Environmental Performance Standards Advisory Committee

City Hall City of Harrisonburg 409 South Main Street Harrisonburg, VA 22801 Meeting Minutes - Final Environmental Performance Standards Committee Wednesday, January 27, 2021 5:00 PM Virtual 1. Call To Order 2. Welcome and Introductions 3. Nomination and Election of Chair and Vice-Chair Nomination and Election of Chair and Vice-Chair Kelly asked for nominations for Chair. Doug Hendren nominated Deirdre Longacher Smeltzer to continue on as Chair. Joy Loving seconded. Motion passed unanimously. At this point Deirdre took over running the meeting as Chair. Deirdre opened the nominations for Vice Chair. Tom Benevento nominated Mikaela Schmitt-Harsh as Vice Chair. Nomination seconded by Doug Hendren. Motioned passed unanimously. 4. New Business Meeting Summary Prepared by Trina Mastran, Sustainability and Environmental Manager 4.a. Purpose of the Environmental Performance Standards Advisory Committee Tom H. stated the Purpose of the Environmental Performance Standards Advisory Committee. Thanh reviewed that City Council adopted EPSAC bylaws in late 2016, first group of EPSAC Cohort began meeting in 2017. The bylaws provide the purpose and responsibility of EPSAC. Thanh highlighted area for clarity which included: What is the EPSAC Role? As stated in the bylaws the EPSAC Role is advisory to City Council and Staff. Specifically, all matters pertaining to the development and implementation of the Environmental Action Plan (EAP) and to other environmental issues of concern to the community. Thanh opened up for questions. Laura Dent asked for confirmation that the first phase (Phase I) was completed as a working document and that Phase II/III are in progress. Thanh stated that was correct and that Tom H. would provide more detail. Jeff Heie asked where we stood on membership of the committee, was it completely full? How many positions will be open next year when members’ terms expire? Thanh replied that Council appointed 12 members; 4 members each to the one, two and 3 year City of Harrisonburg Page 1 Printed on 5/10/2021 Environmental Performance Meeting Minutes - Final January 27, 2021 Standards Committee terms so that rotation and appointment of members in the future for three year terms would be staggered. With the addition of one Council Member and one School Board Member the committee has 14 members and is full. The member names and their respective terms will be put up on the EPSAC webpage. 4.b. Staffing Updates Tom H. shared with the Committee recent staff updates. Rebecca Stimson left the City in September of 2020. She was the Environmental Compliance Manager in Public Works. She managed the Stormwater Programs and helped with the EAP. When she left the City re-evaluated her position and in accordance with the EAP Strategy to hire a Sustainability Manager. In conversation with the City Manager it was decided to expand Rebecca’s old position to include Sustainability. The title was changed to Sustainability and Environmental Manager so the City could better address both. The City wanted to bring someone on board with technical expertise to assist with sustainability and to help guide staff through the EAP implementation and existing stormwater programs and compliance. The City worked on this effort in September, October, November, and advertised the new position, and were successful in finding a candidate. You met her, Trina Mastran. She will be joining the City on February 22nd to be our Sustainability and Environmental Manager as part of Public Works. We are excited to have her on board and that change will bring a new dynamic to the group. There will be more horsepower to assist City Staff as the City moves forward into working on Phase II & III of the EAP. He went on to discuss other staff changes including: Adam Wright, the City’s Facility Manager, who managed City Hall, Transit Facility and who was beginning to work in the Public Safety Building in the areas of maintenance and energy efficiency. Adam left the City in November of 2020. City staff and the City Manager’s Office are working to revamp that position and had hoped to advertise it by mid-February. Adam was leading the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Inventory for EPSAC with Dr. McGinnis. When Adam left, Keith transitioned over to that and will give an update. Keith and Kelly were brought on last summer to help with Phase II because it was a heavy lift for us. They were working on trying to develop more clear guidelines on what we measure and how we measure it. Keith has focused by working on trying to make it presentable and consumable. We found the City has done a lot of work from a sustainability perspective but just hasn’t been good at sharing it and we are trying to figure out how we can better do that. Kelly is our outreach and communications person and she will assist in fostering how we share outcomes and our efforts for the EAP. Even though this is an Action Plan for the City this is something that can be used as an information tool for our citizens. Donna asked how do the Focus Area (FA) Groups meet? Tom replied that to date it has been adhoc or when staff need input. We have a staff person who is a liaison to each FA Group. We have done both in person meetings and virtual meetings. There is no formal process. FA Groups have met on their own and provided staff feedback. 