MINUTES:
Board of Directors Meeting
January 10, 2011
4:15 – 6:10 pm
Location:
CT Clean Energy Fund
865 Brook Street
Rocky Hill, CT
Board Attendees:
Officers
Bob Wall (BW)
Todd Renz (TR)
Kevin Drew (KD)
Rick Warhall (RW)
Steve Murphy (SM) Secretary
Board Members, Board Advisors, Committee Chairs
Mike Avicolli (MA), Bruce Bockstael (BB), Vin Chiocchio(VC), Jeff Elliott (JE), Lynne Panagotopulos (LP),Paul Popinchalk (PP), Linda Reeder
(LR), Whitney Talcott (WT), Robert Kravontka (RK), Kristy O’Hagan (KO), Anna Packard (AP), Bob Sitkowski (BS), David Tine (DT), Steven
Winter (SW), By teleconference Mike DeNamur (MD), Henry Link (HL). Judy Swann (JS).
Guests: Alison Suarato (AS), Keith Mitcheltree (KM)
Viewing of Rocky Mountain Institute Film prior to board meeting. All attendees will receive DVD copies
Call to Order : Todd Renz
Minutes: JS asked if there were any questions or comments. BW made a motion to approve. Seconded. Vote eventually taken to approve
minutes prior to election results disclosure.
Treasurer Report: TR for DB - Rolled budget forward for 2011
New Business: TR, Announced Strategic Plan Assessment and Board Orientation to be held Thursday, February 3, 2011 facilitated by Lisa
Whited. BW announced he will be unable to attend due to business travel commitment. Good to check on our progress on goals and
objectives and identify what needs to be worked on.
 TR: Election big news of the month on the agenda. SM asked to provide election results. Votes counted electronically this year.
Voter turn-out was 117. (WT announced we now have a subscription to Survey Monkey for 19.99/month, if you purchase annual
subscription several months are free) . Should use it to conduct other surveys. BW noted there are two surveys in the works Limited
negative issues with the election process – election held at prime vacation time, some technical issues were resolved. #0 days were
allocated for election process. Goal to have the election done prior to holiday season. Newly elected board members were Lynn
Panagotopulos , Rick Warhall , Bill Leahy, Viin Chiocchio and Linda Reeder. SM mentioned that he hoped other candidates choose
to participate in a different capacity. TR assured that they will be invited to participate in some capacity as a volunteer. TR
announced he stepped down as Board Chair. Vacancy as Chairman and Vice Chair. TR nominated Bob Wall as Chairman. BS
moved that we accept BW as Chairman. Seconded LP. No other nominations made; Vote was unanimous. Vice Chair position is
also up for election. TR nominated Lynn Panagotopulos. No other nominations were made for this position. BS moved the
nomination for Lynn as Vice Chair. TR was unable to speak to Dick Barredo prior to the meeting, but TR nominated DB to
Treasurer’s position. Vote to be held until next meeting when DB can be asked his preference to serve. A successor/co-chair to DB
is being sought. BW asked SM if he would consider continuing as Secretary. He agreed. TR nominated SM, BW seconded. SM
voted to the position of Secretary.
TR mentioned that the Anti-trust Document needs to be signed by new board and committee chairs, branch leaders, EP leaders.MA should email these forms to the EP core committee members for signature.
BW acknowledged Jeff Elliott, whose term is up, for his service and contributions to the board and green schools as a Director of the Board,
thanking him for his many years of service to the organization.
BW presented the meeting calendar for the year. Seeking location for February board meeting. TR offered his offices, and also suggested we
check with MS re: Southern CT Gas. Less distance for southern board members. Meeting to be at a southern CT location. Try to alternate the
location
 JS to contact MS re: Southern CT Gas
TR: Scott Kirschner from NJ contacted him recommending a green power provider arrangement that provides a discount to the chapter
member who signs on for alternative power, which is reported to be less expensive than local supplier. Additionally, the chapter receives 2.00
per meter per month. E-mail description of plan to be sent out to the board for review BW stated that renewable energy credits are usually
higher in cost. This offer does not sound comparable to Sterling Planet’s offering. PP advised that the details of the source of the renewable
energy is key, where the wind power originates is critical. PP offered to look into the NJ plan and recommend if it is a fitting program in which
the chapter should become engaged.
