GUILDERLAND — As energy costs soar, the town is looking at placing solar photovoltaic systems on town properties and facilities.

The town board, at its December meeting, voted unanimously to sign a letter of intent agreement with Connecticut-based Solomon Energy.

This will allow review of various properties in town for potential solar sites.

Guilderland has a solar facility already, which Supervisor Peter Barber said is saving the town between $70,000 and $100,00 annually. Guilderland partnered with a company in California to develop that facility, in Amsterdam, and it came online in June 2019.

The town produces solar energy and receives credits to its energy bill from that facility. Guilderland has more than a decade left on its solar contract.

“The higher the bills go up, the more money you save,” Michael Hamor, who with his father, John Hamor, owns Capital Energy Partners, told the board on Dec. 6.

The federal Inflation Reduction Act, which was signed into law in August, “had a big sustainability portion,” said Hamor, “and so on-site solar actually makes more financial sense now.”

“We already hired a guy … [who is] going over the bills for the town for the existing solar so it’s not like a double-dipping scenario,” said Hamor. “For example, if we did a parking-lot canopy system at Town Hall, we will just take Town Hall out of the other solar farm.”

Summarizing the letter, Hamor said, “All that does is say we’re about to do a lot of work for free, and you guys just can’t take the work and go shop it out.”

Barber asked if the goal would be to put the new solar facilities near the sites that would be using the energy “or would you be looking to put it in the middle of a golf course where the use is minimal?”

“We will be looking to match on-site usage,” Hamor responded. By way of example, he said that Guilderland’s town hall uses 7 or 8 percent of energy for the town so a solar site would be put near the town hall to match that use.

The company will also look to see if it makes sense to have a battery outside for backup in case of blackouts. This could be useful for the police department or perhaps for the wastewater treatment plan depending on how old the generators there are, said Hamor.

“I’m in favor of doing this because it’s free …,” said Barber. “It’s clean energy and I’d love to start saving some money on some of these mounting energy costs.”

He also said, “I think we have a deal with GE Solar to put a solar facility at the town’s transfer station.”

Hamor responded that DSD, which stands for Distributed Solar Development, is “an offshoot of General Electric and BlackRock,” and that he has been in touch with DSD.

Hamor said that he is trying to figure out ways to use the landfill without tapping into the infrastructure with National Grid. “So that means you use the power on site,” he said. Then, investment groups, like a crypto mining company would lease the site, generating revenue for the town.

In a year or two, Hamor said, the federal government wants to incentivize the use of hydrogen power. “To make hydrogen [you just put] electricity and water into an electrolyzer and you get liquid hydrogen out of it,” he said. “And that’s how you power any hydrogen thing.”

Hamor summarized, “This is just me trying to figure out a business model for an investor to be able to do something to give the town lease revenue.”

Once the letter is signed, Hamor said, “What happens from here is we’ll do a lot of engineering and financial work. And we’ll come back to you with what the numbers are going to look like. And within that will be a timeline.”

“You could do all this work and we can say no to the agreement,” said Barber.

“Exactly, and it costs you nothing,” said Hamor.

Guilderland had a similar agreement in 2015 or 2016, he said, “but the project wasn’t up and running until 2018.”

Councilman Jacob Crawford noted that the agreement was exclusive for 365 days.

“We’re not the ones that are actually doing everything,” said Hamor. “But we’re protecting you from groups, especially when you get a lot more federal and state money in certain industries — like you’re going to see it in cannabis soon — you get more shysters because they smell the money and they go in there … We protect against that and we vet those out … so our clients don’t get screwed.”

Other business

In other business at their Dec. 6 meeting, Guilderland Town Board members unanimously:

— Amended the budget to include $96,876 for a Health Resources and Service Administration grant for the town’s emergency medical service “to prevent, prepare and respond to the pandemic.” Barber said, “That’s going to continue for several more quarters”;

— Amended the budget to reimburse $17,082 for police training costs. Guilderland hired a police officer who had worked for the city of Troy, which had paid for her to be trained at the police academy, Barber said. “The state law was amended to basically allow them to recoup that from the town of Guilderland,” he said, adding that the law used to apply just to counties “because it was the counties that were being raided by the towns”;

— Provisionally appointed Jesse Fraine as the town engineer, a position newly created in the 2023 budget. “I don’t think we’ve had a town engineer for 15 years or so,” said Barber, adding that Fraine will be working primarily in the water and sewer department.