4.c. History of Environmental Action Plan and Future Plans City of Harrisonburg Page 2 Printed on 5/10/2021 Environmental Performance Meeting Minutes - Final January 27, 2021 Standards Committee Tom H. further explained in 2016 we were talking about environmental performance and then in 2017 the Committee was formed. We started working together as group. The first couple of meetings we learned a lot, about HEC, Dillon’s Rule1, and buildings. We did information gathering to better determine what we thought an environmental action plan would look like for the City. In October of 2018 the City Staff and EPSAC presented to City Council and asked City Council to direct staff to develop a City Environmental Action Plan with the EPSAC being an advisory to the creation of that plan. They gave Staff a target of 6 months to get that written. City Council approved that effort. In June of 2019 we had our public engagement meeting/period where we shared the plan and focus areas. We utilized public input and completed the EAP Phase I and it was adopted by Council in January of 2020. This document laid out the 6 Focus Areas with Goal statements and Strategies with action items. Staff decided to develop Phase II which is a data gathering phase for building baselines, especially our Greenhouse Gas (GHG) inventory. Benchmarks would be set so we can establish reductions/goals to be achieved. Tom H. also noted that Phase II will not be completed at the same time in all focus areas. Not all items will take the same time to gather data etc. Phase II and Phase III will occur at the same time. Phase III is where we set our targets. Some items will take longer than others to obtain and develop baseline data to set Phase III goals and targets. We want to set realistic goals but goals which still provide an acceptable level of improvement and towards a more sustainable City. Thanh mentioned that we don’t have a Phase II/III schedule yet. Tom H. said that Trina will bring in the ability to spearhead some of these initiatives, which will be great for Keith and Kelly to work with. Joy Loving asked if there was any plan or time tables as to how long this plan would stay in effect. Tom H. stated that we never looked at this as a finite amount of time. We look at this as achieving a target/goal. Some things don’t move fast. Some items will require years to see gains and are less aggressive. Thanh stated that targets are in some cases a decrease or increase by a year. We haven’t started working with targets yet. This will vary for the different goals and targets. Tom H. stated that staff would likely look at other municipal environmental action plans to assist in establishing what to measure and what targets to set. Doug stated concerns as to how will we set targets in the middle of a crisis. He wondered whether we should consider adding one small thing for review of goals from time to time. Maybe a short statement in the EAP stating EPSAC should review/revise. Thanh stated that generally Comprehensive Plans are reviewed every 5 years. Amendments can be made in those off years. A review of every 5 years is a good goal/practice. There is an opportunity to make amendments. Deirdre reiterated that we should flag this for future actions. Trina stated that this is a longterm plan and while we achieved the goals we could look at improving goals and adding new goals. 4.d. Renewable Energy Thanh reviewed that in November of 2020 Council adopted a resolution in favor of City of Harrisonburg Page 3 Printed on 5/10/2021 Environmental Performance Meeting Minutes - Final January 27, 2021 Standards Committee Harrisonburg transitioning to renewable energy by 2035. Resolution was presented to Council Members by the 50 by 25 Campaign. Thanh stated she had not seen the resolution until after its adoption and she is still digesting it and looks forward to discussing it with the Committee. The resolution will help us in setting goals and targets in the EAP. Councilwoman Dent stated that as a Council Member she is already utilizing this resolution as an ethically binding guideline for our decisions. Thanh continued stating the resolution communicates to staff what the Council’s priorities are with respect to renewable energy. Tom H. and Thanh met with City Attorney, Chris Brown, regarding the resolution and what the City’s authority is. He is researching that and keep in mind that the City’s authority may be impacted by the State’s regulations. One observation that Thanh mentioned regarding the resolution is that it referred to the Clean Economy Act which actually focuses on Carbon Free Energy and not Renewable Energy. Also, one of the goals in the EAP is to encourage producers of electricity to include more Carbon Free sources and within it strategies for more Renewable Energy. Mikaela asked who made the resolution and how did it come about? She mentioned that EPSAC was advocating for this for a long time. Thanh asked Tom B. if he could provide more insight since he is part of the 50 by 25 campaign. Tom B. stated that this was something the community worked on with Councilmember Richard Baugh who was on the 50 by 25 Campaign steering committee. They had feedback from citizens and other stakeholders