Town Manager Christopher Ketchen said he is appointing a committee to oversee the OPEB funds.

LENOX, Mass. — Colonial Power has agreed to a one-year group purchasing option with Hampshire Power for electricity.

 

Residents now have the option to purchase power for 12.191 cents per kilowatt hour, which Town Manager Christopher Ketchen says "seems relatively high compared to where we are currently."

 

But, Ketchen says the rate is lower than those Western Massachusetts Electric Co. and National Grid are projected to have in just a few months.

 

"This is the type of thing they can opt out of it they think they can do better on their own," Ketchen said on Wednesday, hours after Colonial Power accepted the bid.

 

Both residents and businesses can  choose to lock into that rate for the yearlong contract. For more information, Ketchen said he is asking Colonial Power to attend the next Board of Selectmen meeting to explain the group purchasing.

 

Town meeting approved seeking the aggregated bid in 2012 and this year Colonial Power was approached to procure it. The aggregation agreement includes nearly a dozen other municipalities.

 

In other business, Ketchen says he is looking to form an advisory committee to oversee the town's Other Post Employment Benefit trust fund. The town recently began funding the OPEB with the goal is to pay for future employee liability costs.

 

"Lenox certainly is on the front end of the wave in tackling the liability," Ketchen said.

 

The OPEB — or unfunded liabilities — became a focus in the financial world in recent years. The idea is to begin investing extra money now to pay for the future retiree's health insurance. A return on investment translates to less being paid out of pocket overall than if the town continues to pay as the bill come in, as most municipalities still do.

 

To oversee those investments, Ketchen says he is seeking a committee to keep an eye on the funds.

 

"I'll be reaching out to citizens with a finance background over the next several weeks to appoint that committee," he said.

 

Also in other business, Ketchen said he and Lee officials will be meeting with Beth Greenblatt to negotiate a contract. Greenblatt consulted on the previous solar project proposed for five parcels in the two towns. That project fell through when the chosen developer went bankrupt. Greenblatt is now being brought back on to be the owners' agent as the town again seeks to move the project forward.

 

Related to solar, Planning Board Chairman Kameron Spaulding said a new solar bylaw has been crafted to regulate large-scale commercial projects. Spaulding said the new laws won't affect the town's proposed project but will regulate future commercial arrays.

 

"To meet what we are covering, you have to have an acre covered," he said.

 

The Planning Board is asking other boards to weigh in on the draft before sending it to town counsel for review. Ultimately, the new law is expected to go to vote at the next town meeting.

 

The Board of Selectmen also Wednesday decided to take a new look at the rental policy for the Town Hall auditorium. Ketchen told the board that there has been an increase in event requests so now is a good time to review the polices that hadn't been looked over in some time.

 

"It is a very nice, open space. Perhaps given the increased interest in the facility, it might behoove us to consider a robust guideline," he said. "The time might be right to take another look at it."

 

Chairman Channing Gibson already has a change he'd like to propose — not to allow any events that serve alcohol. However, other board members said they didn't want to make changes that could possibility eliminate events they'd want but currently hadn't thought of.

 

They agreed to review the current policies and discuss it at the next meeting before having Ketchen craft a new draft.