Sustainability Council

City of Lowell – Sustainability Council Lowell Sustainability Council Agenda Thursday, February 22, 2024, 6:30 pm Mayor’s Reception Room, City Hall, 375 Merrimack St, Lowell, MA 01852 & via Zoom Meeting: https://lowellma.zoom.us/meeting/tZMlcOGurzoqG9J8y6TgbUK5DexyigAHw8K3/ics?icsToken=9 8tyKuGvpjwiHNWUsBiBRpwEGo_CWe7zmH5fjfp3xAazNydRVyijEudaK7t4MfDH Meeting ID: 878 7861 1016 Passcode: 604786 Optional dial-in number: +1 646 558 8656 US Members Present • Jay R. Mason (Chair) • Greg Studwell • Brian Molanari • AnaCristina Fragoso (via Zoom) • Mikaela Hondros-McCarthy (via Zoom) • Cormac Hondros-McCarthy (via Zoom) Others Present • Katherine Moses, Sustainability Director • Paul St. Cyr, DPW Commissioner • Kevin Soleil I. Minutes for Approval January 25, 2024 Because meeting minutes were only circulated on the date of the meeting, Chair Mason suggested waiting to vote for approval for next month. Member C. Hondros-McCarthy and Member Fragoso agreed. Member C. Hondros-McCarthy noted that there are two locations on the City website for agendas. When you Google Lowell Sustainability Council, it takes you to the webpage that has agendas through 2023, but not beyond. Director Moses indicated that the agenda might have resided in the old website due to decisions by the previous Neighborhood Planner, but that the Sustainability Division is still working on getting editing access for that page, so the agenda was posted in the main agenda area where the City Council agendas are also posted. For next month, will work to post both places.  City of Lowell – Sustainability Council Lowell Sustainability Council Agenda Thursday, February 22, 2024, 6:30 pm Mayor’s Reception Room, City Hall, 375 Merrimack St, Lowell, MA 01852 & via Zoom Meeting: https://lowellma.zoom.us/meeting/tZMlcOGurzoqG9J8y6TgbUK5DexyigAHw8K3/ics?icsToken=9 8tyKuGvpjwiHNWUsBiBRpwEGo_CWe7zmH5fjfp3xAazNydRVyijEudaK7t4MfDH Meeting ID: 878 7861 1016 Passcode: 604786 Optional dial-in number: +1 646 558 8656 US II. New Business a. Heat Island Effect recommendations letter to the City - for a vote (Chair Mason) Chair Mason indicated that there was the Heat Island effect recommendation ready for a vote, but learned that this is something the City is already working on. Director Moses provided an update to the LSC on the status by noting the analysis previously conducted by the LSC around heat islands. This analysis, along with additional data was incorporated into the City’s Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness grant. The Sustainability Division is looking to roll the findings of that report out to City Council within the next few weeks. The Division has applied for another grant that would help to implement some of the recommendations included in the Urban Forest Master Plan. Currently, we are waiting to see if that grant is received before responding to City Council. What Director Moses recommended was, rather than sending a letter to the City Manager asking for an update, the Director can provide that update directly to the LSC, perhaps in the March agenda. Chair Mason, Member C. Hondros-McCarthy, and Member Fragoso agreed. Member M. Hondros-McCarthy suggested that if something was already being written up ahead of time, it might be helpful to provide to the LSC so the materials can be reviewed before the next meeting. Director Moses agreed and indicated that one of the things that the Sustainability Division hopes to do is to more closely integrate the work of the LSC and the Division. The goal would be to provide meeting minutes and supplementary information to the LSC two weeks prior to the next meeting. Chair Mason summarized the expected process going forward that in the second week of the month, meeting minutes would be circulated to the LSC, along with a one-page summary of things the Sustainability Division is working on. This would allow the Chair a week to review items and craft an agenda so that it can be posted in the appropriate timeframe. Director Moses expanded on the idea of the one-pager. Because there are so many different initiatives going on in the Sustainability Division, she thought it would be helpful to give a high-level overview of the projects to the LSC that can determine what the body would like to know more about, based on the LSC’s timelines and priorities. This should allow the collaboration to be more productive vs. having to go through the Neighborhood Planner  City of Lowell – Sustainability Council Lowell Sustainability Council Agenda Thursday, February 22, 2024, 6:30 pm Mayor’s Reception Room, City Hall, 375 Merrimack St, Lowell, MA 01852 & via Zoom Meeting: