The town has submitted its Green Communities Annual Report for fiscal year 2024, a requirement for the state “Green Community” program.
The report, voted on by the Select Board and submitted to the state on Nov. 15, aims to demonstrate that Belmont continues to meet the five criteria for program grant eligibility. In previous years, Belmont Light carried out the process, but in the past two years, the onus has fallen on the town administrator’s office.
“This was a team effort,” said Finance Director/Assistant Town Administrator Jennifer Hewitt. “This was a very heavy lift.”
According to Hewitt, a lot of time was dedicated to collecting and compiling the necessary information. The culmination of those efforts was a “big positive” for Belmont.
“Part of this is recognizing some of the efforts we’ve done to have green energy initiatives in town, and there’s been a lot, especially with our new construction projects,” she said. “We’ve definitely seen a decrease in our energy usage because of street light conversions to LEDs. We’ve seen a reduction to our fuel usage as we’ve transitioned the police cruisers to hybrid vehicles. We’ve added more electric vehicles to our fleet.”
She also acknowledged the solar panels on the roof of the new Belmont Middle School and High School.
“It’s a lot we’ve been able to achieve,” Hewitt said. “The rink and the library are going to continue to help us chip away at that.”
Hewitt and Town Administrator Patrice Garvin said there have been conversations about who might be able to take over the task in subsequent years.