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. Priscilla Coggs-Jones, 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, February 16, 2022 2:30 PM Virtual Amended 2/14/22 - Item #8 was added. Please join the meeting from your computer, tablet or smartphone. https://meet.goto.com/450966565 You can also dial in using your phone. (For supported devices, tap a one-touch number below to join instantly.) United States: +1 (408) 650-3123 - One-touch: tel:+14086503123,,450966565# Access Code: 450-966-565 1. Roll call. Meeting convened: 2:34 P.M. Members present: Linda Frank, Ald. Nik Kovac, Pam Fendt, Pam Ritger, Ted Kraig, Pam Ritger, Erick Shambarger, Freida Webb, Janet Pritchard, Rafael Smith (arrived at 3:15 approximately) Members excused: Supreme Moore Omokunde, Priscilla Cogg-Jones, Julie Kerksick 2. Review and approval of the minutes of the Feb. 2nd and Feb. 9th meetings. The minutes of February 2nd were discussed. This item was held until the end of the meeting. This item will be scheduled for the March meeting. 3. Add/remove work group members. No changes. City of Milwaukee Page 1 CITY-COUNTY TASK FORCE ON Meeting Minutes February 16, 2022 CLIMATE AND ECONOMIC EQUITY 4. Report and possible approval of the Adaptation and Climate Resilience work group report. Ms. Pam Ritger said this WG was looking at how we deal with the climate impacts we are experiencing and will continue to experience. Milwaukee has been a national example in terms of the city and regional agencies already taking steps. The big idea is the Resilience Ambassadors to connect residents to existing city and philanthropic programs, which would be led by ECO. Secondary strategies include supporting parks for extreme heat events, subsidizing energy-efficient fans and air conditioners for low-income persons, paint commercial and residential buildings' roofs white and encouraging green roofs. Plan for more extreme flooding by increasing green space and storm water management planning for neighborhoods that tend to flood. For public health, increase local food security and decrease food deserts and coordinate the public health departments, increased broadcasting to the public of low-air quality days and allergen levels and efforts relating to housing (anti-displacement, affordable housing, increasing home ownership, etc.) and support the physical infrastructure of sanitary sewer pipes, electric, gas and water lines. Organizations or people will be trained to provide citizens in existing city and philanthropic programs. Mr. Wiggins asked if TIF funding could be tied to these type of programs; a WG member with M7 was concerned that TIF funding already has a number of criteria tied to it. Mr. Wiggins would like to see more study on this and consider this. Mr. Wiggins would like more depth on food security in the report. Amy Dumond - USDA agenda is aware of the food security issues in the area. Mr. Wiggins will provide another example or two for the report. Ms. Frank thinks climate migration might become the biggest impact. She believes the Resilience Ambassadors is the Big Idea and all of the proposals become too much; she would recommend a newly created department to put all this together. Ms. Ritger didn't want to do a lot of new things, but supporting existing programs that are doing a really good job. Ms. Frank thinks this report should note overlap with other WGs as part of its report. Ms. Evans and Mr. Shambarger think that any redundancy can be cleaned up by the contractor who works on the final report. Ms. Frank is concerned about the level of detail. Mr. Shambarger is comfortable with the Resilience Ambassadors and the contractor can work with the rest. Mr. Smith moved to approve. There were no objections. 5. Report and possible approval of the Greening the Grid work group report. Mr. Erick Shambarger said the ICLEI diagram is a big piece of the puzzle with two main components: renewable energy that the utility plans and other optional solar projects. Wisconsin is a regulated state and has fewer options to source its power. The recommendations were for a robust rooftop solar market as well as a large “utility-scale” solar projects. Due to state restrictions, there are many opportunities that other cities nationally have, such as Community Choice Aggregation. WE Energies has made many new climate commitments and intends to eliminate coal by 2035. They have collaborated with the City on the 2.25MW Solar Now project. The working groups want to continue to support Milwaukee Shines, which has done workforce development in communities of color and also working on reducing administrative costs relating to adding solar. The work group recommends to main strategies 1) advocacy at the Public Service Commission and the state, and 2) using the city's direct purchasing power to amplify the grid. For advocacy, the working group supports advocacy through the Wisconsin Local Government Climate Coalition. Policies should include clear benchmarks for utilities to meet their climate commitments; universal access to solar energy, including for communities of color; City of Milwaukee Page 2 CITY-COUNTY TASK FORCE ON Meeting Minutes February 16, 2022 CLIMATE AND ECONOMIC EQUITY and a “utility of the future” funding model that encourages utility investments in energy efficiency and connecting distributed energy systems. For direct purchasing, the working group supports the City working with We Energies to build utility scale solar projects to offset the electric use of city buildings. The City of Madison has for example, executed a similar deal with Madison Gas & Electric to build solar near its airport. Using that model a developer (builds the project), the utility (funds and controls the project) and the city (subscribes to the project). The city has a 25% renewable energy goal by 2025. The workgroup recommends a new tariff proposal that modifies We Energies current Dedicated Renewable Energy Resource (DRER) tariff. They are suggesting a tariff with a 1-5 year term with living wage requirements rather than a 20-year program. Due to the needed size for a solar project, it would not be feasible