The Bedford Town Council held its regular meeting on May 13, 2026, beginning at approximately 7:00 PM. The agenda included interviews for the Facilities Committee, recognition of retiring board/commission members, appointment of a new Town Clerk, authorization to sell renewable energy credits, a Town Manager report, councilor comments, and a retreat brainstorming session. Key decisions included the unanimous appointment of Bill Carter as Town Clerk and a unanimous vote to sell renewable energy credits to Community Power Coalition of New Hampshire. The council postponed making appointments to the Facilities Committee until the next meeting.
The council interviewed five candidates for the Facilities Committee:
Council members appreciated the candidates’ diverse skills and indicated they would deliberate appointments at the next meeting.
Certificates and plaques were awarded to retiring members for their years of service, including:
Council expressed gratitude for volunteer service.
The council unanimously (6-0) appointed Bill Carter as Town Clerk to fill the remainder of the current term until the March 2027 local election, where the remaining two years will be filled by popular vote. Councilor Sol read a statement highlighting Carter’s six years as councilor, election experience, and customer service background. Carter thanked the council and pledged to work diligently.
Assistant Town Manager Jean Walker presented a proposal to sell Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) from the new Chubbuck Road Landfill solar facility. RECs represent the environmental benefit of 1,000 kWh produced. After evaluating four brokers, staff recommended selling to Community Power Coalition of New Hampshire (CPCNH) at a fixed rate of $35 per REC for one year, compared to a volatile market rate averaging $35. CPCNH offered $2 above their standard rate. Councilor Bader, also on the Energy Commission, noted informal consensus supporting the fixed-price approach to avoid market risk. Revenue will initially go to the general fund, with potential future dedicated fund discussion. The motion passed 6-0.
Rick Sawyer reported:
Councilor Sol added that the solar array will make the library net-zero energy.
Each councilor shared priorities for the coming year:
Discussion also touched on:
The council agreed to hold additional retreats with advance agendas and may consider off-site “coffee with a councilor” events on weekends to boost public engagement.
Okay, good evening and welcome to the town of Bedford Town Council meeting for May 13th, 2026. We have an agenda to go by for interviews for facilities committee. But first we're gonna start with our roll call. Joining us on the telephone is Councilor Michael Strand. I guess maybe not. Counselor Fahy. Laura Feyhi. Councilor Bader. John Bader, present. Counselor Sol. Good evening, Bedford. Counselor LeBec. Good evening. Vice Chair and myself, Phil Griazzo. Uh so now we'll go to the Pledge Allegiance, John, if you can read us in the pledge. I push it in the middle of the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands. One nation under God. So under 530 interview for facilities committees, we'll start with that. Um do we have a list of who's who's starting? Are you got to left you a package? This one? Uh-huh. Separate agenda. Okay, thank you. Um Christopher Petsky would be up first. Come on up, sir. You can come sit right up here. Instruction Angels. It's all right. Good evening. How are you? Good, yourself. Good, thank you. If you want to please give us uh an introduction and uh let us know why you want to be on the facilities committee. Yeah, name's Chris Petzky, uh 25 Butterfield Lane. Uh moved here about eight years ago. Um come from the trades pretty much my entire life of working at least uh and working around the house. Um I'm based out of the HVAC industry. Uh went through as an apprentice journeyman in uh building trades, uh chiller mechanic for what you'd find in hospitals and schools and such. Um from there, I moved on to sales and estimating uh in Indiana and then moved here uh with the role of uh commercial estimating. So I've been doing that for eight years at Callahan AC out of North Andover. Um I specialize in uh value engineering for plans. Oh good. So a lot of the plans we get um a lot of the engineers that spec this equipment out or sent out nice trips from all the providers, and uh they're usually not the cheapest option. So you'll find on plans that are spec'd for high dollar equipment um furnishings and such. So um, yeah, pretty much my job is to take that and I will find other options that are so suitable. Um, but also keeps prices down more affordable for the end user. Thank you for that. Uh questions. Um Counselor LeBec.