By Jason Klaiber
Staff Writer
To accentuate strides the Village of Minoa has made in the realm of energy efficiency, a production team arrived last month to shoot a mini-documentary.
Hailing from Manhattan, the crew from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) interviewed village officials and filmed around the municipality over the course of one day.
“It was a little bit of Hollywood in Minoa,” Bill Brazill, the village’s mayor, said. “Our board room looked like a ‘60 Minutes’ interview behind the scenes. It was really exciting.”
The film crew sought to show Minoa as a template for other villages of comparable size to follow.
One location that drew the crew’s interest was Minoa’s wastewater treatment plant located at 102 Kalin Drive.
After receiving a $100,000 non-matching grant from NYSERDA in 2017, the village decided to use the funds to fix the infrastructure at the treatment facility.
The grant had been awarded to municipalities that completed four out of 10 high-impact benchmarks laid out by NYSERDA through the state’s Clean Energy Communities program.
The goals the village achieved included the enactment of an energy use tracking policy, the adoption of the New York State Unified Solar Permit, the deployment of an alternative fuel vehicle and the conversion of street lights to energy efficient LED technology.
“We’ve been on the cutting edge,” Brazill said. “I can’t be prouder for my staff and board.”
Energy efficiency has been a central focus for Brazill ever since he became mayor in 2016.
“I wanted to make our footprint smaller as far as energy,” Brazill said. “My goal is to someday get off the grid.”
DeWitt, Canastota and Marcellus also met the designation for $100,000 grants from NYSERDA.
The improvements to Minoa’s treatment plant, which services about 3,700 residents, included the installation of new, energy-efficient pumps and controls.
The pumps, which can run underwater without causing electrical damage, will protect the village in the event of a flood.
The plant now only has to run on one pump as opposed to two or three, an upgrade expected to save the village over $10,000 a year in energy costs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 33 metric tons annually.
The NYSERDA production crew had visited the village a month and a half prior to the official filming day for pre-planning and scheduling.
The day of the shoot was plagued by a rain storm, but the crew managed to work with the conditions. Their footage likely won’t be revealed until late in the summer after the editing process wraps up.
“I can’t wait to see the end product,” Brazill said.
Once finished, the documentary will be shown in the lobby of NYSERDA’s New York City headquarters, spliced with features on other communities.
The mini-documentary will also appear on nyserda.ny.gov and on social media outlets.