to build it within the city limits. The working group advocates for local hiring provisions on the project to, at a minimum, employ Wisconsin-based workers. Ms. Frank asked about policies for new development, such as requiring rooftop solar and integrating a transition to electric heat pumps. Mr. Shambarger believes rooftop solar cannot be required outside of the state building code. He thought building electrification was outside the scope of this group, but should be mentioned in the overall plan. Ms. Meissner Pritchard asked to what extent ECO's efforts need to be ramped up and what are the implications for that ramp-up for bringing on additional resources? Mr. Shambarger said a big utility project is necessary to hit the city's 2025 goal. The city has to start thinking of getting new solar projects going and he thinks WE Energy getting rid of the coal plants will be a big boost. Ms. Pritchard asked about looking at existing programs and what resources would be needed to scale them up. Mr. Shambarger thinks the city can definitely use more funding for rooftop solar, but that a large scale utility project, funded on the City’s electric bills, will be the fastest path toward achieving the City’s renewable energy goals. Ms. Ritger asked if the city can re-engage ICLEI as well as collaborating with other groups before the PSC. Ms. Frank would like to have a wedge diagram in the final report, done by ICLEE. Ms. Meissner Pritchard moved to approve. There were no objections. 6. Report and possible approval of the Education and Outreach work group report. Jennifer Evans said the goal of the Education and Outreach proposal is to engage the public and mobilize citizens for positive action. The plan includes a marketing/communication campaign, outreach through trusted leaders and organizations, and actions/events to engage community members. A revised org chart was developed from conversations with Shambarger and others. It delineates areas of responsibility and collaboration. ECO staff and the city will continue to be responsible for monitoring progress and reporting on the plan. The goal is for the current network of community-based organizations to form the basis of a coalition that will amplify and support the work of the task force. Providing information about climate and equity, as well as reaching out to underrepresented communities will be important functions. The coalition may select a lead agency to coordinate its activities and raise funds. Ms. Fendt finds this graphic a better representation of public/private partnership. Ms. Fendt moved for approval of the revised proposal presented today. There were no objections. 7. Report and possible approval of the Finance work group report. Ms. Janet Pritchard said there is a great risk that a plan will not get implemented so City of Milwaukee Page 3 CITY-COUNTY TASK FORCE ON Meeting Minutes February 16, 2022 CLIMATE AND ECONOMIC EQUITY ways to pay for it need to be found. The key strategy is to pursue every appropriate grant opportunity, launching a capital campaign, green bonds and government alignment with the plan. Funding could be new or increased fees, a new city transportation facility that could charge rates, revenue generation through city solar projects, energy retrofits and prohibiting the transfer of transportation funds to non-transportation endeavors. The other idea is to provide incentives to take energy-friendly actions and issue public contracts with wage and low-work force requirements. To really scale things up, will need to apply for federal, state and philanthropic grants with the city/county hiring employees to apply for these grants. She would like to see an RFP issued to create a list of approved grant writers that can be "on call" to complete grant applications. ARPA funds could not be used to hire grant writers which is why Mr. Shambarger is working on allocating funds for grant writing. Ms. Ritger also noted that Friends groups exist and that is a possibility as to how this would be set up and how this would be legally structured and governed. A consultant could be hired as to how to create a capital fund. Once this fund is created, reach out to different foundations to fund creating a capital campaign. Green bonds could also be used to leverage the financing of various proposals. These bonds are revenue bonds, issued by the city and are linked to specific, reliable repayment streams. If a transportation utility fee were to be approved then a green bond could be issued to pay for the creation. The goal is to have the entire alignment of the city with the goals of the CCTFCEE in terms of climate and equity goals with a rubrick created and applied city-wide with city programs and actions. Mr. Wiggins noted that every ordinance passed by Kansas City had to describe how it was good for the children, which he thought might be applied for the government alignment goal. Ms. Pritchard noted a Transportation Utility has the ability to charge rates so it can generate revenue. Ms. Frank moved to approve. There were no objections. 8. Selection of up to 3 Task Force members to join ECO in reviewing responses to Climate and Equity Plan consultant RFP. Mr. Shambarger said the RFP was sent to the Purchasing Office to hire a consultant. He noted it is a time commitment. Mr. Smith and Ms. Evans are willing to serve, as is Ms. Meissner Pritchard, if it works out for her schedule. This item will be on the next agenda. 9. Review of next steps and next meeting date. Next meeting will be the middle of March. Ms. Frank asked when it will be good to issue a press release. Mr. Shambarger has been getting media requests about when this will be released. Ald. Kovac will talk to his colleagues and it will also have to be decided who is presenting. This will be discussed at a future meeting. An e-mail will be sent out once there is a sense of when it will be scheduled. Meeting adjourned: 4:46 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. City of Milwaukee Page 4 CITY-COUNTY TASK FORCE ON Meeting Minutes February 16, 2022 CLIMATE AND ECONOMIC EQUITY Sponsors: THE CHAIR City of Milwaukee Page 5