Environmental Concerns Committee

Village of Lombard Village Hall 255 East Wilson Ave. Lombard, IL 60148 villageoflombard.org Minutes Tuesday, February 28, 2012 7:30 PM Lorraine G. Gerhardt Community Room Environmental Concerns Committee Trustee Mike Fugiel - Chairperson Trustee Reid Foltyniewicz - Alternate Chairperson Diana Lavaque, Nancy Schukat, Winnie Lyons, Darlene Bartt, Jason Cooper, Dustin Smith, Daniel Richardt and Dana Moreau Staff Liaison: Dave Gorman Environmental Concerns Minutes February 28, 2012 Committee 1.0 Call to Order and Pledge of Allegiance The meeting was called to order by Chairperson Fitzpatrick at 7:30 p.m. 2.0 Roll Call Present 6 - Trustee Laura Fitzpatrick, Jennifer Jendras, Winnie Lyons, Darlene Bartt, Jason Cooper, and Dustin Smith Absent 2 - Diana Urlaub, and Nancy Schukat Staff Present: Dave Gorman, Asst. Director of Public Works Paul Kuehnlenz, Civil Engineer 3.0 Public Participation Ms. Lonnie Morris, 209 W. Sunset Avenue Ms. Morris informed the committee members that there will be a Cool Cities workshop at the Helen Plum Library on Saturday. There will be several speakers addressing a variety of issues related to sustainability and what Cool Cities can do to meet the targets. She went on to mention that ComEd and Nicor have partnered to pool resources and implemented a program that includes a residential component and a small business component. Residents can arrange for a contractor to do a home energy audit for $99. One of the nice things about this program is they have vetted all of the contractors. Cooper commented that he had seen the flyer. Ms. Morris added that the three of the members of the Elmhurst Environmental Committee had the audit done and then they felt comfortable endorsing the program. They identified housing stock and they are going door to door. The Village could run information about it on the cable channel and put it on the website more prominently. Ms. Morris said that she was disappointed that the Village did not listen with a more open mind on the aggregation and that they did not speak with the depth of knowledge that she would expect from a public employee. Chairperson Fitzpatrick asked that staff bring more information to the next meeting. Village of Lombard Page 1 Environmental Concerns Minutes February 28, 2012 Committee Lyons spoke on behalf of Dan Hildebrand who was not in attendance. She informed the Committe that St. Pius is having a St. Vincent De Paul clothing drive Saturday 3:30 pm-7:30 pm and Sunday 7:30 am-1 pm. She also reported that the store in Green Mills is now taking electronics. St. Pius is having a medicine collection in May. 4.0 Approval of Minutes A motion was made by Cooper, seconded by Jendras, that the Minutes of the January 24, 2012 meeting be approved. The motion passed by an unanimous vote. 5.0 Unfinished Business 050616 Current Solid Waste Contract - Update Gorman handed out an update from Mike Brink. 120039 2012 Recycling Extravaganza Gorman explained that the committee needs to decide which items will be accepted for recycling. One item that he would like to add is used clothing. He recently met with a representative from Goodwill at SCARCE. He was a regional executive and gave lots of information on how they're different. They process most of their stuff domestically and have a sizable job training program. They do immediate separation at the store, if not immediately good the items are sent to Racine for further separation. What doesn't go to the store for resale goes to the rag market. They want all clothes; worn out, stained, etc. They also burn polyesters for fuel. Polyesters have a high enough energy output that it pays to burn them. Even things with buttons and zippers. It's become a very technical field. He added that as far as logistics, they could be located in the Public Works parking lot, where the document shredder was previously. Cooper asked if they are not-for-profit. Gorman answered that they are. Gorman reminded the committee members that the Village signed on with VintageTech for monthly collection. There was a consensus among the committee members present to add used clothing to the Recycling Extravaganza. Village of Lombard Page 2 Environmental Concerns Minutes February 28, 2012 Committee 110650 Local Climate Action Plan and Electricity Aggregation Update Chairperson Fitzpatrick explained that although the Committee's recommendation went to the Board, they opted not to add the language to the RFP. She went on to add that whenever we're in a time crunch things generally do not work out very well. The committee was not able to do due diligence and staff was not ready for the recommendation, being concerned it would complicate the process and reduce the amount of bidders. Cooper commented that it seemed that staff at the time thought that it was feasible. Gorman replied that at the time we thought it was, however, if the Village is pooling with other communities it may be an issue. Cooper added that he was heartened by the fact that several of the trustees were interested that the bidders fully disclose their energy sources and they said if the pricing was close they would take it into consideration. He further added that he would like to be there to see if we can make a point of putting value on sustainability. Morris interjected saying that in the northern suburbs there are seven communities going in together. They started much as Lombard; they are going to ask for the best price and the price for renewable and they are going to offer an option to the residents. Chairperson Fitzpatrick explained