Green Team

Morgantown Green Team: Minutes of the February 2, 2015 Meeting Attending: Lisa Lagana (chair), Joey James (Downstream Strategies), Jim Kotcon, Jing Zhang (transportation planner, Morgantown Monongalia Metro Planning Organization (MPO), Jill Watkins (Design Works, representing Green Building Council in WV), Ella Belling (Mon River Trail Conservancy), Trevor Lloyd (City of Morgantown), and Pam Cubberly I. Old Business Recycling. Trevor and Michelle Sloane have not yet met with new city attorney. They received six applications for Michelle’s replacement as business recycling intern and have narrowed them to three for interviews. They were to decide a week after the Green Team meeting. Next steps: The new intern, Trevor, and Michelle will have a transition meeting as well as meet with the city attorney to research regulations to identify options in promoting business recycling. II. Recycling Business. In addition to working with the new intern, Trevor Lloyd is working with Tom Arnold to pursue instal- lation of Vertipaks containers in the downtown area through Republic Services. Businesses could sign up to de- posit recycling in these secured compacting (3-to-1) containers. Each business would have a key to open them for deposits. Republic Services conducted a survey of 80 businesses on their interest in recycling. Trevor said the results show the obstacles that exist. Most do not recycle much, although it would be cheaper for them to recycle. Republic Services should be pushing this. If enough businesses were interested, Republic Services could hold a seminar to help work out the issues for businesses. Either they or the Green Team could develop a PowerPoint and bro- chure/flyer for that purpose. Residential. Ella Belling noted having seen residential recycling containers full of trash in her neighborhood. Clearly, more education is needed. Various options were discussed from getting better education out to residences as well as looking into how the city could better enforce proper use of recycling bins and whether imposing some kind of penalty was an option. Action: Trevor Lloyd will raise issue with Republic Services on addressing this possibly through a billing in- sert. He will also talk with Chelsi Baker about sending the same information out to neighbourhood associa- tions. III. Green Nights. February 19, Community Solar Coops in WV. Pam Cubberly said feedback on publicity for this Green Night looked like it would bring out a good crowd (26 people ultimately said they were coming on Green Morgantown). She was looking for other ways to spread the word so this meeting could serve as a big step toward a cooperative forming in Morgantown. She would report on results in March, when the team should probably discuss what if any sponsorship/support it could give the effort. Joey James said that the Downstream Strategies / City of Morgantown sustainability project was currently apply- ing for funding from the Appalachian Stewardship Council for Phase III of the project, of which one of four ini- tiatives would be to support development of a solar cooperative in Morgantown as their Phase II research had re- vealed strong interest among the residents they surveyed. Possible activities could be mass promotional mailings  and additional discounts for co-op members and/or encouraging additional coops before federal tax incentives ex- pire at the end of 2016. See related report on other efforts in Phase III below. March 26, Composting 101: Putting Your Organic Waste to Work! Sandra Cress, Sierra Club, had agreed to present a composting basics workshop as the second in the 2015 Green Night series. Jim Kotcon has generously volunteered to serve as facilitator if Pam is not free due to selling a house in Northern Virginia. April 19, Second Annual Green Households Fair. Very similar to last year’s event, this fair will be held at the last Winter Farmer’s Market on that Saturday from 11am to 1pm. Pam will seek resource people on a variety of topics, which she hopes this year will include a table promoting the Morgantown Solar Co-op. IV. Phase III of Morgantown Sustainability Project As part of Joey James’s description of Phase III projects above, he mentioned other initiatives they might pursue: (1) following the model established by Solar Holler and Dan Conant—group funding of individual solar projects, for example, for churches etc.—using demand reduction devices in homes to generate project funding; (2) invest- ing in residential efficiency projects of various kinds; and (3) working with businesses in Morgantown, perhaps providing building efficiency services to reduce energy loss/use, working with the Chamber of Commerce. Evan Hansen and Joey continue to work closely with City Manager Jeff Mikorski on these efforts. V. Introduction of Jill Watkins, representing the Green Building Council chapter in WV Jill Watkins introduced herself and her organization, which now has 40 members in West Virginia and is growing. She briefly reviewed efforts of the Green Building Council chapter in WV:  Advocacy at “Environmental Day” in Charleston, organized by the WV Environmental Council  LEED V. 5 training events  Huntington Sustainability Fair (their involvement in the Green Team’s Green Households Fair was wel- come) Regarding Joey’s report, she noted that she and/or other GBC members could possibly take on the third item Joey mentioned above: assisting businesses with building efficiency to save energy. She also brought up several ideas on how to promote energy efficiency with Morgantown businesses, such as window decals if they pass some standard/certification established by the city. Some team members noted similar past Green Team discussions that had raised the point that the city cannot get into an effort that favoured some businesses over others. Still, input and involvement of the WV Green Building Council was welcome, team members noted, Jill also raised the issue of street lighting retrofits and the team discussed with her the history of the Green Team’s efforts in this regard and the barriers faced in reducing street lighting energy use in Morgantown. VI. Adjournment. The meeting adjourned at 7:00 pm. Minutes submitted by Pam Cubberly, December 21, 2014. The next meeting will take place on March 2, 2015, from 5:30pm to 7:00pm, in City Council Chambers, 389 Spruce Street.