Sustainability Board

SUSTAINABILITY BOARD Minutes, November 15, 2021 1) CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 3:00 PM by Chair Valerie Guzman 2) ATTENDANCE Present: Valerie Guzman, Travis Holleman, Jimmy Mann, Karen Reynolds, Wanda Smith Absent: Chris Rasnic, Bert Singletary Also Present: Eric Bittner, Bill Harpel, Olivia Herron, Carly Sommers 3) APPROVAL OF MINUTES Mr. Holleman moved that the September 20, 2021 minutes be adopted. Ms. Smith seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 4) RULES AND PROCEDURES/BYLAWS DISCUSSION The Board reviewed the Ethics Commission and Montgomery County Green Certification Bylaws. The general consensus was that the Rules and Procedures/Bylaws must be clear, simple, and have a strong Mission Statement. The Bylaws must incorporate Resolution 55-2020-21 and incorporate item “A” for the Mission Statement(Raising awareness and educating City officials, employees and the public regarding sustainability concepts, ideas, trends, and the benefits of employing sustainability measures, and the costs of failing to pursue such measures). Ms. Reynolds asked that we ensure citizens are allowed to speak and confirmed that Board members can request a speaker. Per the Chair, speakers must be on the agenda and signed up through the City Clerk. Mr. Bittner agreed to take all discussion items back to the Legal Department to begin drafting bylaws for the Committee to review at the November meeting.  Ms. Smith made a motion to continue discussion of the bylaws to the November 15, 2021 meeting. Mr. Holleman seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 5) ADOPTION OF BYLAWS As the Bylaws are not ready to be adopted, the Board moved on to New Business. 6) NEW BUSINESS Mr. Mann shared with the Board a mechanism which can be used to look at the City’s facilities and compare usage by square footage. Perhaps this could even be a way to challenge the County. All agreed this would be a useful tool while working towards certification. Ms. Reynolds asked about the cost. Mr. Mann explained that while the report is free, an employee would be responsible for downloading the data into the report and will take time to build, so the cost associated would be city employee time. Ms. Reynolds suggested the Board look into what data is already generated and Mr. Harpel mentioned CDE and CGW already generate this data and that Finance build a grid to look at costs and usage times and perhaps this would be a good subcommittee item and that the allowance for subcommittees also needs to be included into the bylaws. Ms. Sommers agreed to put together a spreadsheet listing of all buildings under the City’s guise and what their uses are. Mr. Mann asked whether or not fleet vehicle mileage could be included as a benchmarking tool. Ms. Sommers said yes, but it also depends on the department and that certification really looks at energy, efficiencies and overall conservation. She said there is a point system and that we can add points after certification - start at bronze and then the City can work towards silver and gold utilizing those additional points. Chairperson Guzman asked that Ms. Sommers and Ms. Herron be added to the next agenda for updates and to also include a subcommittee discussion as well. Ms. Reynolds announced the clean up efforts along Needmore Rd. and that she is working with Joanne McIntosh regarding socializing hybrid and electric vehicles 7) ADJOURNMENT Councilperson Smith motioned for adjournment. Mr. Holleman seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Meeting adjourned at 4:00 pm ADOPTED: November 15, 2021