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Millis Select Board adopts Climate Action Plan and municipal decarbonization roadmap
Summary
The Select Board unanimously adopted a townwide Climate Action Plan and a separate Municipal Decarbonization Roadmap, endorsing 17 priority actions across buildings, fleet, transportation, waste and zoning to pursue the town’s net‑zero goals and to pursue state Climate Leaders/DOER opportunities.
The Select Board voted unanimously to adopt the Town of Millis Climate Action Plan and a companion Municipal Decarbonization Roadmap after a presentation by the town’s energy manager and consultants.
Energy manager Bob Weiss and consultant Cassidy (Weston & Sampson) summarized an executive summary and a fuller 50-page plan that identifies the town’s largest greenhouse-gas sources (municipal and community buildings, municipal fleet and resident vehicle use), inventories emissions, and recommends 17 high-priority actions. Those actions include seeking Climate Leaders/DOER designation, pursuing solar on municipal property, continuing energy-efficiency retrofits and electrification of municipal heating and fleets, expanding electric vehicle charging infrastructure, evaluating a commuter shuttle and supporting community programs such as composting and waste reduction.
The board heard that adopting the plan is one of several steps required to pursue state technical assistance and grant funding. The Municipal Decarbonization Roadmap focuses on town-owned buildings, facilities and vehicles and was approved after minor grammatical edits the energy committee recommended. Weiss said the Green Communities program has evolved toward a Climate Leaders pathway that offers larger grants; the presentation noted potential first-grant sizes up to $1,000,000 for eligible building projects.
Board members and presenters emphasized near-term, achievable actions as well as longer-term measures and noted the plan provides more detailed implementation pages for each action, including potential emissions reductions and partner roles. The board also voted to sign the town’s FY25 Green Communities annual report, which the presentation said documents a 14.9% reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions from the town’s 2015 baseline and credited about $880,000 in Green Communities investments.
What’s next: the energy committee and town staff will move toward implementation steps for priority actions, pursue state grant opportunities, and consider resource needs such as interns or additional staff capacity identified in the plan.
