Summary Aug 14 RBLPOA Meeting: Community Solar, RBLPOA elections and constitutional amendments
Next RBLPOA meeting on Sat, August 28 at 9:45am. See all upcoming RBLPOA meetings here.
Photo by Alex Harris
Community Solar for Putnam Valley
Town Board Member, Ralph Smith. Photo by Alex Harris
Ralph Smith, Town Board Member, Chair of the PV Climate Smart Task Force, and Liaison to the RBL District, spoke on Saturday, August 14, 2021, to an engaged group of RBL District residents. The Community Solar Program features an opportunity for Putnam Valley residents to help slow climate change, decrease their monthly electric bills by 10%, and get a $100 gift card for themselves.
Ralph vetted many programs, looking for clean, safe, renewable energy that could be provided at a discount to the residents of Putnam Valley, without the need for solar installations on rooftops or local solar farms. The Putnam Valley Town Board approved the resolution allowing the plan to go forward on August 11, making Putnam Valley the first town to join the county-wide Solarize Putnam program. The program is administered by Ampion, a Public Benefit Corporation, which partners with solar farms in upstate New York. At the moment, there is plenty of capacity for everyone in Putnam Valley.
Not only will residents who choose to sign up get less expensive, cleaner energy and a $100 gift card, but the Town will also receive $100 for each household that signs up and a a $6,000 grant for a town ecologic project. As Ralph said, “that makes it win/win/win for everyone.”
If you choose to sign up, you will keep your same provider (NYSEG) and will be billed through NYSEG, as you always have been. During the long summer days you will accumulate credits, that will then be automatically applied to your bill during the winter months. Your bills will always be lower that your present rates, but, be aware, the full 10% benefit may not be met during the first winter (since you won’t yet have summer credits that can be applied). There is no cost to sign up. You can cancel at any time, there are no penalties or costs to do so. You can see the answers to more RBL residents’ questions here or here.
To sign up or to get more information about Community Solar, please go to the Putnam Valley Town web site, or click here. If there is interest, we will set up another information session with Ralph in September or October.
Thank you, Ralph, for working hard over the last six months to find a Community Solar program that is the right fit for Putnam Valley!
RBLPOA Elections:
Have you paid your 2021 RBLPOA dues yet? Each paid-up household can vote in our biennial elections which will be held next week, on Saturday, August 28 at 9:45 am. (Note the slightly later time). The slate of candidates can be viewed here.
RBLPOA Constitution:
The RBLPOA Constitution was last updated in 1999. The RBLPOA Board has proposing some modest amendments to bring the document up to date. The proposed amendments will be discussed at the August 28 meeting and voted on at the September 11 meeting. Adopting now does not affect the ability to make further changes: Please note that making changes now does not in any way affect the ability of the new Board to make further changes. In fact, probably by "cleaning up" some of the outdated material, it will make it easier to focus on any major restructuring that we might want to do in the future. Proposed changes will provide legal and financial protection for the RBLPOA: Some of the proposed changes, because they reflect what we actually do, will put us in sync with the requirements of our Board insurance, and will help to protect us legally and financially. Read the proposed amended RBLPOA Constitution and or read it with changes marked. Or read both here.
– Ina Cholst, President, RBLPOA