After adopting a new building code at the October Town Meeting that would make Dartmouth more enviro-friendly by state standards, town officials are now looking for official designation as a "green community."

The designation would make the town eligible for state monies, according to Town Administrator David Cressman, but the application is due November 21.

According to the state Energy and Environmental Affairs site, "green community" designation means that the state helps municipalities find clean energy solutions, which in turn reduces long-term energy costs and strengthens local economy.

Dartmouth has made energy-saving changes, including updating Town Hall to LED lighting, and adding boiler and air conditioning improvements. Lights have also been updated at the Council on Aging and Southworth Library.

"The Town of Dartmouth, when they switched to LED, had huge savings," said Cressman.

Many town buildings date to the 1950s and 60s, he said, which means the structural engineering has diminished. Buildings don't have room for solar panels, have costly fixes (like the $4.25 million roof for the middle school), and require personnel to shovel snow off of buildings in a bad winter.

The Select Board, School Committee, and Finance Committee rushed to approve an energy reduction plan on November 14 — due to the fast coming deadline — but with a completed proposal coming in relatively late, there was some pushback.

"I'm all for saving energy, but this commits us to prioritize energy-saving projects," said School Committee Vice Chair Shannon Jenkins. She said the proposal conflicts with the committee's mission to best serve students first.

"I think there's a lot of flexibility with this. What we need to do is present a plan, but the plan is not written in stone," said Cressman. He suggested the committees pass it with the understanding that it could later be revised. Otherwise, the application would be delayed until next year, costing the town opportunities for up to $200,000 in grant monies that could fund some of the energy improvements, said Cressman.

Dartmouth Public School Business Administrator Jim Kiely said it was worth accepting as long as the plan was flexible. There are some projects that public schools already supports, some that it might support in the future, and some that it absolutely wouldn't support, he said.

Ultimately, the School Committee approved the plan 4-1, while both the Select Board and Finance Committee approved it unanimously.