MARION — After passing one of the measures required to become a Green Community at Monday’s Town Meeting and with an Oct. 26 deadline to submit an application to become a green community looming, the Board of Selectmen held a Green Community Special Meeting to pass the last two measures necessary on Oct. 25. 

Green Community status requires that Marion pass five different criteria and would make the town eligible for a variety of grants related to energy usage. The town had passed three of those criteria after Monday’s meeting, but still needed to pass drafts an Energy Reduction Plan and Fuel Efficient Vehicle Policy.

There were few questions on the policies, and no one there to comment from the public. 

The Fuel Efficient Vehicle Policy would require the town to purchase fuel efficient vehicles when it comes time to replace current town vehicles. 

One board member raised a concern that police cruisers, which need to be able to go faster than average vehicles to pull people over, might be negatively impacted by fuel efficiency standards. 

However Seth Pickering, the Green Communities Division Southeast Regional Coordinator, who attended the meeting to provide feedback on the requirements and process, said that cruisers would not be impacted. They are currently exempt, as all but four of the town vehicles are. 

“It hasn’t been an issue or problem in the 210 other communities that have become green communities,” Pickering said. 

Board members also expressed concerns about being able to find fuel efficient vehicles when it came time to purchase more. However Pickering was able to dispel those fears. 

“There are five makes and models in every category that are available through state procurement processes,” he explained. 

When it came to the energy reduction plan, most of the issues raised by the board were things that they perceived as factual errors about smaller details. Town Planner Gil Hilario had asked how many water pumping systems there are in town and was told there were none, but board members could think of six. 

However Pickering explained that the most important part was to simply get the application in. After submission, the Department of Energy Resources will review the application and identify things that need to be fixed. They will then respond to the town and give them about 10 days to to get back with changes before the final review in a few weeks. Small factual errors like the number of water pumping stations will be caught in that review. 

Board members noted that Sippican School is the biggest user of energy, solely because of the building’s size. However Pickering says that this often happens with school buildings, and that if the town includes Sippican School the benchmark, the overall total for energy usage may be very close to the school’s total. 

Hilario will finalize the two documents and send them in as part of the application on Friday, Oct. 26.