that as part of the agreement, residents can opt out. Jendras commented that when she worked for the USPS she put out RFPs and they often asked for different options. Maybe companies wouldn't be able to bid on a certain kind of energy, just by asking doesn't mean you would necessarily go with a particular option. It wasn't going to cost the Village anything, it would just be more information. Gorman replied that although the committee thought it would be offered as an alternate, the Finance Department didn't want to complicate it because it was a consortium bid, so the overall recommendation from staff was to make it standard. Cooper suggested that the Village is making the presumption that other communities are not having the same discussion we are. He thinks the opinions that we are formulting and decisions we are making you are going to see in other communities, so it would be to our advatage to have those alternates and work with the other communities. He went on to say that it is unfortunate that that we don't have a price column about shared costs for poor air and water quality. He added that he understands that the trustees seemed nervous and want to be cautions, but what they are failing to recognize is there is a burden that we are going to pay for having non-renewable energy. Chairperson Fitzpatrick responded that the RFP is so complicated to Village of Lombard Page 3 Environmental Concerns Minutes February 28, 2012 Committee start with and there are many layers. We had to write a referendum and are writing specs that a number of communities can be comfortable with. Gorman assured the committee members that in the recommendation from the Committee to the Board, it was made clear that the Committee understood that economics would drive the choice, but that renewable energy should be looked at as a tie-breaker. In essence that's what it's going to be, just the bid document won't say list 15 sources. Jendras suggested that the Village may want to make the facts better known. Bartt agreed that if the Village wants this to pass we need to educate the community. 6.0 New Business 120105 Mosquito Abatement Recommendation from the Environmental Concerns Committee to waive bids and award a contract to Clarke Environmental Mosquito Management in the amount of $88,710.00. Public Act 85-1295 does not apply. Gorman reviewed the memo. He added that there is another competitor out there and they do have the Chicago contract. However, it's not quite apples to apples and he has no qualms recommending that the Village stay with Clarke Environmental. Smith asked if there are there things we can do besides just treating these sites, perhaps spend the $88k on infrastructure improvements to correct the problems. Gorman answered that Nick Hatfield in Community Development does work with private property owners to take care of drainage issues. There have been blocks that have been solved by backyard drains, etc. He added that it's not that things are getting worse, it's just more have been identified. A lot of them are backyard catch basins. Those are private drains, but we still take care of them because they can produce mosquitos. Philisophically our program is based on disease vectors. Gorman gave an overview of mosquito abatement program. A motion was made by Lyons, seconded by Jendras, that this item be recommended to the Board of Trustees for approval. The motion passed by an unanimous vote. 120108 Sustainability Framework February 2013 - DRAFT Gorman reviewed the memo. The McDonald farm, which is owned by the Conservation Foundation, hosts field trips to show kids how to farm and they sell shares. Being in south Naperville it's too far for a lot of people to go there. They are trying to set up satellite locations. Village of Lombard Page 4 Environmental Concerns Minutes February 28, 2012 Committee Jeanne Angel from the Historical Society says on the face of it that she'd be happy to keep people longer to host a site at the Historical Society. We would like them open from 3 pm-7 pm so people can pick it up after work. Chairperson asked how much a market share costs. Gorman answered that it's about $600 and gives you about 3/4 bushel of vegetables per week during harvest season (May-November, 20 weeks). Staff would feel comfortable promoting it because they are not for profit and their mission is education. Bartt asked if it becomes popular do they have enough land to supply everyone. Jendras asked if it would be for Lombard residents only. Gorman replied that it would be for anyone. Bartt asked if there was any possibility to expand the community garden at Madison Meadows. Gorman answered that he has talked to the Park District and it does sell out immediately. They did say it would be nice to have more benches, but what they need is more space. Chairperson Fitzpatrick suggested that if there were parcels that the Village owned that we could just turn some soil over in the mean time. Chairperson Fitzpatrick asked that staff get a more detailed description of the program and if it does work out for the Historical Society to host it, the Village can advertise it. Cooper suggested that future action might be to reach out to restaurants in town to let them know where they can get locally grown food. Ultimately it would be great for restaurants to pull togther and form a cooperative. 7.0 Other Business 120107 Earth Hour Proclamation 8.0 Information Only 9.0 Adjournment A motion was made by Jendras, seconded by Bartt, to adjourn the meeting at 8:40 p.m. The motion passed by an unanimous vote. Village of Lombard Page 5