P’ville to Hold Hearing on Energy Buying Law Despite Complications
Disagreement persists among Pleasantville Village Board members regarding the language of a proposed law that would grant the village authority to participate in a community choice aggregation energy-buying program through Sustainable Westchester.
In May, the board approved a resolution to enable the village to participate in the program in hopes of saving residents money on their electric bills. Earlier this month, however, trustees learned that a local law must be passed to grant the village the authority to join the program.
Mayor Peter Scherer said while the resolution remains valid, the state attorney general’s office informed Sustainable Westchester, a nonprofit organization comprised of more than 40 municipalities, that a law was needed to establish the legal framework for participating towns and villages.
“We were entirely entitled to pass the first resolution and no one has suggested it needs to be rescinded,” said Scherer. “This goes further than that.”
Trustee Mindy Berard, the dissenting vote against the initial resolution, said passage of a law would be placing a policy statement on the books regarding energy consumption rather than addressing energy savings. Berard was also concerned about the power the law would give future boards, which could choose to amend it order to control how residents buy and consume energy.
“I hope I’m correct in assuming that the intent of this board was to enter into this program for one reason and one reason only and that is you wanted to offer the residents a choice…in choosing their energy supplier at a lower cost,” Berard said.
Trustee Steven Lord said he was concerned a precedent could be set where future boards could regulate energy usage by holding a public hearing and achieving a majority vote. Nevertheless, the entire board agreed that the law needs revisions before it is voted on.
Trustee Joseph Stargiotti, an attorney who helped to revise the law’s language after this month, said he believes the extensive policy statement included in the proposed legislation goes too far. For example, the preamble of the law states that it will be the village’s policy to examine the retail energy market.
“We’re making a policy statement that’s going to guide, in theory, everything we do from now on,” Stargiotti said.
Board members revised the measure to read that the village would procure energy through Sustainable Westchester as opposed to purchasing energy.
Although trustees are still working with village attorneys to craft a final version, they voted to hold a public hearing at the board’s next regular meeting on July 13. Berard was the only trustee to vote against scheduling a hearing. She said it was improper to set a hearing date and post the measure online for the public to view until all revisions are completed.
Berard accused Scherer, who has been supportive of the initiative, of trying to push through the law. However, Scherer said he has spoken with village attorneys, who have no qualms with the current process. Berard has been concerned with the unprecedented power that a law would give officials, but Trustee Colleen Griffin-Wagner said that taking on new and untried ventures is part of the reason she sought to serve.
“I’m really not interested in being on a board that won’t do anything that’s never been done in the past,” said Griffin-Wagner. “I don’t think a reason to not doing something is because we’ve never done it before and I look forward to taking on as many new projects…that would benefit our residents and that’s what I feel like this would do.”
Stargiotti said it is likely that the law’s language may change after public comments are considered from the hearing. If the local law is passed, Pleasantville will join several other local municipalities in the group-buying effort. Under the program, Sustainable Westchester will put out request for proposals (RFP) to energy service companies (ESCOS) and will enter into a contract with an ESCO if it represents significant savings over current Con Edison prices.
All residents would be automatically included in the group-buying effort, something Berard has been opposed to, but could opt out at any time.
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