City mulls solar power

SOUTH PORTLAND — South Portland is hoping the sun will come out tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, for about 30 years.

On Monday, the City Council got its first look at a proposal by ReVision Energy of Portland to install photovoltaic solar panels on the roofs of both City Hall on Cottage Road and the planning and development office on Ocean Street.

To take full advantage of energy savings promised by ReVision, the council must act before the end of the year. That’s when the sun will set on solar energy credits contained in President Barack Obama’s 2009 stimulus package.

“That’s one of the last remaining parts of the bill,” said ReVision co-founder Fortunat Mueller. “In 2013 that reverts to a lower-level depreciation [schedule].

“We would still do the project in 2013, but your economics get worse,” he told the council.

“I think we’ve got to get our skates on, on this thing,” said Councilor Tom Coward, voicing what appeared to be the majority opinion of the council, which agreed to pursue the project for the planning office, but not City Hall.

“Certainly, the planning office makes a lot more sense than City Hall,” said L’Heureux. “The economics of that aren’t as great.”

In the deal offered by ReVision, the company would install $76,000 worth of solar panels at no cost to the city. It would own the panels for six years and lease them to the city for a nominal fee under what it calls a “power purchase agreement.”

During that time, the city would buy its electricity from ReVision at a rate guaranteed to be 2 cents less per kilowatt hour that the rates South Portland pays under a bulk purchase deal with Maine Power Options. Because the roof of City Hall has a smaller area that faces less directly to the south, ReVision would only promise a 1 cent per kilowatt hour savings there.

After six years, the city could continue to buy the electricity generated by solar panels on the roof of the planning office, or it could buy the solar panels for $20,000.

“We’re a mechanical contractor not an energy provider, so, our preference is to flip that to you as soon as possible so we can take that money and put it into another project,” said Mueller. “However, if you like, we can continue to own and maintain that equipment, sell you the energy, and make our money over time as a generator selling you electricity, but that’s not out preferred business model.

“Our vision is to put communities into solar at the lowest possible price we can put together,” said Mueller. He predicted that after buying the solar panels, South Portland would recoup its $20,000 investment in 5.8 years, based on lower energy costs.

According to ReVision’s director of financing, Steve Hinchman, the reason his company needs to own the equipment for the first six years is due to strings attached to the stimulus money.

The primary funding model is an investment tax credit worth 30 percent of the installation cost for solar panels. The catch is that only taxpayers are eligible for the credit and South Portland, as a municipality, is tax-exempt. Other credits include a federal “bonus depreciation” up to 50 percent of equipment value in the year of installation, with declining rates for the following five years. That’s the incentive that runs out at the end of the year. Maine also has a capital investment credit equal to 10 percent of the federal bonus depreciation.

“Those three things together add up to almost 60 percent of the installed cost of a project,” said Hinchman, noting the additional availability of a $4,000 per project state solar rebate for commercial-grade installations.

Maine also allows the transfer of renewable energy credits, trading at $50 per megawatt hour, as well as net metering, under which a site that produces more energy than it consumes can trade that power “back to the grid.”

“That all makes solar very viable for a lot of projects,” said Hinchman.

Added together, the various government incentives can lower the cost of solar power to 6 cents per kilowatt hour for 20 years, said Hinchman. South Portland pays 8.8 cents/kwh at City Hall and 12 cents/kwh at the planning office.

“Solar would be cost effective then for anybody with a long-term view, but you have to be a taxpayer to get the incentives,” said Hinchman. “Since you don’t pay taxes, the industry has created this sort of Byzantine structure that allows us to capture the tax subsidies for nonprofits.”

As part of the proposal, ReVision would create a “single purpose” LLC known as South Portland Solar. The LLC would design, build, own and operate the solar panels on roof space leased from the city for a nominal fee for six years – the minimum the feds say a company getting tax credits must retain ownership of the equipment.

South Portland Solar would funnel all the tax credits to ReVision. Once ReVision is able to sell the solar panels, it would do so at a cost equal to whatever it needs to recoup the balance of its installation costs. Although Hinchman said his company can make a profit on tax credits alone in Massachusetts, which is more aggressive in incentivizing solar conversions, his company will make its money in South Portland on the six years it spends selling the city electricity generated on its roofs – electricity Mueller promises will cost the city less than it is paying now.

The council looked on the proposal favorably. However, questions raised included the condition of the planning building’s roof and the long-term plan for the site, given interest in folding that office back into a single administrative complex with construction of a new city hall, possibly within a decade but certainly within the 40-year life span of the solar cells.

The council also asked for clarification on how, or if, any deal with ReVision might affect South Portland’s contract with Siemens Industry’s building technology division, inked in early 2011. In that deal, the city bought into nearly $1.1 million in upgrades to buildings throughout the city, which it is paying back with the resulting savings on energy costs.