https://lowellma.zoom.us/meeting/tZMlcOGurzoqG9J8y6TgbUK5DexyigAHw8K3/ics?icsToken=9 8tyKuGvpjwiHNWUsBiBRpwEGo_CWe7zmH5fjfp3xAazNydRVyijEudaK7t4MfDH Meeting ID: 878 7861 1016 Passcode: 604786 Optional dial-in number: +1 646 558 8656 US under DPD to get sustainability updates. Now, those updates can directly come from the Division itself. Chair Mason said another aspect of that summary is that if the Chair is formulating the agenda, they can take some of the highlights of that summary and put them out as items of discussion for the next meeting, so that if the Division is working on a grant that has great potential, but needs more input or some outreach or some support that the LSC can offer, including a letter of support, that can be included in the agenda to make sure it gets addressed at the next meeting. III. Continued Business a. LSC budget request- follow up (Chair Mason) Director Moses said that $2000 figure was put in. In the middle of budget season right now, so those decisions will be made over the next few months. Chair Mason asked if additional information was needed to support that request. Commissioner St. Cyr indicated it would be helpful to have a better idea of what some of the uses would be for the budget request. Director Moses said high level requests were included in the meeting minutes for January. High level items included: funding to put on the Sustainability Summit, educational materials, and conference attendance. Commissioner St. Cyr indicated that having more details on the breakdown of requests would be helpful for ongoing budget discussions. Commissioner St. Cyr said it would also be helpful to see if other commissions had budgets to go to conferences and how do they spend any funds requested. Member Studwell pointed out that other boards and commissions have different functions. Where the LSC does more education and outreach, it might require different resources. Director Moses also pointed out that there might be existing funds, depending on the needs of the LSC. For example, if the LSC is going work where there might be overlap with the work the City’s Energy Advocate, Victor Vargas, some of those funds could also be leveraged. b. LSC Goals for 2024 (Body)  City of Lowell – Sustainability Council Lowell Sustainability Council Agenda Thursday, February 22, 2024, 6:30 pm Mayor’s Reception Room, City Hall, 375 Merrimack St, Lowell, MA 01852 & via Zoom Meeting: https://lowellma.zoom.us/meeting/tZMlcOGurzoqG9J8y6TgbUK5DexyigAHw8K3/ics?icsToken=9 8tyKuGvpjwiHNWUsBiBRpwEGo_CWe7zmH5fjfp3xAazNydRVyijEudaK7t4MfDH Meeting ID: 878 7861 1016 Passcode: 604786 Optional dial-in number: +1 646 558 8656 US Chair Mason was excited to see everyone participate with the goals matrix. There were 4 items that received 16 or more votes each. Would like to find a way to democratically move forward with execution of LSC’s agenda for the year, while also recognizing there are skill sets and interests that may tweak priorities a little bit. For example, Kevin has expressed an interest in bike mobility, although it only received 11 votes. We have other things going on in the City around bike mobility, like Go Lowell. Also would like to highlight communication – only received 10 or 11 votes. Talked about having a newsletter. The City is looking to create a communications program through the website. Member Fragoso asked if her three points from the subcommittee for landlords could be added to the communications since it overlaps. Director Moses pointed out that one of the LSC’s top priorities is weatherization and that reaching out to landlords is a subset of that goal. Member M. Hondros-McCarthy agreed. She added that things that were already voted on as a council should stay on the standing agenda. But, if someone has something they want to focus on that, they aren’t prohibited from working on that. There might be opportunities that come up that the LSC could focus on that are more specific and might not fall into the larger prioritized buckets and that is ok. Member Fragoso, Chair Mason, and Member C. Hondros-McCarthy agreed. Chair Mason asked whether there should be a champion for each of the top 4 items to put the structure together for moving forward and how to achieve action in that area. Number 1 point-getting idea is collaborating with Sustainability Division. Director Moses indicated that she was excited to see that this collaboration is a top priority and is excited to see what that looks like. One of the things suggested was providing the LSC with a one-pager monthly with the circulated meeting minutes with the kinds of grants that the City is either actively managing are applying for, are waiting to hear back from, or are investigating but haven’t applied for yet. Information would also be included on ways that we are supporting our non-profit community, community-based organizations, and educational institutions. Director Moses asked if this is something to be used as a jumping off person, rather than having a designated person leading the effort. Member Fragoso liked the idea. Asked if LSC would be helping to write grants.  