Board Orientation Feb 3rd; group will be re-looking at our SP BW requested the board/committee members review the goals and objectives

Efficiently run organization
Increased visibility in the state
Strengthen educational offerings
and advise as to where things stand with the commitments made last year. Prepare a one page tab that identifies where we are.
Move forward with a playbook, Prefer one standard form to record all that we do during the year.
Important to get committee reports in each month, for distribution prior to the board meeting. This will help Board Meeting to be more efficient.
Committee Reports brought before the board be limited to very important matters and those that require a vote.
Advocacy: BS – Legislative session has started. Work with website committee to post legislation that is pending. Interesting legislation will be
light this session Watching for energy bill which may come up this session. No strategy in place for testifying. Make sure membership knows
if interesting legislation comes up this year. BW mentioned Strategic teams for Energy and Environment have been formed. Information is
posted on the Governor’s website.
SCTGBC: KO- Discovery School event coming up end of month with Steve Grathwohl doing a great job organizing. February program topic:
Core & Shell. Future program in planning stage is a panel discussion to include platinum sponsors as speakers
AP and KO working on getting committees rolling. BW asked if they were coordinating with events committee, cross promoting and making
sure there are no conflicts. AP reported on Holiday Party’s success.
Education: Mike DeNamur – Working with Vin Energy Efficiency, Light and LEED . Marta Bouchard and Scott Pinckney presenting Credential
Maintenance. Relationship with CDP New Jersey is an important issue. JS reported on CDP becoming licensee’s of the LEED Workshops.
USGBC pulling back from managing education. Decision needs to be made whether to opt in to work with NJ as a CDP to deliver LEED
Workshops. CDP would need to evaluate what the terrain for workshops is like in CT and form relationships with other organization. If we
continue to host, we would need to negotiate which aspects of workshop implementation, financial breakdown and marketing would be
undertaken by each party.
A percentage of the proceeds go to NJ and 40.00 per attendee to USGBC. If we sign on to work with them, how many workshops do we have
to commit to, what is downside, is there a consequence for not hosting the proscribed number. What is the marketing responsibility of both the
CDP and CC. BW asked if EdComm will issue a recommendation. MD will discuss with committee and circulate findings to the board, which
will be prior to the board meeting. A telephone call for a decision will be scheduled prior to the next board meeting. SW if we opt out,
educational programs would be hosted by some other organization in CT. Does the chapter lose its status.
Could we opt for another entity to run the workshop in lieu of ourselves. It will be a difficult learning curve for another state to come in and run
courses here in CT
SW interjected that it would be in our best interest to continue hosting LEED Workshops. MD mentioned that in the last couple of years the
brand has been watered down considerably due to the variety of organizations running similar LEED educational programs and the landscape
has changed. SM asked if we opt in would CT have exclusive rights to the LEED courses. MD answered, no, we would not have exclusive
rights, private companies as well as schools offer LEED exam prep courses. Multiple channels are out there to offer LEED Workshops or
courses similar in nature. JS reported we have been discussing different options to the one day long LEED Workshops such as the study
group format that Keith Mitcheltree has facilitated.
MA inquired about the Webinar Series offered by USGBC. EP would be interested in managing this program. They felt very positive about
viewing webinars as a group, with a social component, at a lower individual cost to the participant. There is a cap of 25 people per location
that can be part of the webinar audience. EdComm experienced technology difficulties when attempting the CMP webinars with Arnold Kee at
GBCI. The committee sees value in the webinar series. MA said the EP group dabbled in the webinar concept, The costs need to be
determined and evaluated. MA sees webinars as an opportunity to grow the EP membership. KM interested in overseeing this initiative.
MD asked KM to join the committee to help committee over the technology hurdles. Some courses are very pricey; it would be advantageous
to divide the cost for each webinar between a number of people. Tecton is a firm who was interested in hosting webinars. Targeting firms
could be a tactic to make the program feasible. Good place for KM to get involved in the chapter education effort and not conflict with the
chapter education initiatives. KM to be part of next committee call.
Emerging Professionals: MA – Introduced himself as new EP Chairman, expressed the committees thanks to Rick Warhall for facilitating the
elections; he also introduced Alison Suarato, the new Director of Administration. Climate Refugees film screening will be their next event.