“As a city I hope we would move in this direction to lessen our oil dependency and our carbon footprint,” said Mayor Patti Smith of the solar proposal. “But I don’t want to make a decision in haste.”

A CLOSER LOOK

Terms of a “power purchase agreement” offered to South Portland by ReVision Energy of Portland, for solar power projects proposed for City Hall and the planning and development offices.

                                                          City Hall         Planning Office

System size                                         18.7 Kw          19.2 Kw

System cost (paid by vendor)             $76,187           $76,459

Annual electrical production            20,570 kwh     24,000 kwh

Elec. cost, Years 1-6      1¢ below market rate (currently 8.8¢/kwh)    2¢ below market rate (currently 12¢/kwh)

Year 7 purchase price                         $25,000           $20,000

Annual savings after purchase            $2,700               $3,400

Return on investment                          9.8 years         5.4 years

Projected 30-year savings                  $42,000           $64,000

System life expectancy                     40+ years        40+ years

CO2 reduction                                  27,500 lbs       32,160 lbs

Back to school — Q&A with Tom Biskup

  

Tom Biskup stocks bookshelves in his classroom at South
Portland’s James O. Kaler School of Inquiry and Exploration,
in preparation for his first day of work as a new teacher. 

SOUTH PORTLAND — Next week is not only back to school for students, it’s a return to form for teachers as well. At South Portland’s James O. Kaler School of Inquiry and Exploration, one new teacher is returning to his roots. While he went to Dyer Elementary rather than Kaler, Tom Biskup, 22, is a South Portland native and a member of the South Portland High School class of 2008. He beat out dozens of more experienced applicants for the job and took some time recently, while readying his first classroom, to talk about what he expects.

Q: Did you always want to be a teacher?

A: Actually, I went to Quinnipiac Universty, in Hamden, Conn., my first semester. I was a psychology major there and it just wasn’t a great fit for me.

Q: Why was that?

A: I went onto this college campus and there were absolutely no kids around and I had been used to being around kids forever. I transferred to the University of Maine at Orono to focus on elementary education, because I knew the education I personally would get there would be just as food as anywhere else.

Q: How does it feel to launch your teaching career in the district where you grew up as a student?

A: It was really weird. We just had staff orientation today and some of the principals and staff that were introduced there I had as teachers, or they taught in the school I attended. So, it’s a weird new relationship I now have with them. I don’t know if should call them Mr. and Mrs. still, or by their first name now.

Q: Where did you do your student teaching?

A: I did eight weeks at a small school in Dedham, Maine. Then I did a seven-week placement at Old Town Middle School.

Q: Did you purposefully choose to begin your teaching career here in your hometown?

A: It was sort of the first place that I went to apply. I’ve stayed close with some of the teachers here, and I have aunts who teach here, so I felt I knew a lot about the district and what’s its values are, which I think align closely with my own.

Q: Did you apply to Kaler specifically?

A: I applied for three or four jobs in South Portland and the first one I was interviewed for I was hired for, in the middle of June. There were two schools that I targeted, and one was Dyer, which was my old school. But the grade level I was offered here was a better fit for myself and also I support the vision of the school, with project-based learning.

Q: What to you like about that?

A: As a new teacher it’s so exciting, because it puts a lot on the students for what interests them and what they really want to explore that has a connection to them and their real life and the things they engage in. So, it’s not just learning in school. They actually see how what they learn relates to the real world and so, they are exciting to come to school every day for something that has meaning and relevance in their lives.

Q: It also involves hands-on learning, does it not?

A: There’s a whole inquiry process. The idea is that the answer is not “Google-able.” You start with a driving question and then from there the students can really take on the role of a community member, someone who might actually do that job. It’s involves a four to six weeks of working on a project and then the a final product is presented to a real-life audience who might be able to use it outside of the classroom, or even the city of South Portland.

Q: What is so important about project-based learning?

A: It’s a new way of thinking, of learning through a process and tying it all to how what they do is gong to benefit them for years and years after they get out of Kaler and the South Portland School Department. It’s so much more than just sitting there memorizing something because you have to but not seeing the connections with the real life part.

Q: Do you with such a method had been in use when you were in elementary school?

A: I think a lot of times as a student you feel like you are just jumping through hoops because the school is assessing what they think you should know, but you don’t necessarily forecast it out to how that’s going to be beneficial to you in the future. So I think it’s great that Kaler is in the second year of doing this, because I think kids can see the relevance of what they are learning more clearly.

Q: Have you thought about what your class’ project will be?

A: Yes. It won’t be as simple as just repeating what someone did last year because I’ll have a mixed class. I’ll have 10 third-graders and 11 fourth-graders.

Q: How is it that you have a mixed-age class?

