Deputy Fire Chief John Rigney speaks to the board at his appointment as the next chief. DPW Director Sean Van Deusen and retiring Fire Chief John Dearborn sit behind him.
Photo credit: Longmeadow TV
LONGMEADOW — The Longmeadow Select Board approved the appointment of Deputy Fire Chief John Rigney as the new head of the Fire Department upon Chief John Dearborn’s retirement in November.
At the board’s Oct. 10 meeting, Town Manager Lyn Simmons explained that Rigney had been with the town’s Fire Department since 1998, beginning as a firefighter. Previously, he worked in Colchester, Vermont, as a firefighter. Rigney has risen through the ranks of the department becoming deputy fire chief in 2023. He is currently enrolled in a chief fire officer manager program through the University of Massachusetts. At the end of the 14-week program, Rigney will have the highest certification available to fire personnel in Massachusetts.
“One of the most important things with this position is that we are selecting someone who is a person of integrity, that has not only the trust of the department but of the town and I can say that I feel that this is true here,” Select Board Chair Vineeth Hemavathi said.
All the board members shared similar sentiments regarding the choice of Rigney as the next fire chief. Select Board member Josh Levine said that he had hoped that Rigney would take up the mantle when Dearborn announced his retirement. He said the deputy chief was well respected by the crew. Select Board member Dan Zwirko added, “I couldn’t think of a better person.”
Municipal aggregate electricity
After considering a public hearing on municipal aggregate electricity supply at the Sept. 16 Select Board meeting, the board selected an option that would bring residents lower, more stable energy bills, while also increasing the amount of electricity that is sourced from renewable resources.
Of the state’s 351 municipalities, 170 now use an aggregated electricity supply, rather than relying on the service through their electric utility. Aggregated electricity supply takes advantage of bulk purchasing power to negotiate lower electricity supply prices. It also allows customers to choose how much of their energy supply is generated using solar, wind or other renewable sources. The electrical transmission cost, billing services, maintenance and outage repair will still be handled by Eversource, which owns the power infrastructure in Longmeadow.
Longmeadow selected Good Energy as its consultant on the program. The option selected by the board will automatically place electric customers in a structure that sources 10% more electricity from renewable sources than is required by the state. People can also choose to step down to a “basic” level that adheres only to the state’s 62.3% renewable energy requirement or step up to a “plus” level that receives 100% of the power from renewables.
In Belchertown, the electrical supply costs associated with this plan were a “standard” 13.31 cents per kilowatt hour, a “basic” 12.96 cents per kWh or a “plus” rate of 14.31 cents per kWh. All of these prices are lower than the supply cost of 18.21 per kWh from National Grid, which supplies electricity in Belchertown.
All members of the board agreed that this structure was the best option for Longmeadow, except Select Board member Mark Gold, who said that the state minimum should be the standard. The other members, however, said there was little cost difference between the state minimum and the 10% level and people could easily step down if they so desired.
Residents have several ways to opt out of the aggregated program, including the prepaid postcard sent to homes, online, by calling the programmed customer service line, by calling Eversource’s customer service or enrolling in another supplier.
