing at the percent it should be, they'll come out and handle it. no charge for us or anything like that at all. >> Correct. And their business model is predicated on selling power, right? So, one of and this is you're kind of getting to the heart of why I always recommend for school districts in particular that let professional asset managers own and operate these things. You know, it's
042it's their day job. It's what they're geared up to do. I like working with Connecticut based vendors wherever possible because their O andM teams are located generally close by. It's not to say that an out ofstate company might not ultimately provide the best value, but all things equal, if we can select a Connecticut vendor to do this work, that's generally what I would um encourage folks to do, especially if it's, you know, all things equal, give it to the the company that's local with the on. >> Um, you had said sell power back and I also heard revenue for the board of ed. Is that does that mean like if we made more power we could sell it back and make money or >> Well, there's my point with that comment was that there's different
043ways we could structure these deals and utilizing the Connecticut-based incentive program where we can either sell power back directly to the utility and then turn that into a revenue stream for the board of ed or you can use it to directly reduce your Eversource costs or you could do a mix of both depending on how you wanted to structure it. So >> then you were saying you recommended the mix, right? >> Yeah. Based on because there are some there's an existing and this is going back away. So virtual net metering that was one of the older programs. These schools do receive some utility bill credits already from those projects. So I don't want to double up and and over overfeed any particular account with more credits or you know cost savings than it can digest
044in a in a year's time. So that's what my suggestion would be, you know, as we evaluate these I generally and I like that mix too because it's sort of um a natural hedging mechanism where if energy prices did for whatever reason come down um you know you're sort of protected on that end but if they continue to go up then your fixed price that you're buying at becomes even more valuable. So it's you and I don't want to make these things more complicated than they need to be. I just want to make sure that we structure it so it's the right fit for the property and that the value that you get was going to be predictable. >> Um, how many districts in Connecticut use solar you this kind of this array? >> Sure.
045So, uh, for me personally, I think I've worked with about 30 towns and school districts in the state doing projects like this. Um, and that's, you know, just me personally. So, you know, my my tally is that 80% of, you know, public school districts have one or more in Connecticut have, you know, one or more systems on their property. Um, and I I'm not even sure I could come up with whatever districts are in that 20% at this point. Um, and even, you know, City of Bristol's got, you know, some experience with rooftop solar as well. Different scale, um, different time, but, you know, it's once it's up, it it does what it's supposed to do. I mean, it's the technology itself is pretty simple. Um, it's all about just getting a good company to
046build it well and maintain it well. >> Can you handle that? >> That's my job. that part. >> Yeah, that's my job >> to structure it correctly so that we're maximizing the investment tax credit, we're maximizing the local incentive programs, we're picking the right vendor, we've got the right layout that's, you know, in conjunction with the facilities team, um, energy task force, etc. So, I think we have a we have a good we have a a good schematic now based on the sitewalks that we've done. If if the district thought it'd be most skillful to only do rooftop versus parking lot up to you. >> So it's okay. >> I would bid this out as the city and the board of ed would be at liberty to select individually. So you're not necessarily bound to
047the entire portfolio. If the results come back and you say, "Hey, look, you know, we like this, we don't like that." Um I don't want to make it contingent on all or nothing. Um, Pete, how are you? >> Did you think you were going to be able to not be the star of the show in any capacity today? Um, so I appreciate this was very informative, obviously well thought out and have a lot of experience with this. Um, I want to defer to Pete just to ask, are there any concerns that you see whether it's structural? I mean, you know, the kinds of um plans that we have as a district for rooftop. >> Initially, I was probably being an obstruction, but as I had time to talk about it and >> I think that