A: Something South Portland as a district is looking to is flexible grouping. In that, you are not necessarily in a grade because of your age. You’re in a more flexible group where we want to match our instruction to what you need to know and your skill set. So, there’s not the repetition that a lot of other school might find.

Q: How does flexible grouping help the student?

A: For example, if you move up a grade you could end up bored, frankly, if you’re being asked to learn things you’ve already mastered. Flexible grouping really targets a student’s instruction to what they need to know, rather than lumping everyone into an age group.

Q: Did you ever find yourself getting bored when you were a student?

A: I feel like I lucked out. I had the best teachers from kindergarten up to senior year. I feel like each one did the best they could to practice what we now call flexible grouping. What was missing out then that is sort of coming of age now is that it’s not just individual teachers doing it, it’s collaboration among all students across an age span. I think on this large-scale basis it’s going to help a greater range of students.

Q: With your first day right around the corner, are you nervous at all?

A: I have a wide range of feelings. I’m excited for sure. I have a great opportunity at a great school that is really trying new things that have been researched and proven but are new to the area. That generates a lot of excitement.

Q: Are you at all afraid you’ll get a few weeks in and discover this job is not for you?

A: No, I think I’m set. No backing out. Ever since second or third grade I’ve volunteered in classes below me. I worked as a rec camp councilor for eight or nine years. So, I’ve always been around students and I’ve learned different techniques to deal with different types of kids. I feel as good as I can as a new teacher. If I was going to feel wary, it would have happened by now.

Q: What do you enjoy about teaching, and working with youngsters?

A: I just love that every day is a challenge, that every day something is going to come up that you get to problem solve as part of a group, with other teachers, or students, or any collective group of people. It’s all about building relationships and having that constant feedback, back and forth.

Q: What sense of responsibility do you feel, knowing the impact you’re going to have on students, maybe for the rest of their lives?

A: I think you can look at it two ways. You can be scared to death and say I don’t want to mess up somebody else’s kid, or you can look at it as, I have a great opportunity to positively impact each student, not only academically, but as a community members and a participating citizen. It is definitely something that is a big deal, because this is an age for kids when so many of their future habits are being developed. You just have to treat each student to his or her needs.

Q: Have you thought about what will happen of you end up with that one “problem child?”

A: I think it just comes down to is building that relationship from Day 1 and letting them know that you are an ally, and that you want the best for them, and being open to communicating with their parents or guardian, and creating a support system to all the available resources, to try your best to see what’s going to work

Q: Did you have a favorite teacher who you’d hope to model yourself on?

A: Patsy Roberts was my fourth-grade teacher at Dyer Elementary School. She still works in the district as a literacy specialist. I think her being so active and involved in my life, it meant a lot to know that a teacher really cares about you. It’s so special to still have her as a mentor and friend today.

Council sick of health care question

After nearly a year, the fate of the South Portland councilors’ benefit will be decided Sept. 5

SOUTH PORTLAND — The South Portland City Council got one step closer to terminating its own health care coverage Monday, setting Sept. 5 as the date for a final vote, but not before some harsh words were exchanged.

The insurance coverage, which councilors have enjoyed since 1977, has been a topic of growing controversy since 2008, when local attorney Dan Mooers first raised the issue. At that time, he challenged that the benefit is illegal because it is not mentioned in the city charter, which limits councilor compensation to a $3,000 annual stipend.

“Without any question in my mind, the action of putting councilors on medical insurance some 35 years ago was an illegal vote because it violated the charter,” said Mooers last week, via email. “In my opinion, every year in which the council adopts a budget with contains specific expenditures for their personal benefit, each councilor for whom money is allocated violates both the South Portland conflict of interest ordinance and the state of Maine conflict of interest statute.”

Four councilors take advantage of the benefit. Tom Blake and Tom Coward have family plans, for which the city covers 85 percent of the premium, to the tune of $14,418. Councilor Maxine Beecher has an individual plan, with 100 percent of the premium borne by taxpayers. It will cost $3,566 through the end of her term in November. Councilor Gerard Jalbert signed up this past month for an individual plan through Jan. 1, when he will become eligible for insurance through his employer. That five months of coverage will cost $3,319. Councilors Rosemarie De Angelis and Alan Livingston, along with Mayor Patti Smith, have all declined coverage.

By contrast, Dr. Frank Morong, who sat on the City Council in 1977, said full medical coverage at that time cost “probably $200 or $300 a year.” On Monday, Morong joined eight other audience members in urging the council to end, or at least phase out, the benefit.

“Instead of banging this around for two or three more years, the solution in fairly simple,” he said. “Eliminate it totally, but give a window of opportunity to the end of their term for those people who are caught, so they can get [alternate] coverage.”

That was the proposal put forth by Smith, but De Angelis would have none of it.

