CITY-COUNTY ADVISORY BOARD ON CLIMATE AND ECONOMIC EQUITY

200 E. Wells Street City of Milwaukee Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202 Meeting Minutes CITY-COUNTY TASK FORCE ON CLIMATE AND ECONOMIC EQUITY Ald. Nik Kovac, and Sup. Supreme Moore Omokunde, Co-Chairs August Ball, Pam Fendt, Linda Frank, Julie Kerksick, Ted Kraig, George Martin, Janet Meissner Pritchard, Pamela Ritger, Erick Shambarger, and Rafael Smith Staff Assistant: Linda Elmer, lelmer@milwaukee.gov, 414-286-2231 Legislative Liason: Luke Knapp, luke.knapp@milwaukee.gov, 414-286-8637 Wednesday, December 9, 2020 2:30 PM Virtual Please join this meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone: https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/309297565 You can also dial in by phone: (646) 749-3122 Access Code: 309-297-565 1. Roll call. Meeting convened: 2:34 P.M. Member excused: August Ball 2. Review and approval of the minutes of November 11th. Mr. Martin noted that Item 3. , 1st line: 'her' should be "the Working Group Committee." Mr. Shambarger moved, seconded by Ms. Meissner Pritchard, for approval of the minutes as amended. There were no objections. 3. Appearance by WE Energies. Dan Krueger, WE Energies, was present virtually; he oversees the renewable energy infrastructure. He is joined by Liz Staitmalene and Jennifer Zierer. WE Energies is moving to solar energy on both large-scale as well as the smaller, Solar Now project. Altogether, these investments will power 300 homes with renewable energy and they are working on reducing CO2 emissions. Mr. Krueger said the biggest driver of supporting solar has been the reduced prices over the past 10 years and their targets now exceed the Paris agreement targets. Ms. Frank said she is excited about the aggressive plans and she asked WE Energies about having WE Energies support community solar projects. Mr. Krueger said WE Energies is willing to pursue community solar projects, which tend to be smaller; they started with the larger projects to have a bigger impact. Mr. Kraig's impression is WE Energies is opposed to people generating their own local solar opportunities and local jobs. Mr. Krueger said City of Milwaukee Page 1 CITY-COUNTY TASK FORCE ON Meeting Minutes December 9, 2020 CLIMATE AND ECONOMIC EQUITY they are inter-connecting solar panels and have partnered with some local projects, such as the one by the airport. They are open to ideas/discussion about distressed areas. Mr. Kraig said he would like to see a serious program where WE Energies would work with people of color to reduce their energy costs. Ald. Kovac noted that on-bill financing has been an issue for a while; Mr. Krueger is not able to comment on this. Ms. Zierer noted that WE Energies does assist with weatherization programs and energy assistance programs for bill payments. There will be a list of follow-up questions generated by members. Mr. Shambarger asked what the process would be to get new ideas in front of the PSC and to make them happen. Mr. Krueger suggested an MOU and creation of joint goals - that would be well-received. Mr. Krueger suggested a mutual goal of on-bill financing as he isn't sure where WE Energies stands on it; Solar power is generated during peak energy times. Ms. Fendt was concerned that WE Energies was bringing in labor from out of state rather than hiring Wisconsin/local labor. She would like to see responsible bidder contract language with local-hire agreements. There are great employment numbers for existing jobs, but not for new jobs being created. Mr. Krueger is happy to work with union and local labor and he personally comes from that background. They have thought about going to distressed areas to recruit/train local workers. Ms. Fendt said the weatherization programs do offer some training, but don't provide a career track for individuals. Mr. Krueger will send out a list of job skills and the skills needed for each role to members. Mr. Smith asked about WE Energies' recruitment in communities of color - the developers get the permits, build and run the operation, it's not WE Energies staff, so they need to influence the developers. Mr. Krueger listed some of those developers, whom don't seem to have specific target goals. WE Energies has identified which plants will be retired and will be asking for permission from the PSC about what it wants to build, so it's a good time to discuss local employment. Ms. Frank wondered why there is so little wind energy generation in Wisconsin. Mr. Krueger said we don't need much more wind in Wisconsin; most of the wind farms have been around longer and Wisconsin customers typically aren't using that energy. Wisconsin needs more solar (to drive down the peak) and the batteries (to store energy for use after the sun sets for four more hours). The issue that WE Energies faces is when people use power after the sun sets; the batteries are then used as much as possible. Five acres could have 20 megawatts of batteries. Mr. Krueger said they're focused on the 5-year plan, which doesn't need any more wind (only 100 megawatts), although more may be needed in the future. Mr. Shambarger asked about getting revenue if more power is generated than is used and hopefully the revenues would apply to renewable energy credits for the city to meet its goals. Any overages would go to the rate payer and batteries were never previously considered, but those can make a big difference. The land owner retains the land and the utility rents the land for DRED operations (private owners or public entities that generate power). Sup. Moore Omokunde noted that jobs will increase as we move to green energy and hiring of black or brown people needs to be tracked and third parties need to be required to have hiring requirements. Mr. Krueger said WE Energies would really like to get along with the city and he would like to work through these issues and get a list of what the city wants and see if we can work together. Mr. Shambarger will be the point of contact with Mr. Krueger. Ms. Frank wants Task Force member input on MOU discussions. Ald. Kovac wants to ensure employee statistics are included. 