Finance Committee Meeting 8/21

I attended the Finance Meeting on 8/21, and here's what I saw.

Maintenance Dept request for new radios.  I support the $7000 investment needed to upgrade the dpt's radios since the old system can no longer function in Jan 2013.  I would however like us to revisit the mobile communication principles (I don't think we have this today).  I understand that there is shared use of 3 phones in addition to John's.  With super technology radios, we ought to be able to reduce this, or at least study the min number needed.  I hope Finance can meet to figure this out, both number needed, options to be included, whether or not to subsidize Mayor's phone, carrier, etc.

Energy Aggregation.  I fully support Aggregation.  I think this is a great way for the Village to save meaningfully on usage as well as share the savings with the residents.  I do not think this is in any way an over reach by government intruding in people's lives.  The group supported "Opt In" vs "Opt Out" which is a lesser savings, but I'm ok with this.  I personally prefer Opt Out since it maximises the savings but it is more complicated since it requires a ballot initiative and assumes all residents want the discount.  I think Opt In is a fine baby step towards the ultimate goal of Opt Out, but if we never get there, at least we deliver some savings.

Cortney