“I’m not disappointed, I’m appalled,” she said, berating her fellow councilors for declining to end the benefit immediately, across the board.

“This is a $101,000 line-item liability for this city that the residents never voted on. That’s all that matters,” said De Angelis.

Talk of phasing out the benefit, which centered on fairness and the low per-household cost to taxpayers – about $3.13 to the average hom­­eowner – amounted to “a bunch of malarkey,” she said, reserving particular scorn for Jalbert’s “absurd” proposal to phase out both the health benefit and stipends. That idea, she intimated, was a “red herring” meant to gum up the works and prevent a decision before the end of the year.

“It’s not really mysterious how we’re splitting down this council,” she said. “Those who are covering their own backs and making sure they’re OK, moving [the debate] here and moving it there and just taking more time, are just outrageous.”

Meanwhile, Councilor Tom Coward, who has been the staunchest supporter of maintaining t­he status quo, appeared to have trouble keeping his seat when Albert DiMillo, from his place in the rear of the audience, called him a “compulsive liar.”

At the time, Coward was claiming that most of the commentary from his constituents has run counter to the prevailing wisdom, in favor of funding health insurance for councilors.

“I’m still not convinced there’s any great public interest in changing the status quo,” he said.

For his part, DiMillo, a columnist for The Current, seemed to doubt Coward’s recounting of the resident comments he’s received since the council’s Aug. 13 meeting, uttering the word “liar” sotto voce at least three times. On the final utterance, Coward seemed to rock in his chair, bracing his hand on the table’s edge.

After several tense seconds of silence in the room, Coward ignored DiMillo, pressing on with his argument that any drive to cut the health benefit should be tied to a larger conversation on how councilors are to be compensated for their work.

DiMillo has not previously been so easy to ignore. In January, he sued the city in Cumberland County Unified Court, in an attempt to force the council’s hand. Following a public debate in 2009 after Mooers’ tried to drag the largely unheralded benefit into the open, De Angelis tried to resurrect discussion in November 2011, in her final meeting as mayor. The council at that time appeared disinterested in addressing the topic at all, prompting DiMillo’s suit, which he dropped in late June on the promise from Smith of a public workshop.

Smith began Monday’s meeting by mirroring Morong’s idea to phase out the insurance plan. Councilors should have access to the benefit until the end of their terms of office, she said, but future members of the governing board should be denied coverage. But De Angelis strongly disagreed.

“We’re going to allow those who have it to continue because they came on with that rule? I don’t care what rule they came on with,” she said. “I do not care at all. The public never voted on this. That is really the issue.

“The public has no obligation to pay a penny going forward from tonight,” said De Angelis. “I believe we are violating the charter right now and the charter is the law of this city.”

When the charter was adopted in 1963, it stipulated, "The annual compensation of Councilmen shall be $600." The pay rate was bumped to $1,000 by the state Legislature in 1965, and then by local voters to $1,500 in 1971. In 1977 the City Council voted to take advantage of a 1969 change in Maine law that broadened the definition of "employee" to elected and appointed officials for purposes of group health insurance policies. The council at that time voted itself full health insurance coverage and the benefit has since been part of every annual budget.

Morong said Monday that he could not specifically recall how debate on the topic fell on the issue in 1977. However, he said, “We must have had advice from legal counsel,” suggesting the benefit had been deemed to pass muster despite charter language on compensation.

In 1986, voters set the stipend at $3,000, where it's remained ever since, but no reference has made to the health benefit during that year’s charter commission. Marilyn Riley, a frequent audience speaker on the topic, has claimed few voters at that time knew the benefit even existed. 

“The people did not create this problem, the council created this problem,” said De Angelis.

“I will support nothing,” she began, interrupting herself to react to certain members of the council, who did not seem especially captivated by her powers of persuasion. “Shake your heads, do whatever you want, I don’t care. I’m going to stand with the public on this. We are violating the public charter right now and the only right thing to do is to eliminate the health insurance.”

Calling Smith’s proposal “more divisive” even than the current system, De Angelis said, “I will never support this plan.”

Ultimately, after more than an hour of debate, a slim majority of four did lend support, including Smith, Blake, Beecher and Livingston. Blake’s support appeared weakest, however, as he continued to link his vote to the formation of a blue-ribbon panel to look into the question of compensation and expense reimbursement for councilors and all other elected and appointed officials in the city, possibly leading to a charter revision process.

But that idea will not be addressed at the Sept. 5 meeting, Smith instead reserved it for separate consideration at a future workshop, yet to be scheduled.

“So, how will the votes fall at the next meeting?” asked Smith, rhetorically, after Monday’s session. “I don’t know, but we’re finally going to have a vote and see where it falls.”

“It’s very frustrating that we can’t get this done,” agreed Livingston. “I want to get on to other city business and get this over with.”