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ESCO firm ABM briefs Utica City Council on guaranteed energy-savings model and memorandum of understanding
Summary
ABM Infrastructure Solutions presented an energy-savings (ESCO) financing model to Utica City Council and offered a no-cost site assessment under a memorandum of understanding; council asked the city attorney to review the proposed MOU and placed the item on the next agenda for potential action.
ABM Infrastructure Solutions presented to the Utica City Council on a guaranteed energy‑savings contracting model and proposed a nonbinding memorandum of understanding to allow ABM to inspect municipal buildings for potential upgrades.
Tony Murray, an ABM representative, told council the company performs turnkey “ESCO” projects that convert verified energy and operational savings into capital to pay for infrastructure work. Murray said ABM’s examples showed typical energy savings of about 20–25 percent in preliminary estimates and described a sample calculation in which $160,000 in annual energy savings, combined with operational savings and a 20‑year financing term, could support roughly a $5 million project.
Why it matters: ESCO contracts can let municipalities complete multiple infrastructure upgrades without up‑front capital from the general fund, but they require careful review of guarantees, scopes, and contract language before committing public assets or service obligations.
Council members asked for local case studies and copies of the company’s memorandum of understanding. Murray said ABM has worked nationwide and can supply references and letters of support; he offered to provide case studies for municipalities of similar size. Council asked for an editable (Word) copy of the presentation and the MOU.
City Attorney McGrail told the presenter she would review the memorandum of understanding. Mayor Mary Calandrino said the city would not likely be ready to vote on any agreement at the same meeting and that the item would return to the agenda after the city attorney’s review so council members could submit follow‑up questions in the interim.
No formal council action was taken. The council’s next step was to have the city attorney review the draft MOU and schedule the item for consideration at a future council meeting if desired.
Quoted from the meeting: “Our guaranteed solution is that the energy savings that we say we're going to provide we guarantee,” Tony Murray said, describing ABM’s performance guarantee. “If we don't meet those expectations we actually cut a check.”
Ending: The council did not authorize any work or sign any agreement at the meeting; councilmembers requested additional documentation and references and instructed staff and the city attorney to bring a reviewed MOU back for possible action at the next council meeting.