and then brought the resolution to Council. Doug stated that there were City and the municipal owned utility issues that had to be worked out by Council and not City staff. Doug stated the resolution elevated the conversation but has not clarified it and that the resolution was an opportunity to expand scope that was developed in the EAP but was unclear as to how this would be done. Deirdre agreed that the resolution does not really fit in to a focus area and questioned as to how the resolution works with what EPSAC is doing regarding energy. Tom B. followed with that the resolution wasn’t designed to come back with EPSAC per se. The EAP is the municipal plan but wanted to acknowledge that one of the tasks in Buildings & Energy (FA1), Goal 1 had a task regarding Partnering and Advocacy and that this does address part of what the resolution states. How much of the resolution is actually addressed in the scope of the Phase I of the EAP? Donna made several comments and believes there are boundary issues and that it is in fact hard to compartmentalize environmental concerns but realizes there are civic (municipal) boundaries. She acknowledged that when climate change happens simultaneously with other events such as the pandemic there are no boundaries. Stated she was excited about the resolution and liked it being attached to EPSAC. Would like to develop a similar document for food. Joy stated that she assumed EPSAC would be looking at the resolution and that it could be a game changer for the City because of the lofty goals in a short timeframe. We would have to be thinking about targets and the approaches that not just address the current relationship the City has with its current utility provider but think about ways to achieve the targets such as the community getting renewable energy. There are grant opportunities such as R.E.A.P.2 and nonprofits that can assist the City in getting City of Harrisonburg Page 4 Printed on 5/10/2021 Environmental Performance Meeting Minutes - Final January 27, 2021 Standards Committee those dollars. Jeff Heie referenced an article in the local online newspaper where Brian O’Dell was quoted as to saying he wasn’t sure what the resolution means. He was looking for direction from the City regarding the resolution. Tom B. stated it was unclear to him as to who would provide that direction to Brian and he shared the news article link in the web-chat to EPSAC members. Deirdre asked if there were any other questions. Doug stated that those of us in the Buildings and Energy FA Group will at least do our best at thinking about the resolution and how we might approach it. Councilwoman Dent raised the question to Tom H. and Thanh if we should repurpose this focus area to expand to renewable energy. This would require changing this focus area. She felt it was appropriate. Andy Kohen agreed with Councilwoman Dent. He stated that the school system needs to be engaged in the conversation regarding renewable energy. He has resumed the conversation regarding solar energy (Bluestone Elementary was constructed with a roof that is “solar panel ready” and the High School is to be constructed with a roof that is also “solar panel ready”). Deirdre stated that the Buildings and Energy FA Group can be tasked with seeing how the resolution fits in with the tasks of that focus area. Tom B. wanted to add that part of the resolution was designed so that voices from the broader community, including low-income and minority groups are represented. Deirdre asked whether we agreed that Building and Energy FA Group can review the resolution and see how it fits. Councilwoman Dent suggested changing the title of the FA1 to include renewable energy and maybe that can be the Buildings and Energy FA Group’s first homework. Deirdre suggested perhaps to bring any recommendations back to EPSAC’s next meeting. Tom H. wanted to clarify the expectations as to the assignment. Stated that the resolution would be reviewed to see how it fits into the context of the EAP Phase I, FA1. Tom H. explained that Staff were already working on data collection and possible targets for this focus area. He advised that changes to Phase I would impact work on Phase II with changes possibly having to be made to Phase II. He advised that we had to be cognizant of any text amendments to the EAP. Phases I, II and III have to be in alignment. Thanh mentioned the tracking document and if everyone understood the terms in tracking document. That there were multiple terms used and that it might be confusing. Deirdre stated that it would be good to have everyone understand the terms and definitions. Keith stated the definitions are in the Phase I document. 