4. Report from the Education and Outreach Work Group. Items 4 and 5 were discussed at the same time. Mr. Shambarger said he worked with Mr. Gordie Bennett from the county in how to have all the work groups work together. City of Milwaukee Page 2 CITY-COUNTY TASK FORCE ON Meeting Minutes December 9, 2020 CLIMATE AND ECONOMIC EQUITY They would like to work with Clean Wisconsin to create a vulnerability document to clearly show why people should care and delineate the climate threats to Milwaukee specifically. Tank Brain Productions does an online interview with people and the video is curated and can be used to build support. There should be a second round of outreach in the fall of 2021 and, by the end of the year, come to the city and county with a framework of what the plan is and by 2022 have the plan formalized and the document is completed. He is creating recruitment work sheets to enlist folks on various work groups. Fourteen folks signed up, but many signed up for multiple work groups and they may not realize how much work is involved. Mr. Shambarger doesn't see this as one consultant, but multiple consultants being involved; he anticipates the strategizing will be done by the work groups and some paid staff will exist to support them. He would rather have a report that has a few large goals rather than many goals so that a focus can be set on those goals. Mr. Martin asked if there were any standards for economic equity as it relates to consultants? Mr. Shambarger thought it would be up to each work group to decide where they need support and if they know someone who can provide that support, that would be good. These contracts would be less than $5,000. Mr. Bennett suggested the Jobs and Equity Work Group could assist the city/county craft the scope of work for the consultant. Ms. Frank wanted text added that would support the need for environmental support and reducing deforestation. Mr. Shambarger was going ask the Finance Committee to see if there was one large fee that we could get buy-in for, such as a combustion or carbon fee. Ms. Frank noted that Education and Outreach hasn't yet done any outreach activities. Members thanked Mr. Shambarger, Mr. Benneft and Ms. Ritger for their work on the Planning Document. Ms. Meissner Pritchard stressed the need for a few big ideas and cohesion among the work groups. Mr. Wiggins said a high-level risk is to lose community involvement and we really need to involve the public. Mr. Wiggins wanted a wording change in the "out of scope" section by adding "nor will the plan address equity issues that cannot be addressed through climate change." In section 8, Ms. Frank thinks that funding shouldn't be limited solely to city and county budgets; Mr. Shambarger was trying to steer clear of stuff we couldn't start locally. Ald. Kovac noted this is a long-term planning process, not just for 2020/2021. Mr. Kraig wants to ensure that jobs and equity does not just become an after-thought, but does remain a strong focus. Mr. Shambarger noted that every chapter has a jobs and equity section, as well as a specific consultant related to this. Mr. Shambarger would like to have city or county staff do as much as possible, rather than consultants, to save money. Ald. Kovac suggested having staff time tracked so the true cost can be determined of the final report. Mr. Bennett said the county can't offer financial support, but he can offer his assistance and that of his one staff person. Mr. Shambarger would like the work groups to hone in on where they are going, but also get big thematic items from the public and other things that need to be fixed, such as jobs, housing, etc. Ms. Frank noted that there is no mention of town hall meetings in this plan. 5. Discussion and possible approval of Planning Document created by Erick Shambarger. This item was discussed with item #4. Approval of this item will be on the next agenda. 6. Discussion and approval of potential stakeholders. Mr. Shambarger will be able to provide a list by the next meeting. He also needs to sort out who the official members are and how open meeting laws can be met. Larry Hoffman supported using the city's Equity Impact Statement to support the work of the City of Milwaukee Page 3 CITY-COUNTY TASK FORCE ON Meeting Minutes December 9, 2020 CLIMATE AND ECONOMIC EQUITY Task Force. Ms. Frank wanted the goal of net zero by 2050 included in the Planning Document; Mr. Shambarger would like to focus more on 2030 (the 2050 goal was mentioned in another portion of the document). Ald. Kovac noted that the chance for this plan to be meaningful is in the next 10 years. Focus on 2030, but also mention 2050 seemed to be the consensus. Mr. Shambarger is open to suggestions from members on whom stake holders should be and who should work on the MOU with WE Energies. Sup. Moore Omokunde thought the WE Energies MOU should be on every agenda. Ms. Frank noted that we also need to create new work groups and who will serve on those work groups. 7. Set next meeting date and agenda. Sup. Moore Omokunde said August Ball is no longer a member and also the need for a standing meeting schedule. It's important to get a youth member who is willing to work and show up. Is August still going to participate or does she want to be replaced? Agenda: Approval of the charter Finalize work group members. Talk to Jim Owczarski about getting a MYC member to attend. Meeting adjourned: 5:15 P.M. Linda M. Elmer Staff Assistant 191923 Communication relating to the final report and activities of the City-County Task Force on Climate and Economic Equity. Sponsors: THE CHAIR City of Milwaukee Page 4