Film was made available to chapters by USGBC. Still seeking a viewing location in the New Haven area and looking for a sponsor. LP asked
the branch representatives if they would be interested in sponsoring and supporting the viewing event. AP said AS was checking on how that
would work. Film can only be shown once at no cost to the chapter; additional screenings will cost 350.00. LR suggested they check New
Haven Public Library as a possible location. TR offered to speak to Bryan Garcia regarding a Yale location to screen the movie. Now looking
at an early February date. BW offered to help get the word out on the State’s websites. MA asked if we have we ever tried to set up online
carpools ? The EP have tried to do it but found it very difficult.
 BW to put MA in contact with this colleague regarding carpooling.
Events: VC – Latest committee call was very well attended with lots of participation. Will include all committee chairs on the next call.
February: event: Green Investing to be held in Shelton. Putting a slide presentation together with possibility of getting EP event approval for
CEU credits. KO agreed the program will be interesting, but doubted it would be approved. Event will provide information on investing,
corporate social responsibility. Tentative date set for February 26th. To be held at the Scinto Building site in Shelton
Earth Day event will probably be held a week earlier or later due to holidays. One idea was for a program at Wesleyan, looking for a day chair.
PP was involved with design of Allbritton Center, a mixed use building for classrooms, office and seminar spaces. It recently received a LEED
Gold rating. He also mentioned another possible building tour at a Yale Medical Center building for research and teaching, with a connection
to Smilow Cancer Hospital. BW commented that Wesleyan also has a LEED dorm near the Albrighton Center that could be a possible tour.
MD mentioned working with NCC on an Earth Day celebration where EdComm may run a CMP program.
BW informed the board that Audubon CT will be offering a multi-part series on greening homes and has reached out to us for speakers. Mike
Trolle from LEED for Homes committee has responded. Series is planned for Greenwich location but could be exported to other parts of the
state at other Audubon facilities. VC emphasized importance of working with multiple organizations. AP agreed with branch talking about
collaborative programs. PP mentioned another residential resource colleague who could be tapped into.
Marketing: DT reported that the Newsletter will be out next week. He thanked committees for their contributions. Carol Kruse wrote three
articles and she and AS provided most of the photos.
Beth Taylor has been successful in securing some PSA announcements. An interview on WPLR with John Voket by BW and JS was
mentioned. An MP3 file of the interview should be available on the website soon. January 19th Marketing/Communications strategy meeting to
be held at Southern CT Gas in Orange from noon to 3:30pm.
Banner has been revised several times.
 DT to Circulate current version of banner to board members

Membership: RK – Committee meeting has been working on
 Membership survey
 Committee descriptions
Once survey results are compiled the committee can use the information to recruit new members and get them involved with a committee
UNeRC: RW – Regional Council is now a Regional Committee and is being reorganized by the Chapter Steering Committee. Chapter will
need to elect representatives, one for a two year term and one as an alternate person to serve for one year. Regional Committee is in flux.
First Regional Drop-in call went very well with 30 attendees. Another Drop in call scheduled for April.
Website/Technology: WT - Website was refreshed by Dan and cleaned up for a much lighter look using menus rather than tabs. New banner
header was created, TR asked what is to be done about other web designers that were interviewed. WT described the interview process
undertaken in December. Sonalysts, Kishmish and Imageworks. Discussions are ongoing. Membership management is a key point of
discussion, as well as the commerce function for which we currently use Wild Apricot. Redesigning the website represents a financial
investment. Website looking much better than it did before.
 WT to attend Marketing/Communications meeting since functions are closely linked
 Details of sponsor benefits to be worked out
By doing our own maintenance work, we could save a lot of time and money. Both Sonalyst and Kishmish would be there for us if we needed
assistance. WT is still in discussions with the companies being considered. Decision needs to be made whether to continue with Wild Apricot
or select new software.
Does Dan have the skills to develop a state of the art site with greater capacity as our membership continues to grow.
TR asked when ready to make recommendation to the board. Be good to have that information in time for our February 3rd SP follow-up.
Key item is a single database to manage members and outreach lists as well. BW commended WT for all the work he has put into this effort.
TR expressed his agreement. Integration of the parts of our chapter is important.
BW made the presentation of a commemorative plaque to Todd Renz in appreciation for his outstanding leadership to the chapter and thanked
TR for his passion in helping the chapter grow from a sapling to the mighty oak it is now. TR offered to continue to help out in any way that he
can.
Meeting was adjourned at 6:10 pm. Next board meeting is Monday, February 7, 2011 at a Southern CT location