The appointment is provisional because Fraine will have to pass a Civil Service exam.

“Jesse has and currently works on many projects in the Town,” Bill Bremingen, the town’s assistant superintendent of Water and Wastewater Management, wrote in a memo to Barber. “He is very familiar with Guilderland’s Water and Sewer Department, as well as building, zoning, parks, and highway. With many projects coming up like Town wide meter replacement, and well rehab, having our own engineer will help immensely. As the frequency and cost of outside engineering continues to rise, this will benefit the town in many ways.”

Barber said the town will save “beaucoup dollars” by having its own engineer;

— Authorized the Town Clerk Lynne Buchanan and Supervisor Barber to sign a $772,830.19 collector’s warrant for the water department;

— Agreed to raise, by $25 per month, the rent on three town-owned properties: tenants in the second-floor apartment above the pro show at the Western Turnpike golf course will now pay $325 per month, tenants at the farmhouse at 259 Route 146 near the community gardens will now pay $575 per month, and tenants of the house at 200 Arthur’s Place near the golf course will now pay $825 per month.

Town assessment rolls say the Arthur’s Place home has a full-market value of $279,121.

“The rent increase is due to rising maintenance costs, and an effort to approach fair market value,” says a memo from C.J. Gallup, director of Parks and Recreation, to Barber. The town owns about 30 buildings.

Barber said that former town employees live in the farmhouse and the golf-course house; they sign one-year leases. “It’s a difficult situation,” said Barber but, in addition to increasing rental rates, the town may “also consider whether or not we should be offering it to current town employees”;

— Agreed to become a member of the Public Employer Risk Management Association for Workers’ Compensation effective Jan. 1. PERMA, which has no profit margin and no stockholders, covers municipal employees under the general workers’ compensation statute.

“So we’re going to be self-insured for workers’ comp,” said Councilwoman Christine Napierski.

“Every town is rated. We have a pretty good rating,” said Barber because of good training which minimizes workplace injuries. “But unfortunately, we had a very serious accident five-plus years ago where a highway person was killed … so that was a devastating loss for the family. And for the town, it was of substantial cost that we are finally passed out now because enough time has passed.”

Sean P. McCutcheon, a 19-year employee of the town’s highway department, was killed on the job on May 22, 2015 when the compactor truck he was riding on, picking up debris, backed up over him;

— Accepted the Capital District Transportation Committee’s grant for an Americans with disabilities Act Self-Evaluation and Transition Plan for Pedestrian Infrastructure, which the town has to match with $4,250 in in-kind labor. 

Sidewalks and town buildings and parks will be evaluated to see how accessible they are to people with handicaps, Barber said;

— Authorized Barber to sign a lease agreement with DISH Wireless, LLC for installing telecommunications equipment on the Fort Hunter Water Tower. The option continues for 36 months with DISH having the right of first refusal after 12 months. The lease term is in five-year increments at $1,500 per month with a 2-percent annual escalation clause; and

— Authorized the purchase of a 3-ton trailer for $41,137 and a 1-ton asphalt roller for $21,729, using funds from the state’s Consolidated Local Street and Highway Improvement Program, known asCHIPS/Pave NY. The requests were made by Highway Superintendent Gregory Wier.

Napierski asked if this was replacement or additional equipment and why it is needed now.

“They get good end-of-the-year deals,” said Barber, adding that the Hot box trailer allows removed pavement to be recycled and “out right back on.”

Barber went on about Wier, “”He’s also looking for ways to deal with smaller projects,” such as widening the shoulder on Wormer Road.

Crawford said of the small asphalt roller, “this would give him the ability to fix potholes … Typically, in upstate New York, you’ve not been able to repair potholes.”