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Concord staff brief committee on MVP 2.0 vendor, heat-pump grant opportunities and decarbonization roadmap; school, select-board votes sought
Summary
Deputy Town Manager Megan reported that the town expects to sign an MVP 2.0 planning contract with Weston & Samson (first phase $50,000), introduced an intern and community-liaison plan, and outlined grant opportunities including the New England Heat Pump Accelerator; staff will seek adoption of a decarbonization roadmap by the school committee and select board to unlock further grant eligibility.
Town staff updated the Climate Action Committee on several near-term funding and planning items that could affect municipal decarbonization work and local housing projects.
Deputy Town Manager Megan said the town procured Weston & Samson for the MVP 2.0 program and expects the contract to be signed this week; the initial grant-funded planning award is described as $50,000 to hire a planning vendor. Staff will begin work with an assigned equity partner and hire a paid community liaison and an intern (Lucy) to support community outreach for the MVP resilience and vulnerability work. Staff also noted an RFP for a regional vulnerability assessment is expected to receive proposals in early July and previewed a June 25 Ashland community meeting tied to the grant.
On regional grant opportunities, members discussed the New England Heat Pump Accelerator, described in the meeting as a roughly $450 million regional program that is expected to award 20'to'40 grants of about $100,000'$400,000 and to issue an RFP in June or July. Committee members agreed to track the RFP, coordinate with MAPC, and speak with the housing authority about potential applications for multiunit or municipal housing properties.
The committee also discussed an Energy Saver home-loan program (low-interest financing) and existing municipal technical-assistance grants. Members raised marketplace barriers such as installer reluctance to support certain heat-pump technologies and discussed whether ground-source systems would avoid some of the air-source installation/maintenance concerns.
Megan then reviewed the town's decarbonization roadmap, a technical-assistance product staff plan to present to the school committee (special meeting scheduled) and the select board the week after. The roadmap is meant to support applications to state programs (the meeting cited a June 30 deadline for climate-leader application) and to inform investment-grade audits and coordinated procurement (an ESCO or a "decarbonization-as-a-service" approach). Committee members asked staff to press for alignment of school and municipal contract timing so planned heating-system replacements (boilers, HVAC) can be scoped and funded to favor low-carbon options.
Next steps documented in the meeting: staff will present the roadmap to the school committee and select board and continue outreach on the MVP and grant opportunities; committee members volunteered to attend the school and select-board meetings to signal committee support.
