Mayor's Memo

The past few months I have written mostly about the status of 16th Street and the Bridge, the pool, etc.  Today, 16th Street is open (still some minor work to be completed now and in the spring) and the pool project is in full swing.  These are very good things to have going on!

With the pool project we will be placing solar panels on the southern portion of the pool house roof.  This will be very similar to the solar panels currently in use on City Hall.  In the October Newsletter (included with your utility bill) some information was provided on how much energy has been produced by those panels.  Most of the power generated is used by City Hall (lowering our need to purchase power) and we did produce enough power to put back into “the grid” 3.9 megawatt hours.  Quite frankly, I’m impressed by this! By putting these and more panels to work for us, along with finding other energy savings, just pushes us further ahead in our quest to be more efficient. 

The solar panels also coincide with our Green Steps program to move towards a more sustainable energy model for our community.  If you look at where our energy comes from, we have moved significantly away from a mostly coal based energy source, to natural gas, solar, wind, etc.  There is even a hydroelectric project in Canada our power agency is keeping an eye on.  With energy prices dropping/leveling off (at a time most experts predicted higher prices) most people would be staying the course; however, it behooves our community to continue to move forward finding new ways to provide energy to our homes while conserving energy when possible.
 
On the topic of conserving energy, we are offering up a new program (in partnership with the Center for Energy and Environment -- a MN non-profit) for our utility customers.  A FREE informational meeting will be held on Tuesday, November 27 at 6:30PM in the High School Choir Room.  This is a great time to find out more about conserving energy in your home, doing a home energy audit, etc!  Child care will be provided free of charge.  We do need a count of how many are planning to attend, so please call or email Krista at City Hall (634-7071 or cityhall@cityofkasson.com). 

Finding more ways to be energy efficient and produce energy from multiple sources will help our community weather the inevitable increase in energy prices as our economy recovers.  Keep an eye out from more information on the above and more!

Lastly, please join me on Saturday, November 17, from 8:30 – 9:30AM at Daniel’s.  I’ll be there having a cup of coffee and available to answer your questions, take ideas, etc.

In your service,
Mayor Tim Tjosaas
mayor@cityofkasson.com