City of Lowell – Sustainability Council Lowell Sustainability Council Agenda Thursday, February 22, 2024, 6:30 pm Mayor’s Reception Room, City Hall, 375 Merrimack St, Lowell, MA 01852 & via Zoom Meeting: https://lowellma.zoom.us/meeting/tZMlcOGurzoqG9J8y6TgbUK5DexyigAHw8K3/ics?icsToken=9 8tyKuGvpjwiHNWUsBiBRpwEGo_CWe7zmH5fjfp3xAazNydRVyijEudaK7t4MfDH Meeting ID: 878 7861 1016 Passcode: 604786 Optional dial-in number: +1 646 558 8656 US Member C. Hondros-McCarthy said that goal is more closely tied to the Chair. Chair Mason agreed with the assessment that the Chair would take up the responsibility on that. K. Soleil asked how much time would need to be budgeted to review these items and how would others contribute if they felt that there was an important piece that would need to be considered by the LSC. Director Moses answered that the timing for bringing up such things would be between the time the summary was created and when the Chair sends out the next draft meeting agenda. Member C. Hondros-McCarthy asked about the process and how it relates to grants., For example, if there is a grant that the City is applying for and just submitted, how difficult is it to send a working draft of the grant for the LSC to look at in more depth because sometimes the summary doesn’t give you much information. Director Moses indicated that it depends on the grant and what stage of it the City is in. There is generally a designated grant writer but there may be different pieces needed from other team members. A lot of times, the elements of the application are not completed until the final weeks and days before the grant is due. Some grants can also be lengthy (for example, 15-page narrative for a federal grant). Not sure if it is feasible/reasonable for a volunteer group to read through the grant and time might not allow for the full vetting. The grant projects chosen are also many times depending on points available and what would make the grants most competitive. Director Moses also talked about an internal process where municipal departments to through with the Grants Committee. It is a one-pager that has more detailed information. Member C. Hondros-McCarthy said the intent is getting access to more information in real time to allow for greater collaboration. Chair Mason indicated it might be a process of development over time and the first summary may be different than the sixth or seventh summary. We can’t get it perfect the first time, but starting with a summary to the Chair will help to create an agenda that can build on what has happened the previous month. Member M. Hondros-McCarthy said having the information ahead of time through email gives the LSC time to see the information ahead of time to formulate questions so that you  City of Lowell – Sustainability Council Lowell Sustainability Council Agenda Thursday, February 22, 2024, 6:30 pm Mayor’s Reception Room, City Hall, 375 Merrimack St, Lowell, MA 01852 & via Zoom Meeting: https://lowellma.zoom.us/meeting/tZMlcOGurzoqG9J8y6TgbUK5DexyigAHw8K3/ics?icsToken=9 8tyKuGvpjwiHNWUsBiBRpwEGo_CWe7zmH5fjfp3xAazNydRVyijEudaK7t4MfDH Meeting ID: 878 7861 1016 Passcode: 604786 Optional dial-in number: +1 646 558 8656 US don’t have to wait another month. The schedule will condense meetings to help the LSC be more focused. Chair Mason suggested if anyone interested in talking about weatherization goal, would need to keep the number to three to stay within the sub-committee level. Director Moses said that there is work that is being done through Energy Advocate’s work that might have a connection the larger group would be interested in. As an example, at the end of the month, a community-wide letter will be dropping for all 1-4 unit homes in Lowell to make them aware of the Mass Save program. There might also be additional touch points throughout the year, example pushing for weatherization before heating season. With the monthly summaries, the LSC might be able to think about how they would like to contribute to the process/initiatives. Director Moses also said there might be opportunities in the future for greater interaction if members have specific expertise. Right now, the City is considering developing various