Troy’s Joint Task Force on Sustainability and Climate Smart Practices spent more than a year trying to get officially recognized by the Mantello Administration. The Administration never responded. While it waited, $837,000 in match-free NYSERDA clean energy grants went uncollected, a municipal solar farm sat abandoned, and the street tree committee was eliminated.
Match-free meant no city funding required. Only administration sign-off. That sign-off never came.
What the Task Force Built Without Help
The task force was a volunteer body operating without city recognition. Acting chair Daniel Morisy described the situation at the January 8, 2026 public forum. Through the NYS Clean Energy Communities program, the group had accumulated enough qualifying points to access $837,000 in grants. An EV charging grant worth up to $500,000 was also within reach, with additional utility infrastructure funding potentially available beyond that.
None of it could advance without formal recognition of the task force’s existence.
Morisy listed what was also lost: the municipal solar farm had been abandoned and the street tree committee had been eliminated. Former Council Member TJ Kennedy noted that a functioning sustainability task force would need a designated city staff member to coordinate its work. That designation had never been made.
More than a year of unpaid volunteer work. No response.
What the New Council Did
At the March 19, 2026 Finance Meeting, the council passed two resolutions: Resolution 36, formally recognizing and appointing members to the sustainability task force, and Resolution 37, establishing a Climate Smart Community Task Force and appointing Harris Eisenhart as coordinator. Both passed 7-0.
Council Member Favreau thanked task force members for more than a year of unpaid volunteer work done without city recognition.
The resolutions added approximately 30 additional certification points toward DEC Climate Smart Communities bronze certification, which requires 120 points. Troy had already crossed that threshold through existing city actions: LED streetlights, traffic signal upgrades, the farmers market, a complete streets code, and a greenhouse gas inventory. Bronze certification would make Troy eligible for the same Climate Smart Communities grants that had been on the table for more than a year while the task force waited for someone to return their calls.
There is an entity for this purpose. The Administration chose not to use it. The new council fixed that in one meeting.
Sources: Troy City Council Regular Meeting, January 8, 2026 (transcript); Troy City Council Committee Night and Finance Meeting, March 19, 2026 (transcript)