By Sarah Opdahl

At the Thursday, April 24, New Fairfield Board of Selectmen (BOS) meeting, members discussed and approved, 2-1, moving forward with a solar developer for the closed landfill with an option to lease. First Selectman Ms. Melissa Lin dsey thanked her fellow working group members, Purchasing Agent Ms. Patty Mota, Town Engineer Mr. Tony Iadarola, and former Board of Finance member Ms. Cheryl Reedy “who have been helping with diving into the solar project.” They worked with a consultant, Mr. Kirt Mayland, who advised them on all options.

Mayland explained that the process was thorough, beginning with Requests for Proposal (RFPs). He said of the process, “it’s a learning opportunity, and most importantly, we get to see how different developers value these projects. The goal of the RFP was to structure it in a way where we get bids that the town would take zero financial risk from start to finish, including legal fees and everything else, they would be out no money.” With high costs borne by the solar company, given the large amount of infrastructure that would be needed, there were only a few bids that worked well, and the working group was most confident in the bid from Verogy Solar for a 25-year lease.

Reedy addressed concerns that were raised by Ms. Khris Hall in public comment regarding the benefits of owning vs. leasing solar. She said, “There are definitely a couple different ways that a municipality can do solar, and one is for, as Khris mentioned, the municipality to own the project, take the risk, both the financial risk, and other kinds of risk, and do the project themselves and bear and reap all the benefits or take the downside…,” however, she pointed out that the landfill site, “is a little bit of a tricky site compared to what some other communities may be looking at based on its distance from interconnection.” She said that the working group agreed to be more conservative, “given the size of our municipality and given our current finances, and our expected long-term finances, that it was safer for us to look for a land lease and go that route. And obviously we get less money that way, but we also don’t lose any money that way, and we d on’t take any other risk.”

Mayland explained that there is uncertainty regarding incentives that are available through the government and said that this was another large reason it was safer to lean toward a lease. He went on, “the rate of return for a project like this is going to be in single digits. It’s not like these groups are making money hand over fist, and that means the town would not have made that much  more money on this project than I think they’re going to, though they would probably make a little more than on the lease. But it’s not a guarantee.” Iadarola confirmed that he felt more comfortable going with the conservative plan saying, “it would be debilitating if, for some reason, it didn’t work out, and we dished out a significant amount of money…” Lindsey agreed, adding, “I don’t think taking a risk for our town is smart at all, especially when it’s not really our money to do that with. It would be nice to make a ton of more money than what we’re seeing here, but I think this is really the smartest and only option that I see moving forward.”

Selectman Ms. Pat Del Monaco disagreed with the plan, having worked on options in her time as First Selectman. She said, “I think it is a missed opportunity for the town at a time when we really need sources of revenue like this.”

In approving the personnel report, it was announced that Mr. Adam Lawrence is joining the town as the new finance director with a start date of May 1. No further comment was made about his background though he will likely be introduced at a meeting in the near future.

There were two appointmen ts made to the Conservation-Inland and Wetlands Commission, Mr. TJ Parille-Kronen and Mr. Timothy Bellavita. The appointments were a bit contentious, as the long-serving Chair Mr. Thomas Quigley said in public comment that he had not been consulted on the candidates. Lindsey explained, “I did have a conversation with [Environmental Enforcement Officer] Mr. Tim Simpkins regarding this, considering I was told that the chairman had stepped down…his term had expired and he was not renewing his term.” She went on to say Simpkins is “excited to get some people interested, because there are quite a few vacancies on this important commission.” Del Monaco agr eed with Quigley, saying “I have a concern that the Chairman has not been involved in interviewing the candidates or being informed of the candidates.”

The next regular Board of Selectmen meeting is scheduled for Thursday, May 8, 7:30 p.m.