048the solar that's on the ground, now that we've had a chance to talk about the location, the design, I think it's something that should probably strongly be considered. But because we have such a wild card on the buildings, the roofs right now, we don't know how fast the capital money will come to us. We know we're trying to get a roof on central. We know we have a lot of rooftop unit work at Eastern and Central and roofs and all. I would probably opt to try to get some tax credits for the ground stuff. And I would not look for cost avoidance as my own personal opinion. I would sell the power to the grid because cost avoidance when you're under a full load and a cloud comes out and shades solar panels, we have
049to go on a demand meter at that point to operate. So what's the demand meter look like? Whatever source, but if we sell power and a cloud comes out, well, we just don't sell as much power. So that's kind of where I'm sitting as an individual. Obviously, we're the folks that make the decisions. That's just my way of looking at it. So, if does that make sense? >> Oh, it definitely makes sense. Yeah, I appreciate it. I you know, from your expertise, knowing where we are as a district, knowing the condition of our roofs, I didn't know if there was um you know, a concern. Obviously, we want to capitalize on the tax credit and we know that that is drawing near the >> I think this is ambitious to try to get on the
050roofs in three years because we are working to get a roof at Central and we've got a lot of followup in the next two years. I'm not even sure that the CIP board will embrace the rooftop units the next time we go back. So there's a lot of assumptions, but I think it's ambitious to try to think we could put solar on roofs that are not done yet and rooftop units that have not been designed and placed. That's my would be my >> right >> reluctance. And I said there just so you know um it >> it's not that there won't be any future, you know, for solar beyond the investment tax credit. So I don't want to give folks the impression that I'm you know here like drawbridge is going up or you know
051there there's not going to be another solar project built in the state etc. You know I think for the canopies in particular they have such a high capital cost because of all the steel that the investment tax credit is really really important. Um I believe that the state is going to continue to incentivize solar as it has been. Um and maybe just some food for thought. So that that number that I mentioned before about you know being able to buy power you know 3 to 4 cents a kilowatt hour if the investment tax credit goes away and let's say you decide that you wanted to do two years from now you want to do the rooftop projects you might be looking at like a 6 or 7 cent PPA which still compared to 15 it's
052pretty darn good. Um, so, you know, for my part here, I just want to make sure everybody's clear that, you know, I I don't want to um, you try to shoehorn a project in to a place or a time where it's it's not ready and that if there is a better time to do like a phase two, there will still be a path, it might just look different post investment tax credit. The way I've been describing it to people is sort of like if you could go back in time and buy a house like 5 years ago versus today. The market's just different, you know, and we're kind of we at least have the benefit of foresight of knowing like, okay, that benefit is going to go away at a certain time. It's not to
053say that, you know, you can't do it. It's just the market will be will be different. >> So to follow up on that, I think if you did this in bites, you can eat an elephant if you do it in bites, right? If you try to eat the elephant in one bite, you're gonna probably not going to be able to do it. So, I think it's a more of a bite approach. Not to put it that simplistic, but steps. I think we start on the ground. We consider the ground first. Let's get our roofs and our rooftops in order to then >> look for more tax. did want to get it in front of this board though because the clock was ticking and we I myself I didn't want to be the one who held
054it up. I figured you needed to hear the options. We can talk through it. >> Do you think that um the perspective savings might be a benefit to a CIP? you know, would that motivate knowing that we could realize additional savings as a district and overall as a city? >> Um, >> it adds leverage to our argument to get up on the roof because if the roofs had been done, >> we could have been, >> you know, >> timing is everything >> at the ready here. Right. Gotcha. Okay. Well, well, we thank you so much. Any further questions, commissioners? All right. Great. Thank you very much. That was very informative and I appreciate that. Um, so next what we need to do um is consider whether or not we would like this to go to
055the full board for consideration. So can I have a motion to approve to bring solar arrays at Bristol Eastern High School at Bristol Central High School to the full board? >> So move second. >> Motion has been made and seconded. Any further discussion? All in favor? >> I motion passes. Thank you. We'll bring it to the full board. Thank you so much. Any new business before the board or the committee? No. Okay. Um I would like to move a motion uh to adjurnn. Please move. >> Second. >> Thank you.