webinars or in-person events to educate the community on things like heat pumps. If the LSC has thoughts/ideas around that or would be interested in being a representative on a panel, it could help to dispel myths around the technologies. Maybe there are members of the LSC that would have that as a larger focus, unless the Committee feels a sub-committee would be a more appropriate venue. Chair Mason indicated the second highest vote-getter: Community Choice Aggregation, followed by weatherization, followed by solar. Member M. Hondros-McCarthy asked about updates for the aggregation and whether the City had a sense of whether multi-tiered options, including an opt-down plan would be possible this time around. Director Moses provided a history of the aggregation and confirmed that the current plan has 45% voluntary MA Class I RECs. Challenges in the upcoming contract are prices that have historically been high. Also, the DPU has had a petition for four years for Lowell’s aggregation to offer different products. From what the aggregation Consultant tells the City, the DPU is likely to allow multiple products for the next contract for Lowell. We can get firm pricing for various levels of RECs. On a parallel path, the legislature is looking to modernize aggregations so that more of these decisions are made at a local level.  City of Lowell – Sustainability Council Lowell Sustainability Council Agenda Thursday, February 22, 2024, 6:30 pm Mayor’s Reception Room, City Hall, 375 Merrimack St, Lowell, MA 01852 & via Zoom Meeting: https://lowellma.zoom.us/meeting/tZMlcOGurzoqG9J8y6TgbUK5DexyigAHw8K3/ics?icsToken=9 8tyKuGvpjwiHNWUsBiBRpwEGo_CWe7zmH5fjfp3xAazNydRVyijEudaK7t4MfDH Meeting ID: 878 7861 1016 Passcode: 604786 Optional dial-in number: +1 646 558 8656 US Member C. Hondros-McCarthy wanted to confirm we are working on a multi-tiered program. Asked whether we knew what percentage of residents are on the aggregation. Director Moses answered that we know how many residents are on the aggregation. We don’t know how many residents have accounts overall. Member C. Hondros-McCarthy suggested including the metric of aggregation customers vs. number of total households on the monthly report. Director Moses indicated that challenges in Lowell include third-party suppliers that move people away from the aggregation. Member M. Hondros-McCarthy suggested using annual DPU reports to get data on savings around aggregation. Director Moses indicated that the Consultant sends that information quarterly that can be added to the monthly update, while noting data tends to lag due to true-up of data. Member C. Hondros-McCarthy said metrics can be shared on social media to enhance outreach. Chair Mason asked if there was something the LSC would want to do proactively to set up additional structures around goals. K. Soleil said that he had shared some information with Chair Mason around Bike Mobility goals, which is where his expertise is. He would be happy to work on the goal, since doesn’t have a lot of expertise in other areas. Would like to work toward completing a bicycle- friendly community application. The League of American Bicyclists is a national organization that runs a bicycle-friendly community, business, and university accreditation program. UML has a silver level designation. Questions are asked around engineering, education, encouragement, equity, and enforcement. It is a free application. It might be nice to start to dig up data to survey the City, which could have actionable next steps. Chair Mason requested circulating information. Director Moses also indicated that municipal staff might also be able to assist/add perspective on this. Additional discussion around some of the challenges in Lowell, solutions used by other cities regarding stakes vs. striping, challenges on prior biking planning efforts, and appropriate municipal staff connections. Director Moses to follow-up with appropriate staff to provide updates on status of Go Lowell and other bike mobility issues to LSC, as desired. Director Moses asked if this would be one of LSC’s top priorities. Chair Mason said if there was a champion for the goal, it could be an LSC goal. Member Fragoso asked about connection to landlord outreach and whether the City offers discounts for putting in bike  City of Lowell – Sustainability Council Lowell Sustainability Council Agenda Thursday, February 22, 2024, 6:30 pm Mayor’s Reception Room, City Hall, 375 Merrimack St, Lowell, MA 01852 & via Zoom Meeting: https://lowellma.zoom.us/meeting/tZMlcOGurzoqG9J8y6TgbUK5DexyigAHw8K3/ics?icsToken=9 8tyKuGvpjwiHNWUsBiBRpwEGo_CWe7zmH5fjfp3xAazNydRVyijEudaK7t4MfDH