VOLENTE—The village of Volente discussed possible projects for a federal block grant and various public works projects during its regular meeting Nov. 17.
Councilman Chris Wilder said he met with a Pedernales Electric Cooperative representative to find projects on which to spend a $20,000 energy efficiency grant offered through the state comptroller’s office. The office offers the grant from federal stimulus funds to all small municipalities in the state with few conditions.
Wilder said the village could end up with more than $20,000 if other cities do not accept the money allotted to them. He added PEC had been very helpful in the process, even offering to provide grant writers to the village.
“We don’t need a grant writer for this. It’s very easy to get the money,” Wilder said.  “I think this is what the stimulus package should have been in the first place.”
The biggest project Wilder and PEC identified included replacing the heating, ventilation and air conditioning units at the town hall/fire station building.
“The whole theory is basically we want to, through energy efficiency, to make this more of a community center,” Wilder said.
Mayor Jan Yenawine said the current heating unit is more than 20 years old and a big energy drain. He and Wilder said replacing that unit with a more efficient HVAC unit would save the village more money than adding solar or wind panels.
“The thing about solar is it doesn’t work without subsidies,” Wilder said. Yenawine added that manufacturing a solar panel takes four and a half years worth of energy and the panels do not last long enough to be worth the investment.
“You pay for 10 years for something that’s good for 11 years,” he said.
Other possible projects for the money included replacing insulation and moving thermostats away from doors.
Wilder said the village needs to send a proposal to the state in December. Once the project is chosen, the village will have to pay any costs out of pocket and get reimbursed. However, he said he was assured the grant would not be like cash for clunkers.
“We will get our money back within a couple of weeks of paying it out,” he said.
In other business, the Council agreed to have the intersection of Lime Creek Road and Wharf Cove surveyed in order to move the traffic light.
“We have a traffic signal somewhere in here that keeps getting run over,” he said, but the village needs to know where the property line is before it can be moved. The survey will cost between $500 and $900.
In addition, the Council allowed councilmen Matthew Hammond and Mark Scott to have minor cleanup and repairs around the village done at a cost of up to $2,500. Yenawine said the move would allow for small projects to be completed in a timely manner without waiting for Council approval, which can take a month or more.
Finally, the Council discussed ways to fit a more than $16,000 tree-trimming bill into the budget. Because of low rainfall last year and other factors, Scott said the village spent less than $1,000 to maintain trees. Therefore, the budget was cut to $3,000.
After recent rains, trees throughout the village are in need of trimming. Hammond said he would prefer to find room in the budget and have all the maintenance done at once rather than try to play catch up later. The Council agreed to look over the budget during a specially called meeting with the planning and zoning commission Wednesday.
That meeting was originally called to hammer out the final details in an agreement with Grayson Volente over a dispute about city ordinances.