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. Marcelia Nicholson, Co-Chairs Pam Fendt, Linda Frank, Julie Kerksick, Ted Kraig, Janet Meissner Pritchard, Supreme Moore Omokunde, Pamela Ritger, Erick Shambarger, Rafael Smith, and Freida Webb Staff Assistant: Linda Elmer, lelmer@milwaukee.gov, 414-286-2231 Legislative Liason: Luke Knapp, luke.knapp@milwaukee.gov, 414-286-8637 Google documents for this body can be found at : http://bit.ly/CCTFCEE Wednesday, September 1, 2021 10:00 AM Virtual Green Buildings Work Group Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87156655349?pwd=Vi9tbStvL0ZqRGJGSFVrZUhIcXdEdz09 Meeting ID: 871 5665 5349 Passcode: 622331 One tap mobile +13126266799,,87156655349# US (Chicago) +16465588656,,87156655349# US (New York) Attendance (12 members): Erick Shambarger (acting chair in absence of Pam Ritger), Linda Frank, Glen Radford, Cara Walls, Dan, Elizabeth Ward, Jennifer Evans, Kathleen Ellis, Rock Ridolfi, Victor Nino, Jermaine Alexander - Sherman Park Community Association; Freida Webb - NAACP (10:20) 1. Minute taker for this meeting. Following info to be recorded: • Call to order time. • Roll call • Actions (with votes) if appropriate (including approval of prior meeting minutes) • Appearances • Adjournment time 2. Approve minutes from 8.4.21 Green Buildings Work Group meeting. On motion of Hittman and no objections, the minutes were approved City of Milwaukee Page 1 CITY-COUNTY TASK FORCE ON Meeting Minutes September 1, 2021 CLIMATE AND ECONOMIC EQUITY 3. Update on partnership with the Green and Healthy Homes Initiative Shambarger - Health Dept. reached out to him on combining lead abatement and efficiency work and had recommended Green & Healthy Homes of Baltimore, Greenandhealthyhomes.org; ; ECO and Health Dept. each paid $5,000 on the contract with Green & Healthy Homes; they are providing a report today; we anticipate guidance on being successful with rental situations (homeownership rate is only 40% in high energy burden neighborhoods); asthma, pest infestations and mold are health issues that are not being adequately identifies and addressed; coordination of various homes programs will be a challenge Focus on Energy could provide some of the funding per Radford; there are 2 programs, one is income-based and the other provides rebates regardless of income; however, ECO had a collaboration between ME2 and Focus but participation was not high possibly due to barriers like income verification barrier, paperwork and waiting for approval Alexander has been running a home improvement program for the last 10 years – he cites barriers such as ownership/titling issues, the income eligibility is unduly low, insurance which may demand that a roof be replaced, as a result, about 50% are turned down 4. Update on ARPA funding for energy efficiency and clean energy jobs The mayor’s Stronger Summer $96 Million ARPA proposal includes $5 M energy efficiency program and $2.7M green jobs workforce development initiative, items which came about due to the TF work Slido poll was conducted on details of the home energy efficiency program About 80% want both owner-occupied and rental properties to be covered Discussion: loans for “responsible landlords” could be explored; homeowners may be more invested in the property; consider a higher % allocation to homeowners; landlord could be required to contribute a portion of the money; still, we do need to provide ways for tenants to benefit; consider the impact on landlords of the moratorium on evictions; City should monitor building maintenance Prioritizing recipients - High lead levels with children under 6 (although, often the children are spending much time at the grandparents’ home) – 56%, retirees and disabled – 33%, first come first served – 11% Discussion: Strong coordination between weatherization and asthma has been found by EPA and reported in a recent article and has been found in the schools as well – weatherization and ventilation must be combined although the fan will require energy, still resulting in a sizeable reduction in energy and positive impacts on asthma and lead; elderly have challenges with property tax increases on a fixed income; Coggs and Stamper are looking into expanding a displacement fund for owner-occupied residents; a suggestion is that Lead abatement and elderly and disabled both be prioritized; We want to reach those in between the low-income weatherization program and ME2 There did not seem to be a real consensus on this question of establishing priorities. ***Neighborhood Assn partnerships will be important City of Milwaukee Page 2 CITY-COUNTY TASK FORCE ON Meeting Minutes September 1, 2021 CLIMATE AND ECONOMIC EQUITY Income eligibility or not? Our Task Force ARPA recommendation stated that high burden census tracts would qualify w/o income eligibility What improvements should be covered? Heat pumps would be very expensive and take up a lot of the funding; Ellis suggested prioritizing items like insulation, air sealing, ventilation plus health and safety first; later the upgrades in heating and cooling could come Type of financial assistance – Grants, 63%; cost-share, about 35%; deferred loan repaid at point of sale, about 15%; zero interest loan, not selected Discussion: How about cost-share for landlords, grant for homeowners? Contractor selection - “City selects” was preferred over “customer selects” Discussion: There are pre-qualifications for City contractors and these can apply to customer selection as well; contractors have problems when City pays at project completion and they don’t have up front funds for materials, etc.; look for contractors in the city 5. Update on Commercial Buildings recommendations Haeffel reported on the progress of the Code Council; the Council is to be completing their review of recommendations in November; one year then to write the code language; unknown which committee this will go to then; next, the residential code council will begin work; when recommendations get to the legislature, some contractors groups and builders groups will lobby in opposition to the changes; no lobbying group is specifically dedicated to lobbying in favor; what about ASHRAE? Most conversations up to this point have been supportive; objections will come at a later stage; WI Local Governments Climate Coalition (WLGCC) submitted a statement of support; getting positive media coverage could be the best strategy; Midwest Decarbonization Coalition has been approached but it’s too early to say if they will be involved 6. Suggestions of future meeting agenda items. Tabled. 7. Adjourn. Adjourned at 11:30 am on motion of Hittman. Minutes provided by Pam Ritger. City of Milwaukee Page 3