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Town of Mamaroneck lauded by state for green initiatives

Going green has earned the town of Mamaroneck a pat on the back after the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation designated the town as a leader of green initiatives statewide.

“We all have a role to play in reducing energy use and the greenhouse gasses that contribute to climate change,” said DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos. “I applaud Mamaroneck’s commitment to energy use in government operations.”

With dozens of programs striving to make the town of Mamaroneck more eco-friendly, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has given the town the special distinction as one of the state’s nine climate smart communities. Pictured are Kelly Turturro, regional director for the DEC, left, and Mamaroneck Town Supervisor Nancy Seligson. Photo courtesy town of Mamaroneck
With dozens of programs striving to make the town of Mamaroneck more eco-friendly, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has given the town the special distinction as one of the state’s nine climate smart communities. Pictured are Kelly Turturro, regional director for the DEC, left, and Mamaroneck Town Supervisor Nancy Seligson. Photo courtesy town of Mamaroneck

For the supervisor of the town, Nancy Seligson, a Democrat, sustainability has been a goal since day one in office.

“We’ve wanted to be a leader in environmental initiatives for a long time,” Seligson said. “So we started looking at all projects and programs to make them more sustainable.”

According to Seligson, among the major initiatives that have earned Mamaroneck the statewide distinction is a recent round of renovations to the town’s ice rink which were contracted under the state’s energy performance contract program.

“We knew we had to renovate the ice rink no matter what,” Seligson said. “Why don’t we look to make it green and make it cost less?”

The program, Seligson said, simplified the project from an administrative standpoint by allowing the town to use one contractor for all services, like plumbing, electrical and engineering, instead of different contractors for each facet.

More importantly, however, Seligson explained that it also guaranteed reductions in cost to all of the contract work being provided in addition to improvements in eco-friendliness.

“The best part is that the contractor comes in and assesses all the buildings and proposes renovations that include environmental savings,” Seligson said. “They’re guaranteeing. And if you don’t get those savings by the end of the year, you get the difference back.”

While an overall figure of how much such initiatives will save the town aren’t fully calculated, Seligson said that initial projections for installing LED lights alone—which use far less energy than their incandescent kin—are set to save the town $100,000.

Over the past several years, the town has enacted several initiatives just like those seen at the ice rink; from assessing their greenhouse gas consumption, to installing solar panels, and even a program that now uses vegetable oil from local restaurants to run the town’s sanitation trucks.

At the end of the day, while cost savings are abound for municipalities looking to make their communities greener—thanks in part to myriad of state and federal subsidies—Seligson hasn’t lost sight of the most important result.

“We know that climate change is happening…. A community like ours could be very vulnerable since we’re on the waterfront,” she said. “We need to try to develop the effort from a local standpoint.”