City Council Work Session

CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION Cedar Falls Duke Young Conference Room November 18, 2019 The City Council held a special work session in the Duke Young Conference room at 5:10 p.m. on November 18, 2019, with the following persons in attendance: Mayor Jim Brown, Tom Blanford, Susan deBuhr, Rob Green, Daryl Kruse, Mark Miller, and David Wieland. Staff members attended from all City Departments, as well as members of the community. Mayor Brown then introduced the first item on the agenda, Long-term Climate Action Plan. Ron Gaines, City Administrator stated a working Climate Action committee was formed since the June presentation by Eric Giddens from UNI- CEEE. He stated the committee has met six times, and reviewed what other Iowa cities are doing and stated they have a lot of initiatives going on around the City of Cedar Falls. Mr. Gaines stated the committee and CEEE both recommend to continue on with the process and hire a consultant. Mr. Gaines stated the CIP will include requests for the consultant. He stated this is a larger project than CEEE would like to coordinate. He stated CFU and the City are cost sharing a Level 2 charging station on 2nd Street and exploring a Level 3 station at a Main Street location. Other recommendations include adding a Planner position to help coordinate the Climate Action Plan and in addition to their planning projects, also the City will work with CFU to complete an energy audit of all of its buildings. Mayor Brown opened it for discussion. Councilmember Kruse asked about the cost for a consultant. Jennifer Rodenbeck Director of Finance & Business Operations stated based on information they received from Iowa City and Dubuque a consultant will range from $70,000-80,000 and we would expect to have a study completed in 9 months. Council discussed community input. Mr. Gaines stated the current committee is a working committee and not a public meeting. He also said this can be a topic for Goal Setting in December. David Wieland motioned to move the presented Climate Action Plan recommendations to Goal Setting in December. Daryl Kruse seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously. There being no further discussion, Daryl Kruse motioned to adjourn the work session, Frank Darrah seconded the motion, and the motion carried unanimously. Mayor Brown adjourned the meeting at 5:30 p.m. Minutes by Lisa Roeding, Controller/City Treasurer