Lenox Green Committee Defers PACE Vote, Eyes July Recommendation to Select Board

LENOX — June 10, 2026 — Lenox Green Committee defers PACE financing vote, targets July recommendation and August solar grant application. The committee met June 10 and agreed to table a formal vote on recommending that Lenox opt into the Massachusetts Property Assessed Clean Energy program until its July 8 meeting, after members said they needed more time to review program materials. PACE allows commercial, industrial, and multifamily property owners to finance energy upgrades through a betterment assessment on their taxes, repaid over up to 20 years and transferable to new owners at sale; five Berkshire towns — Lee, Great Barrington, Pittsfield, Lanesboro, and North Adams — have already opted in. The committee also received an update on a roughly $1 million Green Communities grant application expected to be submitted to the state Department of Energy Resources in August, with a same-day call scheduled with DOER's Green Communities Division director and deputy director. Member Laura pressed for the committee's previously approved sustainable purchasing policy — bypassed when the town recently evaluated a commercial lawn mower, with battery costs adding roughly $6,000 to the electric option — to be formally codified by the Select Board, and the chair agreed to circulate a revised draft with a new product-disposal sentence before the July meeting.