4.e. Focus Area Assignments Kelly provided the spreadsheet of the focus areas with assigned EPSAC members and explained the chart. The chart included staff leads, other staff members, EPSAC members and community members. Land Use and Green Spaces and Water Resources are two focus areas which could use members. Marc Lemmond volunteered to be a member of both of those groups. Donna volunteered for Land Use & Greenspace FA Group. Councilwoman Dent volunteered to be on Building and Energy FA Group and Land Use & Green Space FA Group and potentially City of Harrisonburg Page 5 Printed on 5/10/2021 Environmental Performance Meeting Minutes - Final January 27, 2021 Standards Committee Sustainable Transportation FA Group. Doug is on Sustainable Transportation FA Group and Buildings & Energy FA Group and asked to be taken off of Waste Reduction & Recycling FA Group. Mauwia DaMes volunteered to join Land Use & Green Space FA Group as well as Buildings & Energy FA Group. He has been involved with the resolution and Building and Energy FA Group. Doug noted that we had a volunteer member category as advisor and suggested that we might include that as a category for all Focus Areas on our “EAP Focus Areas & Members List”. Another EPSAC Member asked if this document will be made available to the EPSAC Committee; there are two absentee members who might be interested in volunteering. Kelly asked if we should cap the number of members in group. Thanh was not concerned about that. Felt that members could decide if they had time to participate in whatever they wanted to. Jeff Heie wanted to see what others thought about making this Excel document editable by all of us particularly in the sense of identifying community resource people who have particular expertise in these areas. Councilwoman Dent thought this was a great idea and suggested we put this in a Google document. Tom B. said he thought it was a great idea. Kelly stated she could do that. Doug noted that Brad had to sign off early and that he was a professional expert in water resources. He wanted to give those EPSAC members who signed off the opportunity to weigh in on what groups they were interested in. Thanh asked Jeff to elaborate on what he meant as advisor/resource. He had no strong opinion on what we would specifically ask of advisors/resource people but felt there were community leaders and experts on these topic areas who would be a great resource. Thanh said it would be helpful then to develop this list with people we could engage with if we wanted to. Councilwoman Dent asked if we could include the community resource people’s contact information. Tom H. stated there would not be a problem including the resource person’s e-mail information providing the person gave their permission to do so. Thanh stated that Kelly did send out a roster with all staff e-mail information. Kelly would follow up with Google Docs information. 4.f. Progress Update: Phase II Keith reviewed GHG Inventory update. We had hired Dr. McGinnis of VA Tech to work on this inventory and as well to train staff to log information in the future. Due to COVID, the schedule has been extended to do this work. The Phase II Tracking document goal was to help staff organize thoughts on each goal: what data to collect, how we collect it etc. We are still working through it. We added a lot of comments to it. We are going to clean it up and clarify items in the future. It will show what we are measuring and why. We will have a section for definitions, rationale for why we are measuring what we are. What baseline data we have and status of data. We are using 2016 and 2019 baseline data for GHG Inventory. We will gather data in the future at defined frequencies to measure progress. We will be reaching out to the Focus Area Groups as needed. Keith showed an example of a Dashboard for Blacks Run Cleanup where one could see charts, a map of locations and number of pounds of trash collected and number City of Harrisonburg Page 6 Printed on 5/10/2021 Environmental Performance Meeting Minutes - Final January 27, 2021 Standards Committee of volunteers. The Dashboard can show historical data and trends and more. Notes can be added as well. The ability to sign up for a group cleanup by clicking on Dashboard is available as well. There was some talk about how statutory requirements were a minimum requirement. We have been working to develop additional measurements besides a yes/no compliance for these types of requirements. Deirdre wanted to confirm that for most of the Focus Area Groups there is not going to be a lot of meetings called but we should be attentive to feedback and tasks which would come by way of email. The exception may be the Buildings & Energy FA Group. Tom H. reiterated this is mostly because we are transitioning staff with the resignation of Adam and Rebecca and the onboarding of new staff. We are bringing Trina on board and bringing her up to speed and working through all the comments we have had on the documents already. That will take a little longer but we are going to push hard until our next meeting so we can provide a more substantial update where perhaps we can come closer to having committee meetings to finalize Phase II. Councilwoman Dent had a question on when committee meetings would be set up. Keith stated that he and Kelly could begin to schedule these meetings. Tom H. suggested that meeting with Focus Area Groups to have a deep dive with staff involved would be good and then if there is some resulting homework for Focus Area Group members they could subsequently bring it back to EPSAC. Deirdre asked if there were any more questions on next steps or new business. No further questions and next meeting dates provided. 5. Adjournment 2021 Meeting Dates April 28, 2021 July 28, 2021 October 27, 2021 Adjourn The next regular meeting will be on Wednesday, April 28, 2021 City of Harrisonburg Page 7 Printed on 5/10/2021