ATHOL — Athol’s Office of Planning and Development is seeking two Athol residents to serve on one newly created task force, and three others to serve as members of a Lake Ellis partnership.
Residents appointed to the Municipal Decarbonization Task Force will serve alongside representatives of the Selectboard, Capital Program Committee, Energy Committee, and the Finance and Warrant Advisory Committee. This comes in the wake of the Dec. 6 Selectboard meeting, where members endorsed Town Manager Shaun Suhoski’s request that two citizen members be added to the task force.
Suhoski said the task forces’ purpose is to come up with realistic strategies for aligning the town with the state’s decarbonization goals. A plan for undertaking that effort was developed by the Montachusett Regional Planning Commission and its consultant, John Snell, and presented to the board in September. Suhoski said the goal to reduce carbon emissions by 50% by 2030, and then a further 35% by 2050, is very ambitious.
“But the key for doing that – for it to have any legs – it’s going to need a task force, which was recommended (in the report),” Suhoski said. “So, we’re looking at a group that would have two members of the Energy Committee, a (Selectboard) designee, and we’ll ask finance and capital planning as well. Because to do this, it’s going to have an impact on the (town’s) vehicle fleet or facilities as we move forward. We want to make sure we’re doing it in a responsible manner that engages everybody.”
The board ultimately endorsed the structure of the task force as proposed by Suhoski, who said the first meeting would take place sometime after the first of the year.
At the same meeting of the Selectboard, Suhoski said the town was also in the process of putting together a Lake Ellis Watershed Management Advisory Partnership. Creation of the partnership is recommended in the June 2021 Watershed-Based Plan for Lake Ellis, which was developed using funds provided under a federal Environmental Protection Agency watershed planning grant.
“How many meetings have we now had (discussing) beavers and clogged culverts, or the water level is high, or the water level is low, and there’s weeds,” said Suhoski. “We’re looking for…stakeholders, people that care about the watershed — this watershed in particular — and the greater ecosystem.”
Suhoski proposed that the partnership include representatives of the Friends of Lake Ellis, Millers River Watershed Council, the Secret Lake Association, and the town’s Conservation Commission, Board of Planning and Community Development or the Planning Department, Board of Health, Department of Public Works, as well as someone from an angler/fishing-based association, such as the North Worcester County Quabbin Anglers Association.
“Whether they all participate or not, it would be nice to invite them and, of course, the public can be engaged, too, as we go forward,” Suhoski said.
“I think we should have a couple of other citizens at-large,” board Vice Chair Rebecca Bialecki proposed, “because not everyone who lives on the lake is part of the Friends of Lake Ellis.”
Athol Planning and Development Director Eric Smith suggested that three at-large representatives be appointed in order to create a panel with an odd number of members, specifically for voting purposes.
According to the Office of Planning & Development, the panel would “share information about Lake Ellis and its contributing watershed, review development proposals, conduct education and related public outreach, and coordinate funding from a variety of potential funding sources for further evaluations and improvements to the lake.”
Anyone interested in either of these committees should submit a letter of interest by 5 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 27 to: Eric Smith, AICP, Director of Planning and Community Development, Town of Athol, 584 Main Street, Room 29, Athol, 01331.
Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.