DUMMERSTON — A member of the Town Energy Committee has apologized to the Selectboard for not running the town's recent residential energy survey and its cover letter by them before mailing it to the town's nearly 1,000 residences.
Some residents have complained to board members that they object to their names being associated with their survey responses. Others have complained that they don't want town officials following up with them should they elect to disregard the survey. Still others complained they didn't receive a survey.
Energy Committee Member Alex Wilson told Selectboard members at their meeting Aug. 21 that the survey simply seeks to help establish a baseline understanding of residents' energy use, and that as part of that work, a cross-section of residents was chosen at random to have their surveys flagged for committee follow-up should they not reply.
A $100 cash incentive, provided by anonymous donation, is meant to sweeten the deal to residents and improve the town's response rate.
Selectman Joe Cook summarized a round of anecdotes from others on the board: “Can I make a friendly suggestion, Alex, that if someone doesn't submit a survey you not follow up with them? I think that's the sentiment I'm hearing.”
Wilson was quick to apologize on behalf of the energy committee for the dust-up.
“I think clearly we should have sent you a copy of the survey and the cover letter that went with it. It was overlooked. Certainly it wasn't an intent to violate privacy,” he said.
Surveys part of a process
The energy committee mailed surveys this summer to every Dummerston household. The instrument asks respondents to share information about their homes and vehicles, use of renewable energy, installation of energy-efficiency improvements, and ways in which they generate heat, get water, and cook during power outages.
The project, a year and a half in the making, according to Wilson, furthers the Town Plan's goal of achieving a 40 percent reduction in Dummerston's per-capita nonrenewable energy consumption by 2030.
To get there, the town first needs to understand the town's power consumption as it stands today.
Wilson added that the town “had the fortune of working with ... a leading expert on opinion surveys, how to go about doing them, and we relied on her input on how to do a random selection of residents and how to pull in the responses we were looking for – which included the idea of offering a cash incentive,” he said.
All respondents are eligible for one of five $100 prizes for getting their completed survey in by the end of the month.
“And it's apparently important that we not just rely on the ones that come back, but actually go after ones that don't send them back. That's why the names are on the surveys – not that we want to in any way attach the responses to the names, but for those who don't send them back, we want to go back to them or even pay them a visit in some cases, and get responses to the questions,” he said.
Wilson explained that “part of the the angle we're pursuing with the survey” is how resilient Dummerston is.
“We'd love to know what percent of residents have back-up generators; what percent of residents can get water if they lose power,” Wilson said.
“If we had a power outage in Dummerston that lasted three weeks, and there are scenarios where that can happen, you know, water has become one of the more challenging issues. More so than heat, where most people have wood stoves,” Wilson said.
“But that's another question we asked: Do you have a source of heat if you lose power, or even heating fuel? And heating fuel, we need electricity to run our boilers,” he said.
“I think the point to stress and emphasize is, the overarching intention of our effort is to make for a safer community,” Wilson said in previously published reports.
Residents weigh in
Resident Terry Chapman expressed her concern about town committees and boards accepting anonymous donations on behalf of the Town before running it by the Selectboard. It was agreed that this has not been an issue in the past, therefore the Town lacks a written policy.
“We've accepted donations in the past - the energy committee has - and ... we get an appropriation each year, $350, and very clearly that money didn't go to this survey raffle: We solicited extra donations for that,” he said.
Resident Jody Normandeau said that after her husband, Paul, sent their survey in, she turned to the survey online and tried to see the questions “everybody's so upset about.”
“I got to a certain point and it stopped. I don't know whether other people had that issue or not,” she said.
She added: “I sure hope none of this stuff, people being upset, puts a black mark on the energy committee. Because they have done a fantastic job and an awful lot for the town.”
Paul Normandeau said, “Gee, I saw the $100 incentive and I couldn't wait to enter the survey. From my perspective, I looked at it face value, and I just thought of the work the energy committee was doing, and I said, sure, this is information useful to them in compiling information useful to the town.”
He added: “Probably I would've been happier had my name not been on the reply sheet, but people know how many cars I have and where I live, so I didn't think I was disclosing any particular information I thought was overly private.”