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Home My WebLink AboutIDC COMM 10/18/2016MINUTES OF MEETING INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT COM1V OSIOI� ;_ ,`,(a 0 F F ICE October 18, 2016 The meeting was called to order at 7:05 PM by Chair Bob Krentzman Members present: Bob Krentzman, Chair Krista Hill Cummings, Vice Chair Beth Ashman Collins, Clerk Matthew Cummings Nancy Wall Others Present: Bill Ross, Town Manager Mr. Joseph M Sollecito, Director, Mansfield Electric Department i01b tjol ?_ I A 10. 140 i� r Chairman Krentzman called the meeting to order at 7:05 PM with rive members present, MOTION (Hill Cummings, Wall) to approve minutes of August 16 PASSED. MOTION (Hill Cummings, Wall) to approve minutes of September 20 PASSED. The minutes of the combined meeting with the BOS on October 5th will be on the agenda of our next meeting. Discussion with Joe Sollecito, Director, Mansfield Municipal Electric Department Mr. Krentzman welcomed Joe Sollecito and proposed that the IDC collaborate with the Electric Department in running an event to market Mansfield to current and potential customers. We want to be more proactive in opening channels of conversation about customer concerns even before a business is looking for space. Joe Sollecito addressed the board: Coming here to Mansfield 1 have inherited a jewel. The system is solid - well designed and well maintained. The response time is excellent. It is financially solid. The staff are responsive, knowledgeable, and attentive to keeping costs down. Our rates are competitively low. NWAC does an objective analysis of rates every quarter and I will share the results via email. Taunton has been successful at attracting high load electrical users. Mansfield has the same highway access and better service and rates. Mansfield is a well -kept secret. A detailed "rate analysis" for Mansfield not been done since 2007. We are doing a new analysis right now. This analysis may adjust rates by customer class. Mansfield Electric can share the economic benefits of managing peak load with customers who are willing sign on for an interruptible rate. In Taunton the 12 industrial customers who signed on saved 700K collectively over a year. The savings can be substantial. Mansfield is moving to time -of -use meters that will enable these initiatives. Taunton held "Key Account Functions" occasionally to keep large electric users apprised of developments that might benefit them. A Key Account Function generally gets about 20% attendances from invitees. To do a meeting we need a clear message. When there is an opportunity for cost savings, is a great time to bring people together for an event. The best time for us to do this will be when the time of use meters are in place and the rate analysis is complete. The Commission asked for more information on rate structures. Residential and small commercial users pay a service charge and a charge for the power they consume. A medium to large size commercial or industrial customer has a service charge, an energy charge, and a demand charge. Shaving peak demand by shifting when power is used or by using distributed generation can save a lot of cost in terms of building system capacity as well power costs. Mansfield's peals in the winter is 5-8 pm, which corresponds to when residential and small commercial demand peaks. Our fiber network that Mansfield Electric put in for the town could be commercialized quite well. Most large businesses have significant bandwidth needs and we could provide the bandwidth. We have fiber in most of the Cabot Business Park. We have 90% of what we need in place. The connection to the main pipeline would have to be bid out. Mansfield's current connection to the Internet backbone is through Verizon. Other backbone networks that are geographically close are OSHEAN, Providence, and Boston. The first step is connecting the Town and Schools and we can build from there. Chairman Krentzman expressed enthusiasm for working together with Mansfield Electric. Krista asked if Mansfield Electric has marketing materials we could link to. Do you have // information we could use as part of our marketing materials? Joe said MMWEC (Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company) has the rate analysis on their website. Nancy Wall asked about solar, We are doing a technical evaluation of whether Mansfield can expand the cap on commercial solar. We do want to promote solar as a renewable source. Not all circuits in town can accept new load so we have to do an analysis for proposed solar projects before they are approved. By law commercial solar installations have to sell to Mansfield Electric Department. In Taunton, the City hired an economic development staffer under the mayor's staff. The electric company collaborates with them by providing rate analysis to potential customers. Joe offered that in Taunton industrial park businesses meet monthly. They elected a chairperson who sends out the meeting notices. Getting the right people who are interested and what to be a part of it is key to success. Krista indicated that the role of bringing people together is right in line with the IDC's priorities. Bill Ross is looking at including an economic development position in the next town budget. Krentzman expressed his thanks to Joe. Discussion of October S Board of Selectmen Downtown Strategy meeting and consideration of appointment of a representative to the Downtown Committee. Nancy Wall reported that the BOS Meeting was a high-energy discussion highlighting many different Downtown projects. The BOS concluded the meeting by creating a Steering Committee to be the forum for ongoing collaboration between groups. The Steering Committee will move our work forward faster and is not at all duplicative of the work of the IDC Downtown Committee. MOTION to appoint Nancy Wall as a representative from the IDC to the Mansfield Downtown Steering Committee (Hill Cummings / Cummings). Discussion of Downtown Subcommittee vision, mission, participants and agenda Krista reported out on the Downtown Committee meeting today. We are going to attempt to bring together restaurants for a Mansfield Restaurant Week to promote a taste of Mansfield. We could follow up with a Treat Yourself Week or Spa Week to involve massage, beauty, barber. Nancy talked about the Wheaton Student Discount program idea. The goal would be to roll this out when the students come back from break in January. We Floated the idea of inviting Caitlin Barrows join the Downtown Committee as a member. We feel that Downtown Committee might benefit from recruiting a few members from outside the IDC to collaborate with us. Introduction of 2016-17 IDC Mansfield High School Student Interns Jen McCabe and Emily Sullivan are our Mansfield student interns, both are interested in a career in marketing. They are in charge of our Facebook page and website and they are doing research for the Wheaton Student Discount Program. The Senior Project requires a minimum of IS hours of volunteer work for the project. The work we are asking them to do goes well beyond that. They have been invited to be a part of the IDC and participate in the board meetings. Both had conflicts tonight put plan to attend when their schedules permit. Someday we would also like to have a website developing student. Report on progress on IDC website, social media and marketing campaign The interns are each responsible for one post on the Facebook page a week. The website is in good shape. We need to add a link from the Town of Mansfield site. Discussion on IDC Brochure and Mansfield presentation folder The interns will take a fresh look at the design. The content has been finalized. Discussion about future speakers Krentzman asked for suggestions for future speakers and Nancy Wall suggested Chris Pernock, the developer who renovated St. Johns Episcopal on High Street and Rumford. Nancy was interested in his perspective about development opportunities in the Fire House. Beth mentioned that that is the first property to be redeveloped on Mansfield's Historic Building Reuse bi-law so there could be lessons learned from that perspective. Bill Ross mentioned that Pernock donated the Revere Bell to the Town and it will hang in the new Public Safety Building. The Methodist Church on North Main has also been sold for redevelopment. Krentzman asked Nancy to send an introductory email. The future of the Main Street Fire House is a topic all of its own. The lot next to the Fire Station has a separate owner. The town has a study of the condition of the 1930s building documenting the significant investment required to bring it up to code. Future Meetings: Next Scheduled Meeting: Tuesday, November 15, 20167 PM. Krentzman wrapped up by summarizing what we need to push forward: • List of industrial commercial contacts, connected to GIS • List of vacant spaces • Our Website • Brochure MOTION to Adjourn asses (Hill Cummings/Wall) 8:35 PM. Zj a(( -, Signature of Clerk, Beth Ashman -Collins