Meeting ID: 878 7861 1016 Passcode: 604786 Optional dial-in number: +1 646 558 8656 US racks. Director Moses to follow-up. Additional discussion around the youths riding bikes in downtown traffic, as well as how to address electric scooters and general safety around alternative mobility. c. Status of the Solid Waste & Recycling Committee (Body) Chair Mason had Ad Hoc Committee on SW&R with Member Fragoso. Close to setting up meeting with City. Director Moses asked for several dates mid-March for a meeting. Hybrid meeting could be a possibility. d. Status of the Community Choice Aggregation contract discussions- how can the LSC assist? (Body) Discussion was held in the context of the goals of the LSC. Question about opt-in process for new moves. Director Moses said aggregation requests new Basic Service customers semi- annually for mailing purposes. However, we have no insight into third-party supplier customers, unless they come in with specific concerns. LSC Subcommittee Updates….to be determined following the Goals Discussion (above) a. Recycling b. Communications c. Road to 100/Community Choice Aggregation d. Heat Island e. Electric Vehicles f. Bicycle/Pedestrian Mobility g. Lowell High School h. OTHER-TBD i. OTHER-TBD Chair Mason said that sub-committees to be replaced with goals. Although resigning, he will still be available to help out. This is his 170th meeting. Suggested we need to take responsibility for our city and ourselves to move forward. Nice to have access to city to leverage that to have the greatest impact moving forward.  City of Lowell – Sustainability Council Lowell Sustainability Council Agenda Thursday, February 22, 2024, 6:30 pm Mayor’s Reception Room, City Hall, 375 Merrimack St, Lowell, MA 01852 & via Zoom Meeting: https://lowellma.zoom.us/meeting/tZMlcOGurzoqG9J8y6TgbUK5DexyigAHw8K3/ics?icsToken=9 8tyKuGvpjwiHNWUsBiBRpwEGo_CWe7zmH5fjfp3xAazNydRVyijEudaK7t4MfDH Meeting ID: 878 7861 1016 Passcode: 604786 Optional dial-in number: +1 646 558 8656 US Member Fragoso asked about a more substantial website. Director Moses indicated we are fully staffed on Energy side. Energy Coordinator has taken on task of building website out so it can be an educational resource to help people take action, as well as a way to get people to participate. It is a work in progress. Initial training has happened. Working on getting appropriate permissions to modify and create new portions of the website. IV. New Business a. Comments and Upcoming Events from Sustainability Council Members Member M. Hondros-McCarthy posted a link to two upcoming events in the chat. One is online Zoom that Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources is having on initiatives they are working on. It’s on February 29 from 12-1 PM. In Lawrence on March 12, Department of Public Utilities is having a hearing on the base-rate case and what they are trying to incorporate. It is important for them to hear from people in Lowell. Interested in energy, equity, and environmental justice. Carpooling is available. Member M. Hondros-McCarthy and Member Wambui are looking to do a brief write-up on the case, possibly posting on Inside Lowell. Chair Mason gave an update on a program he’s working on through LEADS called Youth and Climate Action. This is a program dedicated to getting kids involved in and exposed to climate, science, and aspects of climate change so they can make decisions moving forward that take into account what is going on. They did a survey of 1400 kids who think of climate change in terms of littering and pollution. It’s important to get them involved. Looking to do a third year to get them involved. Currently working with Climate Resilient Schools program through Undaunted. Idea is to write a resolution to get it before the School Committee to get them to take action. Examples include composting and anti-idling. Putting together a group of 3-4 students and teachers. Looking to get before the School Committee in May. Member Fragoso asked to send the information via email so she can share with her contacts at schools. Director Moses said next E4L meeting is on March 15 at 12 PM. V. Adjournment  City of Lowell – Sustainability Council Lowell Sustainability Council Agenda Thursday, February 22, 2024, 6:30 pm Mayor’s Reception Room, City Hall, 375 Merrimack St, Lowell, MA 01852 & via Zoom Meeting: https://lowellma.zoom.us/meeting/tZMlcOGurzoqG9J8y6TgbUK5DexyigAHw8K3/ics?icsToken=9 8tyKuGvpjwiHNWUsBiBRpwEGo_CWe7zmH5fjfp3xAazNydRVyijEudaK7t4MfDH Meeting ID: 878 7861 1016 Passcode: 604786 Optional dial-in number: +1 646 558 8656 US Chair Mason made motion to adjourn. Seconded by Member Fragoso. So voted.