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City of Malden
MASSACHUSETTS
www.cityofmalden.org
Climate Action & Sustainability Commission Agenda
| Tuesday, August 25, 2026 | 5:30PM | City Hall Room 113 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| | | 215 Pleasant Street |
| | | Malden, MA 02148 |
Roll Call (1 min)
- Councilor Carey McDonald - Absent
- Staff Liaison Rebekah McPheeters - Present
- Diego Maldonado* (Secretary) - Absent
- Bob FitzPatrick* - Present
- Rachel Surrette* - Present
- Lipin Ji* - Present (virtually)
- Amanda Treat* (Vice Chair) - Present
- Ricky Ma* (Chair) - Present
- Vickash Mohanka from Seirra Club was present
- Julia Nassar from MAPC was present (virtually)
Ricky called the meeting to order at 5:35PM.
Minutes to be Approved (4 min)
Commission to approve minutes from June 17 and July 8 meetings.
- Bob motioned to approve both sets of minutes. Amanda seconded and the motion was approved unanimously.
Sierra Club (Vickash Mohanka, 20 min)
Clean energy and utility bills.
- Vick noted that in recent years, affordability has been seen as the best talking point for clean energy (i.e., lower your energy bill by switching to a municipal aggregation program), however, polling in New England shows that we can talk about affordability alongside climate and public health
- Because utility bill costs have increased dramatically, this is polling as a major issue for New England
- Utility companies in MA see a return on the amount of assets they own, so they are incentivized to own valuable assets
- The Future of Heat Initiative is encouraging the DPU to regulate utilities more
- Sierra Club is using story telling to advocate to elected about reducing the energy burden on residents, because in general, residents are paying more money for less gas (see: https://www.sierraclub.org/massachusetts/energy-burden)
- Sierra Club's stance is that we cannot invest in both clean energy and gas line replacement
- Sierra Club is advocating for batteries so that our grid can store more energy
- Sierra Club is also doing organizing work related to data centers
- Malden has a moratorium on data centers
- Call to Action: Vick recommended that the CASC reach out to our reps about the energy bills that are in conference committee (H.5175), to advocate for
- Restoring the Mass Save budget
- Not changing the Alternative Compliance Payments (APCs)
- Allowing residents to self-attest their income for Mass Save eligibility
Q&A.
- CASC requested to see the polling data & Sierra Club literature that Vick referenced
Energy Coach Program Memo (10 min)
Feedback, questions & comments. (Ricky)
- CASC homework is to review the memo, Bekah will send out the link.
Next steps. (Julia)
- There will be a new round of Empower funding this fall. Julia will help us think through an application for energy coaching program, and we can also think about pairing this work with a HEAT SMART campaign.
- Note that this application will be Julia's final deliverable and her time with us will end after that.
Project Updates & Announcements (15 min)
New CASC members. (Bekah)
- Ron Cochran resigned from CASC, and we have a new CASC member who will get appointed this fall
- We also have two new youth members that Ricky will reach out to
Bloomberg YCAF grant update. (Bekah)
- We published our open call and we have community partner orgs on board
- We are looking for opportunities to speak with Malden youth about the program (i.e., Back to School nights, club fairs, etc.)
- Timeline: Applications due 9/30, select winners in October, disperse funds by November, projects end by 4/15
Wicked Cool Mystic update. (Bekah)
- Wicked Cool Mystic skate park project wrapped & got good press
- Wicked Cool Mystic III MVP application was rejected, but Bekah is looking for other ways to continue the work of small scale cooling projects
- Ricky suggested we make sure that this kind of work is included in the City's new comprehensive plan
General Comms & Annual Progress Report (Ricky, 20 min)
Final feedback/review of annual progress report.
- Change the Northern Strand photo (Bob will find a good picture)
- Generally, the CASC is happy with the format
- CASC to review on their own time, put comments in the shared deck, and let Bekah know when their comments are in
Next Steps: Deadline for comments 8/26, comms & translation plan.
- Ricky said the new deadline for comments is Friday 9/4
- Ricky and Lipin offered to handle the Chinese translation
- Bekah to get a new translation quote
Communication planning for CASC updates, tabling materials.
- Ricky noted it would be great to have standardized materials and messaging for tabling
- Suggested materials to use/create
- QR code for the newsletter
- CAP
- Annual report
- Flyers for programs we are promoting (Malden Community Electricity, etc.)
- Elevator pitch
- Bekah to make a folder in SharePoint for this
Volunteer for August CASC newsletter.
- Amanda is back from vacation and can write it. Topics to include:
- YCAF
- Tease the report
- Back to school "no idling" tip
- Sierra Club update
- Energy bill clinic 9/3 at MPL 4-7PM
- Safe routes to school "Walking Weds" and "bike bus"
Retrospective (Ricky, 10 min)
Recap Year One goals, progress, successes. (Ricky)
CASC Working Group Retrospective FY26.pptx (Ricky)
- Group decided we should do this retrospective together in our next meeting, Ricky will email it out
Next Steps (5 min)
Discuss agenda for next meeting.
- Sierra Club debrief/potential action (consider inviting Grace Tumavicus from OSPCD to discuss)
- Consider MyWRA's CLEANAIR presentation, Black Earth Compost (Tabled)
- Youth member should be present at the next meeting, Ricky to reach out
Confirm date/time for next meeting.
- Wednesday, September 9 at 5:30PM
Share out any upcoming relevant events.
- We may need volunteers to pop up to promote YCAF
- Ricky is available weekends and evenings
- Bekah to send out the calls via email
Adjournment – 7:00PM
- Bob motioned to adjourn, Rachel seconded. The meeting was adjourned at 7:11PM.
If you would like to request a reasonable accommodation, please contact Maria Luise, ADA Compliance Coordinator at mluise@cityofmalden.org or 781-397-7